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LXX Exodus

Septuagint

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Chapter 17

1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the wilderness of Sin, according to their encampments, by the word of the Lord; and they encamped in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 And the people reviled Moses, saying, Give us water, that we may drink; and Moses said to them, Why do you revile me, and why do you test the Lord? 3 And the people thirsted there for water, and there the people murmured against Moses, saying, Why is this? have you brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4 And Moses cried to the Lord, saying, What shall I do to this people? yet a little while and they will stone me. 5 And the Lord said to Moses, Go before this people, and take to yourself of the elders of the people; and the rod with which you struck the river, take in your hand, and you shall go. 6 Look, I stand there before you come, on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out from it, and my people shall drink. And Moses did so before the sons of Israel. 7 And he called the name of that place, Temptation, and Reviling, because of the reviling of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? 8 And Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, Choose out for yourself mighty men, and go forth and set the army in array against Amalek tomorrow; and, look, I shall stand on the top of the hill, and the rod of God will be in my hand. 10 And Joshua did as Moses said to him, and he went out and set the army in array against Amalek, and Moses and Aaron and Or went up to the top of the hill. 11 And it happened, when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hands, Amalek prevailed. 12 But the hands of Moses were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it; and Aaron and Or supported his hands one on this side and the other on that, and the hands of Moses were supported till the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua routed Amalek and all his people with the slaughter of the sword. 14 And the Lord said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and speak this in the ears of Joshua; for I will utterly blot out the memorial of Amalek from under heaven. 15 And Moses built an altar to the Lord, and called the name of it, The Lord my Refuge. 16 For with a secret hand the Lord wages war upon Amalek⁠ to all generations.

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Compare Exodus 17:16 and LXX Exodus 17:16

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

The Hebrew version of Exodus shows Moses raise a hand toward the throne of God in an oath of war against Amalek. The Greek Septuaint reads the same difficult word as ‘hidden,’ so God instead fights Amalek with a secret hand.

Passages

Exodus 17:16

Hebrew Bible
13 So Joshua destroyed Amalek and his army with the sword. 14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in Joshua’s hearing; for I will surely blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 Moses built an altar, and he called it “The Lord is my Banner,” 16 for he said, “For a hand was lifted up to the throne of the Lord—that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

LXX Exodus 17:16

Septuagint
13 And Joshua routed Amalek and all his people with the slaughter of the sword. 14 And the Lord said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and speak this in the ears of Joshua; for I will utterly blot out the memorial of Amalek from under heaven. 15 And Moses built an altar to the Lord, and called the name of it, The Lord my Refuge. 16 For with a secret hand the Lord wages war upon Amalek to all generations.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Exodus

References

... For example, the Greek of Exodus 17:16 provided an opportunity for patristic theologians to develop an important aspect of their Logos’ doctrine. The Hebrew text can be translated as following: ‘and he [i.e. Moses] said: “for a hand [is] against the throne of Yah (kes yah), war for YHWH with Amalek from generation to generation”’. The Hebrew kes is a hapax and is often said to be identical to kisse’ (throne). But various emendations have been suggested. The Septuagint does not have the introductory ‘and he said’ and reads: ‘For, with a hidden (κρυφαία) hand, the Lord makes war against Amalek from generation to generation.’ Instead of kes yah, it seems that the translators read kesuyah, from the root k-s-h, ‘to hide’. The ‘hidden hand’ is specific to the Septuagint. Justin identifies it with God’s Son (Dialogue with Trypho 19, 8). ...
Gilles Dorival, The Septuagint from Alexandria to Constantinople: Canon, New Testament, Church Fathers, Catenae (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021), 130.

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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