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LXX Exodus

Septuagint

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Chapter 24

1 And to Moses he said, Go up to the Lord, you and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: and they shall worship the Lord from a distance. 2 And Moses alone shall draw near to God; and they shall not draw near, and the people shall not come up with them. 3 And Moses went in and related to the people all the words of God and the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, saying, All the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do and be obedient. 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and set up twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent forth the young men of the children of Israel, and they offered whole burnt offerings, and they sacrificed young calves as a peace-offering to God. 6 And Moses took half the blood and poured it into bowls, and half the blood he poured out upon the altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the ears of the people, and they said, All things whatever the Lord has spoken we will do and listen.⁠ 8 And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and said, Look at the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words. 9 And Moses went up, and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. 10 And they saw the place where the God of Israel stood;⁠ and under his feet was as it were a work of sapphire slabs, and as it were the appearance of the firmament of heaven in its purity. 11 And of the chosen ones of Israel there was not even one missing, and they appeared in the place of God, and ate and drank. 12 And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me into the mountain, and be there; and I will give you the tables of stone, the law and the commandments, which I have written to give them laws. 13 And Moses rose up and Joshua his attendant, and they went up into the mount of God. 14 And to the elders they said, Rest there till we return to you; and look, Aaron and Or are with you: if any man has a cause to be tried, let them go to them. 15 And Moses and Joshua went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 And the glory of God came down upon the mount Sinai,⁠ and the cloud covered it six days; and the Lord called Moses on the seventh day out of the midst of the cloud. 17 And the appearance of the glory of the Lord was as burning fire on the top of the mountain, before the children of Israel. 18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and went up to the mountain, and was there in the mountain forty days and forty nights.

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Compare Exodus 24:10 and LXX Exodus 24:10

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Exodus 24 says Moses and the elders saw God and ate a meal, describing God with a body. The Greek Septuagint changes it to say they saw the “place” where God was to avoid saying that God was seen and harmonizing it with earlier warnings about seeing God.

Passages

Exodus 24:10

Hebrew Bible
8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of blue sapphire, clear like the sky itself. 11 But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank. 12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

LXX Exodus 24:10

Septuagint
8 And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and said, Look at the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words. 9 And Moses went up, and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. 10 And they saw the place where the God of Israel stood; and under his feet was as it were a work of sapphire slabs, and as it were the appearance of the firmament of heaven in its purity. 11 And of the chosen ones of Israel there was not even one missing, and they appeared in the place of God, and ate and drank. 12 And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me into the mountain, and be there; and I will give you the tables of stone, the law and the commandments, which I have written to give them laws.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Exodus

References

"... In the closing scene of the Sinai narrative, Moses and a group of priests and elders experience a visio Dei and eat and drink on the mountaintop (Exodus 24:9-11). The Masoretic text indicates twice that they actually 'see God' (verse 10, 11), with no further explanation. Along with several other departures from a strictly literal translation, the LXX reports instead that they see God's 'place' ... It is not uncommon for the LXX to render active Hebrew verbs as passive and vice versa. In this case, however, a theological element is at stake. Even in the Masoretic text, some occurrences seem to be forms originally intended as qal ('to see') but later vocalized as niphal ('to appear') to attenuate the idea of humans seeing God. Point 7 not only tones down the idea of seeing God, but also avoids any possible contradiction with Torah commands and harmonizes 24:11 with its literary context. Earlier in the Sinai narrative, Moses is told that he must warn the people not to try to look at God, or else many will perish (19:21) ..."
Eric John Wyckoff, “When Does Translation Become Exegesis? Exodus 24:9–11 in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint,” CBQ 74 (2012): 675–693.

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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