The Translator(s) of the Septuagint of Proverbs

Abstract The translator(s) of the Septuagint of Proverbs had a unique approach towards their parent text. On a micro-level some individual lexical items are varied, while others are rendered consistently. This approach can be described as one of both diversity and unity. This method of translation does not prevent the translator from interpreting in individual instances, even where a specific Hebrew word is normally translated consistently with a single Greek word. On the macro-level the Greek translation of Proverbs also exhibits unique features. The order of some chapters towards the end of the book should be ascribed to its translator(s), as should the removal of the names of Agur and Lemuel, who are mentioned in the Hebrew text as authors of some of the material. In the final analysis, this interpretive approach is ascribed to the translator's ideology, which is characterized by a fundamentally conservative Jewish religious attitude. This inference is, inter alia, based upon the prominent role of the law of Moses in LXX Proverbs. Caution should be exercised, however, since there are a number of burning textual problems that have to be accounted for.