Kaige revision

The kaige revision, or simply kaige, is the group of revisions to the Septuagint made in order to more closely align its translation with the proto-Masoretic Hebrew.[1] The name kaige derives from the revision's pervasive use of Koinē Greek: και γε [kai ge] ("and indeed") to translate the Hebrew: וְגַם‎ [wə gam] ("and also"). The importance of this revision lies in its status as a precursor to later revisions by 'the Three' (i.e., Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion) as well as the light it sheds on the origins of the Septuagint.[2]

Lower part of col. 18 (according to E. Tov) of the Greek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever (8HevXII gr). The arrow points at the divine name in paleo-Hebrew script

The individual revisions characteristic of kaige were first observed by Dominique Barthélemy in the Greek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever.[3]

Ellis R. Brotzman (retired professor of Old Testament at Tyndale Theological Seminary) and Eric J. Tully (assistant professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) claim that a characteristic of the kaige translation is that it wrote YHWH in paleo-Hebrew script instead of translating it into Greek.[4] When referring to kaige recension in 8HevXII gr, Kristin De Troyer makes the following affirmation: "The problem with a recension is that one does not know what is the original form and what the recension. Hence, is the paleo-Hebrew Tetragrammaton secondary – a part of the recension – or proof of the Old Greek text? This debate has not yet been solved."[5]