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LXX Deuteronomy

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 33

1 And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said, The Lord has come from Sinai, and has appeared from Seir to us, and has hastened out of the mount of Paran, with the ten thousands of Kadesh; on his right hand were his angels with him.⁠ 3 And he spared his people, and all his sanctified ones are under your hands;⁠ and they are under you; and he received of his words 4 the law which Moses charged us, an inheritance to the assemblies of Jacob.⁠ 5 And he shall be prince with the beloved one, when the princes of the people are gathered together with the tribes of Israel. 6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let him be many in number. 7 And this is the blessing of Judah; Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and may they come in to his people: his hands shall contend for him, and you shall be a help from his enemies. 8 And to Levi he said, Give to Levi his manifestations, and his truth to the holy man, whom they tested in the testing; they reviled him at the water of strife. 9 Who says to his father and mother, I have not seen you; and he did not know his brothers, and he refused to know his sons: he kept your oracles, and observed your covenant. 10 They shall declare your ordinances to Jacob, and your law to Israel: they shall place incense in the time of your fierce anger continually upon your altar. 11 Bless, Lord, his strength, and accept the works of his hands; break the lower back of his enemies that have risen up against him, and let not those who hate him rise up. 12 And to Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in confidence, and God overshadows him always, and he rested between his shoulders. 13 And to Joseph he said, His land is of the blessing of the Lord, of the seasons of sky and dew, and of the deeps of wells below, 14 and of the fruits of the changes of the sun in season, and of the produce of the months, 15 from the top of the ancient mountains, and from the top of the everlasting hills, 16 and of the fullness of the land in season: and let the things pleasing to him who appeared in the bush⁠ come on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of him who was glorified above his brothers. 17 His beauty is as the firstling of his bull, his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them he shall thrust the nations at once, even from the end of the earth: these are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and these are the thousands of Manasseh. 18 And to Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar in his tents. 19 They shall utterly destroy the nations, and you shall call men there, and there offer the sacrifice of righteousness; for the wealth of the sea shall suckle you, and so the markets of those who dwell by the sea-coast will. 20 And to Gad he said, May the one who enlarges Gad be blessed: as a lion he rested, having broken the arm and the ruler. 21 And he saw his first fruits, that there the land of the princes gathered with the chiefs of the people was divided; the Lord performed righteousness, and his judgment with Israel. 22 And to Dan he said, Dan is a lion's cub, and shall leap out of Bashan. 23 And to Naphtali he said, Naphtali has the fulness of good things; and let him be filled with blessing from the Lord: he shall inherit the west and the south. 24 And to Asher he said, Asher is blessed with children; and he shall be acceptable to his brothers: he shall dip his foot in oil. 25 His sandal shall be iron and brass; as your days, so shall be your strength. 26 There is not any such as the God of the beloved; he who rides upon the heaven is your helper, and the magnificent One of the firmament. 27 And the rule of God shall protect you, and that under the strength of the everlasting arms; and he shall cast forth the enemy from before your face, saying, Perish. 28 And Israel shall dwell in confidence alone on the land of Jacob, with grain and wine; and the sky shall be misty with dew upon him. 29 You are blessed, Israel; who is like you, people saved by the Lord? your helper shall hold his shield over you, and his sword is your boast; and your enemies shall speak falsely to you, and you shall tread upon their neck.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Deuteronomy 33:4 and Sirach 24:23

Septuagint · Deuterocanon

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Summary

Sirach 24 includes a quote of the Greek Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 33, showing that its author treated this version as scripture. The Torah was not only in use but its Greek translations were gaining recognition as authoritative.

Passages

LXX Deuteronomy 33:4

Septuagint
2 And he said, The Lord has come from Sinai, and has appeared from Seir to us, and has hastened out of the mount of Paran, with the ten thousands of Kadesh; on his right hand were his angels with him. 3 And he spared his people, and all his sanctified ones are under your hands; and they are under you; and he received of his words 4 the law which Moses charged us, an inheritance to the assemblies of Jacob. 5 And he shall be prince with the beloved one, when the princes of the people are gathered together with the tribes of Israel. 6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let him be many in number.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Deuteronomy

Sirach 24:23

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
22 He who obeys me will not be ashamed. Those who work with me will not sin.” 23 All these things are the book of the covenant of the Most High God, the law which Moses commanded us for an inheritance for the assemblies of Jacob. 25 It is he who makes wisdom abundant, as Pishon, and as Tigris in the days of first fruits. 26 He makes understanding full as the Euphrates, and as the Jordan in the days of harvest, 27 who makes instruction shine forth as the light, as Gihon in the days of vintage.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

References

"... Scholars have identified Ben Sira’s scriptural corpus as some unified form of at least the Torah and Prophets. Ben Sira frequently mentions the term Law to refer to divine commandments generally (Sirach 32:24; 33:2; 41:8). Nevertheless, throughout his book he at times refers to νόμος ('law') to indicate a specific writing that he considered to be divine Scripture: All these things are the book of the covenant of the Most High God, the law that Moses commanded as an inheritance for the congregation of Jacob. (Sirach 24:23) While Ben Sira elsewhere refers generally to the Mosaic covenant linked to a law of the Most High (Sirach 42:2; 44:20), here he makes explicit that this law is linked to an explicit book. This book is some early version of the Hebrew Pentateuch. This reliance on a version of the Mosaic Torah is strengthened by the fact that Sirach 24:23 appears to be an almost verbatim citation of LXX Deuteronomy 33:4. While one cannot know the exact text-form used by Ben Sira, this indicates that there was a written form of the Mosaic Torah/Law that was regarded as scriptural or authoritative for the children of Israel ..."
Peter Beckman, “Ben Sira’s Canon Conscious Interpretive Strategies: His Narrative History and Realization of the Jewish Scriptures,” Them 46.3 (2021): 562–575.

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 33:4 and Sirach 24:23

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