Septuagint versus Masoretic Text – Which Bible Should Christians Use?

There has been a great deal of discussion about the Septuagint lately. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is the Greek version of the Old Testament. In other words, it is the Scripture that Jesus and the early church read.

Interestingly enough, most of the Bibles we read today depend on the Masoretic Text. What is the Masoretic Text? It was explained to me this way.

The Masoretic Text was the product of the Rabbinic movement that arose specifically in opposition to the early Church.

I spent some time asking Arya about the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text in order to better understand the main points and how it relates to other theological questions I am asking myself now.

If you would like to explore this topic, I put my research into a 31-page PDF you can download at the end of the post.

I am not suggesting in any way this PDF is the final authority on the subject. But if the topic is new to you, you might find it quite interesting. 

Why do I share PDFs like this? There are a few reasons.

• One, I sometimes spend hours researching a topic. If my research can help someone else, I am glad to share it.
• Two, I’m pretty good at asking thoughtful questions and digging for the important points. 
• Three, I don’t have time to take everything I learn from these exchanges and synthesize it into a post that I can legitimately say I wrote. I would rather simply share it as it is.

As always, anything that comes from AI should be examined and fact checked. But I think you will find this interesting and perhaps a jumping point for your own studies.

At one point, the Brenton Septuagint comes up. This is the version I own: Septuagint Bible in English: The Complete Translation of the Greek Old Testament. Including the Apocrypha. 

This is also one of the reasons I moved to the NKJV for this season of my life. Not for dogmatic reasons, but simply because I didn’t want to use my vintage NIV for my everyday reading and I honestly don’t want to labor over the KJV most of the time. Yes, I’m very familiar with the KJV and did a lot of memorizing out of it when I was younger. But I opted to go for the NKJV for the easier reading and the subtle but meaningful improvements it offers over the KJV. 

Download my research PDF here: Septuagint and Masoretic Text