Bible Science Forum

In the first few centuries after Christ when early church scholars needed a reliable canonical trusted translation of the Old Testament scriptures, why did the Church Fathers all insist it was a great error to translate from the Hebrew language versions given them by the Jews, instead of the Greek Septuagint (LXX) trusted by the Apostles?

The so-called “Hebrew Bible” (Old Testament), the Masoretic text, was contemporaneously written by Jewish translators who cut out words and phrases that Christians could use against them. That is, cut words out of the Septuagint to create the version, which was accepted by the Reformers as the purest form of the Hebrew scriptures. The corruptions related to the OT prophecies of the coming Messiah being fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

However after the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the period 1947-1956 they revealed that the Greek Septuagint is a much more accurate reflection of the original than the Hebrew Bible. Readings of the Dead Sea Scrolls align much more closely with the LXX than with the Masoretic Text.

For an excellent analysis of the Septuagint and the corruptions introduced by the rabbis read: Introducing “Stola Scriptura: How the Enemies of Christ Schemed to Steal the Scriptures”

So the question might be asked what downstream effect has the corruption of the Hebrew Bible had on our understanding of the prophecies predicting the coming and office of Jesus Christ as Messiah? And what effect has it had on eschatology?

Below I compare the same passage of Daniel 9:24-27 from English translations of the Septuagint (LXX) and the Masoretic Text (MT). For the Septuagint I have used the LXXE and for the MT I have used the Authorised King James Version (KJV).

The passage in Daniel 9 is the very famous 70 weeks prophecy from God revealed to Daniel about the greatest event in history after the creation itself. It foretells the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one, Who gives His life for many on the cross. The Hebrew word שָׁבֻעַ (shabua) used in the prophecy is translated as “weeks” in English has the literal meaning of 7. So 70 “weeks” equals 70 x 7 = 490 years, after which Christ was crucified in Jerusalem.

See Daniel 9 Prophecy and Daniel’s Seventy Weeks.

For a comparison of the verses in Daniel 9:24-27 taken from the Septuagint (LXXE) and Masoretic Text (KJV) they are best displayed in 2 columns on a desktop.

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The bold text are my emphases and the square brackets are my comments.

Reading through verses it is obvious that there have been changes/corruptions introduced into the MT which are carried through into the KJV translation.

Now lets look through these verses one by one.

The content of verse 24 is essentially the same in each version. The prophecy was fulfilled on the cross whereby Christ’s death and His shed blood brought in everlasting righteousness for those who put their trust in Him.

Also verse 25 is essentially the same. The English translation of the LXX uses “Christ” where the KJV translated from the MT uses “Messiah”. This could be because the LXX is in Greek and the MT in Hebrew. The word “Christ” derives from the Greek Χριστός (Christos) meaning the Anointed, who we know is Jesus the Christ. It has the same meaning as the Hebrew word translated “Messiah”.

In verse 26 both versions identify that the Anointed one, Christ, Messiah, shall be “destroyed” or “cut off”, meaning crucified. But there is a difference when it comes down to the identity of who “shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”.

The LXX clearly identifies the agent is Christ, the anointed one. He uses the “prince that is coming” who we know was the Roman Emperor Vespasian and his nephew General Titus in 70 AD destroyed the city of Jerusalem and pulled the Temple apart stone by stone. The LXX renders it in the direct voice whereas the MT puts it in the passive voice.

The MT version misses out completely that it is Christ who “shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”. It was he who “shall appoint the city to desolations” (verse 26).

The Romans were under His control. They were His armies sent to do God’s work. They destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple because of the Jews rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The LXX makes this very clear, whereas you have to interpolate it from the MT text (KJV in English).

Verse 27 is where we see significant differences. The covenant described there is the New Covenant established by Jesus Christ when He died on the cross as a once-for-all sacrifice for sin.

The covenant is not some 7-year peace agreement that Futurist Christian Zionists promote according to the Dispensational eschatology of John Nelson Darby and the Notes in the Scofield Reference Bible. The “he” in verse 27 of the KJV and at the end of verse 26 in the LXXE is Christ not some antichrist figure. The text of the LXXE is very clear on this. (Note, the verse division between verses 26 and 27 is different in LXXE and KJV.)

In Daniel chapter 9, verses 4-5, the text in both versions makes it clear what the covenant actually is.

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The text of Daniel 9:27 LXXE uses the word “establish” whereas the MT based KJV uses the word “confirm”. Neither imply the implementation of a 7-year peace agreement. But the word “establish” has a stronger emphasis because of what Christ did on the cross was NOT a confirmation of the Old Covenant with the Jews. No, it was a completion or fulfillment of that Old Covenant and the establishment of a totally New Covenant, the covenant of grace. The New Covenant is Not Old Covenant Paperwork with New Ink

And to have access to the New Covenant Daniel 9:4 makes is patently clear that it is God who keeps His covenant with those who love Him and keep His commandments. Christ sacrifice on the cross was the ultimate act of love to mankind to provide salvation and redemption to those who love Him.

In both versions it is clear from Daniel 9:27 that the Jewish sacrifice ceases (drink offering, oblation) but the reason it ceases at the moment of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is because there is no need of it anymore. Jesus made the final and only sacrifice that could pay the debt that we all owe the Father for our sin. His sacrifice was once for all and forever (Hebrews 7:27).

Therefore Temple worship became an abomination. The LXXE translates the LXX as “on the temple shall be the abomination of desolations“. As soon as Jesus paid the debt anything else is an abomination. The MT text translated into English (KJV and many others) muddies this completely. It has to be from corruption of the original Hebrew text. There is no explicit indication in the KJV version (verse 27) of this. The word “temple” is not used. Instead the KJV translators inserted the word “it”. You again have to infer that “it” means the temple.

From verse 27 of the KJV “the overspreading of abominations he shall make (it) desolate” one would have to infer the same meaning that the LXXE makes explicitly clear. You should identifiy the “he” there as Christ, but the Darby following Zionist Dispensationalists identify him as the antichrist.

This is the most profane of all interpretations — excising Christ and inserting the antichrist. Such contempt. Such blasphemy.

And changing Christ’s New Covenant of grace into a 7-year peace deal. But millions of Western, especially US, evangelicals support Dispensational Zionist end-time eschatology. They support the building of the 3rd Jewish Temple and the re-establishment of animals sacrifice for sins. What utter sacrilege in the face of Christ’s sacrifice.

I write this on Good Friday 2026, a day of memorial to Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and death on the cross. We should be reminded that He paid it all! No other sacrifices (of goats, sheep or cattle) or works of any kind (gift giving, especially of chocolate eggs and bunnies) can have an iota of an effect on your eternal soul.

Eternal life is only available through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). And once saved by Christ no one can snatch you out of His hand (John 10:28). This means that your soul’s eternal state is secure regardless of any earthly actions.

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Related Reading

• Who is the Wicked Generation Jesus Spoke About?
• Futurism: Jesuit Deception of the Church
• Preterist, Futurist or Historical View of Bible Prophecy
• The Abomination of Desolation is Jewish Temple Worship
• Further Evidence of the True Meaning of Who It Is in Daniel 9:27
• Henry B. Smith Jr, The Case for the Septuagint’s Chronology in Genesis 5 and 11, ICCC Vol. 8 (2018).
• Understanding the Age of the Earth from a Young Earth Perspective
• Chapter 2 of my book Apocalypse Now
• Scofield Study Bible | A Zionist Funded Project to Subvert the True Gospel of Jesus Christ

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