Texts in Conversation
In Genesis 8, God responds to Noah’s offering by speaking to himself, promising to never curse the ground again. The Greek Septuagint changes this so God thinks to himself and then speaks outwardly.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 8:21
Hebrew Bible
20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done. 22 “While the earth continues to exist, planting time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Genesis 8:21
Septuagint
20 And Noah built an altar to God, and took of all clean beasts, and of all clean birds, and offered a whole burnt offering upon the altar. 21 And the Lord God smelled a smell of sweetness, and the Lord God having considered, said, I will not any more curse the earth, because of the works of men, because the imagination of man is intently bent upon evil things from his youth, I will not therefore any more strike all living flesh as I have done. 22 All the days of the earth, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and spring, shall not cease by day or night.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... What God smelled was what the translator used 'a smell of sweet fragrance,' which in turn became the standard phrase throughout the Pentateuch, it occurring especially frequently in Leviticus and Numbers. The Hebrew in speaking of Yahweh states that 'he said to himself.' The Septuagint of Genesis freely renders the phrase by a participle 'having in mind, intending,' which is not really what the Masoretic text means ..."
John William Wevers, Notes on the Greek Text of Genesis, SCS 35 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1993), 111.
* 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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