The OSB contains a number of study articles that will be helpful not only to Orthodox believers, but also to those outside the Orthodox Church who want to understand this faith tradition better. The Subject Index combines almost 50 article titles along with numerous subjects covered in the articles. Here is a list of the articles contained in the OSB: Septuaginta-Unternehmens Institute in Gottingen, Germany. The Septuaginta-Unternehmen is a special research institute that was founded in 1908 in Göttingen under the auspices of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. Its purpose was to conduct sound scientific investigation into the Septuagint and to trace the history of evolution of the Septuagint text, on the basis of the mass of manuscript data, and ultimately to establish a text which could be claimed to be for all intents and purposes identical with the Septuagint in its pristine form, a proto-Septuagint.( 1) The institute made Göttingen the nerve centre of Septuagint studies. The first director of the Institute, Alfred Rahlfs, published Septuaginta, 2 volume edition in 1935 (Septuagint in Greek). Rahlf's critical edition of the Septuagint for the book of Genesis rests on a foundation of some 140 manuscripts (nine pre-dating the fourth century CE), 10 daughter-versions, plus biblical citations in Greek and Latin literature. However, his two-volume, semi-critical edition Septuaginta has been supplanted by the fully critical Göttingen Septuaginta Vetus Testamentum Graecum, in 23 volumes covering approximately two-thirds of the LXX text, along with a supplementary series. Inspirational Ancient Artwork. In keeping with the tradition of the early Church, you experience full-color ancient images meant to draw you closer to Christ.

The medieval Hebrew text became the basis of virtually all vernacular Old Testament translation, especially in English, even though it distorted the relationship between the Old Testament and the New. Before his death in 1536, William Tyndale had translated about half of the Old Testament directly from the Hebrew Masoretic text rather than the Septuagint Greek or the Vulgate Latin of Christendom. In 1535 Miles Coverdale produced the first complete English Bible, also from the Hebrew. The books that did not form part of the Hebrew Bible were not at first excluded by the English Reformers from the canon, but they were placed together at the end of the Old Testament as the so-called Apocrypha. Finally they were dropped altogether, as one can see by inspecting many modern English Bibles that emanate from various Protestant sources. This development was unfortunate: it gravely weakened the early Church’s attitude of Vetus Testamentum in Novo Receptum, and led to the present anomaly of modern biblical criticism conducted outside of the Church. Holy Scripture cannot be independent of the Church that canonizes it and says what it is, and Orthodox Christians should read and study Scripture according to the mind and understanding of the Church. But if there is not very clear correspondence between the text of the Old Testament and those New Testament quotations from it made by our Saviour Himself, St Paul, the Evangelists and Apostles, the vital salvific link between the Old Testament and the New is fundamentally obscured. The fact that this has in fact happened should make clear to the Orthodox or those who are simply studying Orthodoxy why it is most unsatisfactory to use Old Testament translations made from the Hebrew. Orthodox should know and use the Septuagint version of the Old Testament in the original Greek or in translation. The Orthodox Church formularies and services are the most theologically complex and profound of all Christian church services, and they are a virtual mosaic of scripture quotation from the Septuagint or of the Church Fathers paraphrasing and commenting on Septuagint texts. For an example of this, consider the very first line of the first Book of the Bible, Genesis. In the Hebrew Bible and the English translations made from it we have ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth’. In the Septuagint it is ‘In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth’. The first clause of the Nicene Creed, following the Septuagint, has Maker of heaven and earth, not Creator. On the other hand, the Apostles’ Creed of the Roman Catholic Church, following St Jerome’s translation from the Hebrew, has Creatorem, Creator. In the next sentence of Genesis the Septuagint describes the earth at the moment of creation as ‘invisible and unformed’. The Septuagint’s word ‘ invisible’ is taken intothe next clause of the Nicene Creed, where we have ‘…and of all things visible and invisible’. In the Hebrew the passage reads ‘unformed and empty’. It is a truism that learning the Orthodox Faith comes very largely through attending its services. It is not learned through books. Orthodox say to the curious, ‘Come and see’, not ‘Come and read’. If one cannot recognise these scriptural quotations when they are encountered in the services, then one’s apprehension of the Orthodox faith is handicapped. Insightful commentary drawn from the Christian writers and teachers of the first ten centuries after Christ I already have the OSB. I expected the OSB to the Orthodox version of the NABRE, which I used to read as a Catholic (before converting to Orthodoxy). And it came out kinda what I expected with footnotes explaining what particular bible verse(s) means from an Orthodox point of view. The CEB is easy to read. What about the CEB with apocrypha?Supple Leathersoft material that gives the appearance of a genuine leather look and feel and has the longevity needed for daily Bible engagement

This paper examines the Orthodox concept of Scripture and the place and authority of the Old Testament within the Orthodox Church. It also discusses the reasons for the Church’s inclusion of the Old Testament in the Biblical canon. It does this through consideration of the Old Greek translation known as the Septuagint, which is the Old Testament of the Orthodox Church. Tov, Emanuel. Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. 2nd Rev. Ed. Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2001., 114-117. The Orthodox Study Bible was the result of a collaboration between numerous Orthodox scholars, clergy and lay leaders. The initial draft was prepared by the academic community of St. Athanasius Orthodox Academy. Some of the credited contributors of the Orthodox Study Bible project include: The Eastern Orthodox Bible" - a new translation rather than a revision of another work, dedicated to the recently reposed Archbishop Vsevolod of the (canonical) Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA. What value does the Septuagint possess as a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, and what can be learned from it? Any translation of the Bible is much more than a mirror copy: think of how English translations, made from the same Hebrew or Greek original, differ from each other. In many places in the Septuagint one is indeed reading word for word the same text found in the Hebrew. In other places, however, the Septuagint translation yields different theological emphases from those that are to be found in the Hebrew Bible. The translation has created new meanings.This is the Bible English translation used by the Orthodox Church. As such, those from other branches of Christianity may find it different from other versions with which they are more familiar. New English Translation of the Septuagint. It has been released at San Diego, November 19, 2007 by Oxford University Press. Provisional edition online. This project is being carried out under the aegis of The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS). An international team of more than thirty scholars is working on the entire corpus of the Greek Jewish Scriptures. It is the first such English version in 160 years. Called the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS), the text reflects both the wealth of manuscript evidence that has been brought to light since the 19th century and, of course, current English idiom. (Note however, that this project is using the NRSV(1989) version as its English base of referral). Archimandrite Ephrem. "Book Review: The Orthodox Study Bible". Orthodox Christian Information Center. For example, Luther inserted the word “alone” into his translation of Romans 2:28, to make it support his doctrine of justification by faith alone. When asked for justification for his inserting words that did not exist in the original text, Luther simply responded “It is so because Dr. Martin Luther says it is so!” See Frank Schaeffer, Dancing Alone(Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1994) p. 77, and: Jaroslav Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985) p. 252. The OSB contains a Lectionary section with personal readings for those who follow the church calendar throughout the year. Date are listed according both the New/Gregorian and the Old/Julian calendars.

We know now that some books in the Septuagint were translated from Hebrew texts that were radically different from those in modern editions of the Hebrew Bible and in English Bible translations. This has been brought to light through recent study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is now clear that the Septuagint sometimes reveals a version of the Old Testament books older than those that exist in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint gives us glimpses into earlier stages in the Bible’s development before the completion of the Hebrew Bible that is now the basis of modern translations. This fact is problematic for those western Christians who put their entire faith in the pursuit of what they call the “original, i.e Masoretic, text”. Dr. Natalio Fernández Marcos. The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Versions of the Bible. Transl. 2nd revised and expanded Spanish edition, by W. G. E. Watson. Leiden: BRILL, 2000. 394 pp. ISBN 9789004115743 Liturgical Resources. For those who desire more guidance to their devotion, morning and evening prayers are included as well as lectionary readings for those who follow the readings in the Church calendar. However, Emanuel Tov [3] summarizes the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls biblical manuscripts with the following percentage breakdown: Note, it is my recommendation that the Bible Studies be done combined with teens and adults. The interaction of teens with adults on matters of faith is of utmost importance. Moreover, the teens and adults in a family are more likely to continue their conversation at home if they have together attended the same class than otherwise. Likewise, adults are more likely to attend Bible Study if they do so with their children. It is an opportunity for adults and older youth to bond in the faith. Some have thought that it is better for children to be apart from their parents because they "express themselves more." That is what I thought until I turned to a combined curriculum. While ok for youth ministries, total "age segregation" is not as good for education (although "Generations of Faith" model works ok, with part "grouped by age" and part "together"). With education, the combined adults and children get to hear each other, and get to hear a distinct voice on the faith (think Trinity, and image of Trinity). Try it, you might like it. --Fr. Harry LinsinbiglerSome of the notes overstated the obvious. Others demonstrated an unfortunate but understandable mistrust of the theology of other branches of Christianity. Most of the time this was expressed in a diplomatic way; however, it came out more strongly in the commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Be that as it may, many of the notes and study aids were helpful and interesting, particularly those which contained quotations of the Church Fathers or indications of how a certain passage is used in the context of worship.

Next year I plan to do some “extra-curricular” reading: I’ll read some of the Apocrypha, and I’ve got a collection of gnostic texts that I’ll work my way through as well. I also plan to do a long reading of the Quran at some point. Separate from the article on the “Seventy” (from Luke 10:1-17) included in the bulleted list earlier, another section lists all 70 “sent ones” according to Orthodox tradition, the date on the church calendar in which each is commemorated, and references in the New Testament which refer to these early missionary-apostles. The Old and New Testaments edition, subtitled "Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today's World" came out in February of 2008. It includes a new translation of the Psalms by Dr. Donald Sheehan of Dartmouth College. There are multiple internal variations between the LXX and the MT. The texts read differently in many places. Here follow several examples of differences in wording:

That said, it was a rewarding experience. I’d read most of the Bible before, but never all of it in one shot. This reading has reaffirmed my love for the Old Testament in particular. Those pseudo-Marcionite Christians (and there are sadly many of them) who ignore the Old Testament, thinking it has somehow been made irrelevant by the New, are frankly practicing a faith with little substance. The Old Testament is the content of our faith; the New Testament—the firstfruits of Scripture—is the spiritual light by which that content is illuminated. The New Testament is entirely submerged in the symbolic economy of the Hebrew Scriptures; and we ought to be as well. Plus, the Old Testament is a fantastic read in its own right: patriarchs, prophets, priests, kings, warriors, mystics, poets, court historians; tales of alluring darkness, mystery, sensuality, and violence; cosmogony, national epic, prophetic lament, and sage advice. It is a literary treasure-house, a gift for the entire human race. The Septuagint has been translated a few times into English, the first one (though excluding the Apocrypha) being The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Covenant of Charles Thomson in 1808; his translation was later revised and enlarged by C. A. Muses in 1954 under the title The Septuagint Bible. The Thomson's Translation of the Old Covenant is a direct translation of the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament into English, rare for its time. The work took 19 years to complete and was originally published in 1808. Septuagint Institute (Trinity Western University, Canada). In 2005 the Septuagint Studies department moved from the University of Toronto to TWU, forming the new Septuagint Institute (SI). The SI complements TWU's already established Dead Sea Scrolls Institute (DSSI), founded in 1995, and together they form North America's new hub of Septuagint research.