Textorah

Exodus 22

1
אִם־בַּמַּחְתֶּרֶת יִמָּצֵא הַגַּנָּב וְהֻכָּה וָמֵת אֵין לוֹ דָּמִים
If a thief be found breaking in, and be smitten so that he dieth, there shall be no bloodguiltiness for him.
Ἐὰν δὲ ἐν τῷ διορύγματι εὑρεθῇ ὁ κλέπτης, καὶ πληγεὶς ἀποθάνῃ, οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ φόνος.
And if the thief be found in the breach [made by himself] and be smitten and die, there shall not be blood shed for him.
2
אִם־זָרְחָה הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ עָלָיו דָּמִים לוֹ שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם אִם־אֵין לוֹ וְנִמְכַּר בִּגְנֵבָתוֹ
If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodguiltiness for him--he shall make restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
Ἐὰν δὲ ἀνατείλῃ ὁ ἥλιος ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, ἔνοχός ἐστιν, ἀνταποθανεῖται· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ὑπάρχῃ αὐτῷ, πραθήτω ἀντὶ τοῦ κλέμματος.
But if the sun be risen upon him, he is guilty, he shall die instead; and if a thief have nothing, let him be sold in compensation for what he has stolen.
3
אִם־הִמָּצֵא תִמָּצֵא בְיָדוֹ הַגְּנֵבָה מִשּׁוֹר עַד־חֲמוֹר עַד־שֶׂה חַיִּים שְׁנַיִם יְשַׁלֵּם
If the theft be found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall pay double.
Ἐὰν δὲ καταλειφθῇ καὶ εὑρεθῇ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ κλέμμα ἀπό τε ὄνου ἕως προβάτου ζῶντα, διπλᾶ αὐτὰ ἀποτίσει.
And if the thing stolen be left and be in his hand alive, whether ox or sheep, he shall restore them twofold.
4
כִּי יַבְעֶר־אִישׁ שָׂדֶה אוֹ־כֶרֶם וְשִׁלַּח אֶת־בעירה בְּעִירוֹ וּבִעֵר בִּשְׂדֵה אַחֵר מֵיטַב שָׂדֵהוּ וּמֵיטַב כַּרְמוֹ יְשַׁלֵּם
If a man cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall let his beast loose, and it feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.
Ἐὰν δὲ καταβοσκήσῃ τις ἀγρὸν ἢ ἀμπελῶνα, καὶ ἀφῇ τὸ κτῆνος αὐτοῦ καταβοσκῆσαι ἀγρὸν ἕτερον, ἀποτίσει ἐκ τοῦ ἀγροῦ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὸ γέννημα αὐτοῦ· ἐὰν δὲ πάντα τὸν ἀγρὸν καταβοσκήσῃ, τὰ βέλτιστα τοῦ ἀγροῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ βέλτιστα τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος αὐτοῦ ἀποτίσει.
And if anyone should feed down a field or a vineyard, and should send in his beast to feed down another field, he shall make compensation of his own field according to his produce; and if he shall have fed down the whole field, he shall pay for compensation the best of his own field and the best of his vineyard.
5
כִּי־תֵצֵא אֵשׁ וּמָצְאָה קֹצִים וְנֶאֱכַל גָּדִישׁ אוֹ הַקָּמָה אוֹ הַשָּׂדֶה שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם הַמַּבְעִר אֶת־הַבְּעֵרָה
If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the shocks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field are consumed; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.
Ἐὰν δὲ ἐξελθὸν πῦρ εὕρῃ ἀκάνθας, καὶ προσεμπρήσῃ ἅλωνας ἢ στάχυς ἢ πεδίον, ἀποτίσει ὁ τὸ πῦρ ἐκκαύσας.
And if fire have gone forth and caught thorns, and should also set on fire threshing floors or ears of corn or a field, he that kindled the fire shall make compensation.
6
כִּי־יִתֵּן אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ כֶּסֶף אוֹ־כֵלִים לִשְׁמֹר וְגֻנַּב מִבֵּית הָאִישׁ אִם־יִמָּצֵא הַגַּנָּב יְשַׁלֵּם שְׁנָיִם
If a man deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; if the thief be found, he shall pay double.
Ἐὰν δέ τις δῷ τῷ πλησίον ἀργύριον ἢ σκεύη φυλάξαι, καὶ κλαπῇ ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἐὰν εὑρεθῇ ὁ κλέψας, ἀποτίσει τὸ διπλοῦν.
And if anyone give to his neighbor money or goods to keep, and they be stolen out of the man’s house, if the thief be found, he shall repay double.
7
אִם־לֹא יִמָּצֵא הַגַּנָּב וְנִקְרַב בַּעַל־הַבַּיִת אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִים אִם־לֹא שָׁלַח יָדוֹ בִּמְלֶאכֶת רֵעֵהוּ
If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall come near unto G-d, to see whether he have not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods.
Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ εὑρεθῇ ὁ κλέψας, προσελεύσεται ὁ κύριος τῆς οἰκίας ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὀμεῖται ἦ μὴν μὴ αὐτὸν πεπονηρεῦσθαι ἐφʼ ὅλης τῆς παρακαταθήκης τοῦ πλησίον,
But if the thief be not found, the master of the house shall come forward before God, and shall swear that surely he has not wrought wickedly in regard of any part of his neighbor’s deposit,
8
עַל־כָּל־דְּבַר־פֶּשַׁע עַל־שׁוֹר עַל־חֲמוֹר עַל־שֶׂה עַל־שַׂלְמָה עַל־כָּל־אֲבֵדָה אֲשֶׁר יֹאמַר כִּי־הוּא זֶה עַד הָאֱלֹהִים יָבֹא דְּבַר־שְׁנֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר יַרְשִׁיעֻן אֱלֹהִים יְשַׁלֵּם שְׁנַיִם לְרֵעֵהוּ
For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, whereof one saith: 'This is it,' the cause of both parties shall come before G-d; he whom G-d shall condemn shall pay double unto his neighbour.
κατὰ πᾶν ῥητὸν ἀδίκημα, περί τε μόσχου, καὶ ὑποζυγίου, καὶ προβάτου, καὶ ἱματίου, καὶ πάσης ἀπωλίας τῆς ἐνκαλουμένης· ὅ, τι οὖν ἂν ᾖ, ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐλεύσεται ἡ κρίσις ἀμφοτέρων, καὶ ὁ ἁλοὺς διὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀποτίσει διπλοῦν τῷ πλησίον.
according to every injury alleged, both concerning a calf, and an ass, and a sheep, and a garment, and every alleged loss, whatsoever in fact it may be—the judgment of both shall proceed before God, and he that is convicted by God shall repay to his neighbor double.
9
כִּי־יִתֵּן אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ חֲמוֹר אוֹ־שׁוֹר אוֹ־שֶׂה וְכָל־בְּהֵמָה לִשְׁמֹר וּמֵת אוֹ־נִשְׁבַּר אוֹ־נִשְׁבָּה אֵין רֹאֶה
If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it;
Ἐὰν δέ τις δῷ τῷ πλησίον ὑποζύγιον ἢ μόσχον ἢ πρόβατον ἢ πᾶν κτῆνος φυλάξαι, καὶ συντριβῇ ἢ τελευτήσῃ ἢ αἰχμάλωτον γένηται, καὶ μηδεὶς γνῷ,
And if anyone give to his neighbor to keep a calf or sheep or any beast, and it be wounded or die or be taken, and no one know,
10
שְׁבֻעַת יְהוָה תִּהְיֶה בֵּין שְׁנֵיהֶם אִם־לֹא שָׁלַח יָדוֹ בִּמְלֶאכֶת רֵעֵהוּ וְלָקַח בְּעָלָיו וְלֹא יְשַׁלֵּם
the oath of HaShem shall be between them both, to see whether he have not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods; and the owner thereof shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution.
ὅρκος ἔσται τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνὰ μέσον ἀμφοτέρων, ἦ μὴν μὴ αὐτὸν πεπονηρεῦσθαι καθόλου τῆς παρακαταθήκης τοῦ πλησίον· καὶ οὕτως προσδέξεται ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἀποτίσει.
an oath of God shall be between both, [each swearing] that he has surely not at all been guilty in the matter of his neighbor’s deposit; and so his master shall hold him guiltless, and he shall not make compensation.
11
וְאִם־גָּנֹב יִגָּנֵב מֵעִמּוֹ יְשַׁלֵּם לִבְעָלָיו
But if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof.
Ἐὰν δὲ κλαπῇ παρʼ αὐτοῦ, ἀποτίσει τῷ κυρίῳ·
And if it be stolen from him, he shall make compensation to the owner.
12
אִם־טָרֹף יִטָּרֵף יְבִאֵהוּ עֵד הַטְּרֵפָה לֹא יְשַׁלֵּם
If it be torn in pieces, let him bring it for witness; he shall not make good that which was torn.
Ἐὰν δὲ θηριάλωτον γένηται, ἄξει αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν θήραν, καὶ οὐκ ἀποτίσει.
And if it be seized of beasts, he shall bring him to [witness] the prey, and he shall not make compensation.
13
וְכִי־יִשְׁאַל אִישׁ מֵעִם רֵעֵהוּ וְנִשְׁבַּר אוֹ־מֵת בְּעָלָיו אֵין־עִמּוֹ שַׁלֵּם יְשַׁלֵּם
And if a man borrow aught of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof not being with it, he shall surely make restitution.
Ἐὰν δὲ αἰτήσῃ τις παρὰ τοῦ πλησίον, καὶ συντριβῇ ἢ ἀποθάνῃ ἢ αἰχμάλωτον γένηται, ὁ δὲ κύριος μὴ ᾖ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, ἀποτίσει.
And if anyone borrow [ought] of his neighbor, and it be wounded or die or be carried away, and the owner of it be not with it, he shall make compensation.
14
אִם־בְּעָלָיו עִמּוֹ לֹא יְשַׁלֵּם אִם־שָׂכִיר הוּא בָּא בִּשְׂכָרוֹ
If the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good; if it be a hireling, he loseth his hire.
Ἐὰν δὲ ὁ κύριος ᾖ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ἀποτίσει· ἐὰν δὲ μισθωτὸς ᾖ, ἔσται αὐτῷ ἀντὶ τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ.
But if the owner be with it, he shall not make compensation: but if it be a hired thing, there shall be [a compensation] to him instead of his hire.
15
וְכִי־יְפַתֶּה אִישׁ בְּתוּלָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא־אֹרָשָׂה וְשָׁכַב עִמָּהּ מָהֹר יִמְהָרֶנָּה לּוֹ לְאִשָּׁה
And if a man entice a virgin that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife.
Ἐὰν δὲ ἀπατήσῃ τις παρθένον ἀμνήστευτον, καὶ κοιμηθῇ μετʼ αὐτῆς, φερνῇ φερνιεῖ αὐτὴν αὐτῷ γυναῖκα.
And if anyone deceive a virgin that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her for a wife to himself.
16
אִם־מָאֵן יְמָאֵן אָבִיהָ לְתִתָּהּ לוֹ כֶּסֶף יִשְׁקֹל כְּמֹהַר הַבְּתוּלֹת
If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.
Ἐὰν δὲ ἀνανεύων ἀνανεύσῃ, καὶ μὴ βούληται ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς δοῦναι αὐτὴν αὐτῷ γυναῖκα, ἀργύριον ἀποτίσει τῷ πατρὶ καθʼ ὅσον ἐστὶν ἡ φερνὴ τῶν παρθένων.
And if her father positively refuse, and will not consent to give her to him for a wife, he shall pay compensation to her father according to the amount of the dowry of virgins.
17
מְכַשֵּׁפָה לֹא תְחַיֶּה
Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live.
Φαρμακοὺς οὐ περιποιήσετε.
Ye shall not save the lives of sorcerers.
18
כָּל־שֹׁכֵב עִם־בְּהֵמָה מוֹת יוּמָת
Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.
Πᾶν κοιμώμενον μετὰ κτήνους θανάτῳ ἀποκτενεῖτε αὐτούς.
Every one that lies with a beast ye shall surely put to death.
19
זֹבֵחַ לָאֱלֹהִים יָחֳרָם בִּלְתִּי לַיהוָה לְבַדּוֹ
He that sacrificeth unto the gods, save unto HaShem only, shall be utterly destroyed.
Ὁ θυσιάζων θεοῖς θανάτῳ ἐξολοθρευθήσεται, πλὴν Κυρίῳ μόνῳ.
He that sacrifices to any gods but to the Lord alone, shall be destroyed by death.
20
וְגֵר לֹא־תוֹנֶה וְלֹא תִלְחָצֶנּוּ כִּי־גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם
And a stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Καὶ προσήλυτον οὐ κακώσετε, οὐδὲ μὴ θλίψητε αὐτόν· ἦτε γάρ προσήλυτοι ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτῳ.
And ye shall not hurt a stranger, nor afflict him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
21
כָּל־אַלְמָנָה וְיָתוֹם לֹא תְעַנּוּן
Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.
Πᾶσαν χήραν καὶ ὀρφανὸν οὐ κακώσετε.
Ye shall hurt no widow or orphan.
22
אִם־עַנֵּה תְעַנֶּה אֹתוֹ כִּי אִם־צָעֹק יִצְעַק אֵלַי שָׁמֹעַ אֶשְׁמַע צַעֲקָתוֹ
If thou afflict them in any wise--for if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry--
Ἐὰν δὲ κακίᾳ κακώσητε αὐτοὺς, καὶ κεκράξαντες καταβοήσωσι πρός με, ἀκοῇ εἰσακούσομαι τῆς φωνῆς αὐτῶν,
And if ye should afflict them by ill-treatment, and they should cry aloud to me, I will surely hear their voice.
23
וְחָרָה אַפִּי וְהָרַגְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בֶּחָרֶב וְהָיוּ נְשֵׁיכֶם אַלְמָנוֹת וּבְנֵיכֶם יְתֹמִים
My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
καὶ ὀργισθήσομαι θυμῷ, καὶ ἀποκτενῶ ὑμᾶς μαχαίρᾳ, καὶ ἔσονται αἱ γυναῖκες ὑμῶν χῆραι, καὶ τὰ παιδία ὑμῶν ὀρφανά.
And I will be very angry, and will slay you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children orphans.
24
אִם־כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת־עַמִּי אֶת־הֶעָנִי עִמָּךְ לֹא־תִהְיֶה לוֹ כְּנֹשֶׁה לֹא־תְשִׂימוּן עָלָיו נֶשֶׁךְ
If thou lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him interest.
Ἐὰν δὲ ἀργύριον ἐκδανείσῃς τῷ ἀδελφῷ τῷ πενιχρῷ παρὰ σοὶ, οὐκ ἔσῃ αὐτὸν κατεπείγων, οὐκ ἐπιθήσεις αὐτῷ τόκον.
And if thou shouldest lend money to thy poor brother who is by thee, thou shalt not be hard upon him, thou shalt not exact usury of him.
25
אִם־חָבֹל תַּחְבֹּל שַׂלְמַת רֵעֶךָ עַד־בֹּא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ תְּשִׁיבֶנּוּ לוֹ
If thou at all take thy neighbour's garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him by that the sun goeth down;
Ἐὰν δὲ ἐνεχύρασμα ἐνεχυράσῃς τὸ ἱμάτιον τοῦ πλησίον, πρὸ δυσμῶν ἡλίου ἀποδώσεις αὐτῷ·
And if thou take thy neighbor’s garment for a pledge, thou shalt restore it to him before sunset.
26
כִּי הִוא כסותה כְסוּתוֹ לְבַדָּהּ הִוא שִׂמְלָתוֹ לְעֹרוֹ בַּמֶּה יִשְׁכָּב וְהָיָה כִּי־יִצְעַק אֵלַי וְשָׁמַעְתִּי כִּי־חַנּוּן אָנִי
for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin; wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
Ἔστι γὰρ τοῦτο περιβόλαιον αὐτοῦ, μόνον τοῦτο τὸ ἱμάτιον ἀσχημοσύνης αὐτοῦ· ἐν τίνι κοιμηθήσεται; Ἐὰν οὖν καταβοήσῃ πρός μέ, εἰσακούσομαι αὐτοῦ· ἐλεήμων γάρ εἰμι.
For this is his clothing, this is the only covering of his nakedness; wherein shall he sleep? If then he shall cry to me, I will hearken to him, for I am merciful.
27
אֱלֹהִים לֹא תְקַלֵּל וְנָשִׂיא בְעַמְּךָ לֹא תָאֹר
Thou shalt not revile G-d, nor curse a ruler of thy people.
Θεοὺς οὐ κακολογήσεις, καὶ ἄρχοντα τοῦ λαοῦ σου οὐ κακῶς ἐρεῖς.
Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor speak ill of the ruler of thy people.
28
מְלֵאָתְךָ וְדִמְעֲךָ לֹא תְאַחֵר בְּכוֹר בָּנֶיךָ תִּתֶּן־לִּי
Thou shalt not delay to offer of the fulness of thy harvest, and of the outflow of thy presses. The first-born of thy sons shalt thou give unto Me.
Ἀπαρχὰς ἅλωνος καὶ ληνοῦ σου οὐ καθυστερήσεις· τὰ πρωτότοκα τῶν υἱῶν σου δώσεις ἐμοί.
Thou shalt not keep back the firstfruits of thy threshing floor and press. The firstborn of thy sons thou shalt give to me.
29
כֵּן־תַּעֲשֶׂה לְשֹׁרְךָ לְצֹאנֶךָ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים יִהְיֶה עִם־אִמּוֹ בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁמִינִי תִּתְּנוֹ־לִי
Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep; seven days it shall be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it Me.
Οὕτω ποιήσεις τὸν μόσχον σου καὶ τὸ πρόβατόν σου καὶ τὸ ὑποζύγιόν σου· ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ἔσται ὑπὸ τὴν μητέρα, τῇ δὲ ὀγδόῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀποδώσεις μοι αὐτό.
So shalt thou do with thy calf and thy sheep and thine ass; seven days shall it be under the mother, and the eighth day thou shalt give it to me.
30
וְאַנְשֵׁי־קֹדֶשׁ תִּהְיוּן לִי וּבָשָׂר בַּשָּׂדֶה טְרֵפָה לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ לַכֶּלֶב תַּשְׁלִכוּן אֹתוֹ
And ye shall be holy men unto Me; therefore ye shall not eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
Καὶ ἄνδρες ἅγιοι ἔσεσθέ μοι· καὶ κρέας θηριάλωτον οὐκ ἔδεσθε, τῷ κυνὶ ἀποῤῥίψατε αὐτό.
And ye shall be holy men to me; and ye shall not eat flesh taken of beasts, ye shall cast it to the dog.

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.