Editing Septuagint (section)

=== Jewish use ===
{{See also|Development of the Hebrew Bible canon}}
It is unclear to what extent [[History of the Jews in Alexandria|Alexandrian Jews]] accepted the authority of the Septuagint. Manuscripts of the Septuagint have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and were thought to have been in use among various [[Essenes|Jewish sects]] at the time.<ref name=stpaulcenter>{{Cite web |title=The Dead Sea Scrolls |url=https://stpaulcenter.com/the-dead-sea-scrolls/ |access-date=2020-11-26 |website=St. Paul Center |language=en-US}}</ref>

Several factors led most Jews to abandon the Septuagint around the 2nd century AD. The earliest [[gentile]] Christians used the Septuagint out of necessity, since it was the only Greek version of the Bible and most (if not all) of these early non-[[Jewish Christian]]s could not read Hebrew. The association of the Septuagint with a rival religion may have made it suspect in the eyes of the newer generation of Jews and Jewish scholars.<ref name=Würthwein1995 /> Jews instead used Hebrew or Aramaic [[Targum]] manuscripts later compiled by the [[Masoretes]] and authoritative Aramaic translations, such as those of [[Targum Onkelos|Onkelos]] and [[Targum Jonathan|Rabbi Yonathan ben Uziel]].<ref name=Marcos2000>{{cite book |last1=Marcos |first1=Natalio F |title=The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Bible |edition=2000}}</ref>

Perhaps most significant for the Septuagint, as distinct from other Greek versions, was that the Septuagint began to lose Jewish sanction after differences between it and contemporary Hebrew scriptures were discovered. Even [[Hellenistic Judaism|Greek-speaking Jews]] tended to prefer other Jewish versions in Greek (such as the translation by [[Aquila of Sinope|Aquila]]), which seemed to be more concordant with contemporary Hebrew texts.<ref name=Würthwein1995 />