| 1 Πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων ἡμῖν διὰ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατ' αὐτοὺς ἠκολουθηκότων δεδομένων, ὑπὲρ ὧν δέον ἐστὶν ἐπαινεῖν τὸν Ἰσραὴλ παιδείας καὶ σοφίας, καὶ ὡς οὐ μόνον αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἀναγινώσκοντας δέον ἐστὶν ἐπιστήμονας γίνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς δύνασθαι τοὺς φιλομαθοῦντας χρησίμους εἶναι καὶ λέγοντας καὶ γράφοντας, ὁ πάππος μου Ἰησοῦς ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἑαυτὸν δοὺς εἴς τε τὴν τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πατρίων βιβλίων ἀνάγνωσιν καὶ ἐν τούτοις ἱκανὴν ἕξιν περιποιησάμενος προήχθη καὶ αὐτὸς συγγράψαι τι τῶν εἰς παιδείαν καὶ σοφίαν ἀνηκόντων, ὅπως οἱ φιλομαθεῖς καὶ τούτων ἔνοχοι γενόμενοι πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐπιπροσθῶσιν διὰ τῆς ἐννόμου βιώσεως. | 1 Many and great things have been delivered to us through the Law, the Prophets, and the others who followed in their footsteps, for which things it is necessary to praise Israel for instruction and wisdom. Since it is necessary not only for those who read to become knowledgeable themselves, but also for those who love learning to be useful to those outside, both by speaking and writing; my grandfather, Jesus, having devoted himself even more to the reading of the Law, the Prophets, and the other books of our fathers, and having acquired sufficient familiarity with them, was himself led to write something pertaining to instruction and wisdom, so that those who love learning, having become conversant with these things, might make much greater progress by living according to the Law. |
| 2 παρακέκλησθε οὖν μετ' εὐνοίας καὶ προσοχῆς τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν ποιεῖσθαι καὶ συγγνώμην ἔχειν ἐφ' οἷς ἄν δοκῶμεν τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν πεφιλοπονημένων τισὶν τῶν λέξεων ἀδυναμεῖν· οὐ γὰρ ἰσοδυναμεῖ αὐτὰ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς Ἑβραϊστὶ λεγόμενα καὶ ὅταν μεταχθῇ εἰς ἑτέραν γλῶσσαν· οὐ μόνον δὲ ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ νόμος καὶ αἱ προφητεῖαι καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν βιβλίων οὐ μικρὰν ἔχει τὴν διαφορὰν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς λεγόμενα. | 2 You are urged, therefore, to make your reading with benevolence and attention, and to be indulgent in those places where, despite our painstaking efforts in translation, we may seem to fall short in some of our phrasings. For things spoken in their original Hebrew do not have the same force when translated into another language. And not only these things, but even the Law itself, the Prophecies, and the rest of the books carry no small difference when they are spoken in their native tongue. |
| 3 ἐν γὰρ τῷ ὀγδόῳ καὶ τριακοστῷ ἔτει ἐπὶ τοῦ Εὐεργέτου βασιλέως παραγενηθεὶς εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ συγχρονίσας εὑρὼν οὐ μικρᾶς παιδείας ἀφόμοιον ἀναγκαιότατον ἐθέμην καὶ αὐτός τινα προσενέγκασθαι σπουδὴν καὶ φιλοπονίαν τοῦ μεθερμηνεῦσαι τήνδε τὴν βίβλον πολλὴν ἀγρυπνίαν καὶ ἐπιστήμην προσενεγκάμενος ἐν τῷ διαστήματι τοῦ χρόνου πρὸς τὸ ἐπὶ πέρας ἀγαγόντα τὸ βιβλίον ἐκδόσθαι καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῇ παροικίᾳ βουλομένοις φιλομαθεῖν προκατασκευαζομένους τὰ ἤθη ἐννόμως βιοτεύειν. | 3 For in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King Euergetes, having arrived in Egypt and stayed there for some time, I found a reproduction of no small instruction. I deemed it highly necessary that I myself should apply some diligence and laborious effort to translate this book. Spending much sleeplessness and skill throughout that interval of time, I brought the book to completion and published it, also for those in the diaspora (paroikia) who wish to learn, preparing their characters beforehand to live in accordance with the Law. |
1. The Earliest Record of the Three-Part Hebrew Bible
This prologue provides the absolute earliest historical evidence for the traditional tripartite division of the Hebrew Scriptures. The translator explicitly mentions:
The Law (tou nomou)
The Prophets (tōn prophētōn)
The Others/The Rest of the Books (tōn allōn / ta loipa tōn bibliōn)
This matches the Jewish structure of TaNaKh (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim). Writing around 132 BCE, the author shows that while the first two categories were firmly locked in place, the third category ("the others") was still conceptually open and fluid, allowing books like his grandfather's wisdom collection to be read alongside them.
2. A Linguistic Philosophy of Translation
The translator offers a strikingly modern insight into comparative linguistics and translation theory: “For things spoken in their original Hebrew do not have the same force (ou gar isodynamei) when translated into another language.”
He acknowledges that language is inextricably tied to culture.
By noting that even the official Greek translation of the Torah (the Septuagint) carries "no small difference" from its original Hebrew, he defends his own work against inevitable critics, gently reminding the reader that a translation can only ever be an approximation of the source text's internal power.
3. A Pinpoint Historical Date
Unlike almost every other book in the Apocrypha or Old Testament, this prologue can be dated to a precise historical year. The writer notes he arrived in Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of King Euergetes.
This refers specifically to Pharaoh Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II.
Because Ptolemy VIII co-ruled and counted his reign from 170 BCE, his 38th year corresponds squarely to 132 BCE. This internal marker gives historians a solid anchor point for the Hellenistic shift of Jewish literature in Alexandria.
4. The Intellectual Marketplace of Alexandria
The translator describes finding what he calls a "reproduction of no small instruction" (eyrōn ou mikras paideias aphomoion) in Egypt. This reflects the dynamic intellectual environment of Hellenistic Alexandria.
The Greek word aphomoion suggests a copy, an educational model, or a synthesis of philosophical instruction.
Recognizing that Jewish youths in Egypt were being completely immersed in Greek philosophical systems (like Stoicism and Epicureanism), the author realized that the only way to keep the younger generation faithful to their heritage was to translate their ancestral wisdom into the dominant language of international academia: Greek.
5. From Paroikia to Legal Practice
The prologue explicitly targets the paroikia—the Jewish community living "alongside" the native population in the diaspora.
The translation wasn't designed for academic curiosity; it was an ethical manual.
The goal was to provide marginalized, Greek-speaking Jews with a guide to prokataskeyazomenous ta ēthē ("molding/preparing their characters beforehand") so they could live ennomōs ("lawfully"). It demonstrates that even when geographical borders and linguistic ties were completely lost in exile, the identity of the community could be successfully preserved through targeted textual adaptation.