St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology - The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Todays World

THE
ORTHODOX
STUDY
BIBLE

With gratitude to the
individuals who made this
Orthodox Study Bible possible

Dr. John and Helen Collis
and family

The Orthodox Study Bible
Copyright 2008 by St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology

Old Testament Text:
St. Athanasius Academy Septuagint
Copyright 2008 by St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology

The text of the St. Athanasius Academy Septuagint (SAAS) may be quoted or reprinted without prior written permission with the following qualifications:

(1) Up to and including 1,000 verses may be quoted in printed form as long as the verses quoted amount to less than 50% of a complete book of the Bible and make up less than 50% of the total work in which they are quoted; (2) all SAAS quotations must conform accurately to the SAAS text.

Any use of the SAAS text must include a proper acknowledgment as follows:

Scripture taken from the St. Athanasius Academy Septuagint. Copyright 2008 by St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

However, when quotations from the SAAS text are used in church bulletins, orders of service, Sunday School lessons, church newsletters and similar works in the course of religious instruction or services at a place of worship or other religious assembly, the following notice may be used at the end of each quotation: SAAS.

New Testament Text:
New King James Version
Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) may be quoted or reprinted without prior written permission with the following qualifications:

(1) Up to and including 1,000 verses may be quoted in printed form as long as the verses quoted amount to less than 50% of a complete book of the Bible and make up less than 50% of the total work in which they are quoted; (2) all NKJV quotations must conform accurately to the NKJV text.

Any use of the NKJV text must include a proper acknowledgment as follows:

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

However, when quotations from the NKJV text are used in church bulletins, orders of service, Sunday School lessons, church newsletters and similar works in the course of religious instruction or services at a place of worship or other religious assembly, the following notice may be used at the end of each quotation: NKJV.

For more information regarding the quotation permission policy for the New King James Version, please visit thomasnelson.com.

Printed in the United States of America
All Rights Reserved
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The Academic Community at St. Athanasius Academy is chaired by Fr. Jack N. Sparks, Dean, and includes Frs. Richard Ballew, Jon E. Braun, Michel Najim, John Finley, Polycarp Whitcomb, and Paul Goetz. Also included are Jerry Cripe, Howard Lange, Dr. David Lewis, Carol McFarland, Christina Tassos, and Alan Wallerstedt.

A number of clergy and lay scholars worked on the study material for one or more books of the New Testament and on the other supplemental sections, including Bishop KALLISTOS Ware and Frs. David Anderson, James Bernstein, David Barr, William Caldaroni, Marc Dunaway, John Elias, Antony Gabriel, George Gray, Peter Kreta, Michael Laffoon, John Morris, Constantine Nasr, Paul OCallaghan, Jonah Paffhausen, Gregory Rogers, and Gordon Walker. Lay scholars Dr. Apostolos Athanassakis, Dr. George Cronk and Paul DeMerritt provided valuable input. Special thanks goes to Dr. Petros Vasiliadis for his work on the initial draft, and later editing by him and his colleagues at the University of Thessalonica. Additional help was supplied by the American Bible Society.

Providing help with the Old Testament text, notes and supplemental materials were: Bishops BASIL, JOSEPH, and KALLISTOS; together with Frs. Philip Armstrong, Richard Ballew, Michael Barclay, Jon Braun, William Caldaroni, Ross Caldwell, Joseph Corrigan, Thomas ODea, Dale Dickerson, John Elias, John Finley, Titus Fulcher, Sam Gantt, Michael Gillis, Isaiah Gillette, Peter E. Gillquist, George Gray, Daniel Griffith, David Hester, Benjamin Henderson, Don Hock, John Kalantzis, Nathan Kroll, Stephen Lilley, John Morris, Michel Najim, Patrick OGrady, John Peck, Eugen Pentiuc, Theodore Petrides, John R. Probish, Gabriel Rochelle, Gregory Rogers, Patrick Henry Reardon, John Reeves, Robert Sanford, David Sedor, Jack N. Sparks, Allyne Smith, Gordon Walker, Bartholomew Wojcik, Christopher Wojcik, Thaddeus Wojcik, Stefan Zencuch; Deacons John Chryssavgis, Stephen Holley, Polycarp Whitcomb, Moishe Zorea, Steve Ackley; and lay scholars Peter Bouras, Renie Carr, Andrew Copeland, Shaun Daugherty, Dr. David Ford, Dr. Mary Ford, Dr. George S. Gabriel, Anastasia Goetz, Paul Goetz, Denise Greaves, Beryl Wells Hamilton, Margaret Hock, Mickey Hodges, Joel Kalvesmaki, Mark Kern, John Lamberes, Dr. David Lewis, Theron Mathis, Martin McGinty, James Miller, Samuel G. Miller, Tatiana Miller, Newman Nahas, Dr. Michel Quenot, Reader Cyrl Shartz, Dr. Donald Sheehan, Gregory Gray Smith, John Stamps, Dr. Matthew Steenberg, Nancy Tentzeras, Nicholas Tentzeras and Gary Yee.

Special thanks to Fr. Robert Sanford, of Thomas Nelson Publishers, for his careful guidance, and to Katherine Hyde for her extensive and thorough copy editing. Computer entry for the final manuscript was done by Shirley Dillon and Carolyn Tanguay, who both deserve sincere gratitude.

Undergirding all these efforts were more than three hundred individuals, churches, and organizations who served as benefactors for this historic project. Their gifts were contributed to underwrite the costs of biblical and patristic research, organizational meetings and manuscript preparation. Thanks are due to all these donors including Mr. Sam Moore, retired chairman of Thomas Nelson, Inc., who established a generous matching gift program which motivated the great breadth of financial support for this effort. It is in the memory of his mother, Marie Ziady, that the New Testament edition was published.

Special thanks to the following major donors who, along with hundreds of others, underwrote the preparation of the Orthodox Study Bible Old and New Testament manuscripts:

Charles and Marilee Ajalat

Kevin Allen Family

Reagan & Connie Amerine

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church

Richard Ayoob

John Bahas

Daniel & Judy Braun

Fr. Jon & Mary Ellen Braun

Dean Brunner

Dr. John and Helen Collis

William Craig & Family

John & Cina Daskalakis Family

George & Brenda Farah

Fr. Peter and Marilyn Gillquist

Greek Ladies Philoptochos SocietyGrand Rapids, MI

Andrew and Katherine Kartalis

Spero & Stacy Kinnas

Mark Mellis

Sam and Peggy Moore

William and Josie Morrison

Bill & Hazel Nassir

Louis & Eleni Nicozisis

The Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch

His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese

Kathleen Pinson

Mike Ryan

Katherine Strakes

John & Patti Truslow

INTRODUCTION TO THE
ORTHODOX STUDY BIBLE

The last decade of the twentieth century saw an historic event. In 1993, The OrthodoxStudy Bible: New Testament and Psalms was released as the first English Bible with study material reflecting the ancient faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

St. Athanasius Academy, which had organized this effort, began receiving requests for the completion of the Old Testamenta monumental task which involved not only preparation of the study notes and outlines, but also the presentation of an acceptable Old Testament text. Though the Orthodox Church has never officially committed itself to a single text and list of Old Testament books, it has traditionally used the Greek Old Testament of the Septuagint (LXX). However, in Orthodoxys 200-year history in North America, no English translation of the LXX has ever been produced by the Church.