For my morning devotions I have been reading the Septuagint.
The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.
Why read a translation instead of the "original" Hebrew?
Well, two big reasons. First, the Septuagint was THE "Bible" of the New Testament writers. Most times, when a New Testament author quotes from the Jewish Scriptures, they quote from the Septuagint.
Second, the Septuagint that we have access to today is older than the Hebrew Bible we have access to.
The Septuagint was translated around 200-300 years before Jesus.
The Hebrew version of the Jewish Scriptures we have today (called the Masoretic Text) was compiled 7-10 centuries AFTER Jesus.
There are substantial differences between the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text. Asking which one is "more accurate" is a fool's errand because there were many different versions of the Hebrew Bible floating around dispersed Jewish communities for centuries.
But I do appreciate reading a Jewish Bible that the disciples, Paul, and the early church saw as an authoritative way of understanding Israel's story which found its climax in the person of Jesus.
