Septuagint vs. Hebrew Text: Conflict with Inspiration?

Question: Why do the New Testament writers always quote the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and not the Hebrew text itself? Seeing that the two texts are divergent, does this not conflict with the doctrine of the inspiration of the Hebrew Old Testament?

Answer: It is not correct to say that the New Testament writers always selected their Old Testament quotations from the Septuagint (Greek) version. The LXX was frequently preferred to the Hebrew text, but there are many cases where the Hebrew text was chosen in preference to that of the LXX.

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Author: P. H. Adams

Keywords: Septuagint, Apocrypha, Greek Old Testament, Greek OT, LXX, Seventy

Bible reference(s): Matthew 1:23, Mat 2:6, Mat 2:15, Mat 2:18, Mat 3:3, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:6, Mat 8:17, Mat 9:13, Mat 10:35-36, Mat 11:10, Matthew 12:18-21, Matthew 13:14-15, Mat 13:35, Mat 15:4, Matthew 15:8-9, Mat 18:16, Mat 19:5, Mat 21:5, Mat 21:13, Matthew 21:16, Mat 21:42, Mat 22:24, Mat 22:32, Mat 22:37, Matthew 26:31, Matthew 27:9, Matthew 27:35, Mark 1:3, Mark 7:6-7, Mark 7:10, Mark 10:7-8, Mark 11:17, Mark 12:10-11, Mark 12:26, Mark 12:30, Mark 12:36, Mark 14:27, Luke 3:4-6, Luke 4:4, Luke 4:10-12, Luke 4:18-19, Luke 7:27, Luke 8:10, Luke 10:27, Luke 20:17, Luke 20:42-43, John 1:23, John 12:15, John 12:40, John 19:24, Acts 2:34-35, Act 4:11, Act 7:32, Acts 7:42-43, Acts 8:32-33, Acts 13:41, Acts 15:16-17, Acts 28:26-27, Romans 2:24, Romans 9:27-28, Romans 10:20, Romans 11:9-10, Romans 11:26-27, Romans 11:34, Romans 15:12, Eph 5:31, Hebrews 1:6, Hebrews 1:13, Hebrews 2:6-8, Hebrews 2:13, Hebrews 3:15, Hebrews 8:8-12, Hebrews 10:5-7, Hebrews 10:37-38, Hebrews 11:21, Hebrews 12:5-6, James 4:6, 1 Peter 2:22, 1 Peter 4:18

Source: “Readers’ Problems,” The Testimony, Vol. 7, No. 78, June 1937, p. 235.

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