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1 Samuel 9 describes Samuel at a sacrificial meal at a “high place,” a term that elsewhere depicts invalid worship. To avoid this negative image, the Greek Septuagint translator does not translate it and treats it like a place named “Bamah.”
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Samuel 9:12
Hebrew Bible
11 As they were going up the ascent to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water. They said to them, “Is this where the seer is?” 12 They replied, “Yes, straight ahead! But hurry now, for he came to the town today, and the people are making a sacrifice at the high place. 13 When you enter the town, you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Once that happens, those who have been invited will eat. Now go on up, for this is the time when you can find him.”
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX 1 Samuel 9:12
Septuagint
11 As they went up the ascent to the city, they find virgins who had come out to draw water, and they say to them, Is the seer here? 12 And the virgins answered them, and they say to them, He is: look, he is before you: now he is coming to the city, because of the day, for today there is a sacrifice for the people in Bamah. 13 As soon as you enter into the city, so you shall find him in the city, before he goes up to Bamah to eat; for the people will not eat until he comes in, for he blesses the sacrifice, and afterwards the guests eat; now then go up, for you shall find him because of the holiday.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... According to the Masoretic text of 1 Samuel 9:12, Samuel attends a feast of sacrificing at a במה ('high place'). This smacks of idolatry. Therefore, the translator of the Septuagint transliterates this word and interprets it as toponym (“Bama”) whereas the Targumist renders it as “house of feasting” ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 77.
* 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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