Textorah

II Samuel 17

1
וַיֹּאמֶר אֲחִיתֹפֶל אֶל־אַבְשָׁלֹם אֶבְחֲרָה נָּא שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר אֶלֶף אִישׁ וְאָקוּמָה וְאֶרְדְּפָה אַחֲרֵי־דָוִד הַלָּיְלָה
Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom: 'Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night;
Καὶ εἶπεν Ἀχιτόφελ πρὸς Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, ἐπιλέξω δὴ ἐμαυτῷ δώδεκα χιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν, καὶ ἀναστήσομαι καὶ καταδιώξω ὀπίσω Δαυὶδ τὴν νύκτα.
And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me now choose out for myself twelve thousand men, and I will arise and follow after David this night:
2
וְאָבוֹא עָלָיו וְהוּא יָגֵעַ וּרְפֵה יָדַיִם וְהַחֲרַדְתִּי אֹתוֹ וְנָס כָּל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר־אִתּוֹ וְהִכֵּיתִי אֶת־הַמֶּלֶךְ לְבַדּוֹ
and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only;
Καὶ ἐπελεύσομαι ἐπʼ αὐτὸν, καὶ αὐτὸς κοπιῶν καὶ ἐκλελυμένος χερσὶ, καὶ ἐκστήσω αὐτὸν, καὶ φεύξεται πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ὁ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πατάξω τὸν βασιλέα μονώτατον·
and I will come upon him when he [is] weary and weakhanded, and I will strike him with terror; and all the people with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only of all.
3
וְאָשִׁיבָה כָל־הָעָם אֵלֶיךָ כְּשׁוּב הַכֹּל הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה מְבַקֵּשׁ כָּל־הָעָם יִהְיֶה שָׁלוֹם
and I will bring back all the people unto thee; when all shall have returned, save the man whom thou seekest, all the people will be in peace.'
Καὶ ἐπιστρέψω πάντα τὸν λαὸν πρὸς σὲ, ὃν τρόπον ἐπιστρέφει ἡ νύμφη πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς· πλὴν ψυχὴν ἀνδρὸς ἑνὸς σὺ ζητεῖς, καὶ παντὶ τῷ λαῷ ἔσται εἰρήνη.
And I will bring back all the people to thee, as a bride returns to her husband: only thou seekest the life of one man, and all the people shall have peace.
4
וַיִּישַׁר הַדָּבָר בְּעֵינֵי אַבְשָׁלֹם וּבְעֵינֵי כָּל־זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.
Καὶ εὐθὺς ὁ λόγος ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, καὶ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς πάντων τῶν πρεσβυτέρων Ἰσραήλ.
And the saying [was] right in the eyes of Absalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.
5
וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם קְרָא נָא גַּם לְחוּשַׁי הָאַרְכִּי וְנִשְׁמְעָה מַה־בְּפִיו גַּם־הוּא
Then said Absalom: 'Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.'
Καὶ εἶπεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, καλέσατε δὴ καί γε τὸν Χουσὶ τὸν Ἀραχὶ, καὶ ἀκούσωμεν τί ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ, καί γε αὐτοῦ.
And Absalom said, Call now also Hushai the Archite, and let us hear what [is] in his mouth, even in his also.
6
וַיָּבֹא חוּשַׁי אֶל־אַבְשָׁלוֹם וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֵלָיו לֵאמֹר כַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה דִּבֶּר אֲחִיתֹפֶל הֲנַעֲשֶׂה אֶת־דְּבָרוֹ אִם־אַיִן אַתָּה דַבֵּר
And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spoke unto him, saying: 'Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner; shall we do after his saying? if not, speak thou.'
Καὶ εἰσῆλθε Χουσὶ πρὸς Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, καὶ εἶπεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ πρὸς αὐτὸν, λέγων, κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο ἐλάλησεν Ἀχιτόφελ· ποιήσομεν κατὰ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ; εἰ δὲ μὴ, σὺ λάλησον.
And Hushai went in to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him, saying, After this manner spoke Ahithophel: shall we do according to his word? but if not, do thou speak.
7
וַיֹּאמֶר חוּשַׁי אֶל־אַבְשָׁלוֹם לֹא־טוֹבָה הָעֵצָה אֲשֶׁר־יָעַץ אֲחִיתֹפֶל בַּפַּעַם הַזֹּאת
And Hushai said unto Absalom: 'The counsel that Ahithophel hath given this time is not good.'
Καὶ εἶπε Χουσὶ πρὸς Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, οὐκ ἀγαθὴ αὕτη ἡ βουλὴ ἣν ἐβουλεύσατο Ἀχιτόφελ τὸ ἅπαξ τοῦτο.
And Hushai said to Absalom, This counsel which Ahithophel has counseled this one time [is] not good.
8
וַיֹּאמֶר חוּשַׁי אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ אֶת־אָבִיךָ וְאֶת־אֲנָשָׁיו כִּי גִבֹּרִים הֵמָּה וּמָרֵי נֶפֶשׁ הֵמָּה כְּדֹב שַׁכּוּל בַּשָּׂדֶה וְאָבִיךָ אִישׁ מִלְחָמָה וְלֹא יָלִין אֶת־הָעָם
Hushai said moreover: 'Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are embittered in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field; and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.
Καὶ εἶπε Χουσὶ, σὺ οἶδας τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας αὐτοῦ, ὅτι δυνατοί εἰσι σφόδρα καὶ κατάπικροι τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτῶν, ὡς ἄρκος ἠτεκνωμένη ἐν ἀγρῷ, καὶ ὡς ὗς τραχεῖα ἐν τῇ πεδίῳ· ὁ πατήρ σου ἀνὴρ πολεμιστὴς, καὶ οὐ μὴ καταλύσῃ τὸν λαόν.
And Hushai said, Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are very mighty, and bitter in their spirit, as a bereaved bear in the field, and as a wild boar in the plain: and thy father [is] a man of war, and will not give the people rest.
9
הִנֵּה עַתָּה הוּא־נֶחְבָּא בְּאַחַת הַפְּחָתִים אוֹ בְּאַחַד הַמְּקוֹמֹת וְהָיָה כִּנְפֹל בָּהֶם בַּתְּחִלָּה וְשָׁמַע הַשֹּׁמֵעַ וְאָמַר הָיְתָה מַגֵּפָה בָּעָם אֲשֶׁר אַחֲרֵי אַבְשָׁלֹם
Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some place; and it will come to pass, when they fall upon them at the first, and whosoever heareth it shall say: There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom;
Ἰδοὺ γὰρ αὐτὸς νῦν κέκρυπται ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν βουνῶν ἢ ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν τόπων· καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ ἐπιπεσεῖν αὐτοῖς ἐν ἀρχῇ, καὶ ἀκούσῃ ἀκούων, καὶ εἴπῃ, ἐγενήθη θραῦσις ἐν τῷ λαῷ τῷ ὀπίσω Ἀβεσσαλώμ·
For, behold, he is now hidden in one of the hills or in some [other] place: and it shall come to pass when he falls upon them at the beginning, that [someone] will certainly hear, and say, There has been a slaughter among the people that follow after Absalom.
10
וְהוּא גַם־בֶּן־חַיִל אֲשֶׁר לִבּוֹ כְּלֵב הָאַרְיֵה הִמֵּס יִמָּס כִּי־יֹדֵעַ כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי־גִבּוֹר אָבִיךָ וּבְנֵי־חַיִל אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ
then even he that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they that are with him are valiant men.
Καί γε αὐτὸς υἱὸς δυνάμεως, οὗ ἡ καρδία καθὼς ἡ καρδία τοῦ λέοντος, τηκομένη τακήσεται· ὅτι· οἶδε πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ, ὅτι δυνατὸς ὁ πατήρ σου, καὶ υἱοὶ δυνάμεως οἱ μετʼ αὐτοῦ.
Then even he [that is] strong, whose heart is as the heart of a lion—it shall utterly melt: for all Israel knows that thy father [is] mighty, and they that are with him [are] mighty men.
11
כִּי יָעַצְתִּי הֵאָסֹף יֵאָסֵף עָלֶיךָ כָל־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִדָּן וְעַד־בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע כַּחוֹל אֲשֶׁר־עַל־הַיָּם לָרֹב וּפָנֶיךָ הֹלְכִים בַּקְרָב
But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.
Ὅτι οὕτως συμβουλεύων ἐγὼ συνεβούλευσα, καὶ συναγόμενος συναχθήσεται ἐπὶ σὲ πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ Δὰν καὶ ἕως Βηρσαβεὲ, ὡς ἡ ἄμμος ἡ ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης εἰς πλῆθος· καὶ τὸ πρόσωπόν σου πορευόμενον ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν.
For thus I have surely given counsel, that all Israel be generally gathered to thee from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is upon the seashore for multitude: and that thy presence go in the midst of them.
12
וּבָאנוּ אֵלָיו באחת בְּאַחַד הַמְּקוֹמֹת אֲשֶׁר נִמְצָא שָׁם וְנַחְנוּ עָלָיו כַּאֲשֶׁר יִפֹּל הַטַּל עַל־הָאֲדָמָה וְלֹא־נוֹתַר בּוֹ וּבְכָל־הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר־אִתּוֹ גַּם־אֶחָד
So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground; and of him and of all the men that are with him we will not leave so much as one.
Καὶ ἥξομεν πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς ἕνα τῶν τόπων οὗ ἐὰν εὕρωμεν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖ, καὶ παρεμβαλοῦμεν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν, ὡς πίπτει δρόσος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ οὐχ ὑπολειψόμεθα ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἀνδράσιν αὐτοῦ τοῖς μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καί γε ἕνα.
And we will come upon him in one of the places where we shall find him, and we will encamp against him, as the dew falls upon the earth; and we will not leave of him and of his men so much as one.
13
וְאִם־אֶל־עִיר יֵאָסֵף וְהִשִּׂיאוּ כָל־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־הָעִיר הַהִיא חֲבָלִים וְסָחַבְנוּ אֹתוֹ עַד־הַנַּחַל עַד אֲשֶׁר־לֹא־נִמְצָא שָׁם גַּם־צְרוֹר
Moreover, if he withdraw himself into a city, then shall all Israel bring up ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the valley until there be not one small stone found there.'
Καὶ ἐὰν εἰς τὴν πόλιν συναχθῇ, καὶ λήψεται πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἐκείνην σχοινία, καὶ συροῦμεν αὐτὴν ἕως εἰς τὸν χειμάῤῥουν, ὅπως μὴ καταλειφθῇ ἐκεῖ μηδὲ λίθος.
And if he shall have taken refuge with his army in a city, then shall all Israel take ropes to that city, and we will draw it even into the river, that there may not be left there even a stone.
14
וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם וְכָל־אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל טוֹבָה עֲצַת חוּשַׁי הָאַרְכִּי מֵעֲצַת אֲחִיתֹפֶל וַיהוָה צִוָּה לְהָפֵר אֶת־עֲצַת אֲחִיתֹפֶל הַטּוֹבָה לְבַעֲבוּר הָבִיא יְהוָה אֶל־אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶת־הָרָעָה
And Absalom and all the men of Israel said: 'The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.' --For HaShem had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that HaShem might bring evil upon Absalom.
Καὶ εἶπεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, καὶ πᾶς ἀνὴρ Ἰσραὴλ, ἀγαθὴ ἡ βουλὴ Χουσὶ τοῦ Ἀραχὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν βουλὴν Ἀχιτόφελ· καὶ Κύριος ἐνετείλατο διασκεδάσαι τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ Ἀχιτόφελ τὴν ἀγαθὴν, ὅπως ἂν ἐπαγάγῃ Κύριος ἐπὶ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τὰ κακὰ πάντα.
And Absalom, and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite [is] better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord ordained to disconcert the good counsel of Ahithophel, that the Lord might bring all evil upon Absalom.
15
וַיֹּאמֶר חוּשַׁי אֶל־צָדוֹק וְאֶל־אֶבְיָתָר הַכֹּהֲנִים כָּזֹאת וְכָזֹאת יָעַץ אֲחִיתֹפֶל אֶת־אַבְשָׁלֹם וְאֵת זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְכָזֹאת וְכָזֹאת יָעַצְתִּי אָנִי
Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests: 'Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled.
Καὶ εἶπε Χουσὶ ὁ τοῦ Ἀραχὶ πρὸς Σαδὼκ καὶ Ἀβιάθαρ τοὺς ἱερεῖς, οὕτως καὶ οὕτως συνεβούλευσεν Ἀχιτόφελ τῷ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ καὶ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις Ἰσραήλ· καὶ οὕτως καὶ οὕτως συνεβούλευσα ἐγώ.
And Hushai the Archite said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled.
16
וְעַתָּה שִׁלְחוּ מְהֵרָה וְהַגִּידוּ לְדָוִד לֵאמֹר אַל־תָּלֶן הַלַּיְלָה בְּעַרְבוֹת הַמִּדְבָּר וְגַם עָבוֹר תַּעֲבוֹר פֶּן יְבֻלַּע לַמֶּלֶךְ וּלְכָל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ
Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying: Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but in any wise pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.'
Καὶ νῦν ἀποστείλατε ταχὺ καὶ ἀναγγείλατε τῷ Δαυὶδ, λέγοντες, μὴ αὐλισθῇς τὴν νύκτα ἐν Ἀραβὼθ τῆς ἐρήμου, καί γε διαβαίνων σπεῦσον, μήποτε καταπείσῃ τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ πάντα τὸν λαὸν τὸν μετʼ αὐτοῦ.
And now send quickly and report to David, saying, Lodge not this night in Araboth of the wilderness: even go and make haste, lest [one] swallow up the king, and all the people with him.
17
וִיהוֹנָתָן וַאֲחִימַעַץ עֹמְדִים בְּעֵין־רֹגֵל וְהָלְכָה הַשִּׁפְחָה וְהִגִּידָה לָהֶם וְהֵם יֵלְכוּ וְהִגִּידוּ לַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד כִּי לֹא יוּכְלוּ לְהֵרָאוֹת לָבוֹא הָעִירָה
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; and a maid-servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David; for they might not be seen to come into the city.
Καὶ Ἰωνάθαν καὶ Ἀχιμάας εἱστήκεισαν ἐν τῇ πηγῇ Ῥωγὴλ, καὶ ἐπορεύθη ἡ παιδίσκη, καὶ ἀνήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς, καὶ αὐτοὶ πορεύονται καὶ ἀναγγέλλουσι τῷ βασιλεῖ Δαυίδ· ὅτι οὐκ ἠδύναντο ὀφθῆναι τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν τἰς τὴν πόλιν.
And Jonathan and Ahimaaz stood by the well of Rogel, and a maidservant went and reported to them, and they go and tell King David; for they might not be seen to enter into the city.
18
וַיַּרְא אֹתָם נַעַר וַיַּגֵּד לְאַבְשָׁלֹם וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם מְהֵרָה וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶל־בֵּית־אִישׁ בְּבַחוּרִים וְלוֹ בְאֵר בַּחֲצֵרוֹ וַיֵּרְדוּ שָׁם
But a lad saw them, and told Absalom; and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down thither.
Καὶ εἶδεν αὐτοὺς παιδάριον, καὶ ἀνήγγειλε τῷ Ἀβεσσαλώμ· καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν οἱ δύο ταχέως, καὶ εἰσῆλθαν εἰς οἰκίαν ἀνδρὸς ἐν Βαουρίμ· καὶ αὐτῷ λάκκος ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ, καὶ κατέβησαν ἐκεῖ.
But a young man saw them and told Absalom: and the two went quickly, and entered into the house of a man in Bahurim; and he had a well in his court, and they went down into it.
19
וַתִּקַּח הָאִשָּׁה וַתִּפְרֹשׂ אֶת־הַמָּסָךְ עַל־פְּנֵי הַבְּאֵר וַתִּשְׁטַח עָלָיו הָרִפוֹת וְלֹא נוֹדַע דָּבָר
And the woman took and spread the covering over the well's mouth, and strewed groats thereon; and nothing was known.
Καὶ ἔλαβεν ἡ γυνὴ, καὶ διεπέτασε τὸ ἐπικάλυμμα ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τοῦ λάκκου, καὶ ἔψυξεν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ ἀραφὼθ, καὶ οὐκ ἐγνώσθη ῥῆμα.
And a woman took a covering, and spread it over the mouth of the well, and spread out ground corn upon it to dry, and the thing was not known.
20
וַיָּבֹאוּ עַבְדֵי אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה הַבַּיְתָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ אַיֵּה אֲחִימַעַץ וִיהוֹנָתָן וַתֹּאמֶר לָהֶם הָאִשָּׁה עָבְרוּ מִיכַל הַמָּיִם וַיְבַקְשׁוּ וְלֹא מָצָאוּ וַיָּשֻׁבוּ יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם
And Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house; and they said: 'Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?' And the woman said unto them: 'They are gone over the brook of water.' And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
Καὶ ἦλθον οἱ παῖδες Ἀβεσσαλὼμ πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, καὶ εἶπαν, ποῦ Ἀχιμάας καὶ Ἰωνάθαν; καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ἡ γυνὴ, παρῆλθαν μικρὸν το ὕδατος· καὶ ἐζήτησαν, καὶ οὐχ εὗραν, καὶ ἀνέστρεψαν εἰς Ἰερουσαλήμ.
And the servants of Absalom came to the woman into the house, and said, Where [are] Ahimaaz and Jonathan? and the woman said to them, They are gone a little way beyond the water. And they sought and found them not, and returned to Jerusalem.
21
וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי לֶכְתָּם ו͏ַיַּעֲלוּ מֵהַבְּאֵר וַיֵּלְכוּ וַיַּגִּדוּ לַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֶל־דָּוִד קוּמוּ וְעִבְרוּ מְהֵרָה אֶת־הַמַּיִם כִּי־כָכָה יָעַץ עֲלֵיכֶם אֲחִיתֹפֶל
And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said unto David: 'Arise ye, and pass quickly over the water; for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you.'
Ἐγένετο δὲ μετὰ τὸ ἀπελθεῖν αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἀνέβησαν ἐκ τοῦ λάκκου, καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν· καὶ ἀπήγγειλαν τῷ βασιλεῖ Δαυὶδ, καὶ εἶπαν πρὸς Δαυὶδ, ἀνάστητε καὶ διάβητε ταχέως τὸ ὕδωρ, ὅτι οὕτως ἐβουλεύσατο περὶ ὑμῶν Ἀχιτόφελ.
And it came to pass after they were gone, that they came up out of the pit, and went on their way; and reported to King David, and said to David, Arise ye and go quickly over the water, for thus has Ahithophel counseled concerning you.
22
וַיָּקָם דָּוִד וְכָל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ וַיַּעַבְרוּ אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן עַד־אוֹר הַבֹּקֶר עַד־אַחַד לֹא נֶעְדָּר אֲשֶׁר לֹא־עָבַר אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן
Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan; by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over the Jordan.
Καὶ ἀνέστη Δαυὶδ καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ὁ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ διέβησαν τὸν Ἰορδάνην ἕως τοῦ φωτὸς τοῦ πρωῒ, ἕως ἑνὸς οὐκ ἔλαθεν ὃς οὐ διῆλθε τὸν Ἰορδάνην.
And David rose up and all the people with him, and they passed over Jordan till the morning light; there was not one missing who did not pass over Jordan.
23
וַאֲחִיתֹפֶל רָאָה כִּי לֹא נֶעֶשְׂתָה עֲצָתוֹ וַיַּחֲבֹשׁ אֶת־הַחֲמוֹר וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ אֶל־עִירוֹ וַיְצַו אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ וַיֵּחָנַק וַיָּמָת וַיִּקָּבֵר בְּקֶבֶר אָבִיו
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and got him home, unto his city, and set his house in order, and strangled himself; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
Καὶ Ἀχιτόφελ εἶδεν ὅτι οὐκ ἐγενήθη ἡ βουλὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπέσαξε τὴν ὄνον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνέστη καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐνετείλατο τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπήγξατο καὶ ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἐτάφη ἐν τῷ τάφῳ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ.
And Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, and he saddled his ass, and rose and departed to his house into his city; and he gave orders to his household, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.
24
וְדָוִד בָּא מַחֲנָיְמָה וְאַבְשָׁלֹם עָבַר אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן הוּא וְכָל־אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל עִמּוֹ
When David was come to Mahanaim, Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
Καὶ Δαυεὶδ διῆλθεν εἰς Μαναΐμ καὶ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ διέβη τὸν Ἰορδάνην αὐτὸς καὶ πᾶς ἀνὴρ Ἰσραὴλ μετʼ αὐτοῦ.
And David passed over to Mahanaim: and Absalom crossed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
25
וְאֶת־עֲמָשָׂא שָׂם אַבְשָׁלֹם תַּחַת יוֹאָב עַל־הַצָּבָא וַעֲמָשָׂא בֶן־אִישׁ וּשְׁמוֹ יִתְרָא הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי אֲשֶׁר־בָּא אֶל־אֲבִיגַל בַּת־נָחָשׁ אֲחוֹת צְרוּיָה אֵם יוֹאָב
And Absalom had set Amasa over the host instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was Ithra the Jesraelite, that went in to Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab's mother.
Καὶ τὸν Ἀμεσσαῒ κατέστησεν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ἀντὶ Ἰωὰβ ἐπὶ τῆς δυνάμεως. Καὶ Ἀμεσσαῒ υἱὸς ἀνδρὸς, καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰεθὲρ ὁ Ἰεζραηλίτης· οὗτος εἰσῆλθε πρὸς Ἀβιγαίαν θυγατέρα Νάας ἀδελφὴν Σαρουίας μητρὸς Ἰωάβ.
And Absalom appointed Amasa in the room of Joab over the host. And Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Jether of Jezreel: he went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab.
26
וַיִּחַן יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאַבְשָׁלֹם אֶרֶץ הַגִּלְעָד
And Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead.
Καὶ παρενέβαλε πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ καὶ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ εἰς τὴν γῆν Γαλαάδ.
And all Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
27
וַיְהִי כְּבוֹא דָוִד מַחֲנָיְמָה וְשֹׁבִי בֶן־נָחָשׁ מֵרַבַּת בְּנֵי־עַמּוֹן וּמָכִיר בֶּן־עַמִּיאֵל מִלֹּא דְבָר וּבַרְזִלַּי הַגִּלְעָדִי מֵרֹגְלִים
And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
Καὶ ἐγένετο ἡνίκα ἦλθε Δαυὶδ εἰς Μαναῒμ, καὶ Οὐεσβὶ υἱὸς Νάας ἐκ Ῥαββὰθ υἱῶν Ἀμμὼν, καὶ Μαχὶρ υἱὸς Ἀμιὴλ ἐκ Λωδαβὰρ, καὶ Βερζελλὶ ὁ Γαλααδίτης ἐκ Ῥωγελλὶμ,
And it came to pass when David came to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
28
מִשְׁכָּב וְסַפּוֹת וּכְלִי יוֹצֵר וְחִטִּים וּשְׂעֹרִים וְקֶמַח וְקָלִי וּפוֹל וַעֲדָשִׁים וְקָלִי
brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse,
ἤνεγκαν δέκα κοίτας ἀμφιτάπους, καὶ λέβητας δέκα, καὶ σκεύη κεράμου, καὶ πυροὺς, καὶ κριθὰς, καὶ ἄλευρον, καὶ ἄλφιτον, καὶ κύαμον, καὶ φακὸν,
brought ten embroidered beds (with double coverings), and ten caldrons, and earthenware, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and meal, and beans, and pulse,
29
וּדְבַשׁ וְחֶמְאָה וְצֹאן וּשְׁפוֹת בָּקָר הִגִּישׁוּ לְדָוִד וְלָעָם אֲשֶׁר־אִתּוֹ לֶאֱכוֹל כִּי אָמְרוּ הָעָם רָעֵב וְעָיֵף וְצָמֵא בַּמִּדְבָּר
and honey, and curd, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat; for they said: 'The people is hungry, and faint, and thirsty, in the wilderness.'
καὶ μέλι, καὶ βούτυρον καὶ πρόβατα καὶ σαφὼθ βοῶν· καὶ προσήνεγκαν τῷ Δαυὶδ, καὶ τῷ λαῷ τῷ μετʼ αὐτοῦ φαγεῖν· ὅτι εἶπεν, ὁ λαὸς πεινῶν καὶ ἐκλελυμένος καὶ διψῶν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ.
and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheeses of kine: and they brought them to David and to his people with him to eat; for [one] said, The people [is] faint and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.

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.

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