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 enlarge | Author: Thomas Nelson
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Category: Book
List Price: $69.99
Buy New: $38.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 193291
Media: Leather Bound
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1984
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 7.1 x 1.8
ISBN: 0718019083
Dewey Decimal Number: 220
EAN: 9780718019082
ASIN: 0718019083
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 Finally, a new Septuagint translation July 30, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Aside from the footnotes and articles which provide an Orthodox Christian view of Scripture, this is a very important new work primarily because there are very few English translations of the Septuagint available. I have been using the Anglican Sir Lancelot Brenton version which I think was done in the 19th century. I understand Oxford Press is also currently working on a Septuagint translation. Unfortunately, many people do not even know what the Septuagint is. Briefly, following the Babylonian exile of the Jews, they began to lose their Hebrew language in everyday usage (in Jesus' time they spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew). In the 4th century before Christ Alexander the Great conquered pretty much everything in sight in the Mediterranean area and established Greek language and culture throughout the region. Greek became (much as English is today) an international language of art, philosophy, business, etc. Although, relatively few people could read in those days, if you did know how to read during this period, chances are you would find Greek very useful. Therefore, in the 2nd century before Christ, there were about seventy Jewish scholars who translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. This became known as the Septuagint (meaning "seventy"). So what? Well, this is the version of the Old Testament used by the first Christians. The New Testament was written in Greek and every quotation from the Old Testament comes from the Septuagint and not from the Hebrew text. In short, if it was good enough for the Apostles, it's good enough for us. The Septuagint has been the Old Testament used in the Orthodox Church ever since the time of the Apostles. The Septuagint was used exclusively for the first four centuries of the Christian Church until St. Jerome translated the Old Testament in Latin in the late 4th and early 5th centuries using the Hebrew text rather than the Septuagint. This was not without controversy. Personally, I have to weigh the matter by comparing seventy rabbis two centuries before Christ (i.e., it can't be claimed to be a Christian biased translation) vs. one man who went to Jerusalem and studied Hebrew for six years before doing his own translation from Hebrew into Latin. I think I'm going with the seventy rabbis.
There are some other things to note. First, from an archeological / historical viewpoint, the oldest extant manuscripts of the Old Testament are the Septuagint (going back to about the third century). The oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Masoretic text (which is what the Jews and, surpisingly the Protestants use) is only about a thousand years old and was edited centuries AFTER Christ. This raises the issue among many of whether the Masoretic text was edited to counter the Christian Septuagint. Perhaps the most famous contradiction is to be found in Isaiah 7:14 which says, "Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb, and will bring forth a Son, and you will call His Name Emmanuel." In the Greek, the word for virgin is parthenos, and it literally means a virgin. In the Masoretic Text, however, the word is almah which means a young girl. The usual Hebrew word for virgin, and the word in every case translated virgin in the Revised Version, is bethuwlah. This verse is quoted from Isaiah in the Christian Scriptures in Matthew 1:23. As before, since the seventy rabbis in the second century before Christ all translated "virgin" (and this is what is quoted in Matthew that Jesus is the fulfillment of that) and the rabbis after Christ translate "young girl" might lead someone to think that perhaps there might be some purposeful effort to contradict the Christian Septuagint. Plus, what kind of a "sign" (all of Christ's miracles in the NT are called "signs") is it that a "young girl" would give birth? That has happened literally billions of times. But a "virgin" giving birth? Now that's a sign and I know of only one time that happened!
Unfortunately, during the Protestant Reformation when all things Roman Catholic were eschewed, and they no longer wanted to use the Latin Vulgate, instead of turning to the Greek Septuagint, they decided that the Jews ought to know what was in the Old Testament and adopted the Jewish Masoretic text instead. They also eliminated the so-called deuterocanonical books (a.k.a. the Protestant Apocrypha) which was part and parcel of the Septuagint since before Jesus. Interestingly enough, the Jews has those "Apocryphal" books in their Scriptures, but in the Council of Jamnia in 90 A.D. - after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans - decided to eliminate those books from their Scriptures, one of the reasons being that they are from that period after Alexander the Great and were written in Greek which was used by those Christians and Romans. Paradoxically, while they eliminated the books, they still celebrate Hannakuh which is from the Book of Maccabees. Whatever! Also, while the Protestants adopted the Masoretic text, they still use by and large the Septuagint book titles (e.g, Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, etc., which are all Greek words and are not the titles in the Hebrew text. Again, I'm confused as to why. Plus, that leads to what I consider an embarrassing situation, where if you are reading your English NT and there is a quote from the OT, if you check out the footnotes (many times included as marginal verse references) to their OT roots they often don't match. That's because there is a difference between the Septuagint quotes in the NT and the Masoretic OT included in almost all English Bibles. Except for the Orthodox Study Bible.
Anyway, perhaps I've intrigued some of you to look at the Septuagint in a new light and perhaps read this not because you care about Orthodox footnotes and commentary (hey, I've been wading through Protestant footnotes in English Bible texts all my life without ruining my faith), but because you want to read the Old Testament in the form used in the Gospels and by Christians originally and continuously for two thousand years.
 Orthodox and Authentic are advertising words July 30, 2008
11 out of 16 found this review helpful
An eastern orthodox Bible published by a Protestant publishing house is like the Roman Senate publishing the Holy Gospels. Oil and water straight from the beginning. Not a good sign for something purporting to be orthodox. Orthodox views of scripture verses should be read in Patristic Commentaries and such, that is, for anyone really interested in Orthodox thought. This Bible is merely an ecumenical tool, a thought and concept in itself which Church Fathers would unilaterally condemn as quite unorthodox. If you collect modern Bibles here is one more. If you are serious about orthodoxy keep looking.
Orthodox Study Bible July 30, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
This Bible is great for Orthodox or non-Orthodox Christians. It has great commentaries from the early Church fathers.
What OSB were they talking about? July 28, 2008
2 out of 11 found this review helpful
I'm not qualified to write a thorough review of any bible, my purpose is simply to correct a few profound mistakes by some other reviewers.
This Orthodox Study Bible is NOT the NT version published about 10 years ago wherein the New King James translation was used for both the NT and Psalms. While the NT in this new edition retains the NKJ NT translation, the OT is an entirely new and modern translation of the Septuagint Greek-language scriptures used by first century Christians and Jews.
In addition, chapter and verse numbering in this new OSB follows the historical Orthodox pattern. For example, Psalm 51 (Protestant) is numbered Psalm 50.
Recognizing Jesus in the OT can bless every Christian. On the road to Emmaus Jesus told Cleopas and his fellow-traveler, "'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."
For English readers this edition is special because it has a unique ability to help us read the OT scriptures just as those first Christians were taught to read them.
A Great Bible for Everyone July 26, 2008
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
I think some of the reviews on the negative are from people who fail to remember the audience this is intended for. The United States is uninformed as to what Orthodox Christianity is and what Orthodox Christians believe. This Bible informs and gives perspective to Orthodox and non-Orthodox. I know 5 of the commentators...several speak several ancient languages and are experts in translation of ancient texts. There are so many great theological books already out there that anyone who wants to study in depth can do so. This is a peoples Bible...meant for a simple Orthodox convert like me who never knew anything about the Church until I was 48 years old. I love the cradle born Orthodox who brought the faith to this country. The Orthodox Study Bible is for America and it's what we need...simple and understandable.
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