When it comes to the Psalms, Origen adds a further two versions. The first column is the original Hebrew next comes a transliteration of this in Greek letters, so that Christians can pronounce the Hebrew text this is followed by the Septuagint, and then by Greek translations by Christian scholars.
In his Hexapla (from the Greek word for 'sixfold') Origen arranges six versions of the Old Testament in parallel columns for comparative study. Their need prompts the great work of biblical scholarship undertaken by Origen in the 3rd century AD. It is essential for their arguments, when debating with Jewish rabbis, that they have an accurate understanding of the original Hebrew. They undertake the translation of the Old Testament now known as the Septuagint.įive centuries later the early Christians, who use Greek for their own New Testament, need to read both Old and New Testaments - for they see themselves as the inheritors of the Old Testament tradition. For the Jews of Alexandria, in the 3rd century BC, Greek is the first language.
There is no need for any part of the Bible to be translated until a community of Jews, in the Diaspora, forget their Hebrew.
