I do not read Greek or Hebrew, so I could use some linguistic help on this page, but there is a particularly interesting point I want to explore regarding the New Testament quotes of the Septuagint. The Septuagint is abbreviated as LXX, which is the Roman Numeral for 70, which is associated with the number of scribes originally used to translate the Jewish Torah (5 books of Moses) into the Greek language. Josephus and Philo suggest that there were 6 "Jews" from each of the twelve Tribe of Israel, which adds up to 72 scribes, instead of 70, but I guess it is just easier to call it LXX instead of LXXII. The Greeks later decided to translate the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, but I can't find a definitive answer as to when this happened. They still called the Greek translation of the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures the Septuagint (LXX), even though there was an unknown number of scribes who worked on this project, and the project doesn't seem to be a specific project at a specific time. It is my understanding that most of the New Testament quotes of the Old Testament, are quotes from the LXX. People who can read Greek and Hebrew are able to tell whether a New Testament quote is a translation of the Hebrew text into Greek, or if the New Testament author is simply quoting the LXX text that was previously translated from Hebrew into Greek. 

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Jesus and the LXX

I remember the first eureka moment I had on this issue. I was probably watching a YouTube video of Jewish Rabbi Tovia Singer talking about Luke 4 and Isaiah 61. In Luke 4, Jesus goes into a Jewish Synagogue in Israel and reads from Isaiah 61, but he quotes the LXX instead of the Hebrew Scriptures, and it is HIGHLY suspicious that a Jew would read from a Greek translation of their Hebrew Scriptures in Israel in the early first century. 

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Luke 4:14 says Jesus returned to Galilee after Satan tempted him in the wilderness.

Luke 4:15 says Jesus taught in the synagogues, which may have been impossible, since Jewish synagogues were not even built until after Israel was conquered by Rome in 70 CE.

Luke 4:16 says Jesus entered a synagogue in Nazareth (which is still in the region of Galilee) on the Sabbath day.

Luke 4:18-19 says Jesus read the following passage from Isaiah, "the spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." 

Luke 4:21 says Jesus claimed this passage was fulfilled in their hearing. In other words, Jesus was claiming that he was the fulfillment of that passage.

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Hebrew Isaiah 61:1-2 says, "The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh's is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of Yahweh's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.

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Greek Esaias 61:1-2 (LXX) says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompense; to comfort all that mourn.

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In the three different sources above, I underlined the significant portions to make it easier to see the differences. It is clear that Luke is quoting the LXX, rather than the Hebrew text, because both Luke and the LXX say "preach good news to the poor" and "recovering sight to the blind." The Hebrew text says "preach good news to the humble" and "release those who are bound." I think it is interesting that Luke cuts off his quote before saying "the day of vengeance, and to comfort all who mourn." You have to cut it off somewhere, but I think it is suspicious why he cut it off before talking about the day of vengeance and comforting all who mourn, because in Isaiah the text is about releasing Israel from bondage and taking vengeance on Israel's enemies and comforting Israel, but Jesus was coming to proclaim judgment and destruction on Israel, rather than vindication. Nevertheless, we can see that Jesus, according to Luke, clearly quoted the LXX version of Isaiah. There are clues all over the Greek New Testament, that it was not written by any Hebrew prior to 70 CE, but it was written by Greek speaking people AFTER the Hebrews were destroyed in war. Jesus is not a real Hebrew, but Jesus was a Greek creation, intended to tell a Greek perspective, in relation to the Roman-Jewish wars. If you study when synagogues were built, you will likely find that Jewish synagogues were not common until after 70 CE, so when Jesus and Paul are going into these Jewish synagogues all over the Roman Empire in your Bible, that is actually evidence that the story was told after 70 CE. So there were no Hebrew fishermen writing this story in the early first century. These were Greek authors after 70 CE. 

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Paul and the LXX

I want to go through this exercise again with a different text in relation to Paul. As I was writing my commentary on the book of Romans, I felt the need to look more closely at the Hebrew Scripture references that Paul was making as well. Paul says in Romans 15:12: 

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Paul's version from Romans

There will be a root of Jesse, he who arises to rule over the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles will hope. [Isaiah 11:10]

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Hebrew version

Isaiah 11:10, It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the people; and his resting place will be glorious.

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LXX Version

Isaiah 11:10, And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall arise to rule over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust, and his rest shall be glorious.

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Again, Paul is clearly associating with the Greek version of Isaiah, instead of the Hebrew version of Isaiah. Paul and the LXX say the root of Jesse will rule over the Gentiles and the Gentiles will trust in him, but the Hebrew text says the root of Jesse will stand as a banner to the people and his resting place will be glorious. That is drastically different. The most likely conclusion is that the Greeks changed the Hebrew text to say what they wanted it to say, and the Greeks told a new Greek story, by quoting their version of the Jewish scriptures. This is what evil humans would do for the purpose of deception and manipulation. This is not the work of an almighty God. You are not trusting God, when you trust the Bible New Testament. On the contrary, you are trusting the Ancient Greeks. 

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Josephus and the LXX

In the Preface to Antiquities of the Jews, paragraph 3,  Josephus said, "I found therefore that the second of the Ptolemies, was a King who was extraordinary diligent in what concerned learning, and the collection of books; that he was also peculiarly ambitious to procure a translation of our law, and of the constitution of our government therein contained, into the Greek tongue." Just two sentences later Josephus said, "Accordingly I thought it became me, both to imitate the generosity of our High Priest, and to suppose there might even now be many lovers of learning like the King. For he did not obtain all our writings at that time; but those who were sent to Alexandria as interpreters, gave him only the books of the law."

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Still in the Preface, but in paragraph 4, Josephus says, "However, those that have a mind to know the reasons of every thing, may find here a very curious philosophical theory: which I now indeed shall wave the explication of: but if God afford me time for it, I will set about writing it after I have finished the present work."

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These quotes indicate to me that Josephus was only aware of the Greek translation of the 5 books of Moses (the Law or the Torah), which is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. If the translation of the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures was unknown to Josephus in the late first century, then how could the Christian Bible New Testament quote the Greek Septuagint so much from Psalms and Isaiah and others? The quote from Preface paragraph 4 above indicates to me that Josephus planned to translate the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek after he finished writing the Antiquities of the Jews, if God allowed him to live long enough to complete it.

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In Antiquities, Book X, Chapter 10, Paragraph 6, Josephus said, "For as to that matter, I have plainly assured those that think me defective in any such point, or complain of my management, and have told them, in the beginning of this history that I intended to do no more than translate the Hebrew books into the Greek language; and promised them to explain those facts, without adding any thing to them of my own, or taking any thing away from them."

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The modern tradition is that the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek shortly after the Torah around the 2nd century BCE, but Josephus seems to be unaware of this tradition. Here is the key takeaway. If the LXX was not complete in Josephus' lifetime, then the Christian Bible had to be originally written after the death of Josephus in the 90's. I keep finding more and more information to support the notion that the story of Jesus was created during or after the life of Josephus. It is my conclusion that the entire Jesus story and Christianity was a mythical story created for the purpose of replacing Judaism with a new religion that was compatible with the Roman Empire.