Question: when was the old testament translated from hebrew to greek
Answer: `` The Translation of the Seventy '' , and its abbreviation `` LXX '' , derive from the legend of seventy - two Jewish scholars ( 6 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel , who worked independently to translate the whole and ultimately produced identical versions ) in the court of Ptolemy II in seventy - two days ( see Aristeas , Letter of , below ) , who translated the Five Books of Moses into Koine Greek as early as the 3rd century BCE .