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LXX Genesis

Septuagint

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Chapter 2

1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and the whole world of them. 2 And God finished⁠ on the⁠ sixth day his works⁠ which he made, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his works which he made.⁠ 3 And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he ceased from all his works which God began to do. 4 This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when they were made, in the day in which God made the heaven and the earth, 5 and every herb of the field before it was on the earth, and all the grass of the field before it sprang up, for God had not rained on the earth, and there was not a man to cultivate it. 6 But there rose a fountain out of the earth, and watered the whole face of the earth. 7 And God formed the man of dust of the earth,⁠ and breathed upon his face the breath of life,⁠ and the man became a living soul. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and placed there the man whom he had formed. 9 And God made to spring up also out of the earth every tree beautiful to the eye and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of learning the knowledge of good and evil. 10 And a river proceeds out of Eden to water the garden, from there it divides itself into four heads. 11 The name of the one, Pishon, this it is which encircles the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good, there also is carbuncle and emerald. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon, this it is which encircles the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 And the third river is Tigris, this is that which flows forth over against the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates. 15 And the Lord God took the man whom he had formed, and placed him in the garden, to cultivate and keep it. 16 And the Lord God gave a charge to Adam, saying, Of every tree which is in the garden you may freely eat, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat, but in whatever day you eat of it, you shall surely die. 18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone, let us make for him a help suitable to him.⁠ 19 And God formed yet farther out of the earth all the wild beasts of the field, and all the birds of the sky, and he brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them, and whatever Adam called any living creature, that was the name of it. 20 And Adam gave names to all the cattle and to all the birds of the sky, and to all the wild beasts of the field, but for Adam there was not found a help like to himself. 21 And God brought a trance upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and filled up the flesh instead of it. 22 And the Lord God formed the rib which he took from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam. 23 And Adam said, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of her husband. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.⁠ 25 And the two were naked, both Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 2:2 and LXX Genesis 2:2 and Genesis Rabbah 10:9

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint · Rabbinic

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Summary

Genesis says God finished his work “on the seventh day,” language that can be interpreted to say God worked on the Sabbath. The Greek Septuagint, Samaritan Pentateuch, and Peshitta change it to “on the sixth day,” to avoid that possible interpretation.

Passages

Genesis 2:2

Hebrew Bible
1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

LXX Genesis 2:2

Septuagint
1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and the whole world of them. 2 And God finished on the sixth day his works which he made, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his works which he made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he ceased from all his works which God began to do.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

Genesis Rabbah 10:9

Rabbinic · Aggadah
Geniva and the Rabbis, Geniva said: This is analogous to a king who made himself a wedding canopy, painted it and embossed it. What was it lacking? A bride [kalla] to enter it. So, too, what was the world lacking? Shabbat. The Rabbis say: This is analogous to a king for whom they crafted a signet ring. What was lacking? The seal. So, too, what was the world lacking? Shabbat. This is one of the matters that they changed for King Ptolemy – [they wrote] “God completed on the sixth day…and He rested on the seventh day.” King Ptolemy once asked the rabbis in Rome: ‘In how many days did the Holy One blessed be He create His world?’ They said to him: ‘In six days.’ He said to them: ‘And ever since that time, Gehenna has been burning for the wicked? Woe to the world from its judgments.’ “His labor” – did Rabbi Berekhya not say this in the name of Rabbi Simon: It was not with toil and not with exertion that the Holy One blessed be He created His world. And you say “from all His labor”? This is bewildering. The explanation is that it is to exact retribution against the wicked, who demolish the world [as if it were] all created with toil and with exertion, and to grant a reward to the righteous, who sustain the world [as if it were] all created with toil and with exertion.
500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis Rabbah

References

"... An interesting exegetical example concerns Genesis 2:2, where the Hebrew reads, "On the seventh day God ended his work." In contrast the Greek version (and the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Peshitta, and the Genesis Midrash) reads, "On the sixth day God ended his work." The Hebrew expression could be construed to mean that God actually did some work on the seventh day before he rested, Because of the importance of this passage for Sabbath-keeping, this point apparently was argued and settled among Jewish exegetes, so texts subsequent to that exegetical discussion were reworded to avoid suggesting that God created anything on the seventh day. The cessation of work on the sixth day is meant to indicate that God may have worked right up to the last moment before the seventh day, but ceased his work as soon as the seventh day had begun. This is an example where the Greek translator apparently chose not to follow the Hebrew text, but to make his translation consistent with the traditional exegesis of the law ..."
Karen H. Jobes and Moisés Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2000), 98.

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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Genesis 2:2 and LXX Genesis 2:2 and Genesis Rabbah 10:9

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