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LXX Genesis

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 3

1 Now the serpent was the wisest of all the brutes on the earth, which the Lord God made,⁠ and the serpent said to the woman, Why has God said, Do not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, for fear that you might die. 4 And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die. 5 For God knew that in whatever day you should eat of it your eyes would be opened, and you would be as gods,⁠ knowing good and evil. 6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes to look upon and beautiful to contemplate, and having taken of its fruit she ate, and she gave to her husband also with her, and they ate. 7 And the eyes of both were opened, and they perceived that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons to go round them. 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the afternoon; and both Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God in the midst of the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called Adam and said to him,⁠ Adam, where are you? 10 And he said to him, I heard your voice as you walked in the garden, and I feared because I was naked and I hid myself. 11 And he said to him, Who told you that you were naked, unless you have eaten of the tree concerning which I charged you of it alone not to eat? 12 And Adam said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate. 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, Why have you done this? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate. 14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this you are cursed above all cattle and all the brutes of the earth, on your breast and belly you shall go, and you shall eat earth all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed, he shall watch against your head, and you shall watch against his heel.⁠ 16 And to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pains and your groanings; in pain you shall bring forth children, and your return shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.⁠ 17 And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and eaten of the tree concerning which I charged you of it only not to eat, cursed is the ground in your labors,⁠ in pain shall you eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you will eat your bread until you return to the earth out of which you were taken, for earth you are and to earth you shall return. 20 And Adam called the name of his wife Life,⁠ because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin, and clothed them. 22 And God said, Look, Adam has become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now for fear that at any time he stretch forth his hand, and take of the tree of life and eat, and so he shall live forever... 23 So the Lord God sent him forth out of the garden of Delight⁠ to cultivate the ground out of which he was taken. 24 And he cast out Adam and caused him to dwell over against the garden of Delight,⁠ and stationed the cherubs and the fiery sword that turns about⁠ to keep the way of the tree of life.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Genesis 3:24 and LXX Isaiah 58:13

Septuagint

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Summary

The Greek Septuagint calls Eden the “orchard of delight,” and Isaiah 58 uses the same Greek word to describe the Sabbath as a day of “delight.” The Isaiah translator likely drew on the earlier Greek translation of Genesis.

Passages

LXX Genesis 3:24

Septuagint
22 And God said, Look, Adam has become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now for fear that at any time he stretch forth his hand, and take of the tree of life and eat, and so he shall live forever... 23 So the Lord God sent him forth out of the garden of Delight to cultivate the ground out of which he was taken. 24 And he cast out Adam and caused him to dwell over against the garden of Delight, and stationed the cherubs and the fiery sword that turns about to keep the way of the tree of life.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

LXX Isaiah 58:13

Septuagint
12 And your old waste desert places shall be built up, and your foundations shall last through all generations; and you shall be called a repairer of breaches, and you shall cause your paths between to be in peace. 13 If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, so as not to do your pleasure on the holy days, and shall call the sabbaths delightful, holy to your God; if you shall not lift up your foot to work, nor speak a word in anger out of your mouth, 14 then you will trust on the Lord; and he shall bring you up to the good places of the land, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

"... The idea that the Sabbath was a festive day comes from Isaiah 58:13, which calls it a day of “delight” (LXX: tryphera), a word that evokes the garden of Eden since Genesis 3:23–24 LXX calls Eden a garden of delight (tryphē). Similarly, while the Hebrew of Ezekiel refers to the garden of Eden (Ezekiel 28:13; 31:9), the LXX translator renders the Hebrew as “the garden of delight” (ho paradeisos tēs tryphēs). Philo calls the feast a symbol of the joy of the soul, using a term that includes and perhaps refers specifically to the Sabbath, a day on which it is fitting to be thankful to God. Elsewhere he says that Jews spend the Sabbath cheerfully and in tranquility. This understanding of the Sabbath is also implicit in the widespread prohibition of fasting on the Sabbath that can be found at Qumran, in Jubilees, and in later rabbinic literature. While not an explicit prohibition of fasting, the book of Judith portrays its protagonist fasting all the days of her widowhood except on the day before the Sabbath, on the Sabbath itself, and on festival days, because these were joyful days (Judith 8:6) ..."
Matthew Thiessen, Jesus and the Forces of Death: The Gospels’ Portrayal of Ritual Impurity within First-Century Judaism (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020), 215–216.

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 Genesis 3:24 and LXX Isaiah 58:13

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