Texts in Conversation
In Deuteronomy 4, Moses forbids Israel to add to or take from God's commands, a warning about obedience. The Letter of Aristeas uses the same language for a curse on anyone who alters the Greek translation, so the concern becomes the exact text.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 4:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am delivering to you. 3 You have witnessed what the Lord did at Baal Peor, how he eradicated from your midst everyone who followed Baal Peor. 4 But you who remained faithful to the Lord your God are still alive to this very day, every one of you.
Letter of Aristeas 1:311
Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
After the books had been read, the priests and the elders of the translators and the Jewish community and the leaders of the people stood up and said, that since so excellent and sacred and accurate a translation had been made, it was only right that it should remain as it was and no alteration should be made in it. And when the whole company expressed their approval, they told them to pronounce a curse in accordance with their custom on anyone who should make any alteration either by adding anything or changing in any way whatever any of the words which had been written or making any omission. This was a very wise precaution to ensure that the book might be preserved for all the future time unchanged.
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Notes and References
“... In addition to the community approval and acceptance of the translation as authoritative and binding on the Alexandrian Jewish community, § 311 repeats that everyone agreed to everything that had been said, but now there is the futher addition of a curse against anyone who might alter the text in any way. As almost every scholar of Aristeas has recognized, Moses’ command in Deut 4:2 likely stands behind this injunction not to make changes to the translation: “You shall not add to the word I command you, and you shall not take away from it. Keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I command you today” (NETS). Giuseppe Veltri notes the meaning shifts between the two texts. The passage in Deuteronomy focuses on observance of the Torah, whereas Aristeas focuses on the inviolability of the text. ...”
Wright, Benjamin G., III
The Letter of Aristeas: ‘Aristeas to Philocrates’ or ‘On the Translation of the Law of the Jews’
(p. 444) De Gruyter, 2015
* 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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