b. The Septuagint
6. The Hebrew text and the Septuagint
a. The Hebrew text
The small number of footnotes in the Revised Version of Judges indicates its excellent state of preservation. In a commentary of this kind it is impossible to enter into minute detail concerning the minor errors that may be detected, but it may be noted generally that almost all of these may be attributed to scribal errors in the transmission of the text. The exception to this is the Song of Deborah, a very ancient poem which poses many problems to the modern scholar.
b. The Septuagint
The book of Judges is of peculiar interest in connection with the Septuagint and it has frequently been maintained that there were two Greek versions of this book, represented principally in Codex Alexandrinus (fifth century) and Codex Vaticanus (fourth century), resting upon distinct Hebrew originals. Scholars are at variance as to which version is to be preferred and this has led, on occasion, to the unusual recourse of printing both versions side by side.18 The recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirms that there were considerable variations amongst the Greek texts of Judges.