Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text

This topic shows approximate BC dates for the Old Testament (OT) Patriarchs.  It compares the Greek Septúagint/LXX timeline with the Hebrew Masorétic Text (MT) timeline.  Their timelines aren’t the same.  This topic, with the TABLE below, reflects the BCE period from Adam to Moses.

The MT is the Hebrew OT text in use today.  It was copied by Jewish scribes/Masorétes in Jerusalem and Tibérius between 500–1000 AD.  Masórah basically means ‘tradition’.  Wikipedia: Masoretes “The ben Ashér family was largely responsible for the production of the Masoretic Text, although there existed an alternative Masoretic Text of the ben Naphtalí Masoretes.”  The ben Asher version became authoritative, though some Jewish scholars (Saádia Gáon) preferred the ben Naphtali version.  Toráh scholar Rámbam (1135-1204 AD) approved the ben Asher codexes (bound handwritten manuscript volumes of scriptures).  The oldest complete MT manuscript (ms) is the Leningrad Codex of 1008 AD.

The OT in most of our English Bibles is the MT.  Such as: King James Version (KJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), English Standard Version (ESV), Jewish Publication Society Tanákh (TNK), etc.

Wikipedia: Septuagint “It is the oldest and most important complete translation of the Hebrew Bible made by the Jews.”  The translation of the Hebrew OT into the Koiné old Greek version was done in stages by Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt.  It was begun circa (c) 270 BC and completed by 132 BC.  S. Douglas Woodward Rebooting the Bible, Part 1, p.28 “The Alexandrian Septuagint, also known as the ‘Old Greek’.”  It has morphed into the LXXs of today.  The Codex Alexándrinus (Alex) of 400 AD is the oldest complete LXX ms we have.  The near complete Codex Vaticánus (Vat) dates from the 300s AD.  However, missing from Vat are the pertinent patriarchal genealogies shown in Ge.5 & Ge.11.

The LXX Alex and LXX Vat codexes both date 600 years (yrs) before the oldest MT codex of 1008 AD.

LXX manuscripts (mss) have differences too (so did MT families).  Today’s Septuagint editions use various old mss.  Following are four English editions of the LXX and Bibles that today contain the LXX:

1 A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Nets), edited by Pietersma & Wright, 2007.  Nets uses the German Gottingen Septuagint and Rahlf’s Septuagínta (1935), whose lead ms is Vat.

2 The Septuagint With Apocrypha: Greek and English (Bre), translated by Sir Lancelot Brenton, 1851.  Bre mainly used Vat, secondarily Alex, and other old mss.

3 The Apostolic Bible Pólyglot (Abp), by Charles Vanderpool, 1996, is a Greek interlinear LXX & New Testament with Strongs numbers.  Abp uses Vat, along with the Compluténsian Polyglot Bible (Madrid), the 1709 Greek OT edited by Lambert Bos (Dutch), the Áldine (Venice) text and Síxtine (Roman) text.

4 The Orthodox Study Bible (Ort), by the St. Athanásius Academy, 2008.  This Bible’s OT is the LXX.  Ort uses Rahlf’s Septuaginta (whose lead ms was Vat) and Bre.

Examining the timeline of the OT patriarchs helps us see God’s word in its historical context.  But LXX versus MT discrepancies are evident in verses which relate to the dating of those ancient patriarchs!  Exact dates for the births & deaths of the patriarchs are unknown.  The LXX dates in the following TABLE are approximated from the ancient Alexándrine codex.  All dates in the TABLE are BC.

TABLE:
	LXX	LXX Age	LXX		MT	MT Age	MT
Patriarch	Born	Begetting	Died	Lifespan	Born	Begetting	Died
Adam	5451	230	4521	930	4065	130	3135
Seth	5221	205	4309	912	3935	105	3023
Enosh	5016	190	4111	905	3830	90	2925
Cainan 1	4826	170	3916	910	3740	70	2830
Mahalalel	4656	165	3761	895	3670	65	2775
Jared	4491	162	3529	962	3605	162	2643
Enoch	4329	165	3964	365	3443	65	3078
Methuselah	4164	187	3195	969	3378	187	2409
Lamech 2	3977	188	3224	753/777	3191	182	2414
Noah	3789	500	2839	950	3009	500	2059
Japheth	3289		?	?	2509		?
Shem	3287	100	2687	600	2507	100	1907
Ham	3285		?	?	2505		?
Flood	3189		3189		2409		2409
Arphaxad	3187	135	2622	565/438	2407	35	1969
Cainan 2	3052	130	2592	460	absent	absent	absent
Shelah	2922	130	2462	460/433	2372	30	1939
Eber	2792	134	2288	504/464	2342	34	1878
Peleg	2658	130	2319	339/239	2308	30	2069
Reu	2528	132	2189	339/239	2278	32	2039
Serug	2396	130	2066	330/230	2246	30	2016
Nahor 1	2266	79	2058	208/148	2216	29	2068
Terah	2187	70	1982	205	2187	70	1982
Abraham	2117	100	1942	175	2117	100	1942
Sarah	2107		1980	127	2107		1980
Ishmael	2031		1894	137	2031		1894
Isaac	2017	60	1837	180	2017	60	1837
Esau	1957		?	?	1957		?
Jacob	1957		1810	147	1957		1810
Reuben	1878		1753	125	1878		1753
Simeon	1877		1757	120	1877		1757
Levi	1875		1738	137	1875		1738
Judah	1873		1754	119	1873		1754
Dan	1872		1747	125	1872		1747
Naphtali	1871		1739	132	1871		1739
Gad	1870		1745	125	1870		1745
Asher	1869		1744	125	1869		1744
Issachar	1870		1748	122	1870		1748
Zebulun	1869		1755	114	1869		1755
Dinah	1869		?	?	1869		?
Joseph	1867		1757	110	1867		1757
Benjamin	1857		1732	125	1857		1732
Kohath	1830		1697	133	1830		1697
Amram	1811		1675	136/137	1811		1674
Manasseh	1833		?	?	1833		?
Ephraim	1833		?	?	1833		?
Moses	1692		1572	120	1692		1572

As seen in the TABLE, the LXX Alex timeline shows that Adám was created c 5451 BC; whereas the MT shows Adam was created c 4065 BC.  That’s a difference of 1,386 yrs!  The difference is due to the patriarchs’ Begetting Ages and (post-Food) Lifespans…in the LXX versus the MT.

According to the LXX, Adam was age 230 when he begat Seth, c 5221 BC.  But according to the MT, Adam was age 130 when he begat Seth, c 3935 BC.  The difference in Adam’s begetting age is 100 yrs!

A 100-year discrepancy in Begetting age in the LXX versus the MT continues with each patriarch until Methusélah, the 8^th patriarch.  Both the LXX and MT show that he begat Lámech 2 at age 187.

However, the Lifespans of the pre-Flood patriarchs (all but Lamech 2) are the same in the LXX and MT.

Methuselah lived 969 yrs; he died before the Flood.  LXX mss differ in regards to the number of yrs Methuselah lived before and after he begat Lamech 2.  (Lamech 1 was a descendant of Cain, Ge.4:18-24.)  Alex, Abp, Ort say Methuselah begat Lamech 2 at age 187 and then lived 782 yrs afterwards (as does the MT).  Nets & Bre say Methuselah begat Lamech 2 at age 167 and lived 802 yrs afterwards.  A 20-yr difference.  But 167 yrs plus 802 yrs would have Methuselah living 14 yrs past a 3209 BC Flood!

Henry B. Smith Methuselah’s Begetting Age in Gen.5:25 and the Primeval Chronology of the Septuagint “We can firmly claim that the 167 reading for Methuselah’s begetting age in some LXX MSS of Gen.5:25 is an early scribal error, and was not part of the original [Alex] LXX translation.”

St. Augústine (354–430 AD) City of God 15:13 “There are three Greek manuscripts, one Latin and one Syriac…in all of these [five mss] Methuselah is said to have died 6 years before the Deluge.”

My TABLE reflects 187 yrs & 782 yrs (total = 969); its date of 3195 BC for Methuselah’s death is 6 yrs before the Flood of c 3189 BC.  But if Lamech 2 had begat Noah 20 yrs earlier…the Flood is 3209 BC.

Also the Lifespan of the pre-Flood Lamech 2, son of Methuselah, differs in the LXX versus the MT.  The LXX says his lifespan is 753 yrs, whereas the MT says his lifespan is 777 yrs.

Concerning the Begetting ages of patriarchs born after the Flood, there is a 100-yr discrepancy in the LXX versus the MT for all patriarchs from Arphaxad/Arpachshad down through Serúg.  John van Tuyl A New Chronology for Old Testament Times, p.117 “The LXX numbers (Alex and Sistine) for fatherhood of the patriarchs after the Flood are always the same as the MT numbers, plus exactly 100 years…until Nahór is reached.”  Nahor 1, that is, Ge.11:22.  (Nahor 2 was one of Abraham’s brothers, Ge.11:26.)

The LXX says Nahor 1 was age 79 when he begat Térah; the MT says Nahor 1 was age 29 when he begat Terah…that’s only a 50-yr discrepancy, not a 100-yr.  (Among the LXXs referenced, Bre alone says the begetting age of Nahor 1 was 179 and his lifespan was 304 yrs, not 79 and 208 yrs.)

Another discrepancy is in Ge.11:12-13.  The LXX shows Arphaxad begat Cainán 2 his firstborn at age 135, and Cainan 2 then begat Sheláh.  Luke too says Cainan 2 was the son of Arphaxad (Lk.3:35-36).  But the Ge.11:12 MT says Arphaxad (not Cainan 2) fathered Shelah.  Cainan 2 is absent in the MT.

Ge.11:26, 31-32 Terah begat Abraham (his younger son) at age 70, and Terah’s lifespan was 205 yrs.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:5 “Terah begat Abrám in his 70^th year. Terah died when he had lived to be 205 years old.”  Ac.7:2-4 after Terah died, God removed Abraham into the land of Canáan.  Andrew Sibley Was Terah Dead When Abraham Left Harran?: “There is a chronological difficulty regarding the date of Abraham’s birth in relation to the age of Terah. If the period recorded in the Old Testament from Terah’s birth to Abram’s birth (70 years) is integrated with the time Abram left Harrán [at age 75, ref Ge.12:4], a period of only 145 years for the life of Terah would be established. But Terah died at age 205, leaving a gap of 60 years.”  How may this ‘60-yr gap’ (205 – 145 = 60) be resolved?

Abraham legally obtained land in Canaan “when his father was dead” (Ac.7:4).  Ge.23:1 Abraham’s wife Sarah died at age 127.  Ge.23:17-20 for her burial, Abraham purchased land in Canaan.  He’d lived nearly 30 yrs in the land of the Philistines, prior to Beershéba (Ge.21:34, 22:19).  ISBE: Abraham “The death of Sarah became the occasion for Abraham’s first acquisition of the first permanent holding of Palestine soil, the nucleus of his promised inheritance.”  He purchased the land from Hittites.  Diana Edelman TheTorah.com “The field and cave are Abraham’s first acquired land rights in Canaan.”  In the year Sarah died and Abraham acquired the field, he was age 137.  cf. Ge.17:17.  Terah had died two yrs before, at age 205, when Abraham was 135.  (Terah preceded his son by 70 yrs.)  Augustine op. cit. 31, 35 “His [Abraham’s] settlement in the land of Canaan, not his going from Harran, took place after his father’s death….He was settled in that land, entering then on actual possession of it; that is, after the death of his father, who died two years before.”  That rationale resolves the seeming ‘60-yr gap’.

{Sidelight: The individual saints who wrote the books of the Bible didn’t always order their writings chronologically.  (Had they always wrote chronologically, it sometimes would’ve interrupted the story flow.)  For example, Ge.25:7-8 notes that Abraham died at age 175.  v.26 says his son Isaac begat the twins Jacob & Esau at age 60.  But when Isaac was 60, Abraham was still alive at age 160!  Yet several verses previous it noted that Abraham died at age 175.  Similarly, Ge.11:32 notes that Terah died at age 205, yet he was still alive while the story of events in Abraham’s life unfolded in Ge.12–Ge.21.}

The timeline for the patriarchs Abraham down through Moses is addressed with detail in the topic “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.  See that topic; I won’t address its particulars here in this topic.

Source material for this topic is taken primarily from the book of Genesis, especially chapters 5, 10-11 (also Ge.25, 29-30).  Besides Genesis, a source for the lifespans of Jacob’s sons is Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P).  It was written in Aramaic and finalized between 140 BC and 150 AD.  Ref in T12P: Reuben 1:1; Simeon 1:1; Judah 12:12, 26:2; Dan 1:1; Naphtali 1:1; Gad 1:1; Asher 1:1; Issachár 7:1; Zebulún 1:1; Benjamin 12:2.  Another Jewish extra-Biblical source is the Book of Jubilees (or ‘Little Genesis’), written in Hebrew c 150 BC.  Jub.28:23, 30:2 refers to Jacob’s daughter Dinah, and Zebulun as her twin brother.  The Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q543-5 tells of Moses’ father Amrám.

Again, exact dates for the OT patriarchs are uncertain/unknown.  Some historians think it’s conceivable that the pre-Flood patriarch years may represent (old earth) unknown extended periods of time.

Jeremy Sexton Primeval Chronology Restored “According to the MT, God created Adam c 4000 BC; according to the LXX c 5500 BC. Jewish scribes in Egypt translated the Torah into Greek (c 280 BC).”

Demétrius (Jewish chronologer c 220 BC) calculated the creation of Adam at 5500, 5484, or 5451 BC.

Jewish Library: Eupólemus – This Jewish historian said 158 BC is “5,149 yrs from Adam” (5307 BC).

Wikipedia: Dating Creation “Early Christians calculated Creation…Clément of Alexandria [200 AD] 5592 BC, Theóphilus [180 AD] 5529 BC, Sextus Julius Africánus [230 AD] 5501 BC, Hippólytus [230 AD] 5500 BC, Pánodorus [412 AD] 5493 BC, Sevérus [403 AD] 5469 BC, Býzantine calendar [600s AD] 5509 BC.”

Irish Archbishop James Ussher (in 1654 AD) dated Adam at 4004 BC.  Jewish rabbis say 3761 BC.

Another relevant book sourced for the TABLE timeline was Dr. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.

My other topics on OT chronology: “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”, “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”, “Chronology: Samuel to Rehoboam”, “Skins Made For Adam Were Passed Down?”.