Jesus never banned the Septuagint because it wasn’t a matter requiring his intervention—the translation served different communities with different linguistic needs, and there was no conflict between using Hebrew texts and Greek translations.
Jesus and his disciples used Hebrew scrolls from synagogues, and when Jesus read from Isaiah in Nazareth, he received a Hebrew scroll.[1] However, this reflected his immediate context in Judea, not a rejection of Greek Scripture. Even in Palestine, including Jerusalem, many Greek-speaking Jews—Hellenists—worshipped in synagogues where scriptures were read and prayers recited in Greek.[1] Jesus’ use of Hebrew texts simply matched the linguistic environment of his ministry; it didn’t preclude others from using Greek versions.
The Septuagint’s significance emerged after Jesus’ lifetime. When the gospel spread into the Greek-speaking world, the Septuagint became the primary text Christian preachers used, and Paul based his arguments on the Septuagint when preaching in synagogues.[1] Rather than Jesus needing to endorse or ban it, the translation naturally became the bridge between Jewish Scripture and Greek-speaking believers.
Notably, during his life and ministry Jesus never acknowledged, endorsed, or quoted from apocryphal books the way he did from the Tanak[2]—suggesting he engaged with the authoritative Hebrew canon. Yet silence on the Septuagint wasn’t disapproval; it simply wasn’t his concern. Jesus’ approach implicitly validated making Scripture accessible in people’s native languages, a principle the early church applied by embracing the Septuagint for Greek-speaking communities.
[2] Damon A. Horton, Dna: Foundations of the Faith (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2012). [See here.]because it wasn’t a matter requiring his intervention—the translation served different communities with different linguistic needs, and there was no conflict between using Hebrew texts and Greek translations.
Jesus and his disciples used Hebrew scrolls from synagogues, and when Jesus read from Isaiah in Nazareth, he received a Hebrew scroll.[1] However, this reflected his immediate context in Judea, not a rejection of Greek Scripture. Even in Palestine, including Jerusalem, many Greek-speaking Jews—Hellenists—worshipped in synagogues where scriptures were read and prayers recited in Greek.[1] Jesus’ use of Hebrew texts simply matched the linguistic environment of his ministry; it didn’t preclude others from using Greek versions.
The Septuagint’s significance emerged after Jesus’ lifetime. When the gospel spread into the Greek-speaking world, the Septuagint became the primary text Christian preachers used, and Paul based his arguments on the Septuagint when preaching in synagogues.[1] Rather than Jesus needing to endorse or ban it, the translation naturally became the bridge between Jewish Scripture and Greek-speaking believers.
Notably, during his life and ministry Jesus never acknowledged, endorsed, or quoted from apocryphal books the way he did from the Tanak[2]—suggesting he engaged with the authoritative Hebrew canon. Yet silence on the Septuagint wasn’t disapproval; it simply wasn’t his concern. Jesus’ approach implicitly validated making Scripture accessible in people’s native languages, a principle the early church applied by embracing the Septuagint for Greek-speaking communities.
[2] Damon A. Horton, Dna: Foundations of the Faith (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2012). [See here.]
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