[redgolum]

The controversy over the OT canon is an interesting one, more so since the side today tend to forget a little history.

Prior to the Reformation in the West, and (I believe) until the 1700's in the East, the OT canon was not definitively settled. During the Reformation, in the famous written spats between Erasmus and Luther, the canon wasn't one of the bigger issues. Because at that time, many theologians were questioning whether what is now called the Apocrypha by non Catholics was on the same level as the rest of the Old Testament. The Council of Trent settled that for the Roman Catholics, but for the Lutherans, it wasn't so clear. Even today, if you pick up a Lutheran Bible from Europe or at times Africa, it will have all those disputed books in a separate section.

The Orthodox also don't have quite the same OT canon, as (if I remember right) there is an extra Psalm and some include 3&4 Maccabees.

[kosta50]

The Orthodox also don't have quite the same OT canon, as (if I remember right) there is an extra Psalm and some include 3&4 Maccabees

Some of those are artificial divisions. But the point is that there are some seriously diverse, even, diametrically opposed verses in different OT canons. The EOC uses "Septuagint" (LXX) as authoritative. The problem is that there are at least three major version of this Book, Sinaiticus (the oldest, 4th century), Vaticanus and Alexandrianus (most recent, 5th century). The last one, which is closer to the Masoretic Text (Hebrew version) is the least reliable.

The problem of authenticity of the Septuagint is no different than of the whole Bible, as additions and deletions, transcriptual errors and other things really make it impossible to determine whose version is the "original" (since we don't even have a complete "original" save for the Sinaitucs (which also contanes books of the NT no longer considered canonical, such as the Epistle of Barnabas).

Compared to the KJV version of the OT (based on the Hebrew OT) you encounter such amazingly different verses as Isaiah 9:6

KJV "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace"

LXX (Vat) "For a Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us, whose government is upon His shoulder; and His name is called The Messenger of Great Counsel; for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to Him."

or 9:8

KJV "The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel"

LXX (Vat) "The Lord has sent death upon Jacob, and it has come upon Israel."

as one of numerous examples. Some of these differences are blamed on absence of vowel markings in the pre-rabbinical Judaism. That, however, does not establish one as authoritative and the other as not with any certainty.

For instance, in the New Testament, the words "fasting" or "fast" have been added in several places, etc. and some of +John's verses have been added at a later date as well. The thing, of course, to look for is the context, but always mindful of the thin ice we are stepping on.