Texts in Conversation
Psalm 9 describes God destroying the unrighteous and erasing their memory. The Greek Septuagint changes this so they are destroyed, without saying God did it, possibly removing a violent description of God or reflecting a different Hebrew version.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalm 9:6
Hebrew Bible
4 For you defended my just cause; from your throne you pronounced a just decision. 5 You terrified the nations with your battle cry. You destroyed the wicked; you permanently wiped out all memory of them. 6 The enemy’s cities have been reduced to permanent ruins. You destroyed their cities; all memory of the enemies has perished. 7 But the Lord rules forever; he reigns in a just manner. 8 He judges the world fairly; he makes just legal decisions for the nations.
LXX Psalm 9:6
Septuagint
4 When my enemies are turned back, they shall be feeble and perish at your presence. 5 For you have maintained my cause and my right; you sat on the throne, you who judge righteousness. 6 You have rebuked the nations, and the ungodly one has perished; you have blotted out their name for ever, even for ever and ever. 7 The swords of the enemy have failed utterly; and you have destroyed cities: their memorial has been destroyed with a noise, 8 but the Lord endures for ever: he has prepared his throne for judgment.
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Notes and References
"... It has been suggested that the translator of Psalms evaded the idea that God himself destroyed the wicked, and that he therefore changed the original text by reading the letters differently from the Masoretic text (אָבַד הרשע). However, if this were true, he would have been inconsistent for elsewhere in the LXX of Psalms God is pictured as personally destroying the wicked (Psalm 5:6–7; 143:12). It is therefore more likely that the difference between the Masoretic text and the Septuagint is based not on the translator’s tendentious change, but on variants that underlie the translation ..."
Tov, Emanuel
The Text-Critical use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research
(p. 112) Eisenbrauns, 2015
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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