Excerpt from The Witness of the Vulgate, Peshitta and Septuagint to the Text of Zephaniah I. It is proposed in the following pages to study the text of Zephaniah in the light of the ancient primary versions. This study was undertaken largely to become familiar with Old Testament Criticism - a field of which it is peculiarly true that orientation is possible only at first hand. The choice of so short a text is vindicated by the almost unanimous verdict of scholars that the work of the translators of these versions is very uneven in quality. It is in fact still a moot question whether the Minor Prophets were translated into Greek by one individual or by many; and the arguments that have been advanced to show that the Peshitta is not really a deliberate translation, but rather the final stereotyped form that traditional renderings of various origins assumed, have never been satisfactorily met. The reasons for the choice of this particular text are two. (a.) Though the Hebrew of Zephaniah presents many difficulties, no complete study of its text corresponding to such work as has been done on Micah by Ryssel seems ever to have been made.

(b.) In critical commentaries it always occupies a subordinate place among the Minor Prophets, and in textual studies it is entirely overshadowed by the more important books of the division of the Canon to which it belongs. This neglect, whatever its explanation may be, makes Zephaniah a good choice for a textual study. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy.

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