SEPTUAGINT, the name given to a Greek version of the books of the Old Testament, from its being supposed to be performed by seventy-two Jews, who are usually called the seventy interpre. ters, because seventy is a round number. The history of this version is expressly written by Aristeas, an officer of the guards to Ptolemy Philadelphus, the sub stance of whose account is as follows : Ptolemy having erected a fine library at Alexandria, which he took care to fill with the most curious and valuable books from all parts of the world, was informed that the Jews had one containing the laws of Moses, and the history of that people, and being desirous of enriching his libra ry with a Greek translation of it, applied to the high priest of the Jews ; and, to en gage him to comply with his request; set at liberty all the Jews, whom his father Ptolemy Soter had reduced to slavery. After such a step, he easily obtained what he desired; Eleazar, the Jewish high•priest, sent back his embassadors with an exact copy of the Mosaical law, written in letters of gold, and six elders of each tribe, in all seventy-two, who were received with marks of respect by the king, and then conducted into the Isle of Pharos, where they were lodged in a house prepared for their reception, and supplied with every thing necessary in abundance. They set about the trans
lation without loss of time, and finished it in seventy-two days; and the whole being read in the presence of the king, he admired the profound wisdom of the laws of Moses, and sent back the depu ties, laden with presents for themselves, the high-priest, and the temple. This version was in use to the time of our Sa viour, and is that out of which all the ci tations in the New Testament, from the Old, are taken. It was also the ordinary and canonical translation made use of by the Christian church in the earliest ages; and it still subsists in the churches both of the east and west. It is, however, observable, that the chronology of the septuagint is different from the Hebrew text.