Textorah

1 Maccabees 1

1
ΚΑΙ ἐγένετο μετὰ τὸ πατάξαι Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Φιλίππου τὸν Μακεδόνα, ὃς ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τῆς γῆς Χεττειεὶμ, καὶ ἐπάταξε τὸν Δαρεῖον βασιλέα Περσῶν καὶ Μήδων, καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ πρότερος ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα.
And it happened, after that Alexander [son] of Philip, the Macedonian, who came out of the land of Kittim, had smitten Darius king of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the first over Greece,
2
Καὶ συνεστήσατο πολέμους πολλοὺς, καὶ ἐκράτησεν ὀχυρωμάτων πολλῶν, καὶ ἔσφαξε βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς.
and made many wars, and won many strongholds, and slew the kings of the earth,
3
Καὶ διῆλθεν ἕως ἄκρων τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔλαβε σκῦλα πλήθους ἐθνῶν· καὶ ἠσύχασεν ἡ γῆ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὑψώθη, καὶ ἐπῄρθη ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ.
and went through to the ends of the earth, and took spoils of many nations, insomuch that the earth was quiet before him; whereupon he was exalted, and his heart was lifted up.
4
Καὶ συνήγαγε δύναμιν ἰσχυρὰν σφόδρα, καὶ ἦρξε χωρῶν, καὶ ἐθνῶν, καὶ τυράννων, καὶ ἐγένοντο αὐτῷ εἰς φόρον.
And he gathered a mighty strong host, and ruled over countries, and nations, and kings, who became tributaries unto him.
5
Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν κοίτην, καὶ ἔγνω ὅτι ἀποθνήσκει.
And after these things he fell sick, and perceived that he should die.
6
Καὶ ἐκάλεσε τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἐνδόξους τοὺς συντρόφους αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ νεότητος, καὶ διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ ἔτι ζῶντος αὐτοῦ.
Wherefore he called his servants, such as were honorable, and had been brought up with him from his youth, and parted his kingdom among them, while he was yet alive.
7
Καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀλέξανδρος ἔτη δώδεκα, καὶ ἀπέθανε.
So Alexander reigned twelve years, and [then] died.
8
Καὶ ἐπεκράτησαν οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ἕκαστος ἐν τῷ τόπῳ αὐτοῦ.
And his servants bare rule every one in his place.
9
Καὶ ἐπέθεντο πάντες διαδήματα μετὰ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν αὐτὸν, καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτῶν ὀπίσω αὐτῶν ἔτη πολλὰ, καὶ ἐπλήθυναν κακὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ.
And after his death they all put crowns [upon themselves]; so did their sons after them many years: and evils were multiplied in the earth.
10
Καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἐξ αὐτῶν ῥίζα ἁμαρτωλὸς Ἀντίοχος Ἐπιφανὴς, υἱὸς Ἀντιόχου βασιλέως, ὃς ἦν ὅμηρα ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ· καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ἐν ἔτει ἑκατοστῷ καὶ τριακοστῷ καὶ ἑβδόμῳ βασιλείας Ἑλλήνων.
And there came out of them a wicked root, Antiochus [surnamed] Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage at Rome, and he reigned in the hundred and thirty and seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.
11
Ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐξῆλθον ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ υἱοὶ παράνομοι, καὶ ἀνέπεισαν πολλοὺς, λέγοντες, πορευθῶμεν, καὶ διαθώμεθα διαθήκην μετὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν τῶν κύκλῳ ἡμῶν, ὅτι ἀφʼ ἧς ἐχωρίσθημεν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν, εὗρεν ἡμᾶς κακὰ πολλά.
In those days went there out of Israel wicked men, who persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the heathen that are round about us: for since we departed from them we have had much sorrow.
12
Καὶ ἠγαθύνθη ὁ λόγος ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτῶν.
So this device pleased them well.
13
Καὶ προεθυμήθησάν τινες ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ, καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα· καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν ποιῆσαι τὰ δικαιώματα τῶν ἐθνῶν.
Then certain of the people were so forward herein, that they went to the king, who gave them license to do after the ordinances of the heathen:
14
Καὶ ᾠκοδόμησαν γυμνάσιον ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις κατὰ τὰ νόμιμα τῶν ἐθνῶν.
whereupon they built a place of exercise at Jerusalem according to the customs of the heathen:
15
Καὶ ἐποίησαν ἑαυτοῖς ἀκροβυστίας, καὶ ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ διαθήκης ἁγίας· καὶ ἐζεύχθησαν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καὶ ἐπράθησαν τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὸ πονηρόν.
and made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathen, and were sold to do mischief.
16
Καὶ ἡτοιμάσθη ἡ βασιλεία ἐναντίον Ἀντιόχου· καὶ ὑπέλαβε βασιλεῦσαι τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ὅπως βασιλεύσῃ ἐπὶ τὰς δύο βασιλείας.
Now when the kingdom was established before Antiochus, he thought to reign over Egypt, that he might have the dominion of two realms.
17
Καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐν ὄχλῳ βαρεῖ, ἐν ἅρμασι, καὶ ἐν ἐλέφασι, καὶ ἐν ἱππεῦσι, καὶ ἐν στόλῳ μεγάλῳ.
Wherefore he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots, and elephants, and horsemen, and a great navy,
18
Καὶ συνεστήσατο πόλεμον πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον βασιλέα Αἰγύπτου· καὶ ἐνετράπη Πτολεμαῖος ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔφυγε· καὶ ἔπεσον τραυματίαι πολλοί.
and made war against Ptolemy king of Egypt: but Ptolemy was afraid of him, and fled; and many were wounded to death.
19
Καὶ κατελάβοντο τὰς πόλεις τὰς ὀχυρὰς ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτῳ· καὶ ἔλαβε τὰ σκῦλα γῆς Αἰγύπτου.
Thus they got the strong cities in the land of Egypt, and he took the spoils thereof.
20
Καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν Ἀντιόχος μετὰ τὸ πατάξαι Αἴγυπτον ἐν τῷ ἑκατοστῷ καὶ τεσσαρακοστῷ καὶ τρίτῳ ἔτει· καὶ ἀνέβη ἐπὶ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἀνέβη εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν ὄχλῳ βαρεῖ.
And after that Antiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned again in the hundred forty and third year, and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude,
21
Καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ ἁγίασμα ἐν ὑπερηφανείᾳ, καὶ ἔλαβε τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὸ χρυσοῦν, καὶ τὴν λυχνίαν τοῦ φωτὸς, καὶ πάντα τὰ σκεύη αὐτῆς,
and entered proudly into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof,
22
καὶ τὴν τράπεζαν τῆς προθέσεως, καὶ τὰ σπονδεῖα, καὶ τὰς φιάλας, καὶ τὰς θυΐσκας τὰς χρυσᾶς, καὶ τὸ καταπέτασμα, καὶ τοὺς στεφάνους, καὶ τὸν κόσμον τὸν χρυσοῦν τὸν κατὰ πρόσωπον τοῦ ναοῦ, καὶ ἐλέπισε πάντα.
and the table of the showbread, and the pouring vessels, and the vials, and the censers of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and the golden ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off.
23
Καὶ ἔλαβε τὸ ἀργύριον, καὶ τὸ χρυσίον, καὶ τὰ σκεύη τὰ ἐπιθυμητά· καὶ ἔλαβε τοὺς θησαυροὺς τοὺς ἀποκρύφους οὓς εὗρε.
He took also the silver and the gold, and the precious vessels: also he took the hidden treasures which he found.
24
Καὶ λαβὼν πάντα ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὴν γῆν αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐποίησε φονοκτονίαν, καὶ ἐλάλησεν ὑπερηφανείαν μεγάλην.
And when he had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly.
25
Καὶ ἐγένετο πένθος μέγα ἐπὶ Ἰσραὴλ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ αὐτῶν.
Therefore there was great mourning in Israel, in every place where they were;
26
Καὶ ἐστέναξαν ἄρχοντες καὶ πρεσβύτεροι, παρθένοι καὶ νεανίσκοι ἠσθένησαν, καὶ τὸ κάλλος τῶν γυναικῶν ἠλλοιώθη.
so that the princes and elders mourned, the virgins and young men were made feeble, and the beauty of women was changed.
27
Πᾶς νυμφίος ἀνέλαβε θρῆνον, καὶ καθημένη ἐν παστῷ ἐγένετο ἐν πένθει.
Every bridegroom took up lamentation, and she that sat in the marriage chamber was in heaviness.
28
Καὶ ἐσείσθη ἡ γῆ ἐπὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας αὐτήν· καὶ πᾶς ὁ οἶκος Ἰακὼβ ἐνεδύσατο αἰσχύνην.
The land also was moved for the inhabitants thereof, and all the house of Jacob was covered with confusion.
29
Καὶ μετὰ δύο ἔτη ἡμερῶν ἀπέστειλεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄρχοντα φορολογίας εἰς τὰς πόλεις Ἰούδα· καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν ὄχλῳ βαρεῖ.
And after two years fully expired, the king sent his chief collector of tribute unto the cities of Judah, who came unto Jerusalem with a great multitude,
30
Καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς λόγους εἰρηνικοὺς ἐν δόλῳ· καὶ ἐνεπίστευσαν αὐτῷ· καὶ ἐπέπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐξάπινα, καὶ ἐπάταξεν αὐτὴν πληγὴν μεγάλην, καὶ ἀπώλεσε λαὸν πολὺν ἐξ Ἰσραήλ.
and spoke peaceable words unto them, [but all] was deceit: for when they had given him credence, he fell suddenly upon the city, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel.
31
Καὶ ἔλαβε τὰ σκῦλα τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἐνεπύρισεν αὐτὴν πυρὶ, καὶ καθεῖλε τοὺς οἴκους αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ τείχη αὐτῆς κύκλῳ.
And when he had taken the spoils of the city, he set it on fire, and pulled down the houses and walls thereof on every side.
32
Καὶ ᾐχμαλώτευσαν τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ τέκνα, καὶ τὰ κτήνη ἐκληρονόμησαν.
But the women and children took they captive, and possessed the cattle.
33
Καὶ ᾠκοδόμησαν τὴν πόλιν Δαυὶδ τείχει μεγάλῳ καὶ ἰσχυρῷ, πύργοις ὀχυροῖς, καὶ ἐγένετο αὐτοῖς εἰς ἄκραν.
Then built they the city of David with a great and strong wall, [and] with mighty towers, and made it a stronghold for them.
34
καὶ ἔθηκαν ἐκεῖ ἔθνος ἁμαρτωλὸν, ἄνδρας παρανόμους, καὶ ἐνίσχυσαν ἐν αὐτῇ.
And they put therein a sinful nation, wicked men, and fortified [themselves] therein.
35
Καὶ παρέθεντο ὅπλα καὶ τροφὰς, καὶ συναγαγόντες τὰ σκῦλα Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀπέθεντο ἐκεῖ· καὶ ἐγένοντο εἰς μεγάλην παγίδα.
They stored it also with armor and victuals, and when they had gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem, they laid them up there, and so they became a sore snare:
36
Καὶ ἐγένετο εἰς ἔνεδρον τῷ ἁγιάσματι, καὶ εἰς διάβολον πονηρὸν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ διαπαντός.
for it was a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary, and an evil adversary to Israel.
37
Καὶ ἐξέχεαν αἷμα ἀθῷον κύκλῳ τοῦ ἁγιάσματος, καὶ ἐμόλυναν τὸ ἁγίασμα.
Thus they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled it:
38
Καὶ ἔφυγον οἱ κάτοικοι Ἱερουσαλὴμ διʼ αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐγένετο κατοικία ἀλλοτρίων· καὶ ἐγένετο ἀλλοτρία τοῖς γεννήμασιν αὐτῆς, καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῆς ἐγκατέλιπον αὐτήν.
insomuch that the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them: whereupon [the city] was made a habitation of strangers, and became strange to those that were born in her; and her own children left her.
39
Τὸ ἁγίασμα αὐτῆς ἠρημώθη ὡς ἔρημος, αἱ ἑορταὶ αὐτῆς ἐστράφησαν εἰς πένθος, τὰ σάββατα αὐτῆς εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν, ἡ τιμὴ αὐτῆς εἱς ἐξουδένωσιν.
Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach, her honor into contempt.
40
Κατὰ τὴν δόξαν αὐτῆς ἐπληθύνθη ἡ ἀτιμία αὐτῆς, καὶ τὸ ὕψος αὐτῆς ἐστράφη εἰς πένθος.
As had been her glory, so was her dishonor increased, and her excellency was turned into mourning.
41
Καὶ ἔγραψεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀντίοχος πάσῃ τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ εἶναι πάντας λαὸν ἕνα,
Moreover King Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people,
42
καὶ ἐγκαταλιπεῖν ἕκαστον τὰ νόμιμα αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐπεδέξατο πάντα τὰ ἔθνη κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ βασιλέως.
and every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king.
43
Καὶ πολλοὶ ἀπὸ Ἰσραὴλ εὐδόκησαν τῇ λατρείᾳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔθυσαν τοῖς εἰδώλοις, καὶ ἐβεβήλωσαν τὸ σάββατον.
Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the Sabbath.
44
Καὶ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ βασιλεὺς βιβλία ἐν χειρὶ ἀγγέλων εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὰς πόλεις Ἰούδα, πορευθῆναι ὀπίσω νομίμων ἀλλοτρίων τῆς γῆς,
For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow the strange laws of the land,
45
καὶ κωλῦσαι ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ θυσίαν καὶ σπονδὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἁγιάσματος, καὶ βεβηλῶσαι σάββατα καὶ ἑορτὰς,
and forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the Sabbaths and festival days:
46
καὶ μιᾶναι ἁγίασμα καὶ ἁγίους·
and pollute the sanctuary and holy people:
47
οἰκοδομῆσαι βωμοὺς, καὶ τεμένη, καὶ εἰδωλεῖα, καὶ θύειν ὕεια, καὶ κτήνη κοινὰ,
set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine’s flesh, and unclean beasts:
48
καὶ ἀφιέναι τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν ἀπεριτμήτους, βδελύξαι τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν ἐν παντὶ ἀκαθάρτῳ καὶ βεβηλώσει,
that they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation:
49
ὥστε ἐπιλαθέσθαι τοῦ νόμου, καὶ ἀλλάξαι πάντα τὰ δικαιώματα.
to the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances.
50
Καὶ ὃς ἂν μὴ ποιήσῃ κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦ βασιλέως, ἀποθανεῖται.
And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, [he said], he should die.
51
Κατὰ πάντας τοὺς λόγους τούτους ἔγραψε πάσῃ τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐποίησεν ἐπισκόπους ἐπὶ πάντα τὸν λαόν· καὶ ἐνετείλατο ταῖς πόλεσιν Ἰούδα θυσιάζειν κατὰ πόλιν καὶ πόλιν.
In the selfsame manner wrote he to his whole kingdom, and appointed overseers over all the people, commanding the cities of Judah to sacrifice, city by city.
52
Καὶ συνηθροίσθησαν ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ πρὸς αὐτοὺς πολλοὶ, πᾶς ὁ ἐγκαταλιπὼν τὸν νόμον· καὶ ἐποιησαν κακὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ.
Then many of the people were gathered unto them, to wit, everyone that forsook the law; and so they committed evils in the land;
53
Καὶ ἔθεντο τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐν κρύφοις ἐν παντὶ φυγαδευτηρίῳ αὐτῶν.
and drove the Israelites into secret places, even wheresoever they could flee for succor.
54
Καὶ τῇ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ Χασελεῦ, τῷ πέμπτῳ καὶ τεσσαρακοστῷ καὶ ἑκατοστῷ ἔτει, ᾠκοδόμησαν βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, καὶ ἐν πόλεσιν Ἰούδα κύκλῳ ᾠκοδόμησαν βωμούς.
Now the fifteenth day of [the month] Chislev, in the hundred forty and fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and built idol altars throughout the cities of Judah on every side;
55
Καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν θυρῶν τῶν οἰκιῶν, καὶ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις ἐθυμίων.
and burned incense at the doors of their houses, and in the streets.
56
Καὶ τὰ βιβλία τοῦ νόμου ἃ εὗρον, ἐνεπύρισαν πυρὶ κατασχίσαντες.
And when they had rent in pieces the books of the law which they found, they burned them with fire.
57
Καὶ ὅπου εὑρίσκετο παρά τινι βιβλίον διαθήκης, καὶ εἴ τις συνευδόκει τῷ νόμῳ, τὸ σύγκριμα τοῦ βασιλέως ἐθανάτου αὐτόν.
And wheresoever was found with any the book of the testament, or if any consented to the law, the king’s commandment was, that they should put him to death.
58
Ἐν ἰσχύϊ αὐτῶν ἐποίουν οὕτως τῷ Ἰσραὴλ τοῖς εὑρισκομένοις ἐν παντὶ μηνὶ καὶ μηνὶ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι.
Thus did they by their authority unto the Israelites every month, to as many as were found in the cities.
59
Καὶ τῇ πέμπτῃ καὶ εἰκάδι τοῦ μηνὸς θυσιάζοντες ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν ὃς ἦν ἐπὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου.
Now the five and twentieth day of the month they did sacrifice upon the idol altar, which was upon the altar of God.
60
Καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας τὰς περιτετμηκυίας τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν ἐθανάτωσαν, κατὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα.
At which time according to the commandment they put to death certain women, that had caused their children to be circumcised.
61
Καὶ ἐκρέμασαν τὰ βρέφη ἐκ τῶν τραχήλων αὐτῶν, καὶ τοὺς οἴκους αὐτῶν προενόμευσαν, καὶ τοὺς περιτετμηκότας αὐτοὺς ἐθανάτωσαν.
And they hanged the infants about their necks, and rifled their houses, and slew them that had circumcised them.
62
Καὶ πολλοὶ ἐν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκραταιώθησαν, καὶ ὠχυρώθησαν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τοῦ μὴ φαγεῖν κοινά.
Howbeit many in Israel were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat any unclean thing.
63
Καὶ ἐπελέξαντο ἀποθανεῖν, ἵνα μὴ μιανθῶσι τοῖς βρώμασι, καὶ μὴ βεβηλώσωσι διαθήκην ἁγίαν· καὶ ἀπέθανον.
Wherefore they chose rather to die, that they might not be defiled with meats, and that they might not profane the holy covenant: so then they died.
64
Καὶ ἐγένετο ὀργὴ μεγάλη ἐπὶ Ἰσραὴλ σφόδρα.
And there was very great wrath upon Israel.

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Besides the Septuagint-only books, the book list has 1 Enoch and Jubilees (“Other ancient books”), shown in R. H. Charles's English with the Qumran copies beside them, and Psalms has a chapter 151. Their scroll copies — like those of Tobit and Ben Sira — have no verse numbers in the data: each fragment is placed by its published identification, and its lines are spread over those verses, so treat the exact verse boundaries as approximate. Aramaic copies (Tobit 4Q196–199 and all of Enoch) are marked “Aramaic” and have no word lookups.

Rabbinic citations

The small ❝ under a verse number opens the passages of rabbinic literature that cite that verse — Mishnah, Tosefta, both Talmuds, Midrash, Targum and Kabbalah (and, if you tick the box, later halakhah, liturgy and thought) — fetched live from Sefaria, so it needs an internet connection. Each passage is listed with Sefaria's date for the work it comes from and a link to read it there. Sefaria's links include allusions and discussions as well as quotations; those it classes as quotations are marked. It works for the Hebrew Bible, Ben Sira (by Kahana's numbering, e.g. the Talmud's quotations of Ben Sira), Tobit and Jubilees. For 1 Enoch, which the rabbis do not quote, it lists instead the Zohar's passages about a “Book of Enoch”.

How the Septuagint is aligned

Each Greek verse is placed by combining three things: the standard table of Septuagint–Masoretic verse correspondences (SIL's lxx.vrs), the table of Masoretic–English numbering differences, and a comparison of the English of Brenton's Septuagint with the JPS English, which confirms each pairing and catches displaced verses. Where no Masoretic verse is similar enough, the Greek verse stands on its own row.

The Greek word data

No openly licensed word-by-word analysis of Brenton's Greek exists, so each Greek word is matched to the most frequent analysis of the same form in the openly licensed Swete Septuagint (Morpheus parser), then to a lexicon entry. About 95% of words are identified. Parses of ambiguous forms (e.g. αὐτοῦ, τοῦ) can be wrong; the card says "automatic parse" as a reminder.

Building and updating

The page reads prepared data from the data folder; python3 build.py (in the app folder) downloads the sources into sources and rebuilds it in a few minutes. Two files must be added by hand: eng-Brenton_vpl.zip from ebible.org and SPE.zip from CrossWire. python3 build.py --public-domain-only leaves out the three non-commercially-licensed layers; --download-only just fetches the sources. Licences and required credits are listed in SOURCES.md.

About the texts

What each column is, where it comes from, and what to keep in mind when reading it.

Masoretic Text — Westminster Leningrad Codex

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew Bible as transmitted by the Masoretes, scribal scholars active in Tiberias and elsewhere roughly from the 7th to the 10th century, who fixed its vowel points, accents and marginal notes (the Masorah) around a consonantal text that was already essentially stable by the 1st–2nd century CE. The Leningrad Codex (St Petersburg, Firkovich I B 19 A), copied in 1008/1009 CE in the Ben Asher tradition, is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible; the slightly older Aleppo Codex lost most of the Torah in 1947. It is the base of the standard critical editions (BHK, BHS, BHQ).

The Westminster Leningrad Codex is the public-domain digital transcription of it maintained by the J. Alan Groves Center at Westminster Theological Seminary. In this edition a Ketiv appears as its own unpointed word before the pointed Qere.

JPS 1917 — The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text

The first English Bible translation produced by a committee of Jewish scholars for the Jewish Publication Society of America, under Max L. Margolis as editor-in-chief, published in 1917. Its language deliberately follows the cadence of the King James and Revised Versions, but its renderings follow the Masoretic text and Jewish exegetical tradition, and it keeps the Hebrew chapter and verse numbering. It is in the public domain; its successor, the New JPS (Tanakh, 1985), is not. The electronic edition used here writes the divine names as “HaShem” and “G-d”.

Septuagint — Brenton's Greek text and the Updated Brenton English

The Septuagint is the Jewish translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek. The Torah was translated in Alexandria in the 3rd century BCE (the Letter of Aristeas tells the legend of 72 translators under Ptolemy II); the other books followed over the next two centuries. Because it was made from Hebrew manuscripts older than the Masoretic text, it often preserves a different Hebrew text: Jeremiah is about one-seventh shorter and differently ordered (a shorter Hebrew text of this type survives at Qumran in 4QJerb,d), Job is about one-sixth shorter, and Esther and Daniel have long additions. It was the Bible of Philo, Josephus and the New Testament writers, and became the Old Testament of the Greek church, which in turn led Jewish translators (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion) to produce closer revisions.

Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton published an English translation in 1844 and a Greek–English edition in 1851. His Greek is essentially the Sixtine (Roman) edition of 1587, which follows the 4th-century Codex Vaticanus. It is older and less critical than the modern editions of Rahlfs (1935) and Göttingen, which are under copyright. The English column is the Updated Brenton (Adam Boyd, 2020), Brenton's translation with modernised spelling and wording, dedicated to the public domain.

Samaritan Pentateuch †

The Torah as preserved by the Samaritan community of Mount Gerizim (Nablus), written in the Samaritan script, a descendant of the paleo-Hebrew alphabet. It differs from the Masoretic text in about 6,000 places, most of them spelling or grammar; in about 1,900 of them it agrees with the Septuagint. Some readings are distinctively Samaritan, above all the commandment to build an altar on Mount Gerizim added after the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21) and “Gerizim” for “Ebal” in Deut 27:4. Many others — harmonising expansions that copy one passage into its parallel — are shared with “pre-Samaritan” Qumran manuscripts such as 4QpaleoExodm and 4QNumb, showing that the text type is older than the Samaritan schism.

European scholars learned of it in 1616, when Pietro della Valle brought a manuscript from Damascus; it was printed in the Paris (1645) and London (1657) Polyglots, collated by Benjamin Kennicott (1776–80) and edited critically by August von Gall (1914–18). The Hebrew here is Aleksandr Sigalov's digital text, based on Kennicott and checked against von Gall; the English is Sigalov's adaptation of the King James Version to the Samaritan readings. For modern scholarship see Abraham Tal's edition of MS Shechem 6 and Stefan Schorch's critical editio maior.

Dead Sea Scrolls and other Judean Desert manuscripts †

Between 1947 and 1956 the remains of about 950 manuscripts were found in eleven caves near Khirbet Qumran. Some 230 are biblical — every book of the Hebrew Bible except Esther is represented, from tiny fragments to the complete Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa) — dating from about 250 BCE to 68 CE. They are a thousand years older than the Leningrad Codex. Most are close to the ancestor of the Masoretic text (“proto-Masoretic”), but others agree with the Septuagint (4QJerb, 4QSama in places), with the Samaritan text type, or with neither — evidence that several forms of the text circulated side by side before the Masoretic text prevailed.

Manuscripts from other sites fill out the picture: Masada (before its fall in 73/74 CE; excavated by Yigael Yadin, 1963–65) and the Bar Kokhba refuges of Wadi Murabba'at and Naḥal Ḥever (132–135 CE), whose biblical texts are already virtually identical with the Masoretic text, as well as Naḥal Ṣe'elim, Wadi Sdeir and Naḥal Arugot. The official publication is the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series (Oxford, 1955–2010).

The transcriptions here are those of Martin G. Abegg Jr., James E. Bowley and Edward M. Cook, as converted by the Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer (ETCBC). Each manuscript is labelled with its siglum (e.g. 4QIsad), its DJD number, its find-site and the column or fragment and line. Besides the biblical manuscripts, the copies of Ben Sira, Tobit, 1 Enoch, Jubilees and Psalm 151 are shown under those books. Not every manuscript is in the dataset — notably the Greek scrolls (such as the Greek Minor Prophets from Naḥal Ḥever) are absent, and the Masada Ben Sira scroll is added separately (see Ben Sira).

Ben Sira

The Wisdom of Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira, composed in Hebrew in Jerusalem around 190–180 BCE and translated into Greek by his grandson in Egypt after 132 BCE (his prologue explains the difficulty of rendering Hebrew into Greek). It belongs to the Septuagint and to the Catholic and Orthodox canons (Latin Ecclesiasticus) but not to the Jewish one, although the Talmud and midrash quote it. Its Hebrew text was lost to the West until 1896, when Solomon Schechter, Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson identified medieval copies in the Cairo Genizah; ancient Hebrew copies then emerged at Qumran and Masada.

About two-thirds of the Hebrew is now known, from six medieval Genizah manuscripts (A–F, 10th–12th century) and three ancient ones: 2QSir (2Q18; Sir 6:14–15, 20–32), the acrostic of Sir 51:13–20, 30 in the Psalms Scroll 11QPsa (columns 21–22), and the Masada scroll (Mas1h), found by Yigael Yadin in 1964 in a casemate room of the fortress and published in 1965: seven columns with Sir 39:27–44:17, copied in the early 1st century BCE, little more than a century after the author. Its agreement with Genizah manuscript B showed that the medieval copies descend from the ancient Hebrew rather than from a translation back from Greek or Syriac.

Here the book is shown in Brenton's Greek and English. The Hebrew column is the Kahana edition, as transcribed on Hebrew Wikisource and distributed by Sefaria (CC BY-SA): a running text built on the Genizah manuscripts, in which words in [brackets] are Kahana's restorations; chapters with no surviving Hebrew are empty. Kahana numbers the verses in the Hebrew order — in the Greek, two blocks of chapters 30–36 are transposed — so his verses have been matched to Brenton's by content for this app, with his own number shown as “Heb.” where it differs. The scrolls column has the three ancient witnesses; the Masada text is Eric Reymond's transcription from bensira.org, which states no licence, so it is only included when you download it yourself. Their placement was made for this app by matching the text; there is no Masoretic text to compare them with, so no variants are marked.

Psalm 151

The Septuagint Psalter ends with a short psalm “outside the number”, in which David recalls tending his father's sheep, his anointing and his victory over Goliath. It belongs to the Greek, Syriac and Ethiopic Bibles but not to the Hebrew one, and was long thought to have been composed in Greek — until the Psalms Scroll from Qumran Cave 11 (11QPsa, published by James Sanders in 1965) turned out to contain a longer Hebrew original in its 28th column, as two poems (151A on David's music and anointing, 151B, broken off, on Goliath). The Greek is a condensed translation of them. The psalm is shown as chapter 151 of Psalms, with the scroll's lines under the Greek verses they correspond to.

Tobit

A Jewish novella of the Eastern diaspora (probably 3rd–2nd century BCE): the pious exile Tobit, blinded in Nineveh, sends his son Tobias to recover money in Media, guided by the angel Raphael in disguise; on the way Tobias marries Sarah and drives off the demon Asmodeus. It is in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Orthodox canons. It survives in two Greek forms — a shorter one (Codices Vaticanus and Alexandrinus, printed by Brenton) and a longer one (Codex Sinaiticus) — and the Qumran copies, four in Aramaic (4Q196–199) and one in Hebrew (4Q200), published by Joseph Fitzmyer in 1995, side with the longer form, which is now generally taken as nearer the original. Their verse placement here follows Fitzmyer's identifications.

1 Enoch

A collection of five works ascribed to Enoch, the seventh from Adam who “walked with God” (Gen 5:24): the Book of the Watchers (ch. 1–36, 3rd century BCE), on the angels who descended to the daughters of men; the Parables (37–71); the Astronomical Book (72–82); the Dream Visions (83–90), with the “Animal Apocalypse” of Israel's history; and the Epistle of Enoch (91–108). It is quoted in the Letter of Jude (1:14–15) and is canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, whose Ge'ez version is the only complete text; Greek survives for about a third. Józef Milik published the Aramaic fragments from Qumran Cave 4 in 1976: eleven copies, covering every part except the Parables, the oldest from around 200 BCE. The English is R. H. Charles's 1917 translation from the Ethiopic (public domain). The Astronomical scrolls (4Q208–211) contain a much longer calendar than the Ethiopic; only their few passages that match chapters 76–82 are placed.

Jubilees

A retelling of Genesis and Exodus 1–14 as revealed to Moses on Sinai by an “angel of the presence”, dated by a calendar of 49-year jubilees and a 364-day solar year (mid-2nd century BCE). Like 1 Enoch it is canonical only in the Ethiopian church, whose Ge'ez version is the only complete text; parts survive in Latin, Syriac and Greek quotations. Fragments of about fifteen Hebrew copies were found at Qumran, more than of most biblical books, and are published in DJD 13 (VanderKam and Milik, 1994) and DJD 23. The English is R. H. Charles's 1917 translation (public domain).

Lexicon and concordance data

Hebrew words carry the analysis of STEPBible's Translators Amalgamated Hebrew OT (Tyndale House, Cambridge): extended Strong's numbers — James Strong's 1890 numbering, subdivided to follow the Brown–Driver–Briggs lexicon (1906) — with morphology from the ETCBC and an abridged BDB for definitions. Samaritan and scroll words take the analysis of the Masoretic word they correspond to, or, where they differ, of the same written form elsewhere in the Masoretic text. Greek words are matched through the Swete Septuagint and the Morpheus parser to STEPBible's Greek lexicon, which draws on Abbott-Smith (1922) and Liddell–Scott–Jones.

† Licensed for non-commercial use only. Full credits and licences: SOURCES.md.