The Books of Kings

Abstract The books of Kings have some of the most challenging text-historical problems in all of the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint edition (known as 3–4 Kingdoms) differs widely from MT Kings in both individual readings and the ordering of the textual units. These differences can be traced to its Hebrew Vorlage. The translation from the Hebrew was made in a highly literal, albeit not slavish, style. The study of the Septuagint of Kings is further complicated by the fact that most of its text was later subjected to the Kaige revision and that this revised text form is now found in most Greek witnesses. Thus the Old Greek translation is best preserved in different Greek manuscript traditions in different sections of Kings. Often the daughter versions, especially the Old Latin, are of great significance for the text-critical study of both the Old Greek and also its probable Vorlage.