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LXX Deuteronomy

Septuagint

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Chapter 18

1 The priests, the Levites, even the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; the burnt offerings of the Lord are their inheritance, they shall eat them. 2 And they shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord himself is his portion, as he said to him. 3 And this is the due of the priests in the things coming from the people from those who offer sacrifices, whether it be a calf or a sheep; and he shall give the shoulder to the priest, and the cheeks, and the great intestine: 4 and the first fruits of your grain, and of your wine, and of your oil; and you shall give to him the first fruits of the fleeces of your sheep:⁠ 5 because the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand before the Lord your God, to minister and bless in his name, himself and his sons among the children of Israel. 6 And if a Levite come from one of your cities of all the children of Israel, where he himself dwells, accordingly as his mind desires, to the place which the Lord shall have chosen, 7 he shall minister to the name of the Lord his God, as all his brothers the Levites, who stand there present before the Lord. 8 He shall eat an allotted portion, besides the sale of his hereditary property. 9 And when you shall have entered into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found in you one who purges his son or his daughter with fire, one who uses divination, who deals with omens, and augury, a sorcerer,⁠ 11 one employing incantation, one who has in him a divining spirit, an observer of signs, questioning the dead. 12 For every one that does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God; for because of these abominations the Lord will destroy them from before your face. 13 You shall be perfect before the Lord your God. 14 For all these nations whose land you shall inherit, they will listen to omens and divinations; but the Lord your God has not permitted you so to do. 15 The Lord your God shall raise up to you a prophet of your brothers, like me; you shall listen to him: 16 according to all things which you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, We will not again hear the voice of the Lord our God, and we will not any more see this great fire, and so we shall not die. 17 And the Lord said to me, They have spoken rightly all that they have said. 18 I will raise up to them a prophet of their brothers, like you;⁠ and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them as I shall command him. 19 And whatever man shall not listen to whatever words that prophet shall speak in my name,⁠ I will take vengeance on him. 20 But the prophet whoever shall impiously speak in my name a word which I have not commanded him to speak, and whoever shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. 21 But if you shall say in your heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? 22 Whatever words that prophet shall speak in the name of the Lord, and they shall not come true, and not come to pass, this is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; that prophet has spoken wickedly: you shall not spare him.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Deuteronomy 18:4 and Didache 13:3

Septuagint · Early Christian

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Summary

The Didache uses the Greek Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 18 to support giving the first share of crops to Christian teachers. It reshapes the commandment about offerings for priests, showing how early Christian tradition adapted the Hebrew Bible.

Passages

LXX Deuteronomy 18:4

Septuagint
2 And they shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord himself is his portion, as he said to him. 3 And this is the due of the priests in the things coming from the people from those who offer sacrifices, whether it be a calf or a sheep; and he shall give the shoulder to the priest, and the cheeks, and the great intestine: 4 and the first fruits of your grain, and of your wine, and of your oil; and you shall give to him the first fruits of the fleeces of your sheep: 5 because the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand before the Lord your God, to minister and bless in his name, himself and his sons among the children of Israel. 6 And if a Levite come from one of your cities of all the children of Israel, where he himself dwells, accordingly as his mind desires, to the place which the Lord shall have chosen,
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Deuteronomy

Didache 13:3

Early Christian
2 Similarly, a genuine teacher is worthy of sustenance, just like any other worker. 3 Therefore, you should offer the first fruits of your wine, grain, oxen, and sheep to the prophets, for they serve as your high priests. 4 If you have no prophets, then give to those in need. 5 When you bake bread, take the first portion and give it in accordance with the commandment. 6 Likewise, when you open a jar of wine or oil, give the first portion to the prophets. 7 With money, clothes, and all your other possessions, take the first portion, and give it as you see fit, in accordance with the commandment.
90–120 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Didache

References

"... In the light of these various senses of ἀπαρχή ('first fruits') in the Bible and in Hellenistic Jewish texts, and given the fact that the Jewish offerings to the priests and the poor (tithes) were still being made after 70, the complexities of the Jewish-Christian ἀπαρχή ('first fruits') of Didache 13:3-7 become easier to understand. Besides the prescriptions, which are analogous to or in imitation of the Jewish regulations, Didache 13:3-7 mentions not only the traditional agricultural products (corn, wine and oil) and animals (sheep and cattle), but also money, clothing and possessions of every kind (verse 7). The Didache speaks of all these as being κατὰ τὴν ἐντολήν ('according to the commandment'), although the latter categories are not mentioned in the Torah. It appears, however, that the custom of paying the priestly offering and tithes on all possessions - although never really widespread and common in the first century CE (and even later) - was confined to those who were particularly strict and pious Jews and belonged to religious associations. These associations drew their members above all from among the Pharisees, such as the Pharisee of the parable (Luke 18:9-14a) who boasts: “I give a tenth of what I purchase” (verse 12). It is probably they who originated the post-Torah expansions and elaborations of tithing and of other offerings. The Jewish-Christian ἀπαρχή ('first fruits') of Didache 13:7, destined for the prophets or (in their absence) the poor, seems to reflect these Jewish practices ..."
Marcello Del Verme, Didache and Judaism Jewish Roots of an Ancient Christian-Jewish Work (London: T&T Clark International, 2004), 169–170.

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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LXX Deuteronomy 18:4 and Didache 13:3

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