The Letter of Aristeas: An Accessible Edition With Commentary (Two Witnesses, One Truth #2)

The Earliest Account of How the Bible Jesus Knew Came to Be

More than 2,200 years ago, a document was written to explain how the Hebrew Scriptures were first translated into Greek. It names the king who commissioned the work, the high priest who sent the translators, and the seventy-two elders who completed the translation that would become the Bible of the apostles, the early church, and Greek-speaking Christians for centuries.

It’s called the Letter of Aristeas. And very few Christians have ever read it.

This edition aims to change that.

For the first time, this ancient text is presented in a truly accessible form, complete with the context modern readers need to understand what they’re reading. The complete Letter of Aristeas appears here in H. St. J. Thackeray’s classic 1913 translation, prepared with descriptive section headers and editorial care that preserves the text’s integrity while removing the barriers that have kept it locked away in academic collections.

Inside, you’ll find:
✓ The complete Letter of Aristeas with descriptive headers for navigation
✓ A substantial introduction covering the Letter’s historical context, authorship, and reception
✓ A reflection on how to read a document that’s part history, part legend, part apologetic
✓ Three in-depth essays on the Septuagint’s origins, linguistic choices, and theological impact
✓ Sir Lancelot Brenton’s 1844 Preface and 1870 Introduction to his English Septuagint
✓ A glossary of the people, places, and terms you’ll encounter
✓ Recommendations for further reading

This book is for you if:
✓ You’ve always wondered how the Old Testament became the Bible of the early church
✓ You want to understand the Septuagint but don’t know where to start
✓ You’re curious about the pseudepigrapha and ancient Jewish literature
✓ You’re a seminary student looking for an accessible primary source with commentary
✓ You love the New Testament and want to meet the community that produced its Old Testament

No Greek required. No scholarly background needed.
The Letter of Aristeas tells a story that shaped Christianity for two thousand years. It describes a translation project, a royal banquet, and a community of Jewish scholars whose work made it possible for the gospel to spread through the Greek-speaking world. You don’t need a seminary degree to appreciate what they accomplished. You just need a willingness to meet them on their own terms.

Whether you’re new to biblical scholarship or deeply immersed in it, this accessible edition offers something rare: a chance to read the earliest surviving account of the Septuagint’s origin, in your own language, with just enough commentary to make sense of what you’re reading, with the option to read on to whet your appetite for the Septuagint itself.

Are you ready to dig into one of the most fascinating letters ever penned?

The scrolls are waiting. Let’s read.