Septuaginta

Septuaginta (neno la Kilatini lenye maana ya "70"; kifupi LXX) ni tafsiri ya Biblia ya Kiebrania (au: Tanakh) kwa lugha ya Kigiriki ililofanywa mjini Aleksandria (Misri) kuanzia karne ya 3 KK hadi karne ya 1 KK.

Jina hilo limetokana na hadithi ya kwamba wataalamu Wayahudi 72 walitafsiri vitabu vya Torati katika muda wa siku 72 wakati wa mfalme Ptolemaio II (285–246 KK).
 
Idadi ya 72 ilitokana na watu sita kutoka kila moja kati ya makabila 12 ya Wanaisraeli ikafupishwa kwa kuikumbuka kirahisi kuwa "70". 

Jina hilo liliendelea kutumiwa kwa tafsiri ya Kigiriki ya vitabu vyote vya Tanakh.

Wataalamu wa historia huona kwamba wakati wa Ptolemaio II vitabu vitano vya Torati (vitabu vitano ya Musa) vilitafsiriwa, na vingine vilifuata polepole katika muda wa miaka 200 hivi.

Kutokana na historia hiyo ndefu kuna tofauti katika lugha ya vitabu mbalimbali.

Tofauti kati ya Septuaginta na Tanakh 
Septuaginta ina vitabu kadhaa visivyopatikana katika Biblia ya Kiebrania ya leo.
 
Inaonekana vilitafsiriwa vitabu vyote vilivyotazamwa na Wayahudi wa Aleksandria kuwa Neno la Mungu katika karne ya 3 hadi ya 1 KK, vikiwa ni pamoja na vile visivyokubaliwa katika maeneo mengine. 

Uelewano kamili kati ya Wayahudi juu ya vitabu vinavyostahili kukubaliwa kama sehemu ya Biblia ulitokea mnamo mwaka 100, ambapo vitabu vichache vilivyotafsiriwa katika Septuaginta viliondolewa na Wayahudi wa Kifarisayo wa shule ya Yamnia walioshika uongozi wa Uyahudi na kushindana na Wakristo. 

Azimio hilo lilisambaa polepole katika jumuiya za Wayahudi wa nchi mbalimbali.
 
Lakini wakati huo Septuaginta ilikuwa tayari Biblia ya kawaida ya Wakristo wa kwanza, hata kabla ya kukamilika kwa kanuni ya Agano Jipya.
 
Farakano kati ya Wakristo wa kwanza na Uyahudi lilikuwa limekamilika tayari, hivyo Wakristo hawakuona sababu ya kubadilisha vitabu vya Agano la Kale walivyopokea katika Uyahudi.

Sababu muhimu ilikuwa mwelekeo tofauti kuhusu lugha.
 
Wakristo, walioanza kama kundi la Kiyahudi, waliendelea kupokea watu wengi kutoka dini za kipagani za Dola la Roma wakatumia hasa Kigriki kama lugha ya kimataifa ya mawasiliano.

Hata Wayahudi wengi walitumia Kigiriki kati yao lakini karne ya 1 BK iliona pia mkazo mpya kwenye matumizi yao. 

Baada ya maangamizi ya hekalu ya Yerusalemu mwaka 70 wakati wa vita ya Waroma dhidi ya Wayahudi, Wayahudi wengi waliona haja ya kushikamana zaidi hivyo mkazo kwenye utamaduni na mapokeo ya Kiebrania.

Tovuti za Nje

Kwa jumla 
 The Septuagint Online - Comprehensive site with scholarly discussion and links to texts and translations
 Jewish Encyclopedia: Bible Translations
 Catholic Encyclopedia: Septuagint Version
 Catholic Encyclopedia: Versions of the Bible
 A thorough analysis of the Septuagint with resources
 Comparison of names in the LXX and Hebrew Bible (PDF)
 Codex: Resources and Links Relating to the Septuagint

Andishi la Septuaginta 
 Septuagint as PDF file  Lacks diacritics.
 Septuagint published by the Church of Greece
 Plain text of the whole LXX, including the anagignoskomena
 Greek-English interlinear of OT & NT. Lacks diacritics and anagignoskomena.
 Bible Resource Pages - contains Septuagint texts (with diacritics) side-by-side with English translations
 Septuagint and New Testament - Greek Text of the Septuagint and NT with parsing (no diacritics). Lacks anagignoskomena.
 Greek text - Complete Greek text (no diacritics, needs special font) hyperlinked to Strong's concordance. Anagignoskomena do not display.
 The Septuagint in Greek as a MS Word document (Requires Vusllius Old Face . Intor and book abbreviations in Latin.)
 The Book of Daniel from an Old Greek LXX  (no diacritics, needs special font)
 Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton's translation
 The Septuagint LXX: Greek and English  partial version of Brenton's edition, wiki text and PNG images. (difficult navigation) 
 The New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS), preliminary edition
 Project to produce an Orthodox Study Bible (OSB) whose Old Testament is based entirely on the Septuagint.
 The Holy Orthodox Bible, another English translation project of the Septuagint using Greek Orthodox texts of the Septuagint 
 The Septuagint LXX in English (Online text of the entire LXX English translation by Sir Lancelot Brenton)

LXX na Agano Jipya 
 Septuagint references in NT by John Salza
 The New Testament and the Septuagint - Instances where the New Testament quotes the LXX against the Masoretic Hebrew
 The New Testament and the Hebrew OT - Instances where the New Testament quote agrees with the Masoretic Hebrew meaning
 A defense of the quoting of the LXX by the writers of the New Testament.

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