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In 2 Samuel 6, David is shown wearing an ephod, priestly clothing, even though he is not a Levite. The Greek Septuagint translation avoids this issue by calling it a distinguished robe instead, likely to remove the image of David in the priestly ephod.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Samuel 6:14
Hebrew Bible
12 King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything he owns because of the ark of God.” So David went and joyfully brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David. 13 Those who carried the ark of the Lord took six steps and then David sacrificed an ox and a fatling calf. 14 Now David, wearing a linen ephod, was dancing with all his strength before the Lord. 15 David and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord, shouting and blowing trumpets. 16 As the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX 2 Samuel 6:14
Septuagint
12 And it was reported to king David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that he has, because of the ark of God. And David went, and brought up the Ark of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with gladness. 13 And there were with them bearing the ark seven bands, and for a sacrifice a calf and lambs. 14 And David sounded with well-tuned instruments before the Lord, and David was clothed with a distinguished robe. 15 And David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of a trumpet. 16 And it happened as the ark arrived at the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked through the window, and saw king David dancing and playing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... 2 Samuel 6:14 ... Retroversions supported by Hebraisms in the LXX. As a logical result of the technique of stereotyped rendering in the LXX described in chapter 1.E.2, many such renderings transfer meanings of Hebrew words and constructions to their Greek equivalents without regard for Greek idiom. Sometimes an isolated parallel to the Hebraism may be spotted in a Greek source, but if the word or element occurs so frequently that its appearance is conditioned by Hebrew rather than Greek usage, it should be considered a Hebraism. The occurrence of syntactical Hebraisms in the LXX is mainly significant for the analysis of its language, but at times Hebraisms also bear on text-critical issues. The argument developed here runs as follows: whenever a syntactical Hebraism occurs in the LXX that is not supported by any corresponding element in the Masoretic text, it may be retranslated into a Hebrew reading differing from the Masoretic text ..."
Emanuel Tov, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research, 3rd ed. (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 92–93.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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