Texts in Conversation
Leviticus 4 describes one priest burning a bull’s remains outside the camp. The Greek Septuagint and Samaritan versions change this to multiple priests, trying to harmonize an older tradition to match later traditions of shared priestly duties.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Leviticus 4:12
Hebrew Bible
11 But the hide of the bull, all its flesh along with its head and its legs, its entrails, and its dung— 12 all the rest of the bull—he must bring outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place, to the fatty-ash pile, and he must burn it on a wood fire; it must be burned on the fatty-ash pile. 13 “‘If the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter is not noticed by the assembly, and they violate one of the Lord’s commandments, which must not be violated, so they become guilty,
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Leviticus 4:12
Septuagint
11 And they shall take the skin of the calf, and all his flesh with the head and the extremities and the belly and the dung, 12 and they shall carry out the whole calf out of the camp into a clean place, where they pour out the ashes, and they shall consume it there on wood with fire: it shall be burnt on the ashes poured out. 13 And if the whole congregation of Israel trespass ignorantly, and a thing should escape the notice of the congregation, and they should do one thing forbidden of any of the commands of the Lord, which ought not to be done, and should transgress:
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The plural, read in the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch, is a clear theological correction: likely, both texts were concerned about the idea of a single act being performed solely by the high priest. The Masoretic Text must be understood either in the sense that the act is carried out under his supervision or in the sense that the ritual derives from a period where the "priest-officiant" was not yet the inaccessible figure typical of postexilic worship. The peculiarity of the terminology ("clean place" - verses 4, 16) could suggest the preservation of an archaic element. In this case, the change was already present in the Vorlage of the Septuagint ..."
Giorgio Paximadi, “Entre variantes et interprétations. Corruption textuelle ou exégèse dans le texte de la Septante du Lévitique ?” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 133–148.
* 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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