Texts in Conversation
In Deuteronomy 12, God's name is said to “reside” in a fixed, chosen place. The Greek Septuagint translation changes this to say the place is one where God's name will be “called,” likely to remove the suggestion that God is physically present.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 12:11
Hebrew Bible
10 When you do go across the Jordan River and settle in the land he is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety. 11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing everything I am commanding you—your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, and all your choice votive offerings that you devote to him.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Deuteronomy 12:11
Septuagint
10 And you shall go over Jordan, and shall dwell in the land, which the Lord your God takes as an inheritance for you; and he shall give you rest from all your enemies all around, and you shall dwell safely. 11 And there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose for his name to be called there, there you will bring all things that I order you today; your whole burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the first fruits of your hands, and your gifts, and every choice gift of yours, whatever you shall vow to your God.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In the Septuagint of Deuteronomy, the idea that God let his Name “dwell” in Jerusalem or “puts” his name there, is fundamentally replaced by the formulation “wherever the Lord … may choose for his name to be called there”. Exodus 29:45 served like a role model. According to John William Wevers, the intention of the Septuagint “is the understanding that God’s earthly presence signifies the reality of his invocation”. Perhaps the problem of the Deuteronomistic idea for the translator was not a problem of transcendence, but a problem of logic: what should one thereby understand when saying that the name of God “dwells” somewhere? Probably he meant: the name of God is present by invocation ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 146.
* 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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