Textorah

II Samuel 11

1
וַיְהִי לִתְשׁוּבַת הַשָּׁנָה לְעֵת צֵאת הַמַּלְאֿכִים וַיִּשְׁלַח דָּוִד אֶת־יוֹאָב וְאֶת־עֲבָדָיו עִמּוֹ וְאֶת־כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּשְׁחִתוּ אֶת־בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן וַיָּצֻרוּ עַל־רַבָּה וְדָוִד יוֹשֵׁב בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם
And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem.
Καὶ ἐγένετο, ἐπιστρέψαντος τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ εἰς τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἐξοδίας τῶν βασιλέων, καὶ ἀπέστειλε Δαυὶδ τὸν Ἰωὰβ, καὶ τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν πάντα Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ διέφθειραν τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἀμμών· καὶ διεκάθισαν ἐπὶ Ῥαββάθ· καὶ Δαυὶδ ἐκάθισεν ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ.
And it came to pass when the time of the year for kings going out [to battle] had come round, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah: but David remained at Jerusalem.
2
וַיְהִי לְעֵת הָעֶרֶב וַיָּקָם דָּוִד מֵעַל מִשְׁכָּבוֹ וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ עַל־גַּג בֵּית־הַמֶּלֶךְ וַיַּרְא אִשָּׁה רֹחֶצֶת מֵעַל הַגָּג וְהָאִשָּׁה טוֹבַת מַרְאֶה מְאֹד
And it came to pass at eventide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
Καὶ ἐγένετο πρὸς ἑσπέραν, καὶ ἀνέστη Δαυὶδ ἀπὸ τῆς κοίτης αὐτοῦ, καὶ περιεπάτει ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ εἶδε γυναῖκα λουομένην ἀπὸ τοῦ δώματος, καὶ ἡ γυνὴ καλὴ τῷ εἴδει σφόδρα.
And it came to pass toward evening, that David arose off his couch, and walked on the roof of the king’s house, and saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3
וַיִּשְׁלַח דָּוִד וַיִּדְרֹשׁ לָאִשָּׁה וַיֹּאמֶר הֲלוֹא־זֹאת בַּת־שֶׁבַע בַּת־אֱלִיעָם אֵשֶׁת אוּרִיָּה הַחִתִּי
And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said: 'Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?'
Καὶ ἀπέστειλε Δαυὶδ, καὶ ἐζήτησε τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ εἶπεν, οὐχὶ αὕτη Βηρσαβεὲ θυγάτηρ Ἐλιὰβ γυνὴ Οὐρίου τοῦ Χετταίου;
And David sent and inquired about the woman: and [one] said, [Is] not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4
וַיִּשְׁלַח דָּוִד מַלְאָכִים וַיִּקָּחֶהָ וַתָּבוֹא אֵלָיו וַיִּשְׁכַּב עִמָּהּ וְהִיא מִתְקַדֶּשֶׁת מִטֻּמְאָתָהּ וַתָּשָׁב אֶל־בֵּיתָהּ
And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness; and she returned unto her house.
Καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Δαυὶδ ἀγγέλους, καὶ ἔλαβεν αὐτὴν, καὶ εἰσῆλθε πρὸς αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐκοιμήθη μετʼ αὐτῆς· καὶ αὕτη ἁγιαζομένη ἀπὸ ἀκαθαρσίας αὐτῆς, καὶ ἀπέστρεψεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς.
And David sent messengers, and took her, and went in to her, and he lay with her: and she was purified from her uncleanness, and returned to her house.
5
וַתַּהַר הָאִשָּׁה וַתִּשְׁלַח וַתַּגֵּד לְדָוִד וַתֹּאמֶר הָרָה אָנֹכִי
And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said: 'I am with child.'
Καὶ ἐν γαστρὶ ἔλαβεν ἡ γυνή· καὶ ἀποστείλασα ἀπήγγειλε τῷ Δαυὶδ, καὶ εἶπεν, ἐγώ εἰμι ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχω.
And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
6
וַיִּשְׁלַח דָּוִד אֶל־יוֹאָב שְׁלַח אֵלַי אֶת־אוּרִיָּה הַחִתִּי וַיִּשְׁלַח יוֹאָב אֶת־אוּרִיָּה אֶל־דָּוִד
And David sent to Joab,saying: 'Send me Uriah the Hittite.' And Joab sent Uriah to David.
Καὶ ἀπέστειλε Δαυὶδ πρὸς Ἰωὰβ, λέγων, ἀπόστειλον πρὸς μὲ τὸν Οὐρίαν τὸν Χετταῖον· καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Ἰωὰβ τὸν Οὐρίαν πρὸς Δαυίδ.
And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite; and Joab sent Uriah to David.
7
וַיָּבֹא אוּרִיָּה אֵלָיו וַיִּשְׁאַל דָּוִד לִשְׁלוֹם יוֹאָב וְלִשְׁלוֹם הָעָם וְלִשְׁלוֹם הַמִּלְחָמָה
And when Uriah was come unto him, David asked of him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered.
Καὶ παραγίνεται Οὐρίας καὶ εἰσῆλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐπηρώτησε Δαυὶδ εἰς εἰρήνην Ἰωὰβ, καὶ εἰς εἰρήνην τοῦ λαοῦ, καὶ εἰς εἰρήνην τοῦ πολέμου.
And Uriah arrived and went in to him, and David asked him how Joab was, and how the people were, and how the war went on.
8
וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד לְאוּרִיָּה רֵד לְבֵיתְךָ וּרְחַץ רַגְלֶיךָ וַיֵּצֵא אוּרִיָּה מִבֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ וַתֵּצֵא אַחֲרָיו מַשְׂאַת הַמֶּלֶךְ
And David said to Uriah: 'Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet.' And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of food from the king.
Καὶ εἶπε Δαυὶδ τῷ Οὐρίᾳ, Κατάβηθι εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου, καὶ νίψαι τοὺς πόδας σου· καὶ ἐξῆλθεν Οὐρίας ἐξ οἴκου τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ ἄρσις τοῦ βασιλέως.
And David said to Uriah, Go to thy house, and wash thy feet: and Uriah departed from the house of the king, and a portion [of meat] from the king followed him.
9
וַיִּשְׁכַּב אוּרִיָּה פֶּתַח בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ אֵת כָּל־עַבְדֵי אֲדֹנָיו וְלֹא יָרַד אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ
But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
Καὶ ἐκοιμήθη Οὐρίας παρὰ τῇ θύρᾳ τοῦ βασιλέως μετὰ τῶν δούλων τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐ κατέβη εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ.
And Uriah slept at the door of the king with the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10
וַיַּגִּדוּ לְדָוִד לֵאמֹר לֹא־יָרַד אוּרִיָּה אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל־אוּרִיָּה הֲלוֹא מִדֶּרֶךְ אַתָּה בָא מַדּוּעַ לֹא־יָרַדְתָּ אֶל־בֵּיתֶךָ
And when they had told David, saying: 'Uriah went not down unto his house', David said unto Uriah: 'Art thou not come from a journey? wherefore didst thou not go down unto thy house?'
Καὶ ἀνήγγειλαν τῷ Δαυὶδ, λέγοντες, ὅτι Οὐ κατέβη Οὐρίας εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ· καὶ εἶπε Δαυὶδ πρὸς Οὐρίαν, οὐχὶ ἐξ ὁδοῦ σὺ ἔρχῃ; τί ὅτι οὐ κατέβης εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου;
And they brought David word, saying, Uriah has not gone down to his house. And David said to Uriah, Art thou not come from a journey? why hast thou not gone down to thy house?
11
וַיֹּאמֶר אוּרִיָּה אֶל־דָּוִד הָאָרוֹן וְיִשְׂרָאֵל וִיהוּדָה יֹשְׁבִים בַּסֻּכּוֹת וַאדֹנִי יוֹאָב וְעַבְדֵי אֲדֹנִי עַל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה חֹנִים וַאֲנִי אָבוֹא אֶל־בֵּיתִי לֶאֱכֹל וְלִשְׁתּוֹת וְלִשְׁכַּב עִם־אִשְׁתִּי חַיֶּךָ וְחֵי נַפְשֶׁךָ אִם־אֶעֱשֶׂה אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה
And Uriah said unto David: 'The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.'
Καὶ εἶπεν Οὐρίας πρὸς Δαυὶδ, ἡ κιβωτὸς, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ Ἰούδας κατοικοῦσιν ἐν σκηναῖς, καὶ ὁ κύριός μου Ἰωὰβ, καὶ οἱ δοῦλοι τοῦ κυρίου μου ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τοῦ ἀγροῦ παρεμβάλλουσι, καὶ ἐγὼ εἰσελεύσομαι εἰς τὸν οἶκόν μου τοῦ φαγεῖν, καὶ πιεῖν, καὶ κοιμηθῆναι μετὰ τῆς γυναικός μου; πῶς; ζῇ ἡ ψυχή σου, εἰ ποιήσω τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο.
And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah dwell in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; and shall I go into my house to eat and drink, and lie with my wife? how [should I do this? as] thy soul lives, I will not do this thing.
12
וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל־אוּרִיָּה שֵׁב בָּזֶה גַּם־הַיּוֹם וּמָחָר אֲשַׁלְּחֶךָּ וַיֵּשֶׁב אוּרִיָּה בִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא וּמִמָּחֳרָת
And David said to Uriah: 'Tarry here to-day also, and to-morrow I will let thee depart.' So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
Καὶ εἶπε Δαυὶδ πρὸς Οὐρίαν, κάθισον ἐνταῦθα καί γε σήμερον, καὶ αὔριον ἐξαποστελῶ σε· καὶ ἐκάθισεν Οὐρίας ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ καὶ τῇ ἐπαύριον.
And David said to Uriah, Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will let thee go. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the day following.
13
וַיִּקְרָא־לוֹ דָוִד וַיֹּאכַל לְפָנָיו וַיֵּשְׁתְּ וַיְשַׁכְּרֵהוּ וַיֵּצֵא בָעֶרֶב לִשְׁכַּב בְּמִשְׁכָּבוֹ עִם־עַבְדֵי אֲדֹנָיו וְאֶל־בֵּיתוֹ לֹא יָרָד
And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk; and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
Καὶ ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸν Δαυὶδ, καὶ ἔφαγεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔπιε, καὶ ἐμέθυσεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἑσπέρας τοῦ κοιμηθῆναι ἐπὶ τῆς κοίτης αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν δούλων τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ οὐ κατέβη.
And David called him, and he ate before him and drank, and he made him drunk: and he went out in the evening to lie upon his bed with the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
14
וַיְהִי בַבֹּקֶר וַיִּכְתֹּב דָּוִד סֵפֶר אֶל־יוֹאָב וַיִּשְׁלַח בְּיַד אוּרִיָּה
And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
Καὶ ἐγένετο πρωῒ, καὶ ἔγραψε Δαυὶδ βιβλίον πρὸς Ἰωὰβ, καὶ ἀπέστειλεν ἐν χειρὶ Οὐρίου.
And the morning came, and David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15
וַיִּכְתֹּב בַּסֵּפֶר לֵאמֹר הָבוּ אֶת־אוּרִיָּה אֶל־מוּל פְּנֵי הַמִּלְחָמָה הַחֲזָקָה וְשַׁבְתֶּם מֵאַחֲרָיו וְנִכָּה וָמֵת
And he wrote in the letter, saying: 'Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.'
Καὶ ἔγραψεν ἐν βιβλίῳ, λέγων, εἰσάγαγε τὸν Οὐρίαν ἐξεναντίας τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ κραταιοῦ, καὶ ἀποστραφήσεσθε ἀπὸ ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ, καὶ πληγήσεται καὶ ἀποθανεῖται.
And he wrote in the letter, saying, Station Uriah in front of the severe [part] of the fight, and retreat from behind him, so shall he be wounded and die.
16
וַיְהִי בִּשְׁמוֹר יוֹאָב אֶל־הָעִיר וַיִּתֵּן אֶת־אוּרִיָּה אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יָדַע כִּי אַנְשֵׁי־חַיִל שָׁם
And it came to pass, when Joab kept watch upon the city, that he assigned Uriah unto the place where he knew that valiant men were.
Καὶ ἐγενήθη ἐν τῷ φυλάσσειν Ἰωὰβ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, καὶ ἔθηκε τὸν Οὐρίαν εἰς τὸν τόπον οὗ ᾔδει ὅτι ἄνδρες δυνάμεως ἐκεῖ.
And it came to pass while Joab was watching against the city, that he set Uriah in a place where he knew that valiant men were.
17
וַיֵּצְאוּ אַנְשֵׁי הָעִיר וַיִּלָּחֲמוּ אֶת־יוֹאָב וַיִּפֹּל מִן־הָעָם מֵעַבְדֵי דָוִד וַיָּמָת גַּם אוּרִיָּה הַחִתִּי
And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab; and there fell some of the people, even of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
Καὶ ἐξῆλθον οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἐπολέμουν μετὰ Ἰωάβ· καὶ ἔπεσαν ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ ἐκ τῶν δούλων Δαυὶδ, καὶ ἀπέθανε καί γε Οὐρίας ὁ Χετταῖος.
And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and some of the people of the servants of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite died also.
18
וַיִּשְׁלַח יוֹאָב וַיַּגֵּד לְדָוִד אֶת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵי הַמִּלְחָמָה
Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
Καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Ἰωὰβ, καὶ ἀπήγγειλε τῷ Δαυὶδ πάντας τοὺς λόγους τοῦ πολέμου λαλῆσαι πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα·
And Joab sent, and reported to David all the events of the war, so as to tell them to the king.
19
וַיְצַו אֶת־הַמַּלְאָךְ לֵאמֹר כְּכַלּוֹתְךָ אֵת כָּל־דִּבְרֵי הַמִּלְחָמָה לְדַבֵּר אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ
and he charged the messenger, saying: 'When thou hast made an end of telling all the things concerning the war unto the king,
καὶ ἐνετείλατο τῷ ἀγγέλῳ, λέγων, ἐν τῷ συντελέσαι πάντας τοὺς λόγους τοῦ πολέμου λαλῆσαι πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα,
And he charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast finished reporting all the events of the war to the king,
20
וְהָיָה אִם־תַּעֲלֶה חֲמַת הַמֶּלֶךְ וְאָמַר לְךָ מַדּוּעַ נִגַּשְׁתֶּם אֶל־הָעִיר לְהִלָּחֵם הֲלוֹא יְדַעְתֶּם אֵת אֲשֶׁר־יֹרוּ מֵעַל הַחוֹמָה
it shall be that, if the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee: Wherefore went ye so nigh unto the city to fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
καὶ ἔσται ἐὰν ἀναβῇ ὁ θυμὸς τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ εἴπῃ σοι, τί ὅτι ἠγγίσατε πρὸς τὴν πόλιν πολεμῆσαι; οὐκ ᾔδειτε ὅτι τοξεύσουσιν ἀπάνωθεν τοῦ τείχους;
then it shall come to pass if the anger of the king shall arise, and he shall say to thee, Why did ye draw nigh to the city to fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from off the wall?
21
מִי־הִכָּה אֶת־אֲבִימֶלֶךְ בֶּן־יְרֻבֶּשֶׁת הֲלוֹא־אִשָּׁה הִשְׁלִיכָה עָלָיו פֶּלַח רֶכֶב מֵעַל הַחוֹמָה וַיָּמָת בְּתֵבֵץ לָמָּה נִגַּשְׁתֶּם אֶל־הַחוֹמָה וְאָמַרְתָּ גַּם עַבְדְּךָ אוּרִיָּה הַחִתִּי מֵת
who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall, that he died at Thebez? why went ye so nigh the wall? then shalt thou say: Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'
Τίς ἐπάταξε τὸν Ἀβιμέλεχ υἱὸν Ἱεροβάαλ υἱοῦ Νήρ; οὐχὶ γυνὴ ἔῤῥιψε κλάσμα μύλου ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἀπὸ ἄνωθεν τοῦ τείχους, καὶ ἀπέθανεν ἐν Θαμασί; ἱνατί προσηγάγετε πρὸς τὸ τεῖχος; καὶ ἐρεῖς, καί γε ὁ δοῦλός σου Οὐρίας ὁ Χετταῖος ἀπέθανε.
Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal son of Ner? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from above the wall, and he died in Thebez? why did ye draw near to the wall? then thou shalt say, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.
22
וַיֵּלֶךְ הַמַּלְאָךְ וַיָּבֹא וַיַּגֵּד לְדָוִד אֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר שְׁלָחוֹ יוֹאָב
So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent him for.
Καὶ ἐπορεύθη ὁ ἄγγελος Ἰωὰβ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ παρεγένετο καὶ ἀπήγγειλε τῷ Δαυὶδ πάντα ὅσα ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτῷ Ἰωὰβ, πάντα τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ πολέμου· καὶ ἐθυμώθη Δαυὶδ πρὸς Ἰωὰβ, καὶ εἶπε πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον, ἱνατί προσηγάγετε πρὸς τὴν πόλιν τοῦ πολεμῆσαι; οὐκ ᾔδειτε ὅτι πληγήσεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους; τίς ἐπάταξε τὸν Ἀβιμέλεχ υἱὸν Ἱεροβάαλ; οὐχὶ γυνὴ ἔῤῥιψεν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν κλάσμα μύλου ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους, καὶ ἀπέθανεν ἐν Θαμασί; ἱνατί προσηγάγετε πρὸς τὸ τεῖχος;
And the messenger of Joab went to the king to Jerusalem, and he came and reported to David all that Joab told him, all the affairs of the war. And David was very angry with Joab, and said to the messenger, Why did ye draw nigh to the wall to fight? knew ye not that ye would be wounded from off the wall? Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal? did not a woman cast upon him a piece of millstone from the wall, and he died in Thebez? why did ye draw near to the wall?
23
וַיֹּאמֶר הַמַּלְאָךְ אֶל־דָּוִד כִּי־גָבְרוּ עָלֵינוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים וַיֵּצְאוּ אֵלֵינוּ הַשָּׂדֶה וַנִּהְיֶה עֲלֵיהֶם עַד־פֶּתַח הַשָּׁעַר
And the messenger said unto David: 'The men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entrance of the gate.
Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ἄγγελος πρὸς Δαυὶδ, ὅτι ἐκραταίωσαν ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς οἱ ἄνδρες, καὶ ἐξῆλθον ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς εἰς τὸν ἀγρὸν, καὶ ἐγενήθημεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἕως τῆς θύρας τῆς πύλης.
And the messenger said to David, The men prevailed against us, and they came out against us into the field, and we came upon them even to the door of the gate.
24
ויראו וַיֹּרוּ המוראים הַמּוֹרִים אֶל־עֲבָדֶךָ מֵעַל הַחוֹמָה וַיָּמוּתוּ מֵעַבְדֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְגַם עַבְדְּךָ אוּרִיָּה הַחִתִּי מֵת
And the shooters shot at thy servants from off the wall; and some of the king's servants are dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'
Καὶ ἐτόξευσαν οἱ τοξεύοντες πρὸς τοὺς παῖδάς σου ἀπάνωθεν τοῦ τείχους, καὶ ἀπέθανον τῶν παίδων τοῦ βασιλέως, καί γε ὁ δοῦλός σου Οὐρίας ὁ Χετταῖος ἀπέθανε.
And the archers shot at thy servants from off the wall, and some of the king’s servants died, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
25
וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל־הַמַּלְאָךְ כֹּה־תֹאמַר אֶל־יוֹאָב אַל־יֵרַע בְּעֵינֶיךָ אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה כִּי־כָזֹה וְכָזֶה תֹּאכַל הֶחָרֶב הַחֲזֵק מִלְחַמְתְּךָ אֶל־הָעִיר וְהָרְסָהּ וְחַזְּקֵהוּ
Then David said unto the messenger: 'Thus shalt thou say unto Joab: Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth in one manner or another; make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it; and encourage thou him.'
Καὶ εἶπε Δαυὶδ πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον, τάδε ἐρεῖς πρὸς Ἰωάβ, μὴ πονηρὸν ἔστω ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο, ὅτι ποτὲ μὲν οὕτως καὶ ποτὲ οὕτως φάγεται ἡ μάχαιρα· κραταίωσον τὸν πόλεμόν σου εἰν τὴν πόλιν, καὶ κατάσπασον αὐτὴν, καὶ κραταίωσον αὐτήν.
And David said to the messenger, Thus shalt thou say to Joab, Let not the matter be grievous in thine eyes, for the sword devours one way at one time and another way at another: strengthen thine array against the city, and destroy it, and strengthen him.
26
וַתִּשְׁמַע אֵשֶׁת אוּרִיָּה כִּי־מֵת אוּרִיָּה אִישָׁהּ וַתִּסְפֹּד עַל־בַּעְלָהּ
And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband.
Καὶ ἤκουσεν ἡ γυνὴ Οὐρίου ὅτι ἀπέθανεν Οὐρίας ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐκόψατο τὸν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς.
And the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, and she mourned for her husband.
27
וַיַּעֲבֹר הָאֵבֶל וַיִּשְׁלַח דָּוִד וַיַּאַסְפָהּ אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ וַתְּהִי־לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה וַתֵּלֶד לוֹ בֵּן וַיֵּרַע הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה דָוִד בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה
And when the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased HaShem.
Καὶ διῆλθε τὸ πένθος, καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Δαυὶδ, καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτὴν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐγενήθη αὐτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα, καὶ ἔτεκεν αὐτῷ υἱόν· καὶ πονηρὸν ἐφάνη τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ ἐποίησε Δαυὶδ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς Κυρίου.
And the time of mourning expired, and David sent and took her into his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son: but the thing which David did was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

How it works

A parallel reader for the Hebrew Bible and its oldest witnesses: the Masoretic text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint, each with an English translation where one is available.

Reading a chapter

Choose a book and chapter at the top, or type a reference into Go to (Isa 53:11, 1 Sam 3, sam 3:4, ii kgs 2, ben sira 51). Book names can be abbreviated; a name shared by numbered books (sam, kings, chr, macc) opens the first of them unless you add the number. The arrow keys move between chapters, and the address bar keeps a link to the verse you clicked, so you can bookmark or share a place.

Each row is one verse. Rows follow the Masoretic verse numbering, so the Hebrew, JPS and Samaritan columns line up exactly. The Septuagint is numbered differently in many places (Psalms, Jeremiah, Exodus 35–40, parts of Kings, Proverbs, Daniel, and dozens of chapter boundaries). Its verses are placed against their Masoretic counterparts, and a small tag such as 50:3 shows the Septuagint's own number when it differs. Greek verses that have no Masoretic counterpart (for example the Prayer of Azariah in Daniel 3) appear in reading order as separate rows marked LXX.

Columns

The chips at the top switch columns on and off. Drag a chip (or a column heading) to reorder; with a chip focused, the ← → keys move it. Your choice is remembered. The Samaritan columns appear only in Genesis–Deuteronomy; the scrolls column appears wherever a manuscript survives, including Ben Sira. Columns marked † are licensed for non-commercial use only.

Words: lexicon and concordance

Hover over any Hebrew word (Masoretic, Samaritan or scroll) or any Greek word to see its dictionary form, Strong's number, a short gloss and its grammar. Click the word to open the concordance on the right: the full lexicon entry, then every occurrence, grouped by book — for Hebrew, separately for the Masoretic text, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the scrolls (with the manuscript named). Click a reference to go there; every form of the word in the chapter is highlighted. You can also type a word or a Strong's number into Lexicon at the top.

In the Masoretic text, a Ketiv (the written form, unpointed) is shown in grey immediately before its Qere (the form read aloud); both carry the Qere's dictionary entry.

Variants

The Samaritan Pentateuch and every scroll are compared word by word with the Masoretic text of the same verse:

In the scrolls, letters in brackets are a modern editor's reconstruction and are never counted as variants; letters with a dotted overline are uncertain; ◦ is a trace of an unreadable letter. Manuscripts written in paleo-Hebrew script, and divine names that square-script scrolls write in paleo-Hebrew, are shown in paleo-Hebrew letters (switchable under Display). Hover a manuscript to see its edition. Display → Dead Sea Scrolls can hide the manuscripts that agree with the Masoretic text, or strip the reconstructions to show only what survives.

The comparison is automatic. It aligns words by spelling, so a transposition or a long rewritten passage can be marked imperfectly, and the spelling rule cannot tell a suffix from a vowel letter. Treat the colours as a finding aid and check a critical edition before building an argument on a reading.

Books outside the Hebrew Bible

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.

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.

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