Go to Related Reading
About this book

LXX Genesis

Septuagint

About this book
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 LXX Genesis 2:2 and Jubilees 2:16

Septuagint · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

Share:

Summary

The Greek translation of Genesis says God finished creating on the sixth day, where the Hebrew has the seventh day and seems to imply work took place on the Sabbath. Jubilees follows the Septuagint reading, placing the end of creation before the sabbath.

Passages

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

Jubilees 2:16

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
15 And there were altogether twenty-two kinds. 16 And He finished all his work on the sixth day — all that is in the heavens and on the earth, and in the seas and in the abysses, and in the light and in the darkness, and in everything. 17 And He gave us a great sign, the Sabbath day, that we should work six days, but keep Sabbath on the seventh day from all work.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

... The variant of the Greek and other witnesses against the Hebrew Masoretic reading of God's conclusion of creation on the seventh day is considered to be the first of the "Key Text Critical Issues" regarding the Septuagint in all known manuscripts, especially given an analogous variant in the Samaritan Pentateuch. God finished his works of creation on the sixth day, says one tradition. It is not only found in the Greek and Samaritan manuscripts, but also in Old Latin, the Syriac Peshitta, the accounts of the creation in the Ethiopic book of Jubilees (see 2.1), and in Josephus (Antiquities 1.33): God completed all his deeds of creation on the sixth day, not on the seventh. ...
Veit Dinkelaker, “Marginal Notes on a Peculiar Variant in Samaritan, Greek, and Other Manuscripts,” in Yahwistic Diversity and the Hebrew Bible: Tracing Perspectives of Group Identity from Judah, Samaria, and the Diaspora in Biblical Traditions, ed. Benedikt Hensel, Dany Nocquet, and Bartosz Adamczewski, Forschungen zum Alten Testament, 2. Reihe (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020), 284.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

LXX Genesis 2:2 and Jubilees 2:16

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library