Hebrew than had ever existed before, unless we consider that the original LXX. and the Hebrew of, say, 150 B.C. really tallied closely. (Most authorities think that this is not likely; the difficulty of supposing that the M.T. was developed from such a text is in their view too great. How the discrepancies arose is a different matter.) It is true that the subsequent treatment of the LXX., on the basis of his composite text, by men who were probably roused to labour by his example, but were not equal