In fact, the development of the Septuagint was a gradual process: it began some time in the 3rd or 2nd century BC, when the first portion of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, was translated into Koine Greek.
[citation needed] Later, for Christians, the Septuagint became the received text of the Old Testament in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the basis of its canon.
Bible translations incorporating modern textual criticism usually begin with the Masoretic Text, but also take into account possible variants from all available ancient versions.
[citation needed] The deuterocanonical books have a different status according to various Jewish and Christian denominations, with some considering them canonical, others apocryphal.
One of the youngest of these books, 2 Esdras, has a complex composition history with a probable mix of Hebrew, Latin and Greek origins.
[citation needed] Some scholars believe that some books of the Greek New Testament (in particular, the Gospel of Matthew) are actually translations of a Hebrew or Aramaic original.
[citation needed] Likewise, some traditional Roman Catholic scholars believed the Gospel of Mark was originally written in Latin.