In addition to two introductory essays, this volume contains I.L. Seeligmann's groundbreaking work on the translation of the Old Testament into Greek. He shows how the translators strived to preserve the identity of Jewish faith.

The present volume makes accessible once more the groundbreaking work "The Septuagint Version of Isaiah" (1948) by Isac Leo Seeligmann (1907-1982), accompanied by two studies that have to be seen as prolegomena to the book. Both studies were published originally in the Dutch language, and the English translation of one of them appears in this volume for the first time. Seeligmann aims to understand the Septuagint as a witness of Hellenistic Judaism striving to maintain the text's special character as a document of faith. At the same time all of Seeligmann's works edited in this volume are documents of the suffering of European Judaism during the time of National Socialism.
The new edition provides evidence of Seeligmann's approach to the Septuagint as a witness of Hellenistic Judaism which strives to maintain the text's special character as a document of faith. Because of this new access from the perspective of content and method, Seeligmann's influence on Septuagint research became so strong that it has lasted up to the present. The reader will realise that the history of Israel during the Hellenistic period does not simply represent an object of scholarly research for Seeligmann but also serves as the background for the interpretation of the history of the Jewish people in his own time.

Autorentext
1936 bis zu seiner Deportation 1943 Lektor am Niederländischen Israelitischen Seminar; seit 1946 Bibliothekar an der Universität Amsterdam; 1948 Promotion; 1950 - 1977 Professor für Biblische Literatur an der Hebräischen Universität in Jerusalem.