Texts in Conversation
The Greek Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 34 adds “on the Jordan across from Jericho,” connecting Moses’s death with other moments in the Torah and harmonizing Deuteronomy with the geography and narrative of the earlier books.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 34:8
Hebrew Bible
7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull nor had his vitality departed. 8 The Israelites mourned for Moses in the rift valley plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of mourning for Moses ended. 9 Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had placed his hands on him; and the Israelites listened to him and did just what the Lord had commanded Moses.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Deuteronomy 34:8
Septuagint
7 And Moses was one hundred and twenty years old at his death; his eyes were not dimmed, nor were his natural powers destroyed. 8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in Arabah of Moab at Jordan near Jericho thirty days; and the days of the sad mourning for Moses were completed. 9 And Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of knowledge, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel listened to him; and they did as the Lord commanded Moses.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In Deuteronomy 34:8, the Septuagint plus “on the Jordan across from Jericho” has parallels in Numbers 26:3, 63; 31:12; 33:48; and 36:13 and can be understood as an alignment with the stereotyped phrase “in the plains of Moab on the Jordan across from Jericho” in the final third of the book of Numbers. In this case, the LXX of Deuteronomy 34 reflects what could be called a “Pentateuch-oriented variant.” A similar “Pentateuch-oriented variant” is found in verse 9 in the Samaritan Pentateuch ..."
Stephen Germany, “The Attestation of the Book-Seam between Deuteronomy and Joshua in the Early Textual Witnesses,” in Book-Seams in the Hexateuch I: The Literary Transitions between the Books of Genesis/Exodus and Joshua/Judges, ed. Christoph Berner and Harald Samuel (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018), 103–120.
* 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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