Aligned texts for the LXX

[Jonathan Robie]

Ignorant question here: To what extent do Hebrew texts exist that correspond closely to LXX texts?

I am playing with tools that work with "aligned texts", and it would be interesting to use with Greek and Hebrew texts that say essentially the same thing.

What about aligned texts for Hebrew + X, where X is any ancient language?

[Ken M. Penner]

I'm not sure I understand your question.
Are you asking which LXX books are the most formally equivalent? Ecclesiastes comes to mind.
Are you asking if there are other Greek works in translation Greek?
There are not a lot of non-Biblical Hebrew texts from antiquity besides the Dead Sea Scrolls. Are you thinking of bilingual contracts, for example?

[Jonathan Robie]

I'm not sure I understand your question.
Are you asking which LXX books are the most formally equivalent? Ecclesiastes comes to mind.
Are you asking if there are other Greek works in translation Greek?
There are not a lot of non-Biblical Hebrew texts from antiquity besides the Dead Sea Scrolls. Are you thinking of bilingual contracts, for example?

I suppose I'm looking for formal equivalence without being too 'translation Greek', I'm looking for LXX books that are more or less like the ESV.

Bilingual contracts and the like would be good.

I've been playing with learning a little Latin by playing with aligned Greek / Latin texts, creating reverse-interlinears, and noting where that fails (implied words, etc.), and it seems to be a useful method. I was wondering if it might work for me with Hebrew as well.

[Evan Blackmore]

I suppose I'm looking for formal equivalence without being too 'translation Greek', I'm looking for LXX books that are more or less like the ESV.

My personal feeling is that much of the LXX (e.g. large swathes of the Torah and the history books) would broadly fit that description. In most sentences the syntax and word order mirror the Hebrew remarkably closely; and nearly all the language use can be matched in non-translation Greek of the same period--although (as with the ESV) the overall result isn't quite the way that anyone would write if they weren't making a translation.

Of course the Hebrew text underlying the LXX wasn't exactly the same as the MT, so there will be places where whole phrases or clauses won't align for that reason. I think that applies in all sections of the LXX, but it's a particular complication in 1-2 Samuel, so that probably wouldn't be the best place to start experimenting.

As Ken remarked, Ecclesiastes is the most isomorphic section of the LXX and would give you the closest Hebrew/Greek alignment of all; but that really is "translation Greek" (more like Young or Jay Green than the ESV).

[Ken M. Penner]

I agree with Evan. Just start in Genesis; I doubt you'll find anything more suitable for your purposes. The Greek and Hebrew are close, and the Greek bends rather than breaks the rules.