Texts in Conversation
Exodus 19 says Moses went up to God, suggesting God was on the mountain. The Greek Septuagint changes this to Moses going up “the mountain of God,” and has God speak from heaven, following a Septuagint pattern that avoids people meeting God directly.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 19:3
Hebrew Bible
2 After they journeyed from Rephidim, they came to the desert of Sinai, and they camped in the desert; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 3 Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, “Thus you will tell the house of Jacob, and declare to the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Exodus 19:3
Septuagint
2 And they departed from Rephidim, and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and there Israel encamped before the mountain. 3 And Moses went up to the mount of God, and God called him [from heaven], saying, These things you will say to the house of Jacob, and you shall report them to the children of Israel. 4 You have seen all that I have done to the Egyptians, and I took you up as upon eagles' wings, and I brought you near to myself.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Other translators perhaps distinguished between God’s appearance, on the one hand, and humans actually seeing God, on the other. In the first case, God remains the very subject of activity; in the second case, there may be an illegitimate human crossing of boundaries. In Genesis 12:7, “and the Lord appeared to Abram” is rendered faithfully (“and the Lord appeared to Abram”) whereas the translator of Exodus diverges from his source text in Exodus 19:3; 24:10, 11; 34:24. In the Septuagint of Psalms, the concept of “seeing God” is replaced by the concept of humans appearing before God (e.g., Psalm 16:5; 41:3; 62:3) ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 16.
* 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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