The Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures, known as the Septuagint, provides fascinating insights into the Jewish community’s understanding of the Hebrew text prior to the coming of Jesus Christ. While it is difficult to say for sure when various books were translated, it seems that the Minor Prophets were translated by one person sometime in the 2nd century BCE.

The book of Jonah presents an interesting case study in the investigation of the Greek text because it includes narrative prose and some poetry (Jonah 2). It is relatively short and the translation quite straightforward, for the most part. However, there are some changes that the translator does incorporate into his Greek text. What motivates such changes remains a matter of debate.

My intention in providing this resource is to make available to a larger audience an example of Septuagint Greek that can be studied and compared with the Greek that we find in the New Testament documents.