Editing Septuagint (section)

==== Dead Sea Scrolls ====
The Biblical manuscripts found in [[Qumran]], commonly known as the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] (DSS), have prompted comparisons of the texts associated with the Hebrew Bible (including the Septuagint).<ref name=BAS>{{cite web |url=http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/searching-for-better-text.asp |title=Searching for the Better Text – Biblical Archaeology Society |publisher=Bib-arch.org |access-date=13 August 2012 |archive-date=14 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314095848/http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/searching-for-better-text.asp |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Emanuel Tov]], editor of the translated scrolls,<ref name=Elderen>[http://sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleID=356 Edwin Yamauchi, '''"Bastiaan Van Elderen, 1924– 2004"''', SBL Forum] Accessed 26 March 2011.</ref> identifies five broad variants of DSS texts:<ref name=Tov2001>Tov, E. 2001. Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (2nd ed.) Assen/Maastricht: Van Gocum; Philadelphia: Fortress Press.</ref><ref name=Flint2002>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/978-9004493339/B9789004493339_s022.xml?language=en |last=Flint |first=Peter W. |year=2002 |chapter=The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls |title=The Stellenbosch AIBI-6 Conference. Proceedings of the Association Internationale Bible et Informatique "From Alpha to Byte" |publisher=Brill |editor-last=Cook |isbn=978-9004493339}}</ref>
# Proto-Masoretic: A stable text and numerous, distinct agreements with the Masoretic Text. About 60 per cent of the Biblical scrolls (including 1QIsa-b) are in this category.
# Pre-Septuagint: Manuscripts which have distinctive affinities with the Greek Bible. About five per cent of the Biblical scrolls, they include 4QDeut-q, 4QSam-a, 4QJer-b, and 4QJer-d. In addition to these manuscripts, several others share similarities with the Septuagint but do not fall into this category.
# The Qumran "Living Bible": Manuscripts which, according to Tov, were copied in accordance with the "Qumran practice": distinctive, long [[orthography]] and [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], frequent errors and corrections, and a free approach to the text. They make up about 20 per cent of the Biblical corpus, including the [[Isaiah Scroll]] (1QIsa-a).
# Pre-Samaritan: DSS manuscripts which reflect the textual form of the Samaritan Pentateuch, although the Samaritan Bible is later and contains information not found in these earlier scrolls, (such as God's holy mountain at Shechem, rather than Jerusalem). These manuscripts, characterized by orthographic corrections and harmonizations with parallel texts elsewhere in the Pentateuch, are about five per cent of the Biblical scrolls and include 4QpaleoExod-m.
# Non-aligned: No consistent alignment with any of the other four text types. About 10 per cent of the Biblical scrolls, they include 4QDeut-b, 4QDeut-c, 4QDeut-h, 4QIsa-c, and 4QDan-a.<ref name=Tov2001 /><ref name=Shiffman>Laurence Shiffman, ''Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls'', p. 172</ref>{{efn|These percentages are disputed. Other scholars credit the Proto-Masoretic texts with 40 per cent, and posit larger contributions from Qumran-style and non-aligned texts. ''The Canon Debate'', McDonald and Sanders editors (2002), chapter 6: "Questions of Canon through the Dead Sea Scrolls" by James C. VanderKam, p. 94, citing private communication with [[Emanuel Tov]] on biblical manuscripts: Qumran scribe type c. 25 per cent, proto-Masoretic Text c. 40 per cent, pre-Samaritan texts c.5 per cent, texts close to the Hebrew model for the Septuagint c. 5 per cent and nonaligned c. 25 per cent.}}

The textual sources present a variety of readings; Bastiaan Van Elderen compares three variations of Deuteronomy 32:43, the [[Song of Moses]]:<ref name=Elderen />{{Failed verification|date=April 2019}}

{|cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"
|-style="text-align:center;"
|'''Deuteronomy 32.43, Masoretic'''||'''Deuteronomy 32.43, Qumran'''||'''Deuteronomy 32.43, Septuagint'''
|-
|
:<span style="color:#f00;">''' '''</span>
:<span style="color:#f00;">'''.'''</span>
:<span style="color:#f00;">'''.'''</span>
:<span style="color:#f00;">'''1 Shout for joy, O nations, with his people'''</span>
:<span style="color:#fff;">'''-------'''</span>
:<span style="color:#0a0;">'''2 For he will avenge the blood of his servants'''</span>
:<span style="color:#039;">'''3 And will render vengeance to his adversaries'''</span>
:<span style="color:#fff;">'''-------'''</span>
:<span style="color:#f60;">'''4 And will purge his land, his people.'''</span>
||
:<span style="color:#f00;">'''1 Shout for joy, O heavens, with him'''</span>
:<span style="color:#603;">'''2 And worship him, all you divine ones'''</span>
:<span style="color:#fff;">'''-------'''</span>
:<span style="color:#fff;">'''-------'''</span>
:<span style="color:#0a0;">'''3 For he will avenge the blood of his sons'''</span>
:<span style="color:#039;">'''4 And he will render vengeance to his adversaries'''</span>
:<span style="color:#f0f;">'''5 And he will recompense the ones hating him'''</span>
:<span style="color:#f60;">'''6 And he purges the land of his people.'''</span>
||
:<span style="color:#f00;">'''1 Shout for joy, O heavens, with him'''</span>
:<span style="color:#603;">'''2 And let all the sons of God worship him'''</span>
:<span style="color:#f00;">'''3 Shout for joy, O nations, with his people'''</span>
:<span style="color:#666;">'''4 And let all the angels of God be strong in him'''</span>
:<span style="color:#0a0;">'''5 Because he avenges the blood of his sons'''</span>
:<span style="color:#039;">'''6 And he will avenge and recompense justice to his enemies'''</span>
:<span style="color:#f0f;">'''7 And he will recompense the ones hating'''</span>
:<span style="color:#f60;">'''8 And the Lord will cleanse the land of his people.'''</span>
|}