Textorah

1 Maccabees 12

1
Καὶ εἶδεν Ἰωνάθαν ὅτι ὁ καιρὸς αὐτῷ συνεργεῖ, καὶ ἐπέλεξεν ἄνδρας, καὶ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Ῥώμην, στῆσαι καὶ ἀνανεώσασθαι τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς φιλίαν.
Now when Jonathan saw that the time served him, he chose certain men, and sent them to Rome, for to confirm and renew the friendship that they had with them.
2
Καὶ πρὸς Σπαρτιάτας, καὶ τόπους ἑτέρους ἀπέστειλεν ἐπιστολὰς κατὰ τὰ αὐτά.
He sent letters also to the Lacedaemonians, and to other places, for the same purpose.
3
Καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν εἰς Ῥώμην, καὶ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ βουλευτήριον, καὶ εἶπον, Ἰωνάθαν ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ τὸ ἔθνος τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀπέστειλεν ἡμᾶς ἀνανεώσασθαι τὴν φιλίαν αὐτοῖς, καὶ τὴν συμμαχίαν κατὰ τὸ πρότερον.
So they went unto Rome, and entered into the senate, and said, Jonathan the high priest, and the people of the Jews, sent us unto you, to the end ye should renew the friendship, which ye had with them, and league, as in former time.
4
Καὶ ἔδωκαν ἐπιστολὰς αὐτοῖς πρὸς αὐτοὺς κατὰ τόπον, ὅπως προπέμπωσιν αὐτοὺς εἰς γῆν Ἰούδα μετʼ εἰρήνης.
Upon this [the Romans] gave them letters unto the governors of every place, that they should bring them into the land of Judea peaceably.
5
Καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἀντίγραφον τῶν ἐπιστολῶν ὧν ἔγραψεν Ἰωνάθαν τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις·
And this is the copy of the letters which Jonathan wrote to the Lacedaemonians:
6
Ἰωνάθαν ἀρχιερεὺς, καὶ ἡ γερουσία τοῦ ἔθνους, καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς, καὶ ὁ λοιπὸς δῆμος τῶν Ἰουδαίων, Σπαρτιάταις τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς χαίρειν.
Jonathan the high priest, and the elders of the nation, and the priests, and the other people of the Jews, unto the Lacedaemonians their brethren send greeting:
7
Ἔτι πρότερον ἀπεστάλησαν ἐπιστολαὶ πρὸς Ὀνίαν τὸν ἀρχιερέα παρὰ Δαρείου τοῦ βασιλεύοντος ἐν ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἐστὲ ἀδελφοὶ ἡμῶν, ὡς τὸ ἀντίγραφον ὑπόκειται.
There were letters sent in times past unto Onias the high priest from Darius, who reigned then among you, to signify that ye are our brethren, as the copy here underwritten doth specify.
8
Καὶ ἐπεδέξατο Ὀνίας τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν ἀπεσταλμένον ἐνδόξως, καὶ ἔλαβε τὰς ἐπιστολάς ἐν αἷς διεσαφεῖτο περὶ συμμαχίας καὶ φιλίας.
At which time Onias entreated the ambassador that was sent honorably, and received the letters, wherein declaration was made of the league and friendship.
9
Καὶ ἡμεῖς οὖν ἀπροσδεεῖς τούτων ὄντες, παράκλησιν ἔχοντες τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια τὰ ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν ἡμῶν,
Therefore we also, albeit we need none of these things, for that we have the holy books of Scripture in our hands to comfort us,
10
ἐπειράθημεν ἀποστεῖλαι τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἀδελφότητα καὶ φιλίαν ἀνανεώσασθαι, πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἐξαλλοτριωθῆναι ὑμῶν· πολλοὶ γὰρ καιροὶ διῆλθον ἀφʼ οὗ ἀπεστείλατε πρὸς ἡμᾶς.
have nevertheless attempted to send unto you for the renewing of brotherhood and friendship, lest we should become strangers unto you altogether: for there is a long time passed since ye sent unto us.
11
Ἡμεῖς οὖν ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ ἀδιαλείπτως ἔν τε ταῖς ἑορταῖς καὶ ταῖς λοιπαῖς καθηκούσαις ἡμέραις μιμνησκόμεθα ὑμων, ἐφʼ ὧν προσφέρομεν θυσιῶν, καὶ ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς, ὡς δέον ἐστὶ καὶ πρέπον μνημονεύειν ἀδελφῶν.
We therefore at all times without ceasing, both in our feasts, and other convenient days, do remember you in the sacrifices which we offer, and in our prayers, as reason is, and as it becometh us to think upon our brethren:
12
Εὐφραινόμεθα δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ δόξῃ ὑμῶν.
and we are right glad of your honor.
13
Ἡμᾶς δὲ ἐκύκλωσαν πολλαὶ θλίψεις, καὶ πόλεμοι πολλοὶ, καὶ ἐπολέμησαν ἡμᾶς οἱ βασιλεῖς οἱ κύκλῳ ἡμῶν.
As for ourselves, we have had great troubles and wars on every side, forsomuch as the kings that are round about us have fought against us.
14
Καὶ οὐκ ἠβουλόμεθα οὖν παρενοχλεῖν ὑμῖν, καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς συμμάχοις, καὶ φίλοις ἡμῶν, ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις τούτοις.
Howbeit we would not be troublesome unto you, nor to others of our confederates and friends, in these wars:
15
Ἔχομεν γὰρ τὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ βοήθειαν βοηθοῦσαν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐῤῥύσθημεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἡμῶν, καὶ ἐταπεινώθησαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ ἡμῶν.
for we have help from heaven that succoreth us, so as we are delivered from our enemies, and our enemies are brought under foot.
16
Ἐπελέξαμεν οὖν Νουμήνιον Ἀντιόχου καὶ Ἀντίπατρον Ἰάσωνος, καὶ ἀπεστάλκαμεν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἀνενεώσασθαι τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς φιλίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν τὴν προτέραν.
For this cause we chose Numenius [the son] of Antiochus, and Antipater [the son] of Jason, and sent them unto the Romans, to renew the amity that we had with them, and the former league.
17
Ἐνετειλάμεθα οὖν αὐτοῖς καὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς πορευθῆναι, καὶ ἀσπάσασθαι ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἀποδοῦναι ὑμῖν τὰς παρʼ ἡμῶν ἐπιστολὰς περὶ τῆς ἀνανεώσεως καὶ τῆς ἀδελφότητος ἡμῶν.
We commanded them also to go unto you, and to salute you, and to deliver you our letters concerning the renewing of our brotherhood.
18
Καὶ νῦν καλῶς ποιήσετε ἀντιφωνήσαντες ἡμῖν πρὸς ταῦτα.
Wherefore now ye shall do well to give us an answer thereto.
19
Καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἀντίγραφον τῶν ἐπιστολῶν ὧν ἀπέστειλεν. Ὀνιάρης
And this is the copy of the letters which Onias sent.
20
βασιλεὺς Σπαρτιατῶν Ὀνίᾳ ἱερεῖ μεγάλῳ χαίρειν.
Arius king of the Lacedaemonians to Onias the high priest, greeting:
21
Εὑρέθη ἐν γραφῇ περί τε τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν καὶ Ἰουδαίων ὅτι εἰσὶν ἀδελφοὶ, καὶ ὅτι εἰσὶν ἐκ γένους Ἁβραάμ.
It is found in writing, that the Lacedaemonians and Jews are brethren, and that they are of the stock of Abraham:
22
Καὶ νῦν ἀφʼ οὗ ἔγνωμεν ταῦτα, καλῶς ποιήσετε γράφοντες ἡμῖν περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης ὑμῶν.
now therefore, since this is come to our knowledge, ye shall do well to write unto us of your prosperity.
23
Καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ ἁντιγράφομεν ὑμῖν, τὰ κτήνη ὑμῶν καὶ ἡ ὕπαρξις ὑμῶν ἡμῖν ἐστι, καὶ τὰ ἡμῶν ὑμῖν ἐστιν· ἐντελλόμεθα οὖν ὅπως ἀπαγγείλωσιν ὑμῖν κατὰ ταῦτα.
We do write back again to you, that your cattle and goods are ours, and ours are yours. We do command therefore [our ambassadors] to make report unto you on this wise.
24
Καὶ ἤκουσεν Ἰωνάθαν ὅτι ἐπέστρεψαν οἱ ἄρχοντες Δημητρίου μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς ὑπὲρ τὸ πρότερον τοῦ πολεμῆσαι πρὸς αὐτόν.
Now when Jonathan heard that Demetrius’ princes were come to fight against him with a greater host than afore,
25
Καὶ ἀπῇρεν ἐξ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ ἀπήντησεν αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν Ἀμαθῖτιν χώραν· οὐ γὰρ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἀνοχὴν ἐμβατεῦσαι εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτοῦ.
he removed from Jerusalem, and met them in the land of Hamath: for he gave them no respite to enter his country.
26
Καὶ ἀπέστειλε κατασκόπους εἰς τὴς παρεμβολὴν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀπέστρεψαν, καὶ ἀπήγγειλαν αὐτῷ, ὅτι οὕτω τάσσονται ἐπιπεσεῖν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς τὴν νύκτα.
He sent spies also unto their tents, who came again, and told him that they were appointed to come upon them in the night season.
27
Ὡς δὲ ἔδυ ὁ ἥλιος, ἐπέταζεν Ἰωνάθαν τοῖς παρʼ αὐτοῦ γρηγορεῖν, καὶ εἶναι ἐπὶ τοῖς ὅπλοις, καὶ ἑτοιμάζεσθαι εἰς πόλεμον διʼ ὅλης τῆς νυκτὸς, καὶ ἐξέβαλε προφύλακας κύκλῳ τῆς παρεμβολῆς.
Wherefore so soon as the sun was down, Jonathan commanded his men to watch, and to be in arms, that all the night long they might be ready to fight: also he sent forth sentinels round about the host.
28
Καὶ ἤκουσαν οἱ ὑπεναντίοι ὅτι ἡτοίμασται Ἰωνάθαν καὶ οἱ παρʼ αὐτοῦ εἰς πόλεμον, καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν καὶ ἔπτηξαν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀνέκαυσαν πυρὰς ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ αὐτῶν.
But when the adversaries heard that Jonathan and his men were ready for battle, they feared, and trembled in their hearts, and they kindled fires in their camp.
29
Ἰωνάθαν δὲ καὶ οἱ παρʼ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν ἕως πρωῒ, ἔβλεπον γὰρ τὰ φῶτα καιόμενα.
Howbeit Jonathan and his company knew it not till the morning: for they saw the lights burning.
30
Καὶ κατεδίωξεν Ἰωνάθαν ὀπίσω αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐ κατέλαβεν αὐτούς, διέβησαν γὰρ τὸν Ἐλεύθερον ποταμόν.
Then Jonathan pursued after them, but overtook them not: for they were gone over the river Eleutherus.
31
Καὶ ἐξέκλινεν Ἰωνάθαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἄραβας τοὺς καλουμένους Ζαβεδαίους, καὶ ἐπάταξεν αὐτούς, καὶ ἔλαβε τὰ σκῦλα αὐτῶν.
Wherefore Jonathan turned to the Arabians, who were called Zabadeans, and smote them, and took their spoils.
32
Καὶ ἀναζεύξας ἦλθεν εἰς Δαμασκόν, καὶ διώδευσεν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ χώρᾳ.
And removing thence, he came to Damascus, and so passed through all the country.
33
Καὶ Σίμων ἐξῆλθε, καὶ διώδευσεν ἕως Ἀσκάλωνος, καὶ τῶν πλησίων ὀχυρωμάτων, καὶ ἐξέκλινεν εἰς Ἰόππην, καὶ προκατελάβετο αὐτήν.
Simon also went forth, and passed through the country unto Ascalon, and the holds there adjoining, from whence he turned aside to Joppa, and won it.
34
Ἤκουσε γὰρ ὅτι βούλονται τὸ ὀχύρωμα παραδοῦναι τοῖς παρὰ Δημητρίου, καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῖ φρουρὰν, ὅπως φυλάσσωσιν αὐτήν.
For he had heard that they would deliver the hold unto them that took Demetrius’ part: wherefore he set a garrison there to keep it.
35
Καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν Ἰωνάθαν, καὶ ἐξεκκλησίασε τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους τοῦ λαοῦ, καὶ ἐβουλεύσατο μετʼ αὐτῶν τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι ὀξυρώματα ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ,
After this came Jonathan home again, and calling the elders of the people together, he consulted with them about building strongholds in Judea,
36
καὶ προσυψῶσαι τὰ τείχη Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ ὑψῶσαι ὕψος μέγα ἀναμέσον τῆς ἄκρας καὶ τῆς πόλεως, εἰς τὸ διαχωρίζειν αὐτὴν τῆς πόλεως, ἵνα ᾖ αὕτη κατὰ μόνας, ὅπως μήτε ἀγοράζωσι μήτε πωλῶσι.
and making the walls of Jerusalem higher, and raising a great mount between the tower and the city, for to separate it from the city, that so it might be alone, that men might neither sell nor buy in it.
37
Καὶ συνήχθησαν τοῦ οἰκοδομεῖν τὴν πόλιν, καὶ ἤγγισε τοῦ τείχους τοῦ χειμάῤῥου τοῦ ἐξ ἀπηλιώτου, καὶ ἐπεσκεύασαν τὸ καλούμενον Χαφεναθά.
Upon this they came together to build up the city, forasmuch as [part of] the wall toward the brook on the east side was fallen down, and they repaired that which was called Caphenatha.
38
καὶ Σίμων ᾠκοδόμησε τὴν Ἀδιδὰ ἐν τῇ Σεφήλᾳ, καὶ ὠχύρωσε θύρας καὶ μοχλούς.
Simon also set up Adida in Shephelah, and made it strong with gates and bars.
39
Καὶ ἐζήτησε Τρύφων βασιλεῦσαι τῆς Ἀσίας, καὶ περιθέσθαι τὸ διάδημα, καὶ ἐκτεῖναι χεῖρα ἐπὶ Ἀντίοχον τὸν βασιλέα.
Now Trypho went about to get the kingdom of Asia, and to kill Antiochus the king, that he might set the crown upon his own head.
40
Καὶ ἐφοβήθη μήποτε οὐκ ἐάσῃ αὐτὸν Ἰωνάθαν, καὶ μήποτε πολεμήσῃ πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐζήτει πόρον τοῦ συλλαβεῖν τὸν Ἰωνάθαν τοῦ ἀπολυσαι αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀπάρας ἦλθεν εἰς Βαιθσάν.
Howbeit he was afraid that Jonathan would not suffer him, and that he would fight against him; wherefore he sought a way how to take Jonathan, that he might kill him. So he removed, and came to Beth-shan.
41
Καὶ ἐξῆλθεν Ἰωνάθαν εἰς ἀπάντησιν αὐτῷ ἐν τεσσαράκοντα χιλιάσιν ἀνδρῶν ἐπιλελεγμέναις εἰς παράταξιν, καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς Βαιθσάν.
Then Jonathan went out to meet him with forty thousand men chosen for the battle, and came to Beth-shan.
42
Καὶ εἶδε Τρύφων ὅτι πάρεστιν Ἰωνάθαν μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς, καὶ ἐκτεῖναι χεῖρας ἐπʼ αὐτὸν εὐλαβήθη.
Now when Trypho saw that Jonathan came with so great a force, he durst not stretch his hand against him;
43
Καὶ ἐπεδέξατο αὐτὸν ἐνδόξως, καὶ συνέστησεν αὐτὸν πᾶσι τοῖς φίλοις αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ δόματα, καὶ ἐπέταξε ταῖς δυνάμεσιν αὐτοῦ ὑπακούειν αὐτῷ ὡς ἑαυτῷ.
but received him honorably, and commended him unto all his friends, and gave him gifts, and commanded his men of war to be as obedient unto him, as to himself.
44
Καὶ εἶπε τῷ Ἰωνάθαν, ἱνατί ἔκοψας πάντα τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον, πολέμου μὴ ἐνεστηκότος ἡμῖν;
Unto Jonathan also he said, Why hast thou put all this people to so great trouble, seeing there is no war between us?
45
Καὶ νῦν ἀπόστειλον αὐτοὺς εἰς τοὺς οἴκους αὐτῶν, ἐπίλεξαι δὲ σεαυτῷ ἄνδρας ὀλίγους οἵτινες ἔσονται μετὰ σοῦ, καὶ δεῦρο μετʼ ἐμοῦ εἰς Πτολεμαΐδα, καὶ παραδώσω σοι αὐτὴν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὀχυρώματα καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις τὰς λοιπὰς καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν χειρῶν, καὶ ἐπιστρέψας ἀπελεύσομαι, τούτου γὰρ χάριν πάρειμι.
Therefore send them now home again, and choose a few men to wait on thee, and come thou with me to Ptolemais, for I will give it thee, and the rest of the strongholds and forces, and all that have any charge: as for me, I will return and depart: for this is the cause of my coming.
46
Καὶ ἐμπιστεύσας αὐτῷ ἐποίησε καθὼς εἶπε, καὶ ἐξαπέστειλε τὰς δυνάμεις, καὶ ἀπῆλθον εἰς γῆν Ἰούδα.
So Jonathan believing him did as he bade him, and sent away his host, who went into the land of Judea.
47
Κατέλιπε δὲ μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ ἄνδρας τρισχιλίους, ὧν δισχιλίους ἀφῆκεν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ, χίλιοι δὲ συνῆλθον αὐτῷ.
And with himself he retained but three thousand men, of whom he sent two thousand into Galilee, and one thousand went with him.
48
Ὡς δὲ εἰσῆλθεν Ἰωνάθαν εἰς Πτολεμαΐδα, ἀπέκλεισαν οἱ Πτολεμαεῖς τὰς πύλας, καὶ συνέλαβον αὐτὸν, καὶ πάντας τοὺς εἰσελθόντας μετʼ αὐτοῦ ἀπέκτειναν ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ.
Now as soon as Jonathan entered into Ptolemais, they of Ptolemais shut the gates, and took him, and all them that came with him they slew with the sword.
49
Καὶ ἀπέστειλε Τρύφων δυνάμεις, καὶ ἵππον εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν, καὶ τὸ πεδίον τὸ μέγα, τοῦ ἀπολέσαι πάντας τοὺς παρὰ Ἰωνάθαν.
Then sent Trypho a host of footmen and horsemen into Galilee, and into the great plain, to destroy all Jonathan’s company.
50
Καὶ ἐπέγνωσαν ὅτι συνελήφθη Ἰωνάθαν καὶ ἀπόλωλε, καὶ οἱ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ παρεκάλεσαν ἑαυτοὺς, καὶ ἐπορεύοντο συνεστραμμένοι ἕτοιμοι εἰς πόλεμον.
But when they knew that Jonathan and they that were with him were taken and slain, they encouraged one another, and went close together, prepared to fight.
51
Καὶ ἴδον οἱ διώκοντες ὅτι περὶ ψυχῆς αὐτοῖς ἐστι, καὶ ἐπέστρεψαν.
They therefore that followed upon them, perceiving that they were ready to fight for their lives, turned back again.
52
Καὶ ἦλθον πάντες μετʼ εἰρήνης εἰς γῆν Ἰούδα, καὶ ἐπένθησαν τὸν Ἰωνάθαν, καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν σφόδρα, καὶ ἐπένθησε τᾶς Ἰσραὴλ πένθος μέγα.
Whereupon they all came into the land of Judea peaceably, and there they bewailed Jonathan, and them that were with him, and they were sore afraid; wherefore all Israel made great lamentation.
53
Καὶ ἐζήτησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὰ κύκλῳ αὐτῶν ἐκτρίψαι αὐτούς· εἶπαν γάρ, οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἄρχοντα καὶ βοηθοῦντα· νῦν οὖν πολεμήσωμεν αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐξάρωμεν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῶν.
Then all the heathen that were round about them sought to destroy them: for said they, They have no captain, nor any to help them: now therefore let us make war upon them, and take away their memorial from among men.

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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.

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 site, 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. Their placement was made for this site 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.

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