[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

The excellent Floyd Jones article is available on the web.

http://www.frugalwater.com/LXX.pdf
http://www.christianmissionconnectio...l_Analysis.pdf
The Septuagint: A Critical Analysis

Please note that the article, while excellent, has some omissions, and a small amount of scholarship that can be questioned (as would any article). Two very significant omissions I put in the posts above - no discussion of Psalm 14, and he does not have the Josephus quotes referenced.

Originally Posted by Connie

Are you saying that there are surviving copies of the Pentateuch that are earlier?.

Just to clarify this, both comments were correct. There are segments, many chapters in various MSS, in the centuries before the first extant full Greek MSS. Robert Kraft has a page listing all the early Greek material.

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/ear...lypaplist.html
Chronological List of Early Papyri and MSS for LXX/OG Study (plus the same MSS in Canonical Order appended)

Note that most, almost all, of the earlier material is from the Pentateuch.

Originally Posted by Connie

We have ABSOLUTELY NO copies of the New Testament earlier ... 2nd century and 3rd century ..

Actually 4th century, 350 AD to 400 AD for the earliest NT MSS.

Originally Posted by Connie

.. we certainly assume those were preceded by not only the originals but many hundreds of copies of them

True, but that is because we have strong collaborative evidences. The 1st century accurate history of the writings, the references to these books in a dozen or more writers from the 1st to 3rd century. With the Greek OT, until you get to the 2nd century AD, there is little hard evidence. At that point you get some early church writers discussing differences, like Justin Martyr.

Incidentally, because the material is a bit complex, I am not a fan of the Ruckman-Gipp 'myth' argument, even while considering the Greek OT as totally corrupt and virtually useless (except as one of many language sources that have helped with the difficult Hebrew words, especially in the ages from Rashi and Kimchi to the King James Bible). What they mean may be true, after explanations are given, but it can be understandably interpreted by others as a denial that there was ANY early Greek OT, not even the Pentateuch, at the time of Jesus.

Shalom,
Steven Avery