And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass (Exod. 4:20). This is one of the ten verses our rabbis altered when they translated the Torah into Greek for King Ptolemy.¹⁶ The ten changes are: “God created in the beginning” (Gen. 1:1);¹⁷, in order to emphasize that God alone created. “I shall make man in My image and My likeness” (ibid., v. 26);¹⁸. etc. “And He finished on the sixth day, and rested on the seventh day (ibid. 2:2);¹⁹, thus giving the impression that God actually worked on the seventh day. “Male and female He created him” (ibid. 5:2);²⁰, etc. “Come, let Me descend and confound their tongue” (ibid. 11:7);²¹, etc. “And Sarah laughed among her relatives” (ibid. 18:12);²². “For in their anger they slew an ox, and in their wrath they digged up a stall” (ibid. 49:6);²³. “And Moses took his wife and his sons, and made them ride on a carrier of men” (Exod. 4:20);²⁴. “Now the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt, and in the land of Goshen and in Canaan was four hundred and thirty years” (ibid. 12:40);²⁵, etc. “And he sent the elect of the children of Israel” (ibid. 24:5);²⁶. “And against the elect of the children of Israel he put not forth his hand (ibid., v. 11);²⁷. “Since the Lord thy God hath arranged to give light to all the peoples under the entire heavens” (Deut. 4:19);²⁸ “Which I had not commanded the people to serve” (Deut. 17:3);²⁹. they wrote about “the slender-footed,” but they did not write the word ‘arnevet (“the hare”) (Lev. 11:5) because the name of Ptolemy’s wife was ‘Arnevet,³⁰ and he might say: “The Jews are ridiculing me by writing my wife’s name in the Torah.”

footnotes: ¹⁶ Megillah 9a. The Septuagint, begun during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 B.C.E.). ¹⁷ Instead of In the beginning God created ¹⁸ Instead of Let us make man in our image ¹⁹ Instead of And on the seventh day God finished ²⁰ Instead of Male and female He created them ²¹ Instead of Come, let us go down ²² Instead of And Sarah laughed within herself ²³ Instead of For in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they houghed oxen ²⁴ Instead of… and set them upon an ass ²⁵ Instead of Now the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years ²⁶ Instead of And he sent the young men of the children of Israel ²⁷ Instead of And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand ²⁸ The words “to give light” were added. ²⁹ Instead of Which I have commanded not ³⁰ Actually, her name was Arsinoe.