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LXX 1 Chronicles

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 10

1 Now the Philistines warred against Israel; and they fled from before the Philistines, and fell down dead in mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines pursued after Saul, and after his sons; and the Philistines struck Jonathan, and Amminadab, and Malchi-Shua, sons of Saul. 3 And the battle prevailed against Saul, and the archers hit him with bows and arrows, and he was wounded by the bows. 4 And Saul said to his armor-bearer, Draw your sword, and pierce me through with it, for fear that these uncircumcised might come and mock me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid: so Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. 5 And his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, and he also fell upon his sword, and died. 6 So Saul died, and his three sons on that day, and all his family died at the same time. 7 And all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, and they left their cities, and fled: and the Philistines came and lived in them. 8 And it happened on the next day that the Philistines came to strip those killed, and they found Saul and his sons fallen on mount Gilboa. 9 And they stripped him, and took his head, and his armor, and sent them into the land of the Philistines all around, to proclaim the glad news to their idols, and to the people. 10 And they put his armor in the house of their god, and they put his head in the house of Dagon. 11 And all the dwellers in Gilead heard of all that the Philistines had done to Saul and to Israel. 12 And all the mighty men rose up from Gilead, and they took the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. 13 So Saul died in his lawless deeds,⁠ in which he acted lawlessly against the Lord, against the word of the Lord, since he did not keep it, because Saul inquired of a wizard to seek counsel, and Samuel the prophet answered him: 14 and he did not seek the Lord: so he killed him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Chronicles 10:13 and LXX 1 Chronicles 10:13

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

1 Chronicles 10 explains Saul’s death as the result of specific acts of unfaithfulness, such as his attempt to summon underworld spirits. The Greek Septuagint changes it to refer to a more general description of Saul's failure to obey the Torah.

Passages

1 Chronicles 10:13

Hebrew Bible
12 all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days. 13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits. 14 He did not seek the Lord’s guidance, so the Lord killed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.
400–301 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Chronicles

LXX 1 Chronicles 10:13

Septuagint
12 And all the mighty men rose up from Gilead, and they took the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. 13 So Saul died in his lawless deeds, in which he acted lawlessly against the Lord, against the word of the Lord, since he did not keep it, because Saul inquired of a wizard to seek counsel, and Samuel the prophet answered him: 14 and he did not seek the Lord: so he killed him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX 1 Chronicles

References

"... we would like to look at one instance of change in noun number. It is clear the translator is generally consistent in this regard. That makes the change in 10:13 stand out all the more. Here the narrator interprets the reason for Saul's death ... Note that the object of the preposition is in the singular. The Hebrew writer goes on to identify the single event which he had in mind. The Greek translator presents the phrase in this way ... Here the object of the prepositional phrase is plural. The implication is that the unfaithfulness of Saul is not tied to a singular event but to a stream of unfaithfulness which characterized his life. In the expansion, the incident at Endor is mentioned as an illustration of a larger pattern of life ..."
John A. Beck, Translators as Storytellers: A Study in Septuagint Translation Technique, StBibLit 25 (New York: Peter Lang, 2000), 49.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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