LXX Göttingen with Apparatus – Esther

The Göttingen Septuagint (Vetus Testamentum Graecum: Auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum) is a major critical version, comprising multiple volumes published from 1931 to 2006 and not yet complete. Its critical apparatus presents variant Septuagint readings and variants from other Greek versions.

This module includes two* grammatically tagged critical texts of LXX Esther each with the apparatus: Robert Hanhart, ed. Esther. Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum, Band 8,3. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1983. *See Notes below.

See a list of other available LXXG volumes.

*Notes on the two texts of Esther.

Esther O (which is based on the Greek character ὀμικρόν [omicron], representing the number “seventy”) is colloquially known as LXX or B-Text. It’s perhaps a translation of the Masoretic Text, but due to the nature of the translation philosophy (e.g., not wooden, but more of a literary translation), it cannot be proven without reasonable doubt. It is therefore parallel to Accordance’s LXX1 in Rahlfs Handbuch Ausgabe and NETS in the English Translation of the Göttingen Critical Text. Esther O is the upper text in the Göttingen Critical Edition.

Esther L (which is also known as the Alpha Text [AT]) is what was once believed to be Lucianic Recension (Lagarde’s Lucianic recension theory has been disproven). Only four manuscripts (19, 93, 108, and 319) attest to the shorter L or Alpha Text of Esther. Pertaining to the additions (A, B, C, D, E, and F), the four manuscripts do not give witness, but there are several “mixed” texts that contain Esther O and L. Due to the importance of ascertaining the early text (or Old Greek) of Esther, the lower Text and Apparatus (Esther L) is presented as a separate text. Esther L is  parallel to Accordance’s NETS2 in the English Translation of the Göttingen Critical Text. Esther L is the lower text and apparatus in the Göttingen Critical Edition.