LXX Gen 13:1–4: the desert road and the tent at the altar

Says Swete’s numbering in Genesis 13 matches the English and the MT. At 13:1 Abram goes up εἰς τὴν ἔρημον (ἔρημος as a noun, “the desert”), where the MT ends הַנֶּגְבָּה, “to the Negev”; the Bodleian Genesis lacks αὐτὸς. At 13:2 πλούσιος σφόδρα (πλούσιος, “rich, wealthy”) renders כָּבֵד מְאֹד, and κτήνεσιν (κτῆνος, “a beast”) renders בַּמִּקְנֶה.

Says At 13:3 ὅθεν ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, “from where he had come, into the desert,” stands where the MT has לְמַסָּעָיו מִנֶּגֶב, “by his stages from the Negev.” ἡ σκηνὴ αὐτοῦ (σκηνή, “a tent, booth, tabernacle”) renders אהלה, τὸ πρότερον renders בַּתְּחִלָּה, and Ai is Ἁγγαί.

Says At 13:4 τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου (θυσιαστήριον, “an altar”) renders הַמִּזְבֵּחַ. Where the MT has בָּרִאשֹׁנָה, “at the first,” Swete’s text reads οὗ ἐποίησεν ἐκεῖ τὴν σκηνήν, “where he had made the tent”; the Bodleian Genesis has ἀρχήν (ἀρχή, “beginning, origin”) for σκηνήν. ἐπεκαλέσατο ἐκεῖ Ἀβρὰμ τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου (ἐπικαλέω, middle, “to call upon, invoke”) renders וַיִּקְרָא שָׁם אַבְרָם בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה with an accusative and no preposition, unlike ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι at 12:8; the Bodleian Genesis has the active ἐπεκάλεσεν.

Implies Of the two Greek readings at 13:4, ἀρχήν stands nearer in sense to בָּרִאשֹׁנָה. Swete gives no cause for the difference, and none is assigned here.