Brenton's English Septuagint Brenton

Individual translator
Old Testament source: Septuagint (Greek)
Septuagint Old Testament (no New Testament)
Formal (word for word)
1844
Public domain

At a glance

Language: English
Tradition: Individual translator — The work of one 19th-century English scholar translating the Greek Old Testament; it was not commissioned or approved by any church.
Church approval: No — No ecclesiastical approval is known or claimed; it is nonetheless the traditional English Septuagint long used by English-speaking Orthodox readers (see OSB entry: the OSB OT used Brenton as a reference).
Old Testament source: Septuagint (Greek) — Translated from the Greek Septuagint 'according to the Vatican text' (i.e. following Codex Vaticanus as printed in the Sixtine-type editions); the 1851 edition's appendix gives some non-Vaticanus readings.
New Testament source: Old Testament only.
Canon: Septuagint Old Testament (no New Testament) — Tobit, Judith, Greek Esther, Greek Daniel (with Susanna, Bel and the Dragon), Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, Epistle of Jeremiah, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, Prayer of Manasseh, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, Psalm 151
Style: Formal (word for word)
Year: English translation first published 1844 (no Apocrypha); 1851 edition added the Apocrypha. eBible text: Brenton with Apocrypha (source files dated 2026-10-07).
Translators: Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton
Reading level: Archaic 19th-century English (thee/thou); Greek-form names (Esaias, Osee, Jonas); demanding for new readers.
Verse numbering: Septuagint (Greek)
Licence: Public domain — eBible: 'Published in 1851, and now in the Public Domain.'
Text source: eBible.org (eng-Brenton)

Notes

Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.

About

Sir Lancelot Brenton's translation of the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), the Old Testament the Orthodox Church reads. First printed in 1844 and expanded with the deuterocanonical books in 1851, it remains the classic public-domain English Septuagint. Its English is old-fashioned and it follows one main manuscript tradition (Codex Vaticanus).

Strengths

Only complete public-domain English Septuagint with the full Orthodox book list (incl. 3-4 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151)
Shows where the Greek OT differs from the Hebrew (e.g. Ps 39:7 LXX 'a body hast thou prepared me', quoted in Hebrews 10:5)

Things to know

Archaic English and Greek name forms
Follows Codex Vaticanus closely rather than a modern critical edition (Rahlfs/Göttingen)
Psalm and chapter numbering follows the Greek, which differs from most English Bibles

Not yet verified

Brenton's personal church affiliation: SOURCE NOT VERIFIED (deliberately not stated)
eBible's eng-lxx2012 page says 'published in 1885' in one sentence and 1851 in another; the IOSCS dating (1844/1851) is used here

Profile checked 2026-10-17.

Books in this edition (53 books)

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Prayer of Manasseh O (C) (P), 1 Esdras O (C) (P), Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit O C (P), Judith O C (P), Esther (Greek) O C (P), 1 Maccabees O C (P), 2 Maccabees O C (P), 3 Maccabees O, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon O C (P), Sirach O C (P), Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Baruch O C (P), Lamentations, Letter of Jeremiah O (C) (P), Ezekiel, Daniel (Greek) O C (P), Susanna (O) (C) (P), Bel and the Dragon (O) (C) (P), 4 Maccabees (O)

Not in this edition: 2 Esdras (4 Ezra), Odes

Letters show which canons include a book: O Orthodox, C Catholic, P Protestant (in brackets: printed as Apocrypha or in an appendix).

Publisher's statement

Translation of the Greek Septuagint into English by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton
Published in 1851, and now in the Public Domain.
If you find errors in the text, please report them so that we can correct them.

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