This is a continuation of my intent to become much more familiar with the Greek translation of יְהֹוָ֨ה (Yᵊhōvâ) and יֱהֹוִה֙ (yᵊhōvâ) in the Septuagint. There were no occurrences of either in Genesis 1:1-27.

Here is another example of the graciousness of God’s word: He gives the gifts He deems appropriate to whomever He chooses to give them. The Hebrew word translated blessed was וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ (bāraḵ) and was translated ηὐλόγησεν and εὐλόγησεν (both forms of εὐλογέω) in the Septuagint. But the graciousness of God’s word didn’t end here.

The Hebrew word translated I have given (Tanakh) and give (NET) was נָתַ֨תִּי (nāṯan). It was translated δέδωκα (a form of δίδωμι) in the Septuagint. I tend to understand this giving as a continuation of the blessing, and another example of the graciousness of God’s word. But the addition of the phrase, And it was so, is the form I’ve recognized¹ as describing the power of God’s word: He spoke and it happened as He said.

Here on the sixth day the qualifier ט֖וֹב (ṭôḇ), translated καλά (a form of καλός) in the Septuagint and good in English, was modified by מְאֹ֑ד (mᵊ’ōḏ) in Hebrew, λίαν in the Septuagint and very in English.

Here is another example of the graciousness of God’s word: He gives the gifts He deems appropriate to whomever He chooses to give them. The Hebrew word translated blessed was וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ (bāraḵ) and was translated ηὐλόγησεν and εὐλόγησεν (both forms of εὐλογέω) in the Septuagint. Here it seems the gift of blessing was given to the seventh day of the week.

Will I perceive this as an unwarranted intrusion into my plans and schemes, or as a welcome respite from subsistence?

Jesus faced religious authorities who tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them.² I, too, recall after a long week at my subsistence job hearing that god was just more work I should have been doing all along. The Sabbath was made for people, Jesus instructed the Pharisees, not people for the Sabbath.³

And so we sinful people needed some extra instruction to understand to whom this gracious gift was given. Here in the law the sabbath was unto לַֽיהֹוָ֣ה (Yᵊhōvâ) אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ (‘ĕlōhîm) because יְהֹוָ֜ה (Yᵊhōvâ) made heaven and earth in six days, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore יְהֹוָ֛ה (Yᵊhōvâ) blessed the sabbath day. The introduction of יהוה (Yᵊhōvâ) אֱלֹהִ֖ים (‘ĕlōhîm) in Genesis follows.

The Elpenor Septuagint had the Greek word Κύριος here for the Hebrew יהוה (Yᵊhōvâ). The BLB Septuagint did not.

None of these occurrences of יְהֹוָ֨ה (Yᵊhōvâ) in the Masoretic text was corroborated by the Septuagint.

Paul contrasted Adam and Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45-49 NET):

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven [Table]. Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven [Table].

A table comparing the Greek of Paul’s quotation in 1 Corinthians 15:45 to that of Genesis 2:7 in the Septuagint follows:

The Hebrew word translated man in Genesis 2:7 was הָֽאָדָ֗ם (‘āḏām).

Tables comparing Genesis 2:4; 2:5 and 2:6 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET; and tables comparing Genesis 2:4; 2:5 and 2:6 in the BLB and Elpenor versions of the Septuagint with the English translations from Hebrew and Greek follow.