Textorah

Amos 5

1
שִׁמְעוּ אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי נֹשֵׂא עֲלֵיכֶם קִינָה בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל
Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:
Ἀκούσατε τὸν λόγον Κυρίου τοῦτον, ὃν ἐγὼ λαμβάνω ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς, θρῆνον. Οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ
Hear ye this word of the Lord, even a lamentation, which I take up against you. The house of Israel is fallen; it shall no more rise.
2
נָפְלָה לֹא־תוֹסִיף קוּם בְּתוּלַת יִשְׂרָאֵל נִטְּשָׁה עַל־אַדְמָתָהּ אֵין מְקִימָהּ
The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise; she is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.
ἔπεσεν, οὐκέτι μὴ προσθήσει τοῦ ἀναστῆναι. Παρθένος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἔσφαλεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἀναστήσων αὐτήν.
The virgin of Israel has fallen upon his land; there is none that shall raise her up.
3
כִּי כֹה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה הָעִיר הַיֹּצֵאת אֶלֶף תַּשְׁאִיר מֵאָה וְהַיּוֹצֵאת מֵאָה תַּשְׁאִיר עֲשָׂרָה לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל
For thus saith the L-rd GOD: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, of the house of Israel.
Διατοῦτο τάδε λέγει Κύριος Κύριος, ἡ πόλις ἐξ ἧς ἐξεπορεύοντο χίλιοι, ὑπολειφθήσονται ἑκατόν· καὶ ἐξ ἧς ἐξεπορεύοντο ἑκατὸν, ὑπολειφθήσονται δέκα τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραήλ.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; The city out of which there went forth a thousand, [in it] there shall be left a hundred, and [in that] out of which there went forth a hundred, there shall be left ten to the house of Israel.
4
כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהוָה לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל דִּרְשׁוּנִי וִחְיוּ
For thus saith HaShem unto the house of Israel: Seek ye Me, and live;
Διότι τάδε λέγει Κύριος πρὸς τὸν οἶκον Ἰσραὴλ, ἐκζητήσατέ με, καὶ ζήσεσθε.
Wherefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.
5
וְאַל־תִּדְרְשׁוּ בֵּית־אֵל וְהַגִּלְגָּל לֹא תָבֹאוּ וּבְאֵר שֶׁבַע לֹא תַעֲבֹרוּ כִּי הַגִּלְגָּל גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה וּבֵית־אֵל יִהְיֶה לְאָוֶן
But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.
Καὶ μὴ ἐκζητεῖτε Βαιθὴλ, καὶ εἰς Γάλγαλα μὴ εἰσπορεύεσθε, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ φρέαρ τοῦ ὅρκου μὴ διαβαίνετε, ὅτι Γάλγαλα αἰχμαλωτευομένη αἰχμαλωτευθήσεται, καὶ Βαιθὴλ ἔσται ὡς οὐχ ὑπάρχουσα.
But seek not Bethel, and go not in to Gilgal, and cross not over to the Well of the Oath: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall be as that which is not.
6
דִּרְשׁוּ אֶת־יְהוָה וִחְיוּ פֶּן־יִצְלַח כָּאֵשׁ בֵּית יוֹסֵף וְאָכְלָה וְאֵין־מְכַבֶּה לְבֵית־אֵל
Seek HaShem, and live--lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Bethel--
Ἐκζητήσατε τὸν Κύριον, καὶ ζήσατε, ὅπως μὴ ἀναλάμψῃ ὡς πῦρ ὁ οἶκος Ἰωσὴφ, καὶ καταφάγῃ αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ σβέσων τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραήλ.
Seek ye the Lord, and ye shall live; lest the house of Joseph blaze as fire, and it devour him, and there shall be none to quench it for the house of Israel.
7
הַהֹפְכִים לְלַעֲנָה מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה לָאָרֶץ הִנִּיחוּ
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast righteousness to the ground;
Ὁ ποιῶν εἰς ὕψος κρίμα, καὶ δικαιοσύνην εἰς γῆν ἔθηκεν·
[It is he] that executes judgment in the height [above], and he has established justice on the earth:
8
עֹשֵׂה כִימָה וּכְסִיל וְהֹפֵךְ לַבֹּקֶר צַלְמָוֶת וְיוֹם לַיְלָה הֶחְשִׁיךְ הַקּוֹרֵא לְמֵי־הַיָּם וַיִּשְׁפְּכֵם עַל־פְּנֵי הָאָרֶץ יְהוָה שְׁמוֹ
Him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, and bringeth on the shadow of death in the morning, and darkeneth the day into night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; HaShem is His name;
ὁ ποιῶν πάντα καὶ μετασκευάζων, καὶ ἐκτρέπων εἰς τοπρωῒ σκιάν, καὶ ἡμέραν εἰς νύκτα συσκοτάζων, ὁ προσκαλούμενος τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ ἐκχέων αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς· Κύριος ὄνομα αὐτῷ·
who makes all things, and changes [them], and turns darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night: who calls for the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth: the Lord is his name:
9
הַמַּבְלִיג שֹׁד עַל־עָז וְשֹׁד עַל־מִבְצָר יָבוֹא
That causeth destruction to flash upon the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress.
ὁ διαιρῶν συντριμμὸν ἐπὶ ἰσχὺν, καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν ἐπὶ ὀχύρωμα ἐπάγων.
who dispenses ruin to strength, and brings distress upon the fortress.
10
שָׂנְאוּ בַשַּׁעַר מוֹכִיחַ וְדֹבֵר תָּמִים יְתָעֵבוּ
They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Ἐμίσησαν ἐν πύλαις ἐλέγχοντα, καὶ λόγον ὅσιον ἐβδελύξαντο.
They hated him that reproved in the gates, and abhorred holy speech.
11
לָכֵן יַעַן בּוֹשַׁסְכֶם עַל־דָּל וּמַשְׂאַת־בַּר תִּקְחוּ מִמֶּנּוּ בָּתֵּי גָזִית בְּנִיתֶם וְלֹא־תֵשְׁבוּ בָם כַּרְמֵי־חֶמֶד נְטַעְתֶּם וְלֹא תִשְׁתּוּ אֶת־יֵינָם
Therefore, because ye trample upon the poor, and take from him exactions of wheat; ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them, ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine thereof.
Διατοῦτο ἀνθʼ ὧν κατεκονδύλιζον πτωχοὺς, καὶ δῶρα ἐκλεκτὰ ἐδέξασθε παρʼ αὐτῶν, οἴκους ξεστοὺς ᾠκοδομήσατε, καὶ οὐ μὴ κατοικήσητε ἐν αὐτοῖς· ἀμπελῶνας ἐπιθυμητοὺς ἐφυτεύσατε, καὶ οὐ μὴ πίητε τὸν οἶνον αὐτῶν.
Therefore because they have smitten the poor with their fists, and ye have received of them choice gifts; ye have built polished houses, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted desirable vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine of them.
12
כִּי יָדַעְתִּי רַבִּים פִּשְׁעֵיכֶם וַעֲצֻמִים חַטֹּאתֵיכֶם צֹרְרֵי צַדִּיק לֹקְחֵי כֹפֶר וְאֶבְיוֹנִים בַּשַּׁעַר הִטּוּ
For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins; ye that afflict the just, that take a ransom, and that turn aside the needy in the gate.
Ὅτι ἔγνων πολλὰς ἀσεβείας ὑμῶν, καὶ ἰσχυραὶ αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ὑμῶν, καταπατοῦντες δίκαιον, λαμβάνοντες ἀλλάγματα, καὶ πένητας ἐν πύλαις ἐκκλίνοντες.
For I know your many transgressions, and your sins are great, trampling on the just, taking bribes, and turning aside [the judgment of] the poor in the gates.
13
לָכֵן הַמַּשְׂכִּיל בָּעֵת הַהִיא יִדֹּם כִּי עֵת רָעָה הִיא
Therefore the prudent doth keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.
Διατοῦτο ὁ συνιὼν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ σιωπήσεται, ὅτι καιρὸς πονηρῶν ἐστιν.
Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time; for it is a time of evils.
14
דִּרְשׁוּ־טוֹב וְאַל־רָע לְמַעַן תִּחְיוּ וִיהִי־כֵן יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי־צְבָאוֹת אִתְּכֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר אֲמַרְתֶּם
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so HaShem, the G-d of hosts, will be with you, as ye say.
Ἐκζητήσατε τὸ καλὸν, καὶ μὴ πονηρὸν, ὅπως ζήσητε, καὶ ἔσται οὕτως μεθʼ ὑμῶν Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ὃν τρόπον εἴπατε,
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as ye have said,
15
שִׂנְאוּ־רָע וְאֶהֱבוּ טוֹב וְהַצִּיגוּ בַשַּׁעַר מִשְׁפָּט אוּלַי י͏ֶחֱנַן יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי־צְבָאוֹת שְׁאֵרִית יוֹסֵף
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that HaShem, the G-d of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
μεμισήκαμεν τὰ πονηρὰ, καὶ ἠγαπήσαμεν τὰ καλά· καὶ ἀποκαταστήσατε ἐν πύλαις κρίμα, ὅπως ἐλεήσῃ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ τοὺς περιλοίπους τοῦ Ἰωσήφ.
We have hated evil, and loved good: and restore ye judgment in the gates; that the Lord God Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
16
לָכֵן כֹּה־אָמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי צְבָאוֹת אֲדֹנָי בְּכָל־רְחֹבוֹת מִסְפֵּד וּבְכָל־חוּצוֹת יֹאמְרוּ הוֹ־הוֹ וְקָרְאוּ אִכָּר אֶל־אֵבֶל וּמִסְפֵּד אֶל־יוֹדְעֵי נֶהִי
Therefore thus saith HaShem, the G-d of hosts, the L-rd: Lamentation shall be in all the broad places, and they shall say in all the streets: 'Alas! alas!' and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and proclaim lamentation to such as are skilful of wailing.
Διατοῦτο τάδε λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ἐν πάσαις ταῖς πλατείαις κοπετὸς, καὶ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς ῥηθήσεται οὐαὶ, οὐαί· κληθήσεται γεωργὸς εἰς πένθος καὶ κοπετὸν, καὶ εἰς εἰδότας θρῆνον.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God Almighty; In all the streets [shall be] lamentations; and in all the ways shall it be said, Woe, woe! the husbandman shall be called to mourning and lamentation, and to them that are skilled in complaining.
17
וּבְכָל־כְּרָמִים מִסְפֵּד כִּי־אֶעֱבֹר בְּקִרְבְּךָ אָמַר יְהוָה
And in all vineyards shall be lamentation; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith HaShem.
Καὶ ἐν πάσαις ὁδοῖς κοπετὸς, διότι ἐλεύσομαι διὰ μέσου σου, εἶπε Κύριος.
And [there shall be] lamentation in all the ways; because I will pass through the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
18
הוֹי הַמִּתְאַוִּים אֶת־יוֹם יְהוָה לָמָּה־זֶּה לָכֶם יוֹם יְהוָה הוּא־חֹשֶׁךְ וְלֹא־אוֹר
Woe unto you that desire the day of HaShem! Wherefore would ye have the day of HaShem? It is darkness, and not light.
Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐπιθυμοῦντες τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου· ἱνατί αὕτη ὑμῖν ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ Κυρίου; καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶ σκότος καὶ οὐ φῶς.
Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord! what is this day of the Lord to you? whereas it is darkness, and not light.
19
כַּאֲשֶׁר יָנוּס אִישׁ מִפְּנֵי הָאֲרִי וּפְגָעוֹ הַדֹּב וּבָא הַבַּיִת וְסָמַךְ יָדוֹ עַל־הַקִּיר וּנְשָׁכוֹ הַנָּחָשׁ
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; and went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Ὃν τρόπον ἐὰν φύγῃ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ λέοντος, καὶ ἐμπέσῃ αὐτῷ ἡ ἄρκος, καὶ εἰσπηδήσῃ εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπερείσηται τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸν τοῖχον, καὶ δάκῃ αὐτὸν ὄφις.
As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he should spring into his house, and lean his hands upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.
20
הֲלֹא־חֹשֶׁךְ יוֹם יְהוָה וְלֹא־אוֹר וְאָפֵל וְלֹא־נֹגַהּ לוֹ
Shall not the day of HaShem be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Οὐχὶ σκότος ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ οὐ φῶς, καὶ γνόφος οὐκ ἔχων φέγγος αὕτη;
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? and is not this [day] gloom without brightness?
21
שָׂנֵאתִי מָאַסְתִּי חַגֵּיכֶם וְלֹא אָרִיחַ בְּעַצְּרֹתֵיכֶם
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Μεμίσηκα, ἀπῶσμαι ἑορτὰς ὑμῶν, καὶ οὐ μὴ ὀσφρανθῶ θυσίας ἐν ταῖς πανηγύρεσιν ὑμῶν.
I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell [your] meat offerings in your general assemblies.
22
כִּי אִם־תַּעֲלוּ־לִי עֹלוֹת וּמִנְחֹתֵיכֶם לֹא אֶרְצֶה וְשֶׁלֶם מְרִיאֵיכֶם לֹא אַבִּיט
Yea, though ye offer me burnt-offerings and your meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts.
Διότι ἐὰν ἐνέγκητέ μοι ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ θυσίας ὑμῶν, οὐ προσδέξομαι, καὶ σωτηρίους ἐπιφανείας ὑμῶν οὐκ ἐπιβλέψομαι.
Wherefore if ye should bring me your whole burnt sacrifices and meat offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I have respect to your grand peace offerings.
23
הָסֵר מֵעָלַי הֲמוֹן שִׁרֶיךָ וְזִמְרַת נְבָלֶיךָ לֹא אֶשְׁמָע
Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; and let Me not hear the melody of thy psalteries.
Μετάστησον ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ ἦχον ᾠδῶν σου, καὶ ψαλμὸν ὀργάνων σου οὐκ ἀκούσομαι.
Remove from me the sound of thy songs, and I will not hear the music of thine instruments.
24
וְיִגַּל כַּמַּיִם מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה כְּנַחַל אֵיתָן
But let justice well up as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Καὶ κυλισθήσεται ὡς ὕδωρ κρίμα, καὶ δικαιοσύνη ὡς χειμάῤῥους ἄβατος.
But let judgment roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent.
25
הַזְּבָחִים וּמִנְחָה הִגַּשְׁתֶּם־לִי בַמִּדְבָּר אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל
Did ye bring unto Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
Μὴ σφάγια καὶ θυσίας προσηνέγκατέ μοι οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ;
Have ye offered to me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the wilderness?
26
וּנְשָׂאתֶם אֵת סִכּוּת מַלְכְּכֶם וְאֵת כִּיּוּן צַלְמֵיכֶם כּוֹכַב אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר עֲשִׂיתֶם לָכֶם
So shall ye take up Siccuth your king and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
Καὶ ἀνελάβετε τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ Μολὸχ, καὶ τὸ ἄστρον τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν Ῥαιφὰν, τοὺς τύπους αὐτῶν οὓς ἐποιήσατε ἑαυτοῖς.
Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Molech, and the star of your god Rephan, the images of them which ye made for yourselves.
27
וְהִגְלֵיתִי אֶתְכֶם מֵהָלְאָה לְדַמָּשֶׂק אָמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי־צְבָאוֹת שְׁמוֹ
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith He, whose name is HaShem G-d of hosts.
Καὶ μετοικιῶ ὑμᾶς ἐπέκεινα Δαμασκοῦ, λέγει Κύριος· ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ ὄνομα αὐτῷ.
And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.

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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.