Q
There may be some who do not know what the Septuagint is. Could you briefly explain what it is?

A
The counterfeit letter of pseudo-Aristeas said that seventy-two scholars were called, around 250 B.C., by Ptolemy, king of Egypt, to create a Greek Old Testament. This Egyptian ruler asked them a number of questions related to pagan philosophy and pagan theology. If they could answer these questions, they could be on the Septuagint “committee.” The fable further states that six Jews from each of the twelve tribes were involved. The word Septuagint means seventy, however, not seventy-two. The Septuagint (LXX) cannot be the word of God for several reasons:

l. Only the tribe of Levi was permitted by God to write the scriptures (1 Chron. 16:4).
2. Any Jew living in or returning to Egypt was in direct disobedience to God’s command in Deuteronomy 17:16. “But he shall not... cause the people to return to Egypt... forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.”
3. It contains apocryphal books such as Tobit, The Prayer of Manasses, 2 Esdras, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, I and 2 Maccabees; there are also additions to Esther and Daniel. Jesus never quoted the Apocrypha and the Jews rejected it also.
4. Origen’s six-column Old Testament, the Hexapla, parallels O.T. versions by Theodotian, Symmachus, and Aquilla, all three Gnostic occultists.

The NIV’s three letters could be changed to OOO, “Old Origen’s Oracles,” because in fact that is what it is.