Textorah

II Samuel 13

1
וַיְהִי א͏ַחֲרֵי־כֵן וּלְאַבְשָׁלוֹם בֶּן־דָּוִד אָחוֹת יָפָה וּשְׁמָהּ תָּמָר וַיֶּאֱהָבֶהָ אַמְנוֹן בֶּן־דָּוִד
And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her.
Καὶ ἐγενήθη μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ τῷ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ υἱῷ Δαυὶδ ἀδελφὴ καλὴ τῷ εἴδει σφόδρα, καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῇ Θημὰρ, καὶ ἠγάπησεν αὐτὴν Ἀμνὼν υἱὸς Δαυίδ.
And it happened after this that Absalom the son of David had a very beautiful sister, and her name [was] Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her.
2
וַיֵּצֶר לְאַמְנוֹן לְהִתְחַלּוֹת בַּעֲבוּר תָּמָר אֲחֹתוֹ כִּי בְתוּלָה הִיא וַיִּפָּלֵא בְּעֵינֵי אַמְנוֹן לַעֲשׂוֹת לָהּ מְאוּמָה
And Amnon was so distressed that he fell sick because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed hard to Amnon to do any thing unto her.
Καὶ ἐθλίβετο Ἀμνὼν ὥστε ἀῤῥωστεῖν διὰ Θημὰρ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτοῦ, ὅτι παρθένος ἦν αὕτη, καὶ ὑπέρογκον ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς Ἀμνὼν τοῦ ποιῆσαί τι αὐτῇ.
And Amnon was distressed even to sickness, because of Tamar his sister; for she was a virgin, and it seemed very difficult for Amnon to do anything to her.
3
וּלְאַמְנוֹן רֵעַ וּשְׁמוֹ יוֹנָדָב בֶּן־שִׁמְעָה אֲחִי דָוִד וְיוֹנָדָב אִישׁ חָכָם מְאֹד
But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man.
Καὶ ἦν τῷ Ἀμνὼν ἑταῖρος, καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωναδὰβ, υἱὸς Σαμαὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ Δαυίδ· καὶ Ἰωναδὰβ ἀνὴρ σοφὸς σφόδρα,
And Amnon had a friend, and his name [was] Jonadab, the son of Shimeah the brother of David: and Jonadab [was] a very cunning man.
4
וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ מַדּוּעַ אַתָּה כָּכָה דַּל בֶּן־הַמֶּלֶךְ בַּבֹּקֶר בַּבֹּקֶר הֲלוֹא תַּגִּיד לִי וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ אַמְנוֹן אֶת־תָּמָר אֲחוֹת אַבְשָׁלֹם אָחִי אֲנִי אֹהֵב
And he said unto him: 'Why, O son of the king, art thou thus becoming leaner from day to day? wilt thou not tell me?' And Amnon said unto him: 'I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.'
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, τί σοι ὅτι σὺ οὕτως ἀσθενὴς, υἱὲ τοῦ βασιλέως, τὸ πρωῒ πρωΐ; οὐκ ἀπαγγέλλεις μοι; καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Ἀμνὼν, Θημὰρ τὴν ἀδελφὴν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μου ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ.
And he said to him, What ails thee that thou art thus weak, O son of the king, morning by morning? wilt thou not tell me? and Amnon said, I love Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom.
5
וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ יְהוֹנָדָב שְׁכַב עַל־מִשְׁכָּבְךָ וְהִתְחָל וּבָא אָבִיךָ לִרְאוֹתֶךָ וְאָמַרְתָּ אֵלָיו תָּבֹא נָא תָמָר אֲחוֹתִי וְתַבְרֵנִי לֶחֶם וְעָשְׂתָה לְעֵינַי אֶת־הַבִּרְיָה לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֶרְאֶה וְאָכַלְתִּי מִיָּדָהּ
And Jonadab said unto him: 'Lay thee down on thy bed, and feign thyself sick; and when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him: Let my sister Tamar come, I pray thee, and give me bread to eat, and dress the food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand.'
Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Ἰωναδὰβ, κοιμήθητι ἐπὶ τῆς κοίτης σου καὶ μαλακίσθητι, καὶ εἰσελεύσεται ὁ πατήρ σου τοῦ ἰδεῖν σε, καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν, ἐλθέτω δὴ Θημὰρ ἡ ἀδελφή μου, καὶ ψωμισάτω με, καὶ ποιησάτω κατʼ ὀφθαλμούς μου βρῶμα, ὅπως ἴδω καὶ φάγω ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῆς.
And Jonadab said to him, Lie upon thy bed, and make thyself sick, and thy father shall come in to see thee; and thou shalt say to him, Let, I pray thee, Tamar my sister come, and feed me with morsels, and let her prepare food before my eyes, that I may see and eat at her hands.
6
וַיִּשְׁכַּב אַמְנוֹן וַיִּתְחָל וַיָּבֹא הַמֶּלֶךְ לִרְאֹתוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר אַמְנוֹן אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ תָּבוֹא־נָא תָּמָר אֲחֹתִי וּתְלַבֵּב לְעֵינַי שְׁתֵּי לְבִבוֹת וְאֶבְרֶה מִיָּדָהּ
So Amnon lay down, and feigned himself sick; and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king: 'Let my sister Tamar come, I pray thee, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand.'
Καὶ ἐκοιμήθη Ἀμνὼν καὶ ἠῤῥώστησε· καὶ εἰσῆλθεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἰδεῖν αὐτόν· καὶ εἶπεν Ἀμνὼν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, ἐλθέτω δὴ Θημὰρ ἡ ἀδελφή μου πρὸς μὲ, καὶ κολλυρισάτω ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς μου δύο κολλυρίδας, καὶ φάγομαι ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῆς.
So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick; and the king came in to see him: and Amnon said to the king, Let, I pray thee, my sister Tamar come to me, and make a couple of cakes in my sight, and I will eat them at her hand.
7
וַיִּשְׁלַח דָּוִד אֶל־תָּמָר הַבַּיְתָה לֵאמֹר לְכִי נָא בֵּית אַמְנוֹן אָחִיךְ וַעֲשִׂי־לוֹ הַבִּרְיָה
Then David sent home to Tamar, saying: 'Go now to thy brother Amnon's house, and dress him food.'
Καὶ ἀπέστειλε Δαυὶδ πρὸς Θημὰρ εἰς τὸν οἶκον, λέγων, πορεύθητι δὴ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, καὶ ποίησον αὐτῷ βρῶμα.
And David sent to Tamar to the house, saying, Go now to thy brother’s house, and dress him food.
8
וַתֵּלֶךְ תָּמָר בֵּית אַמְנוֹן אָחִיהָ וְהוּא שֹׁכֵב וַתִּקַּח אֶת־הַבָּצֵק ותלוש וַתָּלָשׁ וַתְּלַבֵּב לְעֵינָיו וַתְּבַשֵּׁל אֶת־הַלְּבִבוֹת
So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was lying down. And she took dough, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes.
Καὶ ἐπορεύθη Θημὰρ εἰς τὸν οἶκον Ἀμνὼν ἀδελφοῦ αὐτῆς, καὶ αὐτὸς κοιμώμενος· καὶ ἔλαβε τὸ σταῖς καὶ ἐφύρασε, καὶ ἐκολλύρισε κατʼ ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἥψησε τὰς κολλυρίδας.
And Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, and he [was] lying down: and she took the dough and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes.
9
וַתִּקַּח אֶת־הַמַּשְׂרֵת וַתִּצֹק לְפָנָיו וַיְמָאֵן לֶאֱכוֹל וַיֹּאמֶר אַמְנוֹן הוֹצִיאוּ כָל־אִישׁ מֵעָלַי וַיֵּצְאוּ כָל־אִישׁ מֵעָלָיו
And she took the pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. And Amnon said: 'Have out all men from me.' And they went out every man from him.
Καὶ ἔλαβε τὸ τήγανον καὶ κατεκένωσεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησε φαγεῖν· καὶ εἶπεν Ἀμνὼν, ἐξαγάγετε πάντα ἄνδρα ἐπάνωθέν μου· καὶ ἐξήγαγον πάντα ἄνδρα ἀπὸ ἐπάνωθεν αὐτοῦ.
And she took the frying pan and poured them out before him, but he would not eat. And Amnon said, Send out every man from about me. And they removed every man from about him.
10
וַיֹּאמֶר אַמְנוֹן אֶל־תָּמָר הָבִיאִי הַבִּרְיָה הַחֶדֶר וְאֶבְרֶה מִיָּדֵךְ וַתִּקַּח תָּמָר אֶת־הַלְּבִבוֹת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂתָה וַתָּבֵא לְאַמְנוֹן אָחִיהָ הֶחָדְרָה
And Amnon said unto Tamar: 'Bring the food into the chamber, that I may eat of thy hand.' And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother.
Καὶ εἶπεν Ἀμνὼν πρὸς Θημὰρ, εἰσένεγκε τὸ βρῶμα εἰς τὸ ταμιεῖον, καὶ φάγομαι ἐκ τῆς χειρός σου· καὶ ἔλαβε Θημὰρ τὰς κολλυρίδας ἃς ἐποίησε, καὶ εἰσήνεγκε τῷ Ἀμνὼν ἀδελφῷ αὐτῆς εἰς τὸν κοιτῶνα.
And Amnon said to Tamar, Bring in the food into the closet, and I will eat of thy hand. And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them to her brother Amnon into the chamber.
11
וַתַּגֵּשׁ אֵלָיו ל͏ֶאֱכֹל וַיַּחֲזֶק־בָּהּ וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ בּוֹאִי שִׁכְבִי עִמִּי אֲחוֹתִי
And when she had brought them near unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her: 'Come lie with me, my sister.'
Καὶ προσήγαγεν αὐτῷ τοῦ φαγεῖν, καὶ ἐπελάβετο αὐτῆς, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ, δεῦρο, κοιμήθητι μετʼ ἐμοῦ, ἀδελφή μου.
And she brought [them] to him to eat, and he caught hold of her, and said to her, Come, lie with me, my sister.
12
וַתֹּאמֶר לוֹ אַל־אָחִי אַל־תְּעַנֵּנִי כִּי לֹא־י͏ֵעָשֶׂה כֵן בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל אַל־תַּעֲשֵׂה אֶת־הַנְּבָלָה הַזֹּאת
And she answered him: 'Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel; do not thou this wanton deed.
Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, μὴ ἀδελφέ μου, μὴ ταπεινώσῃς με, διότι οὐ ποιηθήσεται οὕτως ἐν Ἰσραὴλ, μὴ ποιήσῃς τὴν ἀφροσύνην ταύτην.
And she said to him, Nay, my brother, do not humble me, for it ought not to be so done in Israel; do not this folly.
13
וַאֲנִי אָנָה אוֹלִיךְ אֶת־חֶרְפָּתִי וְאַתָּה תִּהְיֶה כְּאַחַד הַנְּבָלִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַתָּה דַּבֶּר־נָא אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ כִּי לֹא יִמְנָעֵנִי מִמֶּךָּ
And I, whither shall I carry my shame? and as for thee, thou wilt be as one of the base men in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee.'
Καὶ ἐγὼ ποῦ ἀποίσω τὸ ὄνειδός μου; καὶ σὺ ἔσῃ ὡς εἷς τῶν ἀφρόνων ἐν Ἰσραήλ· καὶ νῦν λάλησον δὴ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, ὅτι οὐ μὴ κωλύσῃ με ἀπὸ σοῦ.
And I, whither shall I remove my reproach? and thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. And now, speak, I pray thee, to the king, for surely he will not keep me from thee.
14
וְלֹא אָבָה לִשְׁמֹעַ בְּקוֹלָהּ וַיֶּחֱזַק מִמֶּנָּה וַיְעַנֶּהָ וַיִּשְׁכַּב אֹתָהּ
Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice; but being stronger than she, he forced her, and lay with her.
Καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησεν Ἀμνὼν τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι τῆς φωνῆς αὐτῆς· καὶ ἐκραταίωσεν ὑπὲρ αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐταπείνωσεν αὐτήν, καὶ ἐκοιμήθη μετʼ αὐτῆς.
But Amnon would not hearken to her voice; and he prevailed against her, and humbled her, and lay with her.
15
וַיִּשְׂנָאֶהָ אַמְנוֹן שִׂנְאָה גְּדוֹלָה מְאֹד כִּי גְדוֹלָה הַשִּׂנְאָה אֲשֶׁר שְׂנֵאָהּ מֵאַהֲבָה אֲשֶׁר אֲהֵבָהּ וַיֹּאמֶר־לָהּ אַמְנוֹן קוּמִי לֵכִי
Then Amnon hated her with exceeding great hatred; for the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her: 'Arise, be gone.'
Καὶ ἐμίσησεν αὐτὴν Ἀμνὼν μῖσος μέγα σφόδρα, ὅτι μέγα τὸ μῖσος ὃ ἐμίσησεν αὐτὴν μπὲρ τὴν ἀγάπην ἣν ἠγάπησεν αὐτὴν, ὅτι μείζων ἡ κακία ἡ ἐσχάτη ἢ ἡ πρώτη· καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ Ἀμνὼν, ἀνάστηθι, καὶ πορεύου.
Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her, for the last wickedness was greater than the first: and Amnon said to her, Rise, and begone.
16
וַתֹּאמֶר לוֹ אַל־אוֹדֹת הָרָעָה הַגְּדוֹלָה הַזֹּאת מֵאַחֶרֶת אֲשֶׁר־עָשִׂיתָ עִמִּי לְשַׁלְּחֵנִי וְלֹא אָבָה לִשְׁמֹעַ לָהּ
And she said unto him: 'Not so, because this great wrong in putting me forth is worse than the other that thou didst unto me.' But he would not hearken unto her.
Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Θημὰρ περὶ τῆς κακίας τῆς μεγάλης ταύτης ὑπὲρ ἑτέραν ἣν ἐποίησας μετʼ ἐμοῦ, τοῦ ἐξαποστεῖλαί με· καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλησεν Ἀμνὼν ἀκοῦσαι τῆς φωνῆς αὐτῆς.
And Tamar spoke to him concerning this great mischief, greater, [said she], than the other that thou didst me, to send me away: but Amnon would not hearken to her voice.
17
וַיִּקְרָא אֶת־נַעֲרוֹ מְשָׁרְתוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר שִׁלְחוּ־נָא אֶת־זֹאת מֵעָלַי הַחוּצָה וּנְעֹל הַדֶּלֶת אַחֲרֶיהָ
Then he called his servant that ministered unto him, and said: 'Put now this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her.'--
Καὶ ἐκάλεσε τὸ παιδάριον αὐτοῦ τὸν προεστηκότα τοῦ οἴκου, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, ἐξαποστείλατε δὴ ταύτην ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ ἔξω, καὶ ἀπόκλεισον τὴν θύραν ὀπίσω αὐτῆς.
And he called his servant who had charge of the house, and said to him, Put now this [woman] out from me, and shut the door after her.
18
וְעָלֶיהָ כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים כִּי כֵן תִּלְבַּשְׁןָ בְנוֹת־הַמֶּלֶךְ הַבְּתוּלֹת מְעִילִים וַיֹּצֵא אוֹתָהּ מְשָׁרְתוֹ הַחוּץ וְנָעַל הַדֶּלֶת אַחֲרֶיהָ
Now she had a garment of many colours upon her; for with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins apparelled. --And his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her.
Καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτῆς ἦν χιτὼν καρπωτὸς, ὅτι οὕτως ἐνεδιδύσκοντο αἱ θυγατέρες τοῦ βασιλέως αἱ παρθένοι τοὺς ἐπενδύτας αὐτῶν· καὶ ἐξήγαγεν αὐτὴν ὁ λειτουργὸς αὐτοῦ ἔξω, καὶ ἀπέκλεισε τὴν θύραν ὀπίσω αὐτῆς.
And she had on her a variegated robe, for so were the king’s daughters that were virgins attired in their apparel: and his servant led her forth, and shut the door after her.
19
וַתִּקַּח תָּמָר אֵפֶר עַל־רֹאשָׁהּ וּכְתֹנֶת הַפַּסִּים אֲשֶׁר עָלֶיהָ קָרָעָה וַתָּשֶׂם יָדָהּ עַל־רֹאשָׁהּ וַתֵּלֶךְ הָלוֹךְ וְזָעָקָה
And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of many colours that was on her; and she laid her hand on her head, and went her way, crying aloud as she went.
Καὶ ἔλαβε Θημὰρ σποδὸν, καὶ ἐπέθηκεν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς· καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν καρπωτὸν τὸν ἐπʼ αὐτῆς διέῤῥηξε· καὶ ἐπέθηκε τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐπορεύθη πορευομένη καὶ κράζουσα.
And Tamar took ashes, and put them on her head; and she rent the variegated garment that was upon her: and she laid her hands on her head, and went crying continually.
20
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ אַבְשָׁלוֹם אָחִיהָ הַאֲמִינוֹן אָחִיךְ הָיָה עִמָּךְ וְעַתָּה אֲחוֹתִי הַחֲרִישִׁי אָחִיךְ הוּא אַל־תָּשִׁיתִי אֶת־לִבֵּךְ לַדָּבָר הַזֶּה וַתֵּשֶׁב תָּמָר וְשֹׁמֵמָה בֵּית אַבְשָׁלוֹם אָחִיהָ
And Absalom her brother said unto her: 'Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? but now hold thy peace, my sister: he is thy brother; take not this thing to heart.' So Tamar remained desolate in her brother, Absalom's house.
Καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὴν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτῆς, μὴ Ἀμνὼν ὁ ἀδελφός σου ἐγένετο μετὰ σοῦ; καὶ νῦν ἀδελφή μου κώφευσον, ὅτι ἀδελφός σου ἐστί· μὴ θῇς τὴν καρδίαν σου τοῦ λαλῆσαι τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο· καὶ ἐκάθισε Θημὰρ χηρεύουσα ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτῆς.
And Absalom her brother said to her, Has thy brother Amnon been with thee? now then, my sister, be silent, for he is thy brother: be not careful to mention this matter. So Tamar dwelt as a widow in the house of her brother Absalom.
21
וְהַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד שָׁמַע אֵת כָּל־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וַיִּחַר לוֹ מְאֹד
But when king David heard of all these things, he was very wroth.
Καὶ ἤκουσεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Δαυὶδ πάντας τοὺς λόγους τούτους, καὶ ἐθυμώθη σφόδρα, καὶ οὐκ ἐλύπησε τὸ πνεῦμα Ἀμνὼν τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἠγάπα αὐτὸν, ὅτι πρωτότοκος αὐτοῦ ἦν.
And King David heard of all these things, and was very angry; but he did not grieve the spirit of his son Amnon, because he loved him, for he was his firstborn.
22
וְלֹא־דִבֶּר אַבְשָׁלוֹם עִם־אַמְנוֹן לְמֵרָע וְעַד־טוֹב כִּי־שָׂנֵא אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶת־אַמְנוֹן עַל־דְּבַר אֲשֶׁר עִנָּה אֵת תָּמָר אֲחֹתוֹ
And Absalom spoke unto Amnon neither good nor bad; for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.
Καὶ οὐκ ἐλάλησεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ μετὰ Ἀμνὼν ἀπὸ πονηροῦ ἕως ἀγαθοῦ, ὅτι ἐμίσει Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τὸν Ἀμνὼν ἐπὶ λόγου οὗ ἐταπείνωσε Θημὰρ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτοῦ.
And Absalom spoke not to Amnon, good or bad, because Absalom hated Amnon, on account of his humbling his sister Tamar.
23
וַיְהִי לִשְׁנָתַיִם יָמִים וַיִּהְיוּ גֹזְזִים לְאַבְשָׁלוֹם בְּבַעַל חָצוֹר אֲשֶׁר עִם־אֶפְרָיִם וַיִּקְרָא אַבְשָׁלוֹם לְכָל־בְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ
And it came to pass after two full years, that Absalom had sheep-shearers in Baal-hazor, which is beside Ephraim; and Absalom invited all the king's sons.
Καὶ ἐγένετο εἰς διετηρίδα ἡμερῶν, καὶ ἦσαν κείροντες τῷ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ἐν Βελασὼρ τῇ ἐχόμενα Ἐφραὶμ, καὶ ἐκάλεσεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ πάντας τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ βασιλέως.
And it came to pass at the end of two whole years, that they were shearing [sheep] for Absalom in Baal-hazor near Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.
24
וַיָּבֹא אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה־נָא גֹזְזִים לְעַבְדֶּךָ יֵלֶךְ־נָא הַמֶּלֶךְ וַעֲבָדָיו עִם־עַבְדֶּךָ
And Absalom came to the king, and said: 'Behold now, thy servant hath sheep-shearers; let the king, I pray thee, and his servants go with thy servant.'
Καὶ ἦλθεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ εἶπεν, ἰδοὺ δὴ κείρουσι τῷ δούλῳ σου, πορευθήτω δὴ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ μετὰ τοῦ δούλου σου.
And Absalom came to the king, and said, Behold, thy servant has a sheepshearing; let now the king and his servants go with thy servant.
25
וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל־אַבְשָׁלוֹם אַל־בְּנִי אַל־נָא נֵלֵךְ כֻּלָּנוּ וְלֹא נִכְבַּד עָלֶיךָ וַיִּפְרָץ־בּוֹ וְלֹא־אָבָה לָלֶכֶת וַיְבָרֲכֵהוּ
And the king said to Absalom: 'Nay, my son, let us not all go, lest we be burdensome unto thee.' And he pressed him; howbeit he would not go, but blessed him.
Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, μὴ δὴ υἱέ μου, μὴ πορεύθῶμεν πάντες ἡμεῖς, καὶ οὐ μὴ καταβαρυνθῶμεν ἐπὶ σέ· καὶ ἐβιάσατο αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησε τοῦ πορευθῆναι, καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτόν.
And the king said to Absalom, Nay, my son, let us not all go, and let us not be burdensome to thee. And he pressed him; but he would not go, but blessed him.
26
וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם וָלֹא יֵלֶךְ־נָא אִתָּנוּ אַמְנוֹן אָחִי וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ לָמָּה יֵלֵךְ עִמָּךְ
Then said Absalom: 'If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go with us.' And the king said unto him: 'Why should he go with thee?'
Καὶ εἶπεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ εἰ μή, πορευθήτω δὴ μεθʼ ἡμῶν Ἀμνὼν ὁ ἀδελφός μου· καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ βασιλεὺς, ἱνατί πορευθῇ μετὰ σοῦ;
And Absalom said to him, And if not, let, I pray thee, my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said to him, Why should he go with thee?
27
וַיִּפְרָץ־בּוֹ אַבְשָׁלוֹם וַיִּשְׁלַח אִתּוֹ אֶת־אַמְנוֹן וְאֵת כָּל־בְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ
But Absalom pressed him, and he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him.
Καὶ ἐβιάσατο αὐτὸν Ἀβεσσαλώμ, καὶ ἀπέστειλε μετʼ αὐτοῦ τὸν Ἀμνὼν καὶ πάντας τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ βασιλέως· καὶ ἐποίησεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ πότον κατὰ τὸν πότον τοῦ βασιλέως.
And Absalom pressed him, and he sent with him Amnon and all the king’s sons; and Absalom made a banquet like the banquet of the king.
28
וַיְצַו אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶת־נְעָרָיו לֵאמֹר רְאוּ נָא כְּטוֹב לֵב־אַמְנוֹן בַּיַּיִן וְאָמַרְתִּי אֲלֵיכֶם הַכּוּ אֶת־אַמְנוֹן וַהֲמִתֶּם אֹתוֹ אַל־תִּירָאוּ הֲלוֹא כִּי אָנֹכִי צִוִּיתִי אֶתְכֶם חִזְקוּ וִהְיוּ לִבְנֵי־חָיִל
And Absalom commanded his servants, saying: 'Mark ye now, when Amnon's heart is merry with wine; and when I say unto you: Smite Amnon, then kill him, fear not; have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.'
Καὶ ἐνετείλατο Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τοῖς παιδαρίοις αὐτοῦ, λέγων, ἴδετε ὡς ἂν ἀγαθυνθῇ ἡ καρδία Ἀμνὼν ἐν τῷ οἴνῳ, καὶ εἴπω πρὸς ὑμᾶς, πατάξατε τὸν Ἀμνὼν, καὶ θανατώσατε αὐτόν· μὴ φοβηθῆτε, ὅτι οὐχὶ ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐντελλόμενος ὑμῖν; ἀνδρίζεσθε καὶ γίνεσθε εἰς υἱοὺς δυνάμεως.
And Absalom charged his servants, saying, Mark when the heart of Amnon shall be merry with wine, and I shall say to you, Smite Amnon, and slay him: fear not; for is it not I that command you? Be courageous, and be valiant.
29
וַיַּעֲשׂוּ נַעֲרֵי אַבְשָׁלוֹם לְאַמְנוֹן כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אַבְשָׁלוֹם וַיָּקֻמוּ כָּל־בְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וַיִּרְכְּבוּ אִישׁ עַל־פִּרְדּוֹ וַיָּנֻסוּ
And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man got him up upon his mule, and fled.
Καὶ ἐποίησαν τὰ παιδάρια Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τῷ Ἀμνὼν, καθὰ ἐνετείλατο αὐτοῖς Ἀβεσσαλώμ· καὶ ἀνέστησαν πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ ἐπεκάθισαν ἀνὴρ ἐπὶ τὴν ἡμιονον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔφυγον.
And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom commanded them: and all the sons of the king rose up, and they mounted every man his mule, and fled.
30
וַיְהִי הֵמָּה בַדֶּרֶךְ וְהַשְּׁמֻעָה בָאָה אֶל־דָּוִד לֵאמֹר הִכָּה אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶת־כָּל־בְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְלֹא־נוֹתַר מֵהֶם אֶחָד
And it came to pass, while they were in the way, that the tidings came to David, saying: 'Absalom hath slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left.'
Καὶ ἐγένετο, αὐτῶν ὄντων ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, καὶ ἡ ἀκοὴ ἦλθε πρὸς Δαυὶδ, λέγων, ἐπάταξεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ πάντας τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ οὐ κατελείφθη ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐδὲ εἷς.
And it came to pass, when they were in the way, that a report came to David, saying, Absalom has slain all the king’s sons, and there is not one of them left.
31
וַיָּקָם הַמֶּלֶךְ וַיִּקְרַע אֶת־בְּגָדָיו וַיִּשְׁכַּב אָרְצָה וְכָל־עֲבָדָיו נִצָּבִים קְרֻעֵי בְגָדִים
Then the king arose, and rent his garments, and lay on the earth; and all his servants stood by with their clothes rent.
Καὶ ἀνέστη ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ διέῤῥηξε τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκοιμήθη ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ πάντες οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ οἱ περιεστῶτες αὐτῷ διέῤῥηξαν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν.
Then the king arose, and rent his garments, and lay upon the ground: and all his servants that were standing round him rent their garments.
32
וַיַּעַן יוֹנָדָב בֶּן־שִׁמְעָה אֲחִי־דָוִד וַיֹּאמֶר אַל־יֹאמַר אֲדֹנִי אֵת כָּל־הַנְּעָרִים בְּנֵי־הַמֶּלֶךְ הֵמִיתוּ כִּי־אַמְנוֹן לְבַדּוֹ מֵת כִּי־עַל־פִּי אַבְשָׁלוֹם הָיְתָה שׂוּמָה מִיּוֹם עַנֹּתוֹ אֵת תָּמָר אֲחֹתוֹ
And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother, answered and said: 'Let not my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead; for by the appointment of Absalom this hath been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar.
Καὶ ἀπεκρίθη Ἰωναδὰβ υἱὸς Σαμαὰ ἀδελφοῦ Δαυὶδ, καὶ εἶπε, μὴ εἰπάτω ὁ κύριός μου ὁ βασιλεὺς ὅτι πάντα τὰ παιδάρια τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐθανάτωσεν, ὅτι Ἀμνὼν μονώτατος ἀπέθανεν, ὅτι ἐπὶ στόματος Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ἦν κείμενος ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ἧς ἐταπείνωσε Θημὰρ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτοῦ.
And Jonadab the son of Shimeah brother of David, answered and said, Let not my lord the king say that he has slain all the young men the sons of the king, for Amnon only of them all is dead; for he was appointed [to death] by the mouth of Absalom from the day that he humbled his sister Tamar.
33
וְעַתָּה אַל־יָשֵׂם אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל־לִבּוֹ דָּבָר לֵאמֹר כָּל־בְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ מֵתוּ כִּי־אִם־אַמְנוֹן לְבַדּוֹ מֵת
Now therefore let not my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king's sons are dead; for Amnon only is dead.'
Καὶ νῦν μὴ θέσθω ὁ κύριός μου ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ ῥῆμα, λέγων, πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπέθανον· ὅτι ἀλλʼ ἢ Ἀμνὼν μονώτατος ἀπέθανε.
And now let not my lord the king take the matter to heart, saying, All the king’s sons are dead: for Amnon only of them all is dead.
34
וַיִּבְרַח אַבְשָׁלוֹם וַיִּשָּׂא הַנַּעַר הַצֹּפֶה אֶת־עינו עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה עַם־רַב הֹלְכִים מִדֶּרֶךְ אַחֲרָיו מִצַּד הָהָר
But Absalom fled. And the young man that kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came much people in a roundabout way by the hill-side.
Καὶ ἀπέδρα Ἀβεσσαλώμ. Καὶ ᾖρε τὸ παιδάριον ὁ σκοπὸς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶδε· καὶ ἰδοὺ λαὸς πολὺς πορευόμενος ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ ἐκ πλευρᾶς τοῦ ὄρους ἐν τῇ καταβάσει· καὶ παρεγένετο ὁ σκοπὸς καὶ ἀπήγγειλε τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ εἶπεν, ἄνδρας ἑώρακα ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ τὴς Ὠρωνῆν ἐκ μέρους τοῦ ὄρους.
And Absalom escaped: and the young man the watchman lifted up his eyes, and looked; and, behold, much people went in the way behind him from the side of the mountain in the descent: and the watchman came and told the king, and said, I have seen men by the way of Horonaim, by the side of the mountain.
35
וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹנָדָב אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ הִנֵּה בְנֵי־הַמֶּלֶךְ בָּאוּ כִּדְבַר עַבְדְּךָ כֵּן הָיָה
And Jonadab said unto the king: 'Behold, the king's sons are come; as thy servant said, so it is.'
Καὶ εἶπεν Ἰωναδὰβ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, ἰδοὺ οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ βασιλέως πάρεισι· κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ δούλου σου, οὕτως ἐγένετο.
And Jonadab said to the king, Behold, the king’s sons are present: according to the word of thy servant, so has it happened.
36
וַיְהִי כְּכַלֹּתוֹ לְדַבֵּר וְהִנֵּה בְנֵי־הַמֶּלֶךְ בָּאוּ וַיִּשְׂאוּ קוֹלָם וַיִּבְכּוּ וְגַם־הַמֶּלֶךְ וְכָל־עֲבָדָיו בָּכוּ בְּכִי גָּדוֹל מְאֹד
And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of speaking, that, behold, the king's sons came, and lifted up their voice, and wept; and the king also and all his servants wept very sore.
Καὶ ἐγένετο ἡνίκα συνετέλεσε λαλῶν, καὶ ἰδοὺ οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ βασιλέως ἦλθον, καὶ ἐπῇραν τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῶν καὶ ἔκλαυσαν· καί γε ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ πάντες οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ἔκλαυσαν κλαυθμὸν μέγαν σφόδρα.
And it came to pass when he had finished speaking, that, behold, the king’s sons came, and lifted up their voices and wept: and the king also and all his servants wept with a very great weeping.
37
וְאַבְשָׁלוֹם בָּרַח וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶל־תַּלְמַי בֶּן־עמיחור עַמִּיהוּד מֶלֶךְ גְּשׁוּר וַיִּתְאַבֵּל עַל־בְּנוֹ כָּל־הַיָּמִים
But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day.
Καὶ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ἔφυγε, καὶ ἐπορεύθη, πρὸς Θολμὶ υἱὸν Ἐμιοὺδ βασιλέα Γεδσοὺρ εἰς γῆν Χαμααχάδ· καὶ ἐπένθησεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Δαυὶδ ἐπὶ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας.
But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai son of Ammihud king of Geshur to the land of Chamaachad: and King David mourned for his son continually.
38
וְאַבְשָׁלוֹם בָּרַח וַיֵּלֶךְ גְּשׁוּר וַיְהִי־שָׁם שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים
So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three years.
Καὶ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ἀπέδρα, καὶ ἐπορεύθη εἰς Γεδσοὺρ, καὶ ἦν ἐκεῖ ἔτη τρία.
So Absalom fled, and departed to Geshur, and was there three years.
39
וַתְּכַל דָּוִד הַמֶּלֶךְ לָצֵאת אֶל־אַבְשָׁלוֹם כִּי־נִחַם עַל־אַמְנוֹן כִּי־מֵת
And the soul of king David failed with longing for Absalom; for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
Καὶ ἐκόπασεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Δαυὶδ τοῦ ἐξελθεῖν πρὸς Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, ὅτι παρεκλήθη ἐπὶ Ἀμνὼν, ὅτι ἀπέθανε.
And King David ceased to go out after Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon, touching his death.

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.