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The Hebrew version of Obadiah promises that returning exiles will resettle the land, placing them in Sepharad, an unknown site later interpreted to mean Spain. The Greek Septuagint, unsure of how to translate this, names a completely different place.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Obadiah 1:20
Hebrew Bible
19 The people of the Negev will take possession of Esau’s mountain, and the people of the foothills will take possession of the land of the Philistines. They will also take possession of the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and the people of Benjamin will take possession of Gilead. 20 The exiles of this fortress of the people of Israel will take possession of what belongs to the people of Canaan, as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will take possession of the towns of the Negev. 21 Those who have been delivered will go up on Mount Zion in order to rule over Esau’s mountain. Then the Lord will reign as King!
LXX Obadiah 1:20
Septuagint
19 “And those in Negeb shall inherit the mountain of Esau, and those in Shephelah the foreigners, and they shall inherit the mountain of Ephraim and the plain of Samaria and of Benjamin and of Gilead. 20 And this is the beginning of the captivity. The land of the Canaanites will belong to the sons of Israel as far as Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem as far as Ophrah; they shall inherit the cities of the Negeb. 21 Those being rescued shall go up out of the mountain of Zion to avenge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom shall be for the Lord.”
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Notes and References
... The beginnings of Jewish presence in Asia Minor may go back to the fifth century BCE, although the evidence is controversial because of a problem in the interpretation of a Hebrew word in Obadiah 20. The prophet says there that the exiles of Jerusalem who live in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev. Sepharad (only in later Hebrew the designation for Spain) is a name that occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible and it is uncertain which place or region the prophet has in mind here. That uncertainty is also reflected in the ancient versions: the Septuagint renders it Ephratha (or Sephratha), the Vulgate has Bosporus, and the Peshitta and the Targum read Spain. According to some modern scholars, however, the city of Sardis is meant here. ...
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