Septuagint: Psalms of Solomon

By Scriptural Research Institute

Psalms of Solomon was once in the Codex Alexandrinus' appendix, however, that section was ripped out at some point, and only the title survives. So far only eleven copies of the Psalms of Solomon have been found in ancient Septuagint manuscripts, all dating to between the 11th and 15th centuries, however, scholars generally assume the translation found in the Peshitta was made from a copy of the Septuagint sometime between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, and that it was in early-Christian era copies of the Septuagint, as there are several references to it found in early Christian writing.
It is universally agreed that the Psalms of Solomon is a pre-Christian work, as early Christian writers referred to it even though it is clearly not about the life of Jesus as described in the gospels. The question of when it was written remains largely debatable, and currently, the consensus is that it was likely written sometime between 63 and 1 BC, and that some chapters may be older, composed in the 2nd century BC. The idea that the bulk of the Psalms were written after 63 BC, hinges on the interpretation of the dragon in chapter 2 as the Roman General Pompey, who sacked Jerusalem in 63 BC. Overall, the sack of Jerusalem by Pompey does fit the dragon story, as he did enter at the invitation of the princes, and he did occupy the city and tear down its fortifications, and then drag of many Jews as slaves, however, he was not the only one to do this. In 609 BC, Pharaoh Necho II did the same thing. The psalm describes the dragon as wanting to rule both the land and the sea, which might have also been accurate for Pompey, however, by the 1st century, BC naval battles were common, and hardly worth mentioning, especially in regards to Pompey's battles in Syria and Judea, where no ships were used. However, in Necho's time, naval warfare was new, and he was the first Egyptian king to establish a national navy, hiring Greeks to sail his ships, as Egyptians were superstitious about sailing on open waters.
Regardless of when it was composed, it is likely one of the only pre-Christian Nazarene text to make it into any version of the Christian Bible, although it was ultimately dropped in the Middle Ages. It appears to have never been used by any Jewish sect, unless one counts the ancient Nazarenes as Jewish. The author of the Psalms of Solomon's intent is to place a decendent of David on the throne of Judea, foreshadowing the events on the first few decades AD surrounding John, Jesus, James, and Jude.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
• Release date: Jun 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781989852323

Book preview

Septuagint: Psalms of Solomon

Septuagint, Volume 34

SCRIPTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Published by Digital Ink Productions, 2022

Copyright

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Septuagint: Psalms of Solomon

Digital edition. June 23, 2022

Copyright © 2022 Scriptural Research Institute.

ISBN: 978-1-989852-32-3

The Codex Alexandrinus manuscript of the Septuagint included a Greek translation of the Psalms of Solomon in its appendix in the 4th century AD, however, it is unclear when it was added to the Septuagint.

This English translation was created by the Scriptural Research Institute in 2020 through 2022, based on copies of the Psalms of Solomon dating to the 11th through 15th centuries, and the analyses of earlier translators, including A. Carrière (Latin, 1870), O. von Gebhardt (German, 1895), H. B. Swete (English, 1899), and A. Rahlfs (Latin, 1935).

The image used for the cover is Pompey enters the Jerusalem Temple illuminated by Jean Fouquet in 1470.

Note: The notes for this book include multiple ancient scripts. For your convenience, the Quivira font from Alexander Lange, and the Noto fonts from Google are embedded in the ebook. If your reader does not support embedded fonts, you will need to install Unicode fonts that cover the ranges for Akkadian Cuneiform, Greek, Hebrew, Imperial Aramaic, Phoenician, Samaritan, and Ugaritic on your reader manually, or you may see blank areas, question marks, or squares where the scripts are used.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Forward

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Available Digitally

Available in Print

Forward

In the mid-3rd century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Israelite scriptures for the Library of Alexandria. This translation later became known as the Septuagint, based on the description of the translation by seventy translators in the Letter of Aristeas. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Cosmic Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. According to Jewish tradition, the original Torah was lost when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple of Solomon, and it was then rewritten by Ezra the Scribe from memory during the Second Temple period.

It is generally accepted that there were several versions of the ancient Israelite scriptures before the translation of the Septuagint, and that it was translated from an Aramaic copy, something which the Hasmonean High-Priest/Kings objected to. The final version of the Septuagint was published in 132 BC and did not include the Psalms of Solomon, which was translated into Greek later, and added as an appendix. This book was never copied by the Masoretes, and no fragments of it have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, indicating it was not used much in Judea, if at all. A Syriac version of it is included in the Peshitta, the Syrian Orthodox Bible, which the Syrian Orthodox Church has always claimed was transcribed from the Aramaic text that the Jews translated into Hebrew, however, most modern scholars believe the Peshitta was a Syriac translation of the Septuagint.

The origin of the book is unclear and widely debated. The name Solomon is used in this translation, as it is the name used in the Codex Alexandrinus, however, it should be noted that about half the manuscripts use the name Salomôn (Σαλομών) or Salômôn (Σαλωμών) instead of Solomôn (Σολομῶν) or Solômôn (Σολωμών). This could be a transliteration error, however, the name Solomon must have been well known by the time these Psalms were translated into Greek, so the consistent use of the alternate spelling appears to be intentional. It is possible that the translators and scribes that used the alternate spelling did so in the belief that the author of these Psalms was named Salomon, as he certainly could not have been King Solomon.

Psalms of Solomon does not identify someone called Solomon or Salomon within them, other than in the titles of the psalms, which were added later. The identification of Solomon is based