Textorah

Genesis 50

1
וַיִפֹּל יוֹסֵף עַל־פְּנֵי אָבִיו וַיֵּבְךְּ עָלָיו וַיִּשַּׁק־לוֹ
And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
Καὶ ἐπιπεσὼν Ἰωσὴφ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἔκλαυσεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐφίλησεν αὐτόν.
And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept on him, and kissed him.
2
וַיְצַו יוֹסֵף אֶת־עֲבָדָיו אֶת־הָרֹפְאִים לַחֲנֹט אֶת־אָבִיו וַיַּחַנְטוּ הָרֹפְאִים אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל
And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed Israel.
Καὶ προσέταξεν Ἰωσὴφ τοῖς παισὶν αὐτοῦ τοῖς ἐνταφιασταῖς, ἐνταφιάσαι τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐνεταφίασαν οἱ ἐνταφιασταὶ τὸν Ἰσραήλ.
And Joseph commanded his servants the embalmers to embalm his father; and the embalmers embalmed Israel.
3
וַיִּמְלְאוּ־לוֹ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם כִּי כֵּן יִמְלְאוּ יְמֵי הַחֲנֻטִים וַיִּבְכּוּ אֹתוֹ מִצְרַיִם שִׁבְעִים יוֹם
And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him threescore and ten days.
Καὶ ἐπλήρωσαν αὐτοῦ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας· οὕτω γὰρ καταριθμοῦνται αἱ ἡμέραι τῆς ταφῆς· καὶ ἐπένθησεν αὐτὸν Αἴγυπτος ἑβδομήκοντα ἡμέρας.
And they fulfilled forty days for him, for so are the days of embalming numbered; and Egypt mourned for him seventy days.
4
וַיַּעַבְרוּ יְמֵי בְכִיתוֹ וַיְדַבֵּר יוֹסֵף אֶל־בֵּית פַּרְעֹה לֵאמֹר אִם־נָא מָצָאתִי חֵן בְּעֵינֵיכֶם דַּבְּרוּ־נָא בְּאָזְנֵי פַרְעֹה לֵאמֹר
And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke unto the house of Pharaoh, saying: 'If now I have found favour in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying:
Ἐπεὶ δὲ παρῆλθον αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ πένθους, ἐλάλησεν Ἰωσὴφ πρὸς τοὺς δυνάστας Φαραὼ, λέγων, εἰ εὗρον χάριν ἐναντίον ὑμῶν, λαλήσατε περὶ ἐμοῦ εἰς τὰ ὦτα Φαραὼ, λέγοντες,
And when the days of mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the princes of Pharaoh, saying, If I have found favor in your sight, speak concerning me in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5
אָבִי הִשְׁבִּיעַנִי לֵאמֹר הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי מֵת בְּקִבְרִי אֲשֶׁר כָּרִיתִי לִי בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן שָׁמָּה תִּקְבְּרֵנִי וְעַתָּה אֶעֱלֶה־נָּא וְאֶקְבְּרָה אֶת־אָבִי וְאָשׁוּבָה
My father made me swear, saying: Lo, I die; in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come back.'
ὁ πατήρ μου ὥρκισέ με, λέγων, ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ, ᾧ ὤρυξα ἐμαυτῷ ἐν γῇ Χαναὰν, ἐκεῖ με θάψεις· νῦν οὖν ἀναβὰς· θάψω τὸν πατέρα μου, καὶ ἐπανελεύσομαι·
My father adjured me, saying, In the sepulcher which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there thou shalt bury me; now then I will go up and bury my father, and return again.
6
וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה עֲלֵה וּקְבֹר אֶת־אָבִיךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר הִשְׁבִּיעֶךָ
And Pharaoh said: 'Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.'
Καὶ εἶπε Φαραὼ τῷ Ἰωσὴφ, ἀνάβηθι, θάψον τὸν πατέρα σου, καθάπερ ὥρκισέ σε.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Go up, bury thy father, as he constrained thee to swear.
7
וַיַּעַל יוֹסֵף לִקְבֹּר אֶת־אָבִיו וַיּ͏ַעֲלוּ אִתּוֹ כָּל־עַבְדֵי פַרְעֹה זִקְנֵי בֵיתוֹ וְכֹל זִקְנֵי אֶרֶץ־מִצְרָיִם
And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
Καὶ ἀνέβη Ἰωσὴφ θάψαι τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ· καὶ συνανέβησαν μετʼ αὐτοῦ πάντες οἱ παῖδες Φαραὼ, καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ, καὶ πάντες οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τῆς γῆς Αἰγύπτου,
So Joseph went up to bury his father; and all the servants of Pharaoh went up with him, and the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt.
8
וְכֹל בֵּית יוֹסֵף וְאֶחָיו וּבֵית אָבִיו רַק טַפָּם וְצֹאנָם וּבְקָרָם עָזְבוּ בְּאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן
and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
καὶ πᾶσα ἡ πανοικία Ἰωσὴφ, καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πᾶσα ἡ οἰκία ἡ πατρικὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ συγγένεια αὐτοῦ· καὶ τὰ πρόβατα, καὶ τοὺς βόας ὑπελίποντο ἐν γῇ Γεσέμ.
And all the household of Joseph, and his brethren, and all the house of his father, and his kindred; and they left behind the sheep and the oxen in the land of Goshen.
9
וַיַּעַל עִמּוֹ גַּם־רֶכֶב גַּם־פָּרָשִׁים וַיְהִי הַמַּחֲנֶה כָּבֵד מְאֹד
And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.
Καὶ συνανέβησαν μετʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἅρματα καὶ ἱππεῖς, καὶ ἐγένετο ἡ παρεμβολὴ μεγάλη σφόδρα.
And there went up with him also chariots and horsemen; and there was a very great company.
10
וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד־גֹּרֶן הָאָטָד אֲשֶׁר בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן וַיִּסְפְּדוּ־שָׁם מִסְפֵּד גָּדוֹל וְכָבֵד מְאֹד וַיַּעַשׂ לְאָבִיו אֵבֶל שִׁבְעַת יָמִים
And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they wailed with a very great and sore wailing; and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
Καὶ παρεγένοντο εἰς ἅλωνα Ἀτὰδ, ὅ ἐστι πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου· καὶ ἐκόψαντο αὐτὸν κοπετὸν μέγαν καὶ ἰσχυρὸν σφόδρα· καὶ ἐποίησε τὸ πένθος τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας.
And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan; and they bewailed him with a great and very sore lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
11
וַיַּרְא יוֹשֵׁב הָאָרֶץ הַכְּנַעֲנִי אֶת־הָאֵבֶל בְּגֹרֶן הָאָטָד וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵבֶל־כָּבֵד זֶה לְמִצְרָיִם עַל־כֵּן קָרָא שְׁמָהּ אָבֵל מִצְרַיִם אֲשֶׁר בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן
And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said: 'This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians.' Wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
Καὶ εἶδον οἱ κάτοικοι τῆς γῆς Χαναὰν τὸ πένθος ἐπὶ ἅλωνι Ἀτὰδ, καὶ εἶπαν, πένθος μέγα τοῦτό ἐστι τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις· διὰ τοῦτο ἐκάλεσε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, Πένθος Αἰγύπτου, ὅ ἐστι πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου.
And the inhabitants of the land of Canaan saw the mourning at the floor of Atad, and said, This is a great mourning to the Egyptians; therefore he called its name, The mourning of Egypt, which is beyond Jordan.
12
וַיַּעֲשׂוּ בָנָיו לוֹ כֵּן כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּם
And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them.
Καὶ ἐποίησαν αὐτῷ οὕτως οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ.
And thus his sons did to him.
13
וַיִּשְׂאוּ אֹתוֹ בָנָיו אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן וַיִּקְבְּרוּ אֹתוֹ בִּמְעָרַת שְׂדֵה הַמַּכְפֵּלָה אֲשֶׁר קָנָה אַבְרָהָם אֶת־הַשָּׂדֶה לַאֲחֻזַּת־קֶבֶר מֵאֵת עֶפְרֹן הַחִתִּי עַל־פְּנֵי מַמְרֵא
For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, in front of Mamre.
Καὶ ἀνέλαβον αὐτὸν οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς γῆν Χαναάν· καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ σπήλαιον τὸ διπλοῦν, ὃ ἐκτήσατο Ἁβραὰμ τὸ σπήλαιον ἐν κτήσει μνημείου παρὰ Ἐφρὼν τοῦ Χετταίου, κατέναντι Μαμβρή.
So his sons carried him up into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the double cave, which cave Abraham bought for possession of a burying place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
14
וַיָּשָׁב יוֹסֵף מִצְרַיְמָה הוּא וְאֶחָיו וְכָל־הָעֹלִים אִתּוֹ לִקְבֹּר אֶת־אָבִיו אַחֲרֵי קָבְרוֹ אֶת־אָבִיו
And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
Καὶ ὑπέστρεψεν Ἰωσὴφ εἰς Αἴγυπτον, αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ οἱ συναναβάντες θάψαι τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ.
And Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brethren, and those that had gone up with him to bury his father.
15
וַיִּרְאוּ אֲחֵי־יוֹסֵף כִּי־מֵת אֲבִיהֶם וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוּ יִשְׂטְמֵנוּ יוֹסֵף וְהָשֵׁב יָשִׁיב לָנוּ אֵת כָּל־הָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר גָּמַלְנוּ אֹתוֹ
And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said: 'It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did unto him.'
Ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ Ἰωσὴφ, ὅτι τέθνηκεν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῶν, εἶπαν, μή ποτε μνησικακήσῃ ἡμῖν Ἰωσὴφ, καὶ ἀνταπόδομα ἀνταποδῷ ἡμῖν πάντα τὰ κακὰ, ἃ ἐνεδειξάμεθα εἰς αὐτὸν.
And when the brethren of Joseph saw that their father was dead, they said, [Let us take heed], lest at any time Joseph remember evil against us, and recompense to us all the evils which we have done against him.
16
וַיְצַוּוּ אֶל־יוֹסֵף לֵאמֹר אָבִיךָ צִוָּה לִפְנֵי מוֹתוֹ לֵאמֹר
And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying: 'Thy father did command before he died, saying:
Καὶ παραγενόμενοι πρὸς Ἰωσὴφ εἶπαν, ὁ πατήρ σου ὥρκισε πρὸ τοῦ τελευτῆσαι αὐτὸν, λέγων,
And they came to Joseph, and said, Thy father adjured [us] before his death, saying,
17
כֹּה־תֹאמְרוּ לְיוֹסֵף אָנָּא שָׂא נָא פֶּשַׁע אַחֶיךָ וְחַטָּאתָם כִּי־רָעָה גְמָלוּךָ וְעַתָּה שָׂא נָא לְפֶשַׁע עַבְדֵי אֱלֹהֵי אָבִיךָ וַיֵּבְךְּ יוֹסֵף בְּדַבְּרָם אֵלָיו
So shall ye say unto Joseph: Forgive, I pray thee now, the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for that they did unto thee evil. And now, we pray thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the G-d of thy father.' And Joseph wept when they spoke unto him.
οὕτως εἴπατε Ἰωσήφ· ἄφες αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀδικίαν καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτῶν, ὅτι πονηρά σοι ἐνεδείξαντο· καὶ νῦν δέξαι τὴν ἀδικίαν τῶν θεραπόντων τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ πατρός σου· καὶ ἔκλαυσεν Ἰωσὴφ λαλούντων αὐτῶν πρὸς αὐτόν.
Thus say ye to Joseph, Forgive them their injustice and their sin, forasmuch as they have done thee evil; and now pardon the injustice of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept while they spoke to him.
Καὶ ἐλθόντες πρὸς αὐτὸν εἶπαν, οἵδε ἡμεῖς σοὶ οἰκέται.
And they came to him and said, We, these [persons], are thy servants.
18
וַיֵּלְכוּ גַּם־אֶחָיו ו͏ַיִּפְּלוּ לְפָנָיו וַיֹּאמְרוּ הִנֶּנּוּ לְךָ לַעֲבָדִים
And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said: 'Behold, we are thy bondmen.'
19
וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם יוֹסֵף אַל־תִּירָאוּ כִּי הֲתַחַת אֱלֹהִים אָנִי
And Joseph said unto them: 'Fear not; for am I in the place of G-d?
Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Ἰωσὴφ, μὴ φοβεῖσθε, τοῦ γὰρ Θεοῦ εἰμι ἐγώ.
And Joseph said to them, Fear not, for I am God’s.
20
וְאַתֶּם חֲשַׁבְתֶּם עָלַי רָעָה אֱלֹהִים חֲשָׁבָהּ לְטֹבָה לְמַעַן עֲשֹׂה כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה לְהַחֲיֹת עַם־רָב
And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but G-d meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Ὑμεῖς ἐβουλεύσασθε κατʼ ἐμοῦ εἰς πονηρὰ, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἐβουλεύσατο περὶ ἐμοῦ εἰς ἀγαθὰ, ὅπως ἂν γενηθῇ ὡς σήμερον, καὶ τραφῇ λαὸς πολύς.
Ye took counsel against me for evil, but God took counsel for me for good, that [the matter] might be as [it is] today, and much people might be fed.
21
וְעַתָּה אַל־תִּירָאוּ אָנֹכִי אֲכַלְכֵּל אֶתְכֶם וְאֶת־טַפְּכֶם וַיְנַחֵם אוֹתָם וַיְדַבֵּר עַל־לִבָּם
Now therefore fear ye not; I will sustain you, and your little ones.' And he comforted them, and spoke kindly unto them.
Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, μὴ φοβεῖσθε· ἐγὼ διαθρέψω ὑμᾶς, καὶ τὰς οἰκίας ὑμῶν· καὶ παρεκάλεσεν αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν καρδίαν.
And he said to them, Fear not, I will maintain you, and your families: and he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
22
וַיֵּשֶׁב יוֹסֵף בְּמִצְרַיִם הוּא וּבֵית אָבִיו וַיְחִי יוֹסֵף מֵאָה וָעֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים
And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.
Καὶ κατῴκησεν Ἰωσὴφ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πᾶσα ἡ πανοικία τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἔζησεν Ἰωσὴφ ἔτη ἑκατὸν δέκα.
And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his brethren, and all the family of his father; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.
23
וַיַּרְא יוֹסֵף לְאֶפְרַיִם בְּנֵי שִׁלֵּשִׁים גַּם בְּנֵי מָכִיר בֶּן־מְנַשֶּׁה יֻלְּדוּ עַל־בִּרְכֵּי יוֹסֵף
And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Joseph's knees.
Καὶ εἶδεν Ἰωσὴφ Ἐφραὶμ παιδία, ἕως τρίτης γενεᾶς· καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Μαχεὶρ τοῦ υἱοῦ Μανασσῆ ἐτέχθησαν ἐπὶ μηρῶν Ἰωσήφ.
And Joseph saw the children of Ephraim to the third generation; and the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh were borne on the sides of Joseph.
24
וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל־אֶחָיו אָנֹכִי מֵת וֵאלֹהִים פָּקֹד יִפְקֹד אֶתְכֶם וְהֶעֱלָה אֶתְכֶם מִן־הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקֹב
And Joseph said unto his brethren: 'I die; but G-d will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.'
Καὶ εἶπεν Ἰωσὴφ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς αὐτοῦ, λέγων, ἐγὼ ἀποθνήσκω· ἐπισκοπῇ δὲ ἐπισκέψεται ὁ Θεὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἀνάξει ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῆς γῆς ταύτης εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἣν ὤμοσεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς πατράσιν ἡμῶν, Ἁβραὰμ, Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ Ἰακώβ.
And Joseph spoke to his brethren, saying, I die, and God will surely visit you, and will bring you out of this land to the land concerning which God swore to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
25
וַיַּשְׁבַּע יוֹסֵף אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר פָּקֹד יִפְקֹד אֱלֹהִים אֶתְכֶם וְהַעֲלִתֶם אֶת־עַצְמֹתַי מִזֶּה
And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying: 'G-d will surely remember you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.'
Καὶ ὥρκισεν Ἰωσὴφ τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ, λέγων, ἐν τῇ ἐπισκοπῇ ᾗ ἐπισκέψηται ὁ Θεὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ συνανοίσετε τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ἐντεῦθεν μεθʼ ὑμῶν.
And Joseph adjured the sons of Israel, saying, At the visitation with which God shall visit you, then ye shall carry up my bones hence with you.
26
וַיָּמָת יוֹסֵף בֶּן־מֵאָה וָעֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים וַיַּחַנְטוּ אֹתוֹ וַיִּישֶׂם בָּאָרוֹן בְּמִצְרָיִם 1533 50 4 4
So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Καὶ ἐτελεύτησεν Ἰωσὴφ ἐτῶν ἑκατὸν δέκα· καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἔθηκαν ἐν τῇ σορῷ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ.
And Joseph died, aged a hundred and ten years; and they prepared his corpse, and put him in a coffin in Egypt.

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.