The Text of Genesis 6:2-4 in the Codex Alexandrinus

This comment will serve as an addendum to our paper The Problem With Genesis 6:1-4. It was inspired by an inquiry concerning the reading of Genesis 6:2 which is found in the Codex Alexandrinus, which was made by a social media contact of ours. Our friend had obtained a copy of The Old Testament in Greek according to the Septuagint, by Henry Barclay Swete, published in 1887. Here we have included a link to Volume 1, Genesis to IV Kings.

Admittedly, I have never heard of that publication, but have since found that it is referenced in a preface of my copy of the Rahlfs-Hanhart edition of the text of the Septuagint, which along with Brenton’s edition are the texts to which I often refer here at Christogenea. The Rahlfs-Hanhart edition mentions Swete in its Explanation of Symbols, as Swete’s edition is evidently referenced in the critical apparatus of alternate readings along with many other old Septuagint editions going back to the 16th century.

But our friend’s interest was roused because, as we have cited Brenton in our paper The Problem With Genesis 6:1-4, according to Swete’s Septuagint the opening words of Genesis 6:2 read: ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ τὰς θυγατέρας τῶν ἀνθρώπων, Which translates to say “Then the angels of God seeing the daughters of men…”