Textorah

Judges 13

1
וַיֹּסִפוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה וַיִּתְּנֵם יְהוָה בְּיַד־פְּלִשְׁתִּים אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה
And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of HaShem; and HaShem delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
Καὶ προσέθηκαν ἔτι οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ ποιῆσαι τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιον Κυρίου· καὶ παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς Κύριος ἐν χειρὶ Φυλιστιῒμ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη.
And the children of Israel yet again committed iniquity before the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2
וַיְהִי אִישׁ אֶחָד מִצָּרְעָה מִמִּשְׁפַּחַת הַדָּנִי וּשְׁמוֹ מָנוֹחַ וְאִשְׁתּוֹ עֲקָרָה וְלֹא יָלָדָה
And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bore not.
Καὶ ἦν ἀνὴρ εἷς ἀπὸ Σαραὰ ἀπὸ δήμου συγγενείας τοῦ Δανὶ, καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῷ Μανωὲ, καὶ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ στεῖρα καὶ οὐκ ἔτεκε.
And there was a man of Zorah, of the family of the kindred of Dan, and his name was Manoah, and his wife was barren, and bore not.
3
וַיֵּרָא מַלְאַךְ־יְהוָה אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ הִנֵּה־נָא אַתְּ־עֲקָרָה וְלֹא יָלַדְתְּ וְהָרִית וְיָלַדְתְּ בֵּן
And the angel of HaShem appeared unto the woman, and said unto her: 'Behold now, thou art barren, and hast not borne; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Καὶ ὤφθη ἄγγελος Κυρίου πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὴν, ἰδοὺ σὺ στεῖρα καὶ οὐ τέτοκας, καὶ συλλήψῃ υἱόν.
And an angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold, thou art barren and hast not born; yet thou shalt conceive a son.
4
וְעַתָּה הִשָּׁמְרִי נָא וְאַל־תִּשְׁתִּי יַיִן וְשֵׁכָר וְאַל־תֹּאכְלִי כָּל־טָמֵא
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.
Καὶ νῦν φύλαξαι δὴ, καὶ μὴ πίῃς οἶνον καὶ μέθυσμα, καὶ μὴ φάγῃς πᾶν ἀκάθαρτον,
And now be very cautious, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing;
5
כִּי הִנָּךְ הָרָה וְיֹלַדְתְּ בֵּן וּמוֹרָה לֹא־יַעֲלֶה עַל־רֹאשׁוֹ כִּי־נְזִיר אֱלֹהִים יִהְיֶה הַנַּעַר מִן־הַבָּטֶן וְהוּא יָחֵל לְהוֹשִׁיעַ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִיַּד פְּלִשְׁתִּים
For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come upon his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite unto G-d from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.'
ὅτι ἰδοὺ σὺ ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχεις καὶ τέξῃ υἱόν· καὶ σίδηρος ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀναβήσεται, ὅτι Ναζὶρ Θεοῦ ἔσται τὸ παιδάριον ἀπὸ τῆς κοιλίας· καὶ αὐτὸς ᾄρξεται σῶσαι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ χειρὸς Φυλιστιΐμ.
for behold, thou art with child, and shalt bring forth a son; and there shall come no razor upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.
6
וַתָּבֹא הָאִשָּׁה וַתֹּאמֶר לְאִישָׁהּ לֵאמֹר אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים בָּא אֵלַי וּמַרְאֵהוּ כְּמַרְאֵה מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים נוֹרָא מְאֹד וְלֹא שְׁאִלְתִּיהוּ אֵי־מִזֶּה הוּא וְאֶת־שְׁמוֹ לֹא־הִגִּיד לִי
Then the woman came and told her husband, saying: 'A man of G-d came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of G-d, very terrible; and I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name;
Καὶ εἰσῆλθεν ἡ γυνὴ, καὶ εἶπε τῷ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς, λέγουσα, ἄνθρωπος Θεοῦ ἦλθε πρὸς μὲ, καὶ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ὡς εἶδος ἀγγέλου Θεοῦ, φοβερὸν σφόδρα· καὶ οὐκ ἠρώτησα αὐτὸν πόθεν ἐστὶ, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπήγγειλέ μοι.
And the woman went in, and spoke to her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his appearance [was as] of an angel of God, very dreadful; and I did not ask him whence he was, and he did not tell me his name.
7
וַיֹּאמֶר לִי הִנָּךְ הָרָה וְיֹלַדְתְּ בֵּן וְעַתָּה אַל־תִּשְׁתִּי יַיִן וְשֵׁכָר וְאַל־תֹּאכְלִי כָּל־טֻמְאָה כִּי־נְזִיר אֱלֹהִים יִהְיֶה הַנַּעַר מִן־הַבֶּטֶן עַד־יוֹם מוֹתוֹ
but he said unto me: Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite unto G-d from the womb to the day of his death.'
Καὶ εἶπέ μοι, ἰδοὺ σὺ ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχεις καὶ τέξῃ υἱόν· καὶ νῦν μὴ πίῃς οἶνον καὶ μέθυσμα, καὶ μὴ φάγῃς πᾶν ἀκάθαρτον, ὅτι Θεοῦ ἅγιον ἔσται τὸ παιδάριον ἀπὸ γαστρὸς ἕως ἡμέρας θανάτου αὐτοῦ.
And he said to me, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bring forth a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing; for the child shall be holy to God from the womb until the day of his death.
8
וַיֶּעְתַּר מָנוֹחַ אֶל־יְהוָה וַיֹּאמַר בִּי אֲדוֹנָי אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַחְתָּ יָבוֹא־נָא עוֹד אֵלֵינוּ וְיוֹרֵנוּ מַה־נַּעֲשֶׂה לַנַּעַר הַיּוּלָּד
Then Manoah entreated HaShem, and said: 'Oh, HaShem, I pray Thee, let the man of G-d whom Thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.'
Καὶ προσηύξατο Μανωὲ πρὸς Κύριον, καὶ εἶπεν, ἐν ἐμοὶ Κύριε ἀδωναϊὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦ Θεοῦ ὃν ἀπέστειλας· ἐλθέτω δὴ ἔτι πρὸς ἡμᾶς, καὶ συμβιβασάτω ἡμᾶς τί ποιήσωμεν τῷ παιδίῳ τῷ τικτομένῳ.
And Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord my Lord, [concerning] the man of God whom thou sentest; let him now come to us once more, and teach us what we shall do to the child about to be born.
9
וַיִּשְׁמַע הָאֱלֹהִים בְּקוֹל מָנוֹחַ וַיָּבֹא מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים עוֹד אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה וְהִיא יוֹשֶׁבֶת בַּשָּׂדֶה וּמָנוֹחַ אִישָׁהּ אֵין עִמָּהּ
And G-d hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of G-d came again unto the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.
Καὶ εἰσήκουσεν ὁ Θεὸς τῆς φωνῆς Μανωὲ, καὶ ἦλθεν ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔτι πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα· καὶ αὕτη ἐκάθητο ἐν ἀγρῷ, καὶ Μανωὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς οὐκ ἦν μετʼ αὐτῆς.
And the Lord heard the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came yet again to the woman; and she sat in the field, and Manoah her husband was not with her.
10
וַתְּמַהֵר הָאִשָּׁה וַתָּרָץ וַתַּגֵּד לְאִישָׁהּ וַתֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו הִנֵּה נִרְאָה אֵלַי הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר־בָּא בַיּוֹם אֵלָי
And the woman made haste, and ran, and told her husband, and said unto him: 'Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me that day.'
Καὶ ἐτάχυνεν ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἔδραμε καὶ ἀνήγγειλε τῷ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς, καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὸν, ἰδοὺ ὦπται πρὸς μὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ ὃς ἦλθεν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πρὸς μέ.
And the woman hastened, and ran, and brought word to her husband, and said to him, Behold the man who came in [the other] day to me has appeared to me.
11
וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ מָנוֹחַ אַחֲרֵי אִשְׁתּוֹ וַיָּבֹא אֶל־הָאִישׁ וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ הַאַתָּה הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּרְתָּ אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אָנִי
And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him: 'Art thou the man that spokest unto the woman?' And he said: 'I am.'
Καὶ ἀνέστη καὶ ἐπορεύθη Μανωὲ ὀπίσω τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἦλθε πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, εἰ σὺ εἶ ὁ ἀνὴρ, ὁ λαλήσας πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα; καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ἄγγελος, ἐγώ.
And Manoah arose and followed his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Art thou the man that spoke to the woman? and the angel said, I [am].
12
וַיֹּאמֶר מָנוֹחַ עַתָּה יָבֹא דְבָרֶיךָ מַה־יִּהְיֶה מִשְׁפַּט־הַנַּעַר וּמַעֲשֵׂהוּ
And Manoah said: 'Now when thy word cometh to pass, what shall be the rule for the child, and what shall be done with him?'
Καὶ εἶπε Μανωὲ, νῦν ἐλεύσεται ὁ λόγος· τίς ἔσται κρίσις τοῦ παιδίου καὶ τὰ ποιήματα αὐτοῦ;
And Manoah said, Now shall [thy] word come to pass: what shall be the ordering of the child, and our dealings with him?
13
וַיֹּאמֶר מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה אֶל־מָנוֹחַ מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר־אָמַרְתִּי אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה תִּשָּׁמֵר
And the angel of HaShem said unto Manoah: 'Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.
Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου πρὸς Μανωὲ, ἀπὸ πάντων ὧν εἴρηκα πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα, φυλάξεται·
And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Of all things concerning which I spoke to the woman, she shall beware.
14
מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר־יֵצֵא מִגֶּפֶן הַיַּיִן לֹא תֹאכַל וְיַיִן וְשֵׁכָר אַל־תֵּשְׁתְּ וְכָל־טֻמְאָה אַל־תֹּאכַל כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־צִוִּיתִיהָ תִּשְׁמֹר
She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the grapevine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe.'
Ἀπὸ παντὸς ὃ ἐκπορεύεται ἐξ ἀμπέλου τοῦ οἴνου, οὐ φάγεται, καὶ οἶνον καὶ μέθυσμα μὴ πιέτω, καὶ πᾶν ἀκάθαρτον μὴ φαγέτω· πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην αὐτῇ, φυλάξεται.
She shall eat of nothing that comes of the vine yielding wine, and let her not drink wine or strong liquor, and let her not eat anything unclean: all things that I have charged her she shall observe.
15
וַיֹּאמֶר מָנוֹחַ אֶל־מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה נַעְצְרָה־נָּא אוֹתָךְ וְנַעֲשֶׂה לְפָנֶיךָ גְּדִי עִזִּים
And Manoah said unto the angel of HaShem: 'I pray thee, let us detain thee, that we may make ready a kid for thee.'
Καὶ εἶπε Μανωὲ πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον Κυρίου, κατάσχωμεν ὧδέ σε, καὶ ποιήσωμεν ἐνώπιόν σου ἔριφον αἰγῶν.
And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Let us detain thee here, and prepare before thee a kid of the goats.
16
וַיֹּאמֶר מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה אֶל־מָנוֹחַ אִם־תַּעְצְרֵנִי לֹא־אֹכַל בְּלַחְמֶךָ וְאִם־תַּעֲשֶׂה עֹלָה לַיהוָה תַּעֲלֶנָּה כִּי לֹא־יָדַע מָנוֹחַ כִּי־מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה הוּא
And the angel of HaShem said unto Manoah: 'Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; and if thou wilt make ready a burnt-offering, thou must offer it unto HaShem.' For Manoah knew not that he was the angel of HaShem.
Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου πρὸς Μανωὲ, ἐὰν κατάσχῃς, οὐ φάγομαι ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρτων σου· καὶ ἐὰν ποιήσῃς ὁλοκαύτωμα, τῷ Κυρίῳ ἀνοίσεις αὐτό· ὅτι οὐκ ἔγνω Μανωὲ, ὅτι ἄγγελος Κυρίου αὐτός.
And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, If thou shouldest detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; and if thou wouldest offer a whole burnt offering, to the Lord thou shalt offer it: for Manoah knew not that he [was] an angel of the Lord.
17
וַיֹּאמֶר מָנוֹחַ אֶל־מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה מִי שְׁמֶךָ כִּי־יָבֹא דבריך דְבָרְךָ וְכִבַּדְנוּךָ
And Manoah said unto the angel of HaShem: 'What is thy name, that when thy words come to pass we may do thee honour?'
Καὶ εἶπε Μανωὲ πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον Κυρίου, τί τὸ ὄνομά σοι, ὅτι ἔλθοι τὸ ῥῆμά σου, καὶ δοξάσομέν σε;
And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What [is] thy name, that [when] thy word shall come to pass, we may glorify thee?
18
וַיֹּאמֶר לּוֹ מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה לָמָּה זֶּה תִּשְׁאַל לִשְׁמִי וְהוּא־פֶלִאי
And the angel of HaShem said unto him: 'Wherefore askest thou after my name, seeing it is hidden?'
Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου, εἰς τί τοῦτο ἐρωτᾷς τὸ ὄνομά μου; καὶ αὐτό ἐστι θαυμαστόν.
And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why dost thou thus ask after my name; whereas it is wonderful?
19
וַיִּקַּח מָנוֹחַ אֶת־גְּדִי הָעִזִּים וְאֶת־הַמִּנְחָה וַיַּעַל עַל־הַצּוּר לַיהוָה וּמַפְלִא לַעֲשׂוֹת וּמָנוֹחַ וְאִשְׁתּוֹ רֹאִים
So Manoah took the kid with the meal-offering, and offered it upon the rock unto HaShem; and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.
Καὶ ἔλαβε Μανωὲ τὸν ἔριφον τῶν αἰγῶν καὶ τὴν θυσίαν, καὶ ἀνήνεγκεν ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν τῷ Κυρίῳ· καὶ διεχώρισε ποιῆσαι, καὶ Μανωὲ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ βλέποντες.
And Manoah took a kid of the goats and its meat offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord; and [the angel] wrought a distinct work, and Manoah and his wife were looking on.
20
וַיְהִי בַעֲלוֹת הַלַּהַב מֵעַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וַיַּעַל מַלְאַךְ־יְהוָה בְּלַהַב הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וּמָנוֹחַ וְאִשְׁתּוֹ רֹאִים וַיִּפְּלוּ עַל־פְּנֵיהֶם אָרְצָה
For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of HaShem ascended in the flame of the altar; and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.
Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἀναβῆναι τὴν φλόγα ἐπάνω τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἀνέβη ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου ἐν τῇ φλογί. καὶ Μανωὲ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ βλέποντες, καὶ ἔπεσον ἐπὶ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν.
And it came to pass when the flame went up above the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord went up in the flame; and Manoah and his wife were looking, and they fell upon their face to the earth.
21
וְלֹא־יָסַף עוֹד מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה לְהֵרָאֹה אֶל־מָנוֹחַ וְאֶל־אִשְׁתּוֹ אָז יָדַע מָנוֹחַ כִּי־מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה הוּא
But the angel of HaShem did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of HaShem.
Καὶ οὐ προσέθηκεν ἔτι ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου ὀφθῆναι πρὸς Μανωὲ καὶ πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ· τότε ἔγνω Μανωὲ, ὅτι ἄγγελος Κυρίου οὗτος.
And the angel appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife: then Manoah knew that this [was] an angel of the Lord.
22
וַיֹּאמֶר מָנוֹחַ אֶל־אִשְׁתּוֹ מוֹת נָמוּת כִּי אֱלֹהִים רָאִינוּ
And Manoah said unto his wife: 'We shall surely die, because we have seen G-d.'
Καὶ εἶπε Μανωὲ πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, θανάτῳ ἀποθανούμεθα ὅτι Θεὸν εἴδομεν.
And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
23
וַתֹּאמֶר לוֹ אִשְׁתּוֹ לוּ חָפֵץ יְהוָה לַהֲמִיתֵנוּ לֹא־לָקַח מִיָּדֵנוּ עֹלָה וּמִנְחָה וְלֹא הֶרְאָנוּ אֶת־כָּל־אֵלֶּה וְכָעֵת לֹא הִשְׁמִיעָנוּ כָּזֹאת
But his wife said unto him: 'If HaShem were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt-offering and a meal-offering at our hand, neither would He have shown us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these.'
Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ, εἰ ἤθελεν ὁ Κύριος θανατῶσαι ἡμᾶς, οὐκ ἂν ἔλαβεν ἐκ χειρὸς ἡμῶν ὁλοκαύτωμα καὶ θυσίαν, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἔδειξεν ἡμῖν ταῦτα πάντα, καὶ καθὼς καιρός οὐκ ἂν ἠκούτισεν ἡμᾶς ταῦτα.
But his wife said to him, If the Lord were pleased to slay us, he would not have received of our hand a whole burnt offering and a meat offering; and he would not have shown us all these things, neither would he have caused us to hear all these things as at this time.
24
וַתֵּלֶד הָאִשָּׁה בֵּן וַתִּקְרָא אֶת־שְׁמוֹ שִׁמְשׁוֹן וַיִּגְדַּל הַנַּעַר וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ יְהוָה
And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and HaShem blessed him.
Καὶ ἔτεκεν ἡ γυνὴ υἱὸν, καὶ ἐκάλεσε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, Σαμψών· καὶ ἡδρύνθη τὸ παιδάριον, καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτὸ Κύριος.
And the woman brought forth a son, and she called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.
25
וַתָּחֶל רוּחַ יְהוָה לְפַעֲמוֹ בְּמַחֲנֵה־דָן בֵּין צָרְעָה וּבֵין אֶשְׁתָּאֹל
And the spirit of HaShem began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Καὶ ἤρξατο πνεῦμα Κυρίου συνεκπορεύεσθαι αὐτῷ ἐν παρεμβολῇ Δὰν, καὶ ἀναμέσον Σαραὰ καὶ ἀναμέσον Ἐσθαόλ.
And the Spirit of the Lord began to go out with him in the camp of Dan, and between Zorah and Eshtaol.

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.