This essay takes a text critical approach to the comparison between the Septuagint (LXX) and Massoretic texts of Hosea. Though the Targum and the Peshitta had both been carefully studied, the Septuagint had received much less attention. Professor Patterson addresses the condition of the LXX text and then moves into a discussion of the variations, neatly divided into the categories: Interpretation; Doubtful; and Recensional. His goal is to determine how closely the LXX resembles the Massoretic text or its underlying tradition. It is his determination that the variations that do occur can all be understandably explained, accepting that their must certainly have been varying Hebrew manuscripts at the time of the Septuagint’s production. Itself noting the absence of much focus on the Septuagint texts in the study of the Jewish Scriptures, the reproduction of this essay seems timely as Septuagint studies have seen increased interest in recent times.

Gaylord Hawkins Patterson (1866-1940) was a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, Yale and Harvard, and also studied at the Boston University School of Theology. He taught economics and sociology at both Williamette University and Dickinson College. Of interest among his publications is his “The Social Significance of Heaven and Hell in Islam."