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LXX Exodus

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 15

1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to God, and spoke, saying, Let us sing to the Lord, for he is very greatly glorified: horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 He was to me a helper and protector for salvation: this is my God and I will glorify him; my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord crushing wars, the Lord is his name.⁠ 4 He has cast the chariots of Pharaoh and his host into the sea, the chosen mounted captains: they were swallowed up in the Red Sea. 5 He covered them with the sea: they sank to the depth like a stone. 6 Your right hand, Lord, has been glorified in strength; your right hand, Lord, has broken the enemies. 7 And in the abundance of your glory you have broken the adversaries to pieces: you sent forth your fierce anger, it devoured them as stubble. 8 And by the breath of your anger the water parted; the waters were congealed as a wall, the waves were congealed in the midst of the sea. 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the captured goods; I will satisfy my soul, I will destroy with my sword, my hand shall have dominion. 10 You sent forth your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty water. 11 Who is like you among the gods, Lord? who is like you? glorified in holiness, marvelous in glories, doing wonders. 12 You stretched forth your right hand, the earth swallowed them up. 13 You have guided in your righteousness this your people whom you have redeemed, by your strength you have called them into your holy resting-place. 14 The nations heard and were angry, pangs have seized on the dwellers among the Philistines. 15 Then the princes of Edom, and the chiefs of the Moabites hastened; trembling took hold upon them, all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. 16 Let trembling and fear fall upon them; by the greatness of your arm, let them become as stone; till your people pass over, Lord, till this your people pass over, whom you have purchased. 17 Bring them in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in your prepared habitation, which you, Lord, have prepared; the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have made ready. 18 The Lord reigns for ever and ever and ever. 19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with the chariots and horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought upon them the water of the sea, but the children of Israel walked through dry land in the midst of the sea. 20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and there went forth all the women after her with timbrels and dances. 21 And Miriam led them, saying, Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been very greatly glorified: the horse and rider he has cast into the sea. 22 So Moses brought up the children of Israel from the Red Sea, and brought them into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water to drink. 23 and they came to Marah, and could not drink of Marah, for it was bitter; therefore the name of that place was called Bitterness. 24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 And Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the water, and the water was sweetened: there he established for him ordinances and judgments, and there he tested him, 26 and said, If you will indeed hear the voice of the Lord your God, and do things pleasing before him, and will listen to his commands, and keep all his ordinances, no disease which I have brought upon the Egyptians I will bring upon you, for I am the Lord your God that heals you. 27 And they came to Elim, and there were there twelve fountains of water, and seventy stems of palm-trees;⁠ and they encamped there by the waters.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Exodus 15:3 and Judith 16:2

Septuagint · Deuterocanon

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Summary

Judith demonstrates a direct dependence on the Greek Septuagint version of Exodus 15 by quoting God as the one "who shatters wars" instead of the Hebrew Bible’s "man of war," using the Septuagint's theologically motivated change in the text.

Passages

LXX Exodus 15:3

Septuagint
1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to God, and spoke, saying, Let us sing to the Lord, for he is very greatly glorified: horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 He was to me a helper and protector for salvation: this is my God and I will glorify him; my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord crushing wars, the Lord is his name. 4 He has cast the chariots of Pharaoh and his host into the sea, the chosen mounted captains: they were swallowed up in the Red Sea. 5 He covered them with the sea: they sank to the depth like a stone.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Exodus

Judith 16:2

Deuterocanon
1 Judith said, “Begin a song to my God with timbrels. Sing to my Lord with cymbals. Make melody to him with psalm and praise. Exalt him, and call upon his name. 2 For the Lord is the God that crushes battles. For in his armies in the midst of the people, he delivered me out of the hand of those who persecuted me. 3 Asshur came out of the mountains from the north. He came with ten thousands of his army. Its multitude stopped the torrents. Their horsemen covered the hills. 4 He said that he would burn up my borders, kill my young men with the sword, throw my nursing children to the ground, give my infants up as prey, and make my virgins a plunder.
100 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Judith

References

"... The final and perhaps most powerful argument in favor of a Greek original for Judith rests on the author’s use of biblical quotations from the Septuagint. The Book of Judith is filled with allusions to biblical scenes, characters, and phrases. There are many quotations, or near quotations, from the Bible, and these biblical citations and quotations almost invariably derive from the LXX rather than the MT. Here we must distinguish between those cases where the Septuagint version of a biblical phrase is a literal translation of the original Hebrew text, and those where the Greek version differs considerably from the original MT. In the first instance, we cannot be certain which version underlies a biblical echo in Judith, but several citations found in Judith clearly stem from the Septuagint, since the cited LXX version differs considerably from the Hebrew. These LXX variants are often better suited to the story of Judith than the MT versions. Judith alludes to the Song of the Sea in both her prayer and her victory hymn, and one of her direct “quotations” is taken from the LXX of Exodus 15:3 where God is said to shatter wars, rather than the Masoretic text where God is a “man of war” ..."
Deborah Levine Gera, Judith (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014), 89.

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 Exodus 15:3 and Judith 16:2

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