Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy 12 says that God will choose a place “out of all your tribes,” emphasizing divine selection and centralization. The Greek Septuagint changes this to “in one of your tribes,” shifting the focus toward a centralized divine presence.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 12:5
Hebrew Bible
3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, burn up their sacred Asherah poles, and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place. 4 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they worship. 5 But you must seek only the place he chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, and you must go there. 6 And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Deuteronomy 12:5
Septuagint
3 And you shall destroy their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their groves, and you shall burn with fire the carved images of their gods, and you shall abolish their name out of that place. 4 You shall not do so to the Lord your God. 5 But in the place which the Lord your God shall choose in one of your tribes to name his name there, and to be called upon, you shall even seek him out and go there. 6 And you shall carry there your whole burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your first fruits, and your vowed-offerings, and your free will offerings, the firstborn of your herds, and of your flocks.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... A particularly important interpretation for the book of Deuteronomy is the Septuagint’s establishment of the uniqueness of the place of the Jewish cult by translating ‘in one of your tribes (or cities)’ for ‘out of all your tribes’ of 12:5. In the final section (chapters 27-34), the interpretative elements are most numerous and they reflect the intention of the translator to express Yahweh’s love for his dispersed people: there is an avoidance of the divine contempt (31:20); divine punishment is ostensibly weakened (28:37); the acts of goodness are underscored (32:10-13); and there is an insistence on the privilege of God’s people (32:8-9; 32:35; 32:43, etc) ..."
Timothy H. Lim, “Deuteronomy in the Judaism of the Second Temple Period,” in Deuteronomy in the New Testament, ed. Maarten J. J. Menken and Steve Moyise (London: T&T Clark International, 2007), 6–26.
* 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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