Endnote 2 – Problems of Translations

Soferim I, 8. Modern editions of the Septuagint do not contain this reading. See also Eliyahu Kitov, Sefer Hatoda’ah (Jerusalem: Machon Lehoza’at Sefarim, 1958), vol. I, pp. 195–196 [English translation, The Book of Our Heritage (Jerusalem: ‘A’ Publishers, 1968), vol. I, pp. 320–322.]; and Masseketh Soferim, ed. Israel W. Slotki, in The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, ed. Abraham Cohen (London: Soncino Press, 1971), vol. I, pp. 213–214. The possibility of misunderstanding the Hebrew in this way was never considered, probably because as a learned language it required study and supervision. In contrast, Greek was the everyday language of Alexandria and might be read casually or carelessly.