Texts in Conversation
2 Samuel 7 uses an indefinite term for “gods” when describing Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, which could imply polytheism. The Greek Septuagint translation changes this grammar to identify the God of Israel as the one who acted.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Samuel 7:23
Hebrew Bible
22 Therefore you are great, O Sovereign Lord, for there is none like you. There is no God besides you! What we have heard is true. 23 Who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation on the earth? Their God went to claim a nation for himself and to make a name for himself! You did great and awesome acts for your land, before your people whom you delivered for yourself from the Egyptian empire and its gods. 24 You made Israel your very own people for all time. You, O Lord, became their God.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX 2 Samuel 7:23
Septuagint
22 that he may magnify you, Lord, my Lord; for there is no one like you, and there is no God, but you among all of whom we have heard with our ears. 23 And what other nation in the earth is as your people Israel? whereas God was his guide, to redeem for himself a people to make you a name, to do mightily and nobly, so that you should cast out nations and their tabernacles from the presence of your people, whom you redeemed for yourself out of Egypt? 24 And you have prepared for yourself your people Israel to be a people for ever, and you, Lord, have become their God.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Masoretic text of 2 Samuel 7:23 offers an indefinite reading אלהים whereas the Septuagint clarifies by the article ὁ before θεός that it is the God of Israel, the only one, who leads his people from Egypt. Perhaps already the source text offered האלהים instead of אלהים. Also the Targum clarifies: “And who is like your people Israel, one chosen people in the earth, whom those sent from before the Lord sent to save for him a people… ” ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 72.
* 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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