Glossary of Key Terms

Aleppo Codex

The Aleppo Codex is the oldest known manuscript of the complete Hebrew Bible in the Masoretic tradition. It was produced around 930 AD in Tiberias (in modern-day Israel) by the scribe Shlomo ben Buya’a, and its vowel pointing and cantillation marks were added by the renowned Masorete Aaron ben Moses ben Asher. For centuries, it was kept in the Jewish community of Aleppo, Syria — hence the name. In 1947, during anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo, the synagogue housing the codex was set on fire, and a significant portion of the manuscript was damaged or lost. The surviving portions are now housed in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The Aleppo Codex is important for this book because it demonstrates a key point: the oldest complete Masoretic manuscript is roughly a thousand years younger than the Septuagint’s earliest major codices (Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, from the fourth century AD). This means the Greek Old Testament takes us closer in time to the original Hebrew than the Masoretic Text does. See Chapter 18 for a fuller discussion of the late standardization of the Masoretic Text.¹

Alexandrian Canon

A term sometimes used by scholars to describe the broader collection of Jewish Scriptures that circulated in the Greek-speaking Jewish community of Alexandria, Egypt. This collection included not only the books found in the Hebrew Bible but also the deuterocanonical books (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and the additions to Daniel and Esther). The idea is that Alexandrian Jews accepted a wider canon than Palestinian Jews. Some scholars have challenged this distinction, arguing that there was no single, fixed “Alexandrian canon” and that the situation was more fluid. Nevertheless, the term remains useful as a shorthand for the broader collection of books preserved in the Septuagint — the collection that the early church inherited and treated as Scripture. See Chapters 3, 19, and 26 for detailed discussion.²

Almah (עַלְמָה)

A Hebrew word meaning “young woman” or “maiden.” The term appears in Isaiah 7:14, which is one of the most hotly debated verses in the entire Old Testament. In the Masoretic Text, Isaiah 7:14 reads: “Behold, the almah shall conceive and bear a son.” The Septuagint translators rendered almah with the Greek word parthenos (παρθένος), which specifically means “virgin.” Matthew 1:23 quotes this verse following the Septuagint’s rendering to describe the virgin birth of Jesus. The debate centers on whether almah itself means “virgin” or simply “young woman of marriageable age.” The author’s position is that the LXX translators — who were native speakers of both Hebrew and Greek — understood almah to carry the connotation of virginity in this context, and that their translation is faithful to the original meaning. Chapter 7 provides the full in-depth treatment of this issue.³

Amanuensis

A person who writes down what another person dictates. In the ancient world, many authors — including biblical authors — used an amanuensis (sometimes called a “secretary” or “scribe”) to physically write their compositions. The apostle Paul, for example, appears to have dictated many of his letters, as indicated by occasional personal notes at the end (see Galatians 6:11, “See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!”). The use of an amanuensis helps explain some of the stylistic differences between books attributed to the same author — a different scribe might contribute to the wording even while the author controlled the content. This concept is relevant to discussions of biblical inspiration: the inspired message came through the author, but the physical act of writing often involved a helper.

Anaginoskomena (ἀναγινωσκόμενα)

A Greek word meaning “things that are read” or “readable books.” This is the term used in the Eastern Orthodox tradition for certain books that are read in worship and considered profitable for instruction but occupy a slightly different status than the fully canonical books in some Orthodox discussions. The category roughly overlaps with what Catholics call the deuterocanonical books, though the Orthodox list is somewhat broader (including, for example, 3 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, the Prayer of Manasseh, and Psalm 151). The use of this term reflects the fact that the Eastern churches have historically treated the question of canon with greater flexibility than either the Roman Catholic or Protestant traditions. See Chapter 33 for more on the Eastern Orthodox canon.⁴

Antilegomena (ἀντιλεγόμενα)

A Greek word meaning “spoken against” or “disputed.” In discussions of the biblical canon, antilegomena refers to books whose canonical status was debated or disputed in the early church. The term was used by the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea (early fourth century) to classify books that some churches accepted as Scripture but others questioned. In the New Testament context, the antilegomena included books like James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, Hebrews, and Revelation — all of which were eventually accepted into the New Testament canon but were disputed for a time. The deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament could also be considered antilegomena in a broader sense, since their status was debated between figures like Augustine (who accepted them) and Jerome (who had reservations). The opposite category is homologoumena — books accepted by all. See Chapter 26.⁵

Apocrypha

From the Greek apokryphos (ἀπόκρυφος), meaning “hidden” or “secret.” In modern Protestant usage, “the Apocrypha” refers to the collection of Jewish writings included in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but excluded from Protestant Bibles — books like Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and the additions to Daniel and Esther. The term has taken on a negative connotation in Protestant circles, implying that these books are inferior, unreliable, or non-canonical. This book generally avoids the term “Apocrypha” in favor of “deuterocanonical,” which is more historically accurate and does not carry the same pejorative connotation. Originally, “apocryphal” simply meant “hidden” or “esoteric” — referring to books with secret or mysterious teachings. Only later did it come to mean “of doubtful authenticity.” It is important not to confuse the deuterocanonical books (or “Apocrypha”) with the pseudepigrapha, which is a much larger and more diverse collection of Jewish and early Christian writings that were never widely accepted as canonical by any major branch of Christianity (with a few exceptions like 1 Enoch in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition). See Chapter 3 for a full introduction to these books.⁶

Apographs

Copies of the original manuscripts (autographs) of a biblical book. Since we no longer possess any of the original manuscripts of any biblical book — Old Testament or New Testament — what we have are apographs: copies of copies of copies, stretching back through centuries of hand copying. The entire discipline of textual criticism exists to compare these copies, identify where they differ, and determine which reading is most likely original. When we speak of the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, or the Dead Sea Scrolls, we are always speaking of apographs — not autographs. This is not a reason for despair, however. The sheer abundance of manuscripts, combined with careful scholarly analysis, gives us a very high degree of confidence in the text of Scripture.

Aquila (of Sinope)

A second-century AD Jewish convert (or proselyte) who produced an extremely literal Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. According to ancient tradition, Aquila was a student of Rabbi Akiba and created his translation under Akiba’s direction. Aquila’s translation was so rigidly literal that it often produced Greek that was barely readable — he tried to represent every element of the Hebrew, including particles and prefixes, with a corresponding Greek equivalent. The purpose of this hyper-literal translation was to provide the Jewish community with a Greek version that closely followed the proto-Masoretic Hebrew text, effectively replacing the Septuagint, which had become identified with Christianity. Only fragments of Aquila’s translation survive today, mostly in quotations by church fathers and in the remains of Origen’s Hexapla. See Chapter 13 for the full discussion of the “replacement translations.”⁷

Autograph

The original manuscript of a biblical book as first written (or dictated) by its author. No autograph of any biblical book — Old or New Testament — has survived. What we possess are copies (apographs) made over many centuries. When we say that Scripture is “inspired” or “inerrant in the original manuscripts,” we are referring to the autographs. The task of textual criticism is to work backward from the surviving copies to recover, as closely as possible, what the autographs said.

Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–136 AD)

The third and final major Jewish revolt against Rome, led by Simon bar Kokhba (also spelled Bar Kochba or Bar Kosiba). Rabbi Akiba famously declared bar Kokhba to be the Messiah — an identification that was rejected by Jewish Christians, who recognized Jesus as the Messiah. The revolt was crushed by the Romans with devastating consequences: Jerusalem was razed and rebuilt as a pagan city (Aelia Capitolina), and Jews were barred from entering the city. The aftermath of the revolt was a turning point in Jewish history. It marked the consolidation of Rabbinic Judaism under the leadership of Akiba’s surviving students, and — as this book argues — it provided the historical context for the deliberate alteration of the Hebrew text to distance it from the Septuagint and from Christian messianic interpretations. See Chapter 12 for the full treatment.⁸

Birkat HaMinim

Hebrew for “Blessing [i.e., curse] of the Heretics.” This is the twelfth benediction of the Amidah (the central prayer of Jewish liturgy), which was reformulated around 90 AD — possibly at the council of Yavneh (Jamnia) — to include a curse against minim (heretics), widely understood to include Jewish Christians (nozrim, Nazarenes). The reformulation is attributed to Shmuel HaKatan under the direction of Rabban Gamaliel II. The purpose was to make it impossible for Jewish Christians to participate in synagogue worship, since they could not in good conscience recite a prayer cursing themselves. The Birkat HaMinim is one piece of evidence for the broader rabbinic campaign to separate Christianity from Judaism in the late first and early second centuries. Some scholars debate exactly when and how this benediction was altered, but the general outline — that it was used to exclude Jewish Christians from the synagogue — is widely accepted.⁹

Canon (κανών)

From the Greek kanōn (κανών), originally meaning “reed” or “measuring rod,” and by extension “rule” or “standard.” In biblical studies, the canon refers to the official list of books recognized as inspired, authoritative Scripture. There is an important distinction between the formal canon (an official list decreed by a council or authority) and the functional canon (books that were actually treated as Scripture in practice, whether or not they appeared on a formal list). The Protestant Old Testament canon contains 39 books; the Catholic canon adds the deuterocanonical books (for a total of 46); the Eastern Orthodox canons are slightly broader still. The New Testament canon of 27 books is shared by all major Christian traditions. One of the central arguments of this book is that the Protestant canon of the Old Testament is too narrow — that the deuterocanonical books were part of the church’s functional canon from the earliest centuries, and that their removal by the Reformers was a mistake. See Chapters 26, 28, 29, and 30 for the full history of the canon.¹⁰

Cantillation Marks

A system of musical and syntactical marks (also called te’amim) added to the Hebrew Bible by the Masoretes, primarily between the sixth and tenth centuries AD. These marks served two purposes: they indicated how the text was to be chanted or sung in synagogue worship, and they indicated the syntactical structure of each verse (showing which words belong together and where the main breaks in the sentence fall). Cantillation marks are part of the Masoretic apparatus and are not found in the Dead Sea Scrolls or other pre-Masoretic manuscripts. They were not part of the original Hebrew text.

Christological

Relating to Christ or to the study of Christ (Christology). When we say a passage is “Christologically significant,” we mean it has implications for understanding who Jesus Christ is — especially whether it points to him as the promised Messiah. A major argument of this book is that the Masoretic Text has been altered in ways that weaken or obscure the Christological significance of certain Old Testament passages, while the Septuagint preserves the original, stronger Christological readings. See Chapters 14 and 15.

Codex (plural: Codices)

A manuscript in book form — with pages bound together on one side — as opposed to a scroll, which is a single long sheet rolled up. The codex format was adopted by Christians very early (by the second century AD) and eventually replaced the scroll as the standard format for transmitting texts. The most important early codices of the Greek Bible include Codex Vaticanus (fourth century), Codex Sinaiticus (fourth century), and Codex Alexandrinus (fifth century). These great codices contain the entire Greek Bible — both Old and New Testaments — and they include the deuterocanonical books as part of the Old Testament. This is significant evidence that the early church considered the deuterocanonical books to be Scripture.¹¹

Codex Alexandrinus

A fifth-century Greek manuscript of the Bible, now housed in the British Library in London. It contains most of the Old Testament (in the Septuagint), the New Testament, and the deuterocanonical books. It also includes 1 and 2 Clement, two early Christian letters. Codex Alexandrinus is one of the three great uncial codices (along with Vaticanus and Sinaiticus) that serve as primary witnesses to the text of the Greek Bible.

Codex Sinaiticus

A fourth-century Greek manuscript of the Bible, discovered by the scholar Constantin von Tischendorf at St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai in the mid-nineteenth century. It is one of the oldest and most important manuscripts of the entire Bible (Old and New Testaments together). Codex Sinaiticus originally contained the complete Greek Bible including the deuterocanonical books, though portions have been lost. It also includes the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. Most of the manuscript is now housed in the British Library, with smaller portions in Leipzig, St. Petersburg, and at St. Catherine’s Monastery.¹²

Codex Vaticanus

A fourth-century Greek manuscript of the Bible, housed in the Vatican Library in Rome since at least the fifteenth century. It is widely considered the single most important manuscript of the Greek Bible. Codex Vaticanus contains the Old Testament (including the deuterocanonical books) and most of the New Testament (the ending of Hebrews, the Pastoral Epistles, Philemon, and Revelation are missing due to damage). Along with Codex Sinaiticus, it provides our earliest extensive witness to the text of both the Septuagint and the New Testament.¹³

Consonantal Text

The original form of the Hebrew Bible as written by its authors, consisting of consonants only — without vowels, punctuation, or spacing between words. Ancient Hebrew, like other Semitic languages, was normally written with consonants only. Readers had to supply the vowels from context and familiarity. The vowel points (nikkud) that appear in modern printed Hebrew Bibles were added by the Masoretes centuries later (primarily between the sixth and tenth centuries AD). When scholars say the “consonantal text was largely stabilized by the second century AD,” they mean that the basic letters of the Hebrew Bible were fairly well established by that time — but the vowels, punctuation, and textual notes were not. This distinction matters because the vowel pointing sometimes affects the meaning of a word: the same consonants can be read as different words depending on which vowels are supplied.¹⁴

Creation Ex Nihilo

Latin for “creation out of nothing.” The doctrine that God created the universe from nothing — not from pre-existing matter. While Genesis 1 is the primary biblical text for this doctrine, one of its clearest articulations in the Bible actually comes from a deuterocanonical book: 2 Maccabees 7:28, where a mother tells her martyred son, “I beg you, child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed.” This is often cited as the first unambiguous statement of creation ex nihilo in Jewish literature. See Chapter 24.¹⁵

Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS)

A collection of approximately 900 manuscripts discovered between 1947 and 1956 in caves near the Dead Sea, primarily at a site called Qumran in the Judean Desert. The scrolls date from roughly the third century BC to the first century AD, making them the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible — predating the Masoretic Text by about a thousand years. The Dead Sea Scrolls are enormously important for this book because they provide independent evidence about the state of the Hebrew text before the rabbis standardized it. In numerous cases, the scrolls agree with the Septuagint against the Masoretic Text, confirming that the LXX translators were working from Hebrew source texts (Vorlagen) that differed from what later became the MT. The scrolls also demonstrate that multiple textual traditions existed side by side in the Second Temple period — there was no single, uniform Hebrew text. Chapter 4 provides the full treatment of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their significance for this book’s argument.¹⁶

Deuterocanonical

From the Greek deuteros (δεύτερος), meaning “second,” and kanōn (κανών), meaning “canon” or “rule.” The term “deuterocanonical” is used primarily by Catholic and Orthodox Christians to refer to the books of the Old Testament that are included in their Bibles but excluded from Protestant Bibles. These books include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch (including the Letter of Jeremiah), 1 and 2 Maccabees, and the additions to Daniel (the Prayer of Azariah, the Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon) and Esther. The word “deuterocanonical” does not mean “inferior” or “secondary in importance.” It simply means that these books’ canonical status was formally defined at a later stage than the protocanonical books. The term was coined by Sixtus of Siena in 1566. This book uses “deuterocanonical” rather than the Protestant term “Apocrypha” because it is more historically accurate and does not carry the negative connotation that “apocryphal” has acquired in common usage. See Chapter 3 for a full survey of these books.¹⁷

Diaspora

From the Greek diaspora (διασπορά), meaning “scattering” or “dispersion.” The term refers to Jewish communities living outside the land of Israel. After the Babylonian exile (586 BC), and especially from the Hellenistic period onward, large Jewish communities existed throughout the Mediterranean world — in Alexandria (Egypt), Antioch (Syria), Rome, Asia Minor, and elsewhere. These diaspora communities generally spoke Greek rather than Hebrew, which is why the Septuagint was produced: diaspora Jews needed a Greek translation of their Scriptures because many could no longer read Hebrew fluently. The Septuagint was originally a diaspora product, made by and for Greek-speaking Jews. The deuterocanonical books were also largely composed in or for diaspora contexts.¹⁸

Dynamic Equivalence

A translation philosophy that prioritizes conveying the meaning of the source text in natural, readable language in the target language, rather than trying to reproduce the exact wording and grammatical structure of the original. A dynamically equivalent translation asks, “How would a native speaker of the target language express this same idea?” This contrasts with formal equivalence (see below), which tries to reproduce the original wording as closely as possible. The Septuagint translations vary across the spectrum: some books (like the Pentateuch) tend toward formal equivalence, while others are more dynamically equivalent. Modern English Bible translations also fall at different points on this spectrum: the ESV and NASB lean toward formal equivalence, while the NIV and NLT lean toward dynamic equivalence. See Chapter 2.¹⁹

Eschatology

From the Greek eschatos (ἔσχατος), meaning “last” or “final.” Eschatology is the study of “last things” — the end times, the final judgment, the resurrection of the dead, the return of Christ, the new heavens and new earth, and the ultimate destiny of humanity. The deuterocanonical books make significant contributions to biblical eschatology, particularly 2 Maccabees (which contains one of the clearest pre-Christian statements of bodily resurrection — chapter 7) and the Wisdom of Solomon (which speaks of the immortality of the soul and the final vindication of the righteous). See Chapters 21 and 24.

Essenes

A Jewish sect that existed during the Second Temple period (roughly second century BC to first century AD). The Essenes are widely believed to have been the community that produced and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. They were known for their strict piety, communal living, ritual purity practices, and apocalyptic expectations. The Essenes preserved a diverse collection of scriptural manuscripts, including texts that agree with the Septuagint against the Masoretic Text, as well as copies of some deuterocanonical and pseudepigraphal books (including fragments of Tobit, Sirach, and 1 Enoch). See Chapter 4.

Exegesis

From the Greek exēgēsis (ἐξήγησις), meaning “to lead out” or “to draw out.” Exegesis is the careful, methodical interpretation of a text — drawing out its meaning based on its historical context, literary genre, grammar, and the author’s original intent. Good exegesis asks, “What did this text mean to its original author and audience?” This is contrasted with eisegesis, which means “reading into” a text — imposing a meaning on the text that the author did not intend. Throughout this book, we try to practice careful exegesis of the biblical texts, paying close attention to the original languages (Hebrew and Greek) and the historical context of each passage.

Formal Equivalence

A translation philosophy that tries to reproduce the exact wording, word order, and grammatical structure of the source text as closely as possible in the target language. A formally equivalent translation asks, “What is the closest word-for-word rendering I can give?” This approach preserves the form of the original but can sometimes produce awkward or unclear language in the target language. See Dynamic Equivalence above for the contrasting approach. Aquila’s Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (second century AD) is an extreme example of formal equivalence — so extreme that the resulting Greek was often barely comprehensible. See Chapters 2 and 13.²⁰

Gehenna (γέεννα)

The Greek form of the Hebrew Ge-Hinnom (גֵּיא הִנֹּם), meaning “Valley of Hinnom” — a valley south of Jerusalem associated in the Old Testament with the abominable practice of child sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31). By the time of Jesus, “Gehenna” had become a term for the place of final, eschatological punishment — the lake of fire or ultimate destruction of the wicked. It is important to distinguish Gehenna from Hades (see below). In this book’s theological framework, Hades is the temporary waiting place of the dead during the intermediate state, while Gehenna (the lake of fire) is the final destination of those who ultimately reject God. See Chapter 24 for relevant deuterocanonical texts on the afterlife.

Genizah

A storage area in a synagogue where worn-out or damaged manuscripts containing the name of God were placed rather than being destroyed (since Jewish law prohibits destroying anything bearing God’s name). The most famous genizah is the Cairo Genizah, discovered in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, Egypt, in the late nineteenth century. It contained approximately 300,000 manuscript fragments dating from the ninth to nineteenth centuries, including fragments of the Hebrew text of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) — significant because for centuries the Hebrew original of Sirach was thought to be lost, and its recovery confirmed the antiquity and authenticity of this deuterocanonical book. See Chapter 22.

Hades (ᾅδης)

The Greek term for the realm of the dead. In the Septuagint, Hades typically translates the Hebrew word Sheol (שְׁאוֹל). In the theological framework of this book, Hades is the temporary dwelling place of the dead during the intermediate state — the period between a person’s death and the final resurrection and judgment. The righteous dead are in a blessed portion of Hades (often called “paradise” or “Abraham’s bosom”), while the unrighteous dead are in a place of conscious awareness and discomfort. Hades is not the same as Gehenna or the lake of fire (the final destiny of the wicked). This distinction is important for understanding the deuterocanonical texts that speak of the state of the dead, especially Wisdom of Solomon 3:1–9 and 2 Maccabees 12:38–46. See Chapters 21 and 24.

Hagiographa

See Ketuvim (Writings).

Hasmonean Dynasty

The Jewish ruling dynasty that governed Judea from approximately 140 to 63 BC, following the success of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire. The Hasmoneans served as both kings and high priests — a combination that was controversial because they were not from the Davidic line (and thus had no legitimate claim to the throne) nor from the Zadokite line of high priests. The history of the Hasmonean dynasty is recorded primarily in 1 Maccabees. The dynasty ended when the Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem in 63 BC. See Chapter 24.

Hebraica Veritas

Latin for “the Hebrew truth.” This phrase is associated with Jerome (c. 347–420 AD), the great Bible translator who produced the Latin Vulgate. Jerome argued that the true and authoritative Old Testament text was the Hebrew original — not the Greek Septuagint — and that Christians should look to the Hebrew as the ultimate standard for the Old Testament. This led Jerome to question the canonical status of the deuterocanonical books, which existed only in Greek (or whose Hebrew originals were, in his day, not known to survive). Jerome’s position was the minority view in the early church; the majority, led by Augustine, regarded the Septuagint as the authoritative Old Testament and accepted the deuterocanonical books as Scripture. The Protestant Reformers later revived Jerome’s position, making the Hebraica veritas one of the key principles behind their decision to exclude the deuterocanonical books. This book argues that Jerome was wrong on this point and that Augustine had the stronger case. See Chapter 27 for the full Jerome-vs-Augustine debate.²¹

Hellenism / Hellenistic

Terms referring to the spread of Greek language, culture, philosophy, and political institutions throughout the Mediterranean world and the Near East following the conquests of Alexander the Great (336–323 BC). The “Hellenistic period” typically refers to the era from Alexander’s death (323 BC) to the Roman conquest of Egypt (30 BC). Hellenism profoundly shaped the Jewish world: Greek became the common language (lingua franca) of the eastern Mediterranean, Greek philosophical concepts influenced Jewish theology, and the Septuagint was produced to make the Jewish Scriptures accessible to Greek-speaking Jews. The deuterocanonical books were largely products of this Hellenistic Jewish world.²²

Hermeneutics

The study of the principles and methods of interpretation — especially the interpretation of texts, and most particularly the interpretation of Scripture. While exegesis is the practice of interpreting a specific text, hermeneutics is the theory behind interpretation: What rules should we follow? How do we determine what a text means? What role do genre, historical context, and the author’s intent play? Hermeneutics is relevant to this book because different hermeneutical approaches lead to different conclusions about the canon and the text. For example, if one’s hermeneutical principle is “only books originally written in Hebrew are canonical” (a position associated with Jerome), then the deuterocanonical books are excluded. If one’s principle is “the books received and used as Scripture by the church are canonical” (a position associated with Augustine), then they are included.

Hexapla

A massive work of textual scholarship compiled by the Christian scholar Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–254 AD). The Hexapla (from the Greek for “sixfold”) arranged six versions of the Old Testament in parallel columns: (1) the Hebrew text, (2) the Hebrew transliterated into Greek letters, (3) Aquila’s Greek translation, (4) Symmachus’s Greek translation, (5) Origen’s revised Septuagint text, and (6) Theodotion’s Greek translation. The purpose was to allow comparison of the different versions and to bring the Septuagint into closer alignment with the Hebrew text of his day. The Hexapla was an enormous work — possibly forty large volumes — and only one complete copy is known to have existed, housed in Caesarea, where it was apparently destroyed during the Muslim conquest in the seventh century. Only fragments survive today. The Hexapla is important for this book because it represents an early (and in some ways misguided) attempt to “correct” the Septuagint according to the proto-Masoretic Hebrew text — the very text that, as this book argues, had already been altered by the rabbis. Origen’s well-intentioned work ironically contributed to corrupting the Septuagint tradition. See Chapters 13 and 18.²³

Homologoumena (ὁμολογούμενα)

A Greek word meaning “agreed upon” or “acknowledged by all.” In discussions of the biblical canon, homologoumena refers to books whose canonical status was universally accepted and not disputed. The church historian Eusebius used this category to classify New Testament books that all churches recognized as Scripture (the four Gospels, Acts, the Pauline epistles, 1 Peter, 1 John). The opposite category is antilegomena — books that were disputed. See Antilegomena above.

Intermediate State

The condition of human beings between death and the final resurrection. In the theological framework of this book, the intermediate state is a conscious existence: the righteous dead are with Christ in paradise (Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:8), while the unrighteous dead are in Hades. The intermediate state ends at the final resurrection, when the dead are raised, judged, and given their eternal destiny. The deuterocanonical books are significant for this doctrine because the Wisdom of Solomon (3:1–9) provides one of the most beautiful and theologically rich descriptions of the righteous dead in God’s care, and 2 Maccabees presupposes a conscious intermediate state in which the dead can benefit from prayers offered on their behalf. See Chapters 21 and 24.²⁴

Intertestamental Period

The period between the last events recorded in the Old Testament (roughly the mid-fifth century BC, the time of Ezra and Nehemiah) and the birth of Jesus (c. 4 BC). This period — roughly 400 years — is sometimes called the “silent years” by Protestants because they believe God did not inspire any new Scripture during this time. However, this period was anything but silent. It witnessed the rise of Hellenism, the Maccabean revolt, the development of Jewish apocalyptic thought, the emergence of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the production of the Septuagint, and the writing of the deuterocanonical books and many other significant Jewish texts (including 1 Enoch and Jubilees). Far from being a theological wasteland, the intertestamental period was a time of rich religious reflection and literary production. See Chapter 19.²⁵

Jamnia / Yavneh

A town on the Mediterranean coast of Palestine where, according to tradition, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai established a center of Jewish learning after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD. The so-called "Council of Jamnia" (c. 90 AD) was long thought to have been a formal council that defined the Jewish biblical canon, excluding the deuterocanonical books. Modern scholarship has largely rejected the idea of a single, decisive "council" at Jamnia that closed the canon. What happened at Yavneh was more of an ongoing discussion among rabbinic scholars about certain disputed books (like Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon) rather than a formal, authoritative pronouncement on the entire canon. Nevertheless, the decisions made at Yavneh and in the broader rabbinic movement of the late first and early second centuries did contribute to the eventual crystallization of the narrower Hebrew canon — a canon that excluded the deuterocanonical books. See Chapters 12 and 19.²⁶

Ketuvim (כְּתוּבִים) / Writings

The third and final division of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh). The Ketuvim ("Writings," also called the Hagiographa in Greek) includes a diverse collection of books: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and 1–2 Chronicles. The Ketuvim was the last section of the Hebrew Bible to be recognized as canonical, and its contents were still being debated in the rabbinic period (there were discussions about whether Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon "defiled the hands" — a rabbinic way of asking whether they were sacred Scripture). See Tanakh below.

Koine Greek (κοινή)

The "common" form of the Greek language that was spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean world from the time of Alexander the Great (late fourth century BC) through the early centuries of the Roman Empire. Koine Greek was the lingua franca — the shared everyday language — of the Hellenistic world. It is the language in which the Septuagint was written, the language in which most of the deuterocanonical books were composed or translated, and the language in which the entire New Testament was written. Koine Greek was simpler and more accessible than the classical Attic Greek of Plato and Aristotle, making it the natural medium for communicating Scripture to a broad audience.

Leningrad Codex

The oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in the Masoretic tradition, dated to 1008 AD. (The Aleppo Codex is slightly older but is no longer complete, having been damaged in 1947.) The Leningrad Codex is housed in the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg and serves as the base text for the two standard modern critical editions of the Hebrew Bible: the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) and the Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ). When someone reads an English translation of the Old Testament based on "the Hebrew" — as virtually all Protestant Bibles are — the underlying Hebrew text is ultimately derived from the Leningrad Codex. This means Protestant Bibles are, at bottom, based on a manuscript from the eleventh century AD — roughly a thousand years after the apostles and over a millennium after the Septuagint was produced. See Chapter 18.²⁷

Letter of Aristeas

An ancient document (probably second century BC) that narrates the origin of the Septuagint translation. According to the letter, Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt (reigned 285–246 BC) commissioned a Greek translation of the Jewish Torah for the Library of Alexandria. Seventy-two Jewish elders (six from each tribe) were brought from Jerusalem to Alexandria to produce the translation, which they completed in seventy-two days. The letter gives the translation its name: "Septuagint" comes from the Latin septuaginta ("seventy"), referencing the approximately seventy translators. Scholars debate the letter’s historical reliability — most believe it is broadly accurate about the origins of the translation but embellishes many details. See Chapter 2 for the full discussion.²⁸

LXX

See Septuagint.

Masorah

The system of notes, marks, and annotations that the Masoretes added to the Hebrew Bible. The Masorah includes the vowel points (nikkud), cantillation marks (te’amim), and marginal and end-of-book notes that record textual observations — such as the number of times a word appears in the Bible, unusual spellings, and variant readings (Qere/Kethiv, see below). The Masorah was intended to preserve the text and prevent future scribal errors. The word "Masorah" comes from the Hebrew root m-s-r (מסר), meaning "to hand down" or "to transmit."²⁹

Masoretes

Jewish scribes and scholars who worked primarily between the sixth and tenth centuries AD (with some activity continuing into the eleventh century) to preserve, standardize, and annotate the text of the Hebrew Bible. The most important Masoretic families were based in Tiberias (in the Galilee region) and Babylon. The ben Asher family of Tiberias produced the most influential tradition, which became the standard Masoretic Text. The Masoretes added vowel points, cantillation marks, and extensive marginal notes (the Masorah) to the consonantal text. Their work was meticulous and careful — but it preserved the text as it stood after the second-century rabbinic alterations that this book documents. In other words, the Masoretes faithfully transmitted a text that had already been changed. See Chapter 18.³⁰

Masoretic Text (MT)

The authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible, as preserved, pointed, and annotated by the Masoretes. The MT is the textual tradition that underlies virtually all modern Protestant translations of the Old Testament. It includes the consonantal text (largely stabilized by the second century AD), the vowel points and cantillation marks added by the Masoretes (sixth to tenth centuries AD), and the Masorah (marginal and end-of-book notes). The oldest complete manuscript of the MT is the Leningrad Codex (1008 AD). A central argument of this book is that the MT, while an important textual witness, is not the most reliable or original form of the Old Testament text — the Septuagint, in many cases, preserves older and more reliable readings. See Chapters 16–18 especially.³¹

Messianic

Relating to the Messiah (from the Hebrew mashiach, מָשִׁיחַ, meaning "anointed one"; Greek equivalent: christos, χριστός). A "Messianic prophecy" is a passage in the Old Testament that is understood to predict or foreshadow the coming of the Messiah — which Christians identify as Jesus of Nazareth. One of the central arguments of this book is that many Messianic passages in the Hebrew Bible were deliberately weakened or altered in the Masoretic Text by second-century rabbis who wanted to undermine Christian claims that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. The Septuagint preserves the original, stronger Messianic readings. See Chapters 7, 14, 15, and 35.

Midrash

A rabbinic method of biblical interpretation, and also the name for the body of literature produced by this method. Midrash involves creative, often imaginative interpretation of biblical texts — filling in gaps in the narrative, drawing moral lessons, connecting distant passages, and explaining difficult words. Midrashic literature was produced over many centuries (from the early rabbinic period through the medieval era) and is a rich source for understanding how Jewish interpreters understood Scripture.

Mishnah

The earliest major written collection of Jewish oral law, compiled by Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi around 200 AD. The Mishnah is organized into six "orders" (sedarim) covering topics like agriculture, festivals, family law, civil and criminal law, temple worship, and ritual purity. It became the foundational text of Rabbinic Judaism and the basis for the later Talmud. The Mishnah is important for understanding the world of second-century rabbinic Judaism — the same milieu in which, as this book argues, the Hebrew text was altered.

NETS (New English Translation of the Septuagint)

A modern English translation of the entire Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), produced under the editorial direction of Albert Pietersma and Benjamin Wright (published by Oxford University Press, 2007). NETS is the standard English translation of the Septuagint used by scholars today. Throughout this book, when we provide English translations of the Septuagint text, we generally follow NETS or provide our own translation.

Nevi’im (נְבִיאִים) / Prophets

The second division of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh). The Nevi’im includes the "Former Prophets" (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) and the "Latter Prophets" (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets). The division of the Hebrew Bible into Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim differs from the order of books in Christian Bibles.

Old Greek (OG)

A technical term used by Septuagint scholars to refer to the original Greek translation of a given biblical book — as opposed to later revisions, recensions, or corruptions of that translation. Recovering the Old Greek is one of the primary goals of modern Septuagint scholarship.³²

Old Latin (Vetus Latina)

The collection of Latin translations of the Bible that were in use before Jerome produced the Vulgate (late fourth to early fifth century AD). The Old Latin translations were made from the Septuagint, not from the Hebrew — which means they are indirect witnesses to the Greek Old Testament text. Old Latin manuscripts are valuable for Septuagint scholars because they can help reconstruct earlier forms of the Greek text. The Old Latin translations included the deuterocanonical books.

Paleography

The study of ancient handwriting. Paleographers analyze the shapes of letters, the style of writing, the materials used, and other physical features of manuscripts to determine their date, origin, and authenticity. Paleography is an essential tool for dating the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient manuscripts.

Parthenos (παρθένος)

A Greek word meaning "virgin." This is the word the Septuagint translators used to render the Hebrew word almah in Isaiah 7:14. Matthew 1:23 quotes this LXX rendering when describing the virgin birth of Jesus. See Almah above and Chapter 7 for the full discussion.³³

Patristic

Relating to the church fathers (Latin: patres, "fathers") — the influential Christian theologians and writers of the first several centuries of church history. Key patristic figures discussed in this book include Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius, Jerome, Augustine, and Epiphanius. The testimony of the church fathers is crucial for this book’s argument because it shows that the early church overwhelmingly used the Septuagint as its Old Testament and received the deuterocanonical books as Scripture. See Chapters 11 and 26.

Pentateuch

From the Greek pentateuchos (πεντάτευχος), meaning "five-volumed." The Pentateuch is the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In Jewish tradition, these five books are called the Torah. The Pentateuch was the first portion of the Hebrew Scriptures to be translated into Greek (mid-third century BC), forming the original core of the Septuagint. See Chapter 2.

Peshitta

The standard Syriac translation of the Bible, used by Syriac-speaking Christians. The name means "simple" or "straightforward." The Old Testament Peshitta was probably translated directly from Hebrew, mostly during the second century AD. The Peshitta is a useful textual witness for comparing with the MT and LXX, although it is generally closer to the MT.

Protocanonical

From the Greek prōtos (πρῶτος), meaning "first," and kanōn (κανών), meaning "canon." The protocanonical books are the books of the Old Testament whose canonical status was never seriously disputed — the 39 books that are accepted by Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians alike. The term does not imply that these books are more inspired or authoritative than the deuterocanonical books — only that their canonical status was recognized earlier and more universally. See Chapter 3.³⁴

Proto-Masoretic

A term used to describe the Hebrew textual tradition that eventually became the Masoretic Text, in its earlier, pre-standardized form. Several Dead Sea Scrolls are classified as "proto-Masoretic" because they agree closely with the consonantal text that later became the MT. The existence of proto-Masoretic scrolls at Qumran shows that the textual tradition underlying the MT is ancient — but it also shows that this tradition existed alongside other textual traditions (proto-Septuagintal, proto-Samaritan, and independent) in the Second Temple period. See Chapters 4 and 18.

Pseudepigrapha

From the Greek pseudēs (ψευδής), meaning "false," and epigraphē (ἐπιγραφή), meaning "inscription." The pseudepigrapha are a large and diverse collection of Jewish and early Christian writings attributed to famous biblical figures (like Enoch, Moses, Abraham, or Isaiah) but actually written much later. These books are not included in the canon of any major Western Christian tradition, though some are canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition (most notably 1 Enoch and Jubilees). The pseudepigrapha are distinct from the deuterocanonical books. See Chapters 32 and 33.³⁵

Qere / Kethiv

Terms from the Masoretic tradition. Kethiv (כְּתִיב, "what is written") refers to the word as it appears in the consonantal text. Qere (קְרֵי, "what is read") refers to the word as the Masoretes indicate it should be read aloud. The most famous example is the divine name YHWH (יהוה), where the consonants are the Tetragrammaton but the vowel points are those of Adonai ("Lord"), indicating that the reader should say "Adonai" rather than attempt to pronounce the divine name.

Qumran

The archaeological site near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. The scrolls found at Qumran include manuscripts of every book of the Hebrew Bible except Esther, as well as deuterocanonical and pseudepigraphal texts. See Dead Sea Scrolls above and Chapter 4.

Rabbi Akiba (c. 50–135 AD)

One of the most important and influential figures in the history of Rabbinic Judaism. Akiba ben Joseph (also spelled Akiva) was a leading sage who played a central role in shaping the rabbinic tradition that would define Judaism after the destruction of the Temple. Akiba is infamous in Christian history for his endorsement of Simon bar Kokhba as the Messiah during the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 AD). This book argues, following S. Douglas Woodward, that Akiba and his circle were responsible for deliberately altering the Hebrew text of the Old Testament to weaken its Christological witness and to distance it from the Septuagint. Akiba is also associated with the Seder Olam Rabbah (compiled by his student Yose ben Halafta), which compressed the biblical chronology. See Chapter 12 for the full treatment.³⁶

Recension

A deliberate, systematic revision of a text. The most important recensions of the Septuagint are: (1) Origen’s Hexaplaric recension (third century AD), which adjusted the Septuagint text to match the proto-Masoretic Hebrew; (2) the Lucianic or Antiochene recension (early fourth century AD), attributed to Lucian of Antioch; and (3) the Hesychian recension (early fourth century AD), associated with Egypt. The replacement translations by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion (all second century AD) can also be considered recensions. See Chapters 13 and 18.³⁷

Samaritan Pentateuch (SP)

The version of the Torah preserved by the Samaritan community. The Samaritan Pentateuch preserves a textual tradition that diverges from the Masoretic Text in approximately six thousand places. Most differences are minor, but about 1,600 agree with the Septuagint against the MT. This agreement is significant evidence that both were translated from (or preserve) a Hebrew textual tradition that is older than the proto-Masoretic tradition. See Chapter 4.³⁸

Second Temple Judaism

The period of Jewish history from the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple after the Babylonian exile (c. 516 BC) to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD. This is the period during which the Septuagint was produced, the deuterocanonical books were written, the Dead Sea Scrolls were composed and copied, and the various Jewish sects flourished. Understanding Second Temple Judaism is essential for understanding both the Septuagint and the deuterocanonical books. See Chapter 19.

Seder Olam Rabbah

Hebrew for "The Great Order of the World." A chronological work attributed to Rabbi Yose ben Halafta, a second-century AD student of Rabbi Akiba. The Seder Olam compresses the biblical timeline significantly: it reduces the post-exilic period by approximately 165 years and reflects the reduced patriarchal ages found in the Masoretic Text. The modern Jewish calendar is based on the Seder Olam’s chronology, which places the creation of the world at 3761 BC — significantly later than the Septuagint’s chronology (which places creation around 5500 BC). This book argues, following Woodward, that the Seder Olam’s compressed chronology was part of the same program of textual revision that altered the patriarchal ages in Genesis 5 and 11. See Chapters 16 and 17.³⁹

Seleucid Empire

One of the successor kingdoms that emerged after the death of Alexander the Great. The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 BC) attempted to suppress Jewish religion, provoking the Maccabean revolt narrated in 1 and 2 Maccabees. See Chapter 24.

Septuagint (LXX)

The ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, produced between the third and first centuries BC. The name comes from the Latin septuaginta ("seventy"), based on the tradition that approximately seventy (or seventy-two) Jewish scholars translated the Torah into Greek in Alexandria, Egypt. The abbreviation "LXX" comes from the Roman numeral for seventy. The Septuagint was THE Bible of the early church. The vast majority of Old Testament quotations in the New Testament follow the Septuagint. The major surviving manuscripts — Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus (both fourth century) — are roughly a thousand years older than the oldest complete Masoretic manuscript. A central thesis of this book is that the Septuagint deserves a dramatically higher status in the Protestant church than it currently enjoys. See Chapters 2, 6, and 34.⁴⁰

Sheol (שְׁאוֹל)

The Hebrew term for the realm of the dead. In the Septuagint, Sheol is usually translated as Hades. The concept of Sheol developed over time in Jewish thought: earlier Old Testament texts describe it in vague terms, while later texts (including the deuterocanonical books, especially the Wisdom of Solomon) make much clearer distinctions between the fates of the righteous and the wicked after death. See Hades above and Chapters 21 and 24.

Symmachus

A second-century AD translator who produced a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible characterized by elegant, literary Greek. His translation (c. 170–200 AD) was based on the proto-Masoretic Hebrew text. Only fragments survive. See Chapter 13.⁴¹

Talmud

The central text of Rabbinic Judaism, consisting of the Mishnah (compiled c. 200 AD) and the Gemara (compiled between the third and sixth centuries AD). There are two versions: the Babylonian Talmud (c. 500 AD, more authoritative) and the Jerusalem Talmud (c. 400 AD). The Talmud provides important evidence for understanding rabbinic attitudes toward the biblical text, the canon, and Christianity.

Tanakh (תַּנַ“ךְ)

The Hebrew Bible. The word "Tanakh" is an acronym from the first letters of the three divisions: Torah (תורה, "Law"), Nevi’im (נביאים, "Prophets"), and Ketuvim (כתובים, "Writings"). The Tanakh contains the same books as the Protestant Old Testament but arranges them differently. The Tanakh has 24 books (combining Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah each as one book, and grouping the twelve Minor Prophets together), while the Protestant Old Testament counts 39 books with the same content. The Tanakh does not include the deuterocanonical books.

Targum (plural: Targumim)

Aramaic translations or paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible, produced for synagogue use. The targumim range from fairly literal translations to highly expansive paraphrases with midrashic material. The most important include Targum Onkelos (on the Torah) and Targum Jonathan (on the Prophets). The targumim are valuable for textual criticism because they sometimes preserve readings that agree with the LXX against the MT.

Textual Criticism

The scholarly discipline of comparing different manuscripts, versions, and textual traditions to determine, as closely as possible, what the original text said. Textual criticism is not about "criticizing" the Bible — it is about carefully evaluating the evidence to recover the original wording. The major witnesses used in Old Testament textual criticism include the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the targumim, the Peshitta, and the Vulgate. This book argues that the Septuagint is one of the most important — and most neglected — witnesses. See Chapters 4, 18, and 34.⁴²

Textual Variant

A place where two or more manuscripts of the same text differ from each other. Most textual variants are minor (spelling, word order) and do not affect meaning. However, some are theologically significant — such as the differences between the LXX and the MT in Messianic prophecies (Chapters 14–15) and in the patriarchal chronologies of Genesis 5 and 11 (Chapters 16–17).

Theodotion

A second-century AD figure who produced a Greek revision of the Hebrew Bible. Theodotion’s version of Daniel eventually replaced the Old Greek version in most Christian manuscripts. Only fragments of his other books survive. See Chapter 13.⁴³

Torah (תורה)

Hebrew for "teaching," "instruction," or "law." In its most specific sense, the Torah refers to the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) — also called the Pentateuch. In a broader sense, "Torah" can refer to the entire body of Jewish law and teaching. The Torah was the first portion of the Hebrew Scriptures to be translated into Greek, forming the original core of the Septuagint (mid-third century BC). See Chapter 2.

Typology

A method of biblical interpretation that identifies persons, events, or institutions in the Old Testament as "types" — divinely intended foreshadowings — that are "fulfilled" in the New Testament. For example, the Passover lamb is a "type" of Christ (John 1:29); Adam is a "type" of Christ (Romans 5:14). Typological interpretation was central to how the early church read the Old Testament, and it was facilitated by the Septuagint’s translation choices.

Uncial

A style of writing used in ancient Greek and Latin manuscripts, characterized by large, rounded capital letters. The great biblical codices (Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus) are "uncial manuscripts" — written entirely in capital letters without spaces between words or punctuation. Uncial script was standard for formal literary texts from roughly the fourth through the eighth centuries AD.

Vorlage

A German word meaning "template," "prototype," or "source text." In textual criticism, a Vorlage is the text from which a translation or copy was made. When we say "the Vorlage of the Septuagint," we mean the Hebrew text that the Septuagint translators had in front of them when they produced the Greek translation. This is a crucial concept because the Septuagint’s Vorlage was different from the Hebrew text that eventually became the Masoretic Text. The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm this: some Qumran manuscripts agree with the Septuagint’s readings against the MT, showing that the LXX translators were working from real Hebrew texts that simply differed from the proto-Masoretic tradition. See Chapters 4 and 34.⁴⁴

Vulgate

The Latin translation of the Bible produced by Jerome (c. 347–420 AD), commissioned by Pope Damasus I. For the Old Testament, Jerome translated primarily from the Hebrew (following his principle of Hebraica veritas). Despite Jerome’s personal reservations about the deuterocanonical books, he included them in the Vulgate at the insistence of the church. The Vulgate became the standard Bible of the Western church for over a thousand years and was declared the authoritative Latin text by the Council of Trent (1546). See Chapters 27 and 28.⁴⁵

Vowel Pointing (Nikkud)

The system of dots and dashes placed above, below, and within the consonantal letters of the Hebrew Bible by the Masoretes to indicate the vowel sounds. Since ancient Hebrew was written with consonants only, the vowel points were not part of the original text. While generally reliable, the Masoretes’ vowel choices sometimes reflect their own theological or interpretive preferences. See Consonantal Text and Masorah.

Wisdom Literature

A genre of biblical and ancient Near Eastern literature that focuses on practical wisdom, the nature of reality, the fear of God, and the problem of suffering. In the Hebrew Bible, the wisdom books include Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. In the deuterocanon, the wisdom books include the Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach (Ecclesiasticus). The Wisdom of Solomon is particularly important for this book because it contains some of the strongest Old Testament-era language about the immortality of the soul (3:1–9), the suffering righteous one as a Messianic figure (2:12–20), and Wisdom as "the radiance of eternal light" (7:26) — language echoed in the New Testament book of Hebrews (1:3). See Chapters 21 and 22.

Yavneh

See Jamnia / Yavneh.