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LXX Genesis

Septuagint

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Chapter 33

1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and saw, and look! Esau his brother coming, and four hundred men with him; and Jacob divided the children to Leah and to Rachel, and the two handmaidens. 2 And he put the two handmaidens and their children with the first, and Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 But he advanced himself before them, and did reverence to the ground seven times, until he drew near to his brother. 4 And Esau ran on to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and fell on his neck; and they both wept. 5 And Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, What are these to you? And he said, The children with which God has mercifully blessed your servant. 6 And the maidservants and their children drew near and did reverence. 7 And Leah and her children drew near and did reverence; and after this drew near Rachel and Joseph, and did reverence. 8 And he said, What are these things to you, all these companies that I have met? And he said, That your servant might find grace in your sight, my lord. 9 And Esau said, I have much, my brother; keep your own. 10 And Jacob said, If I have found grace in your sight, receive the gifts through my hands; therefore I have seen your face, as if any one should see the face of God, and you shall be well-pleased with me. 11 Receive my blessings, which I have brought you, because God has had mercy on me, and I have all things; and he constrained him, and he took them. 12 And he said, Let us depart, and proceed right onward. 13 And he said to him, My lord knows, that the children are very tender, and the flocks and the herds with me are with young; if then I shall drive them hard one day, all the cattle will die. 14 Let my lord go on before his servant, and I shall have strength on the road according to the ease of the journey before me, and according to the strength of the children, until I come to my lord to Seir. 15 And Esau said, I will leave with you some of the people who are with me. And he said, Why so? it is enough that I have found favor before you, my lord. 16 And Esau returned on that day on his journey to Seir. 17 And Jacob departs to his tents; and he made for himself there habitations, and for his cattle he made booths; therefore he called the name of that place, Booths. 18 And Jacob came to Salem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan,⁠ when he departed out of Mesopotamia of Syria, and took up a position in front of the city. 19 And he bought the portion of the field, where he pitched his tent, of Hamor the father of Shechem, for one hundred lambs. 20 And he set up there an altar, and called on the God of Israel.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 33:18 and LXX Genesis 33:18

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

In Genesis, Jacob arrives at Shechem and builds an altar. The Greek Septuagint translation changes this to say he arrives in Salem, connecting that city with Shechem. This may have been to challenge other traditions that identified Salem with Jerusalem.

Passages

Genesis 33:18

Hebrew Bible
15 So Esau said, “Let me leave some of my men with you.” “Why do that?” Jacob replied. “My lord has already been kind enough to me.” 16 So that same day Esau made his way back to Seir. 17 But Jacob traveled to Sukkoth where he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was called Sukkoth. 18 After he left Paddan Aram, Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped near the city. 19 Then he purchased the portion of the field where he had pitched his tent; he bought it from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for 100 pieces of money. 20 There he set up an altar and called it “The God of Israel is God.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

LXX Genesis 33:18

Septuagint
16 And Esau returned on that day on his journey to Seir. 17 And Jacob departs to his tents; and he made for himself there habitations, and for his cattle he made booths; therefore he called the name of that place, Booths. 18 And Jacob came to Salem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he departed out of Mesopotamia of Syria, and took up a position in front of the city. 19 And he bought the portion of the field, where he pitched his tent, of Hamor the father of Shechem, for one hundred lambs. 20 And he set up there an altar, and called on the God of Israel.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

References

"... As we have already glimpsed, Jewish sources generally held that Melchizedek's kingdom, Salem, was simply a shortened form of the name "Jerusalem" ... Some interpreters, however, thought otherwise. A tradition existed that identified "Salem" as a site at or near Shechem, the capital of Samaria (formerly the northern kingdom of Israel). A fragment attributed to (Pseudo-) Eupolemus (who may or may not have been a Samaritan) actually mentions Melchizedek in retelling the story of Abraham. However, this text says that Melchizedek served as a priest in a temple on the Samaritan mountain, Mt. Gerizim, near Shechem ... Elsewhere, as well, Salem is identified as a place in its own right ..."
James L. Kugel, The Bible as It Was (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 159–160.

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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