Textorah

Judges 6

1
וַיַּעֲשׂוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה וַיִּתְּנֵם יְהוָה בְּיַד־מִדְיָן שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים
And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of HaShem; and HaShem delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
Καὶ ἐποίησαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιον Κυρίου, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοὺς Κύριος ἐν χειρὶ Μαδιὰμ ἑπτὰ ἔτη.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
2
וַתָּעָז יַד־מִדְיָן עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִפְּנֵי מִדְיָן עָשׂוּ לָהֶם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַמִּנְהָרוֹת אֲשֶׁר בֶּהָרִים וְאֶת־הַמְּעָרוֹת וְאֶת־הַמְּצָדוֹת
And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.
Καὶ ἴσχυσε χεὶρ Μαδιὰμ ἐπὶ Ἰσραήλ· καὶ ἐποίησαν ἑαυτοῖς οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ προσώπου Μαδιὰμ τὰς τρυμαλιὰς τὰς ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι, καὶ τὰ σπήλαια, καὶ τὰ κρεμαστά.
And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and the children of Israel made for themselves because of Midian the caves in the mountains, and the dens, and the holes in the rocks.
3
וְהָיָה אִם־זָרַע יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעָלָה מִדְיָן ו͏ַעֲמָלֵק וּבְנֵי־קֶדֶם וְעָלוּ עָלָיו
And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them;
Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐὰν ἔσπειραν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἀνέβαινον Μαδιὰμ καὶ Ἀμαλὴκ, καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ ἀνατολῶν συνανέβαινον αὐτοῖς, καὶ παρενέβαλον εἰς αὐτοὺς,
And it came to pass when the children of Israel sowed, that Midian and Amalek went up, and the children of the east went up together with them.
4
וַיַּחֲנוּ עֲלֵיהֶם וַיַּשְׁחִיתוּ אֶת־יְבוּל הָאָרֶץ עַד־בּוֹאֲךָ עַזָּה וְלֹא־יַשְׁאִירוּ מִחְיָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וְשֶׂה וָשׁוֹר וַחֲמוֹר
and they encamped against them, and destroyed the produce of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.
καὶ διέφθειρον τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῶν ἕως ἐλθεῖν εἰς Γάζαν· καὶ οὐ κατελείποντο ὑπόστασιν ζωῆς ἐν τῇ γῇ Ἰσραὴλ, οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς ποιμνίοις ταῦρον καὶ ὄνον.
And they encamped against them, and destroyed their fruits until they came to Gaza; and they left not the support of life in the land of Israel, not even ox or ass among the herds.
5
כִּי הֵם וּמִקְנֵיהֶם יַעֲלוּ וְאָהֳלֵיהֶם יבאו וּבָאוּ כְדֵי־אַרְבֶּה לָרֹב וְלָהֶם וְלִגְמַלֵּיהֶם אֵין מִסְפָּר וַיָּבֹאוּ בָאָרֶץ לְשַׁחֲתָהּ
For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it.
Ὅτι αὐτοὶ καὶ αἱ κτήσεις αὐτῶν ἀνέβαινον, καὶ αἱ σκηναὶ αὐτῶν παρεγίνοντο, καθὼς ἀκρὶς εἰς πλῆθος, καὶ αὐτοῖς καὶ ταῖς καμήλοις αὐτῶν οὐκ ἦν ἀριθμός· καὶ ἤρχοντο εἰς τὴν γῆν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ διέφθειρον αὐτήν.
For they and their stock came up, and their tents were with them, as the locust in multitude, and there was no number to them and their camels; and they came to the land of Israel, and laid it waste.
6
וַיִּדַּל יִשְׂרָאֵל מְאֹד מִפְּנֵי מִדְיָן וַיִּזְעֲקוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־יְהוָה
And Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried unto HaShem.
Καὶ ἐπτώχευσεν Ἰσραὴλ σφόδρα ἀπὸ προσώπου Μαδιάμ.
And Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian.
7
וַיְהִי כִּי־זָעֲקוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־יְהוָה עַל אֹדוֹת מִדְיָן
And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto HaShem because of Midian,
Καὶ ἐβόησαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ πρὸς Κύριον ἀπὸ προσώπου Μαδιάμ.
And the children of Israel cried to the Lord because of Midian.
8
וַיִּשְׁלַח יְהוָה אִישׁ נָבִיא אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם כֹּה־אָמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָנֹכִי הֶעֱלֵיתִי אֶתְכֶם מִמִּצְרַיִם וָאֹצִיא אֶתְכֶם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים
that HaShem sent a prophet unto the children of Israel; and he said unto them: 'Thus saith HaShem, the G-d of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;
Καὶ ἐξαπέστειλε Κύριος ἄνδρα προφήτην πρὸς τοὺς νἱοὺς Ἰσραήλ· καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, τάδε λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ, ἐγώ εἰμι ὃς ἀνήγαγον ὑμᾶς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἐξήγαγον ὑμᾶς ἐξ οἴκου δουλείας ὑμῶν·
And the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel; and he said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I am he that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I brought you up out of the house of your bondage.
9
וָאַצִּל אֶתְכֶם מִיַּד מִצְרַיִם וּמִיַּד כָּל־לֹחֲצֵיכֶם וָאֲגָרֵשׁ אוֹתָם מִפְּנֵיכֶם וָאֶתְּנָה לָכֶם אֶת־אַרְצָם
and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land.
καὶ ἐῤῥυσάμην ὑμᾶς ἐκ χειρὸς Αἰγύπτου καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς πάντων τῶν θλιβόντων ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἐξέβαλον αὐτοὺς ἐκ προσώπου ὑμῶν· καὶ ἔδωκα ὑμῖν τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν.
And I delivered you out of the hand of Egypt, and out of the hand of all that afflicted you, and I cast them out before you; and I gave you their land.
10
וָאֹמְרָה לָכֶם אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם לֹא תִירְאוּ אֶת־אֱלֹהֵי הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם יוֹשְׁבִים בְּאַרְצָם וְלֹא שְׁמַעְתֶּם בְּקוֹלִי
And I said unto you: I am HaShem your G-d; ye shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but ye have not hearkened unto My voice.'
Καὶ εἶπα ὑμῖν, ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῶν· οὐ φοβηθήσεσθε τοὺς θεοὺς τοῦ Ἀμοῤῥαίου, ἐν οἷς ὑμεῖς κάθησθε ἐν τῇ γῇ αὐτῶν· καὶ οὐκ εἰσηκούσατε τῆς φωνῆς μου.
And I said to you, I [am] the Lord your God: ye shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but ye hearkened not to my voice.
11
וַיָּבֹא מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה וַיֵּשֶׁב תַּחַת הָאֵלָה אֲשֶׁר בְּעָפְרָה אֲשֶׁר לְיוֹאָשׁ אֲבִי הָעֶזְרִי וְגִדְעוֹן בְּנוֹ חֹבֵט חִטִּים בַּגַּת לְהָנִיס מִפְּנֵי מִדְיָן
And the angel of HaShem came, and sat under the terebinth which was in Ophrah, that belonged unto Joash the Abiezrite; and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
Καὶ ἦλθεν ἄγγελος Κυρίου, καὶ ἐκάθισεν ὑπὸ τὴν τερέμινθον τὴν ἐν Ἐφραθὰ ἐν γῇ Ἰωὰς πατρὸς τοῦ Ἐσδρί· καὶ Γεδεὼν ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ῥαβδίζων σῖτον ἐν ληνῷ εἰς ἐκφυγεῖν ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Μαδίαμ.
And an angel of the Lord came, and sat down under the fir tree, which was in Ophrah in the land of Joash father of Ezer; and Gideon his son [was] threshing wheat in a winepress in order to escape from the face of Midian.
12
וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו יְהוָה עִמְּךָ גִּבּוֹר הֶחָיִל
And the angel of HaShem appeared unto him, and said unto him: 'The HaShem is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.'
Καὶ ὤφθη αὐτῷ ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου, καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὸν, Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ, ἰσχυρὸς τῶν δυνάμεων.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord [is] with thee, thou mighty in strength.
13
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו גִּדְעוֹן בִּי אֲדֹנִי וְיֵשׁ יְהוָה עִמָּנוּ וְלָמָּה מְצָאַתְנוּ כָּל־זֹאת וְאַיֵּה כָל־נִפְלְאֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר סִפְּרוּ־לָנוּ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ לֵאמֹר הֲלֹא מִמִּצְרַיִם הֶעֱלָנוּ יְהוָה וְעַתָּה נְטָשָׁנוּ יְהוָה וַיִּתְּנֵנוּ בְּכַף־מִדְיָן
And Gideon said unto him: 'Oh, my lord, if HaShem be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all His wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying: Did not HaShem bring us up from Egypt? but now HaShem hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.'
Καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὸν Γεδεὼν, ἐν ἐμοὶ, Κύριέ μου· καὶ εἰ ἔστι Κύριος μεθʼ ἡμῶν, εἰς τί εὗρεν ἡμᾶς τὰ κακὰ ταῦτα; καὶ ποῦ ἐστι πάντα τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ, ἃ διηγήσαντο ἡμῖν οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν, λέγοντες, μὴ οὐχὶ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἀνήγαγεν ἡμᾶς Κύριος; καὶ νῦν ἐξέῤῥιψεν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἔδωκεν ἡμᾶς ἐν χειρὶ Μαδίαμ.
And Gideon said to him, [Be gracious] with me, my Lord: but if the Lord is with us, why have these evils found us? and where are all his miracles, which our fathers have related to us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? and now he has cast us out, and given us into the hand of Midian.
14
וַיִּפֶן אֵלָיו יְהוָה וַיֹּאמֶר לֵךְ בְּכֹחֲךָ זֶה וְהוֹשַׁעְתָּ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִכַּף מִדְיָן הֲלֹא שְׁלַחְתִּיךָ
And HaShem turned towards him, and said: 'Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian; have not I sent thee?'
Καὶ ἐπέστρεψε πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου, καὶ εἶπε, πορεύου ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ σου ταύτῃ, καὶ σώσεις τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ χειρὸς Μαδιάμ· ἰδοὺ ἐξαπέστειλά σε.
And the angel of the Lord turned to him, and said, Go in this thy strength, and thou shalt save Israel out of the hand of Midian: behold, I have sent thee.
15
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו בִּי אֲדֹנָי בַּמָּה אוֹשִׁיעַ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל הִנֵּה אַלְפִּי הַדַּל בִּמְנַשֶּׁה וְאָנֹכִי הַצָּעִיר בְּבֵית אָבִי
And he said unto him: 'Oh, my lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.'
Καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὸν Γεδεὼν, ἐν ἐμοὶ, Κύριέ μου, ἐν τίνι σώσω τὸν Ἰσραήλ; ἰδοὺ ἡ χιλιάς μου ἠσθένησεν ἐν Μανασσῇ, καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι μικρότερος ἐν οἴκῳ τοῦ πατρός μου.
And Gideon said to him, [Be gracious] with me, my Lord: whereby shall I save Israel? behold, my thousand is weakened in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.
16
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו יְהוָה כִּי אֶהְיֶה עִמָּךְ וְהִכִּיתָ אֶת־מִדְיָן כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד
And HaShem said unto him: 'Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.'
Καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου, Κύριος ἔσται μετὰ σοῦ, καὶ πατάξεις τὴν Μαδιὰμ ὡσεὶ ἄνδρα ἕνα.
And the angel of the Lord said to him, The Lord shall be with thee, and thou shalt smite Midian as one man.
17
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אִם־נָא מָצָאתִי חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ וְעָשִׂיתָ לִּי אוֹת שָׁאַתָּה מְדַבֵּר עִמִּי
And he said unto him: 'If now I have found favour in thy sight, then show me a sign that it is thou that talkest with me.
Καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὸν Γεδεὼν, εἰ δὴ εὗρον ἔλεος ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου, καὶ ποιήσεις μοι σήμερον πᾶν ὅτι, ἐλάλησας μετʼ ἐμοῦ,
And Gideon said to him, If now I have found mercy in thine eyes, and thou wilt do this day for me all that thou hast spoken of with me,
18
אַל־נָא תָמֻשׁ מִזֶּה עַד־בֹּאִי אֵלֶיךָ וְהֹצֵאתִי אֶת־מִנְחָתִי וְהִנַּחְתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ וַיֹּאמַר אָנֹכִי אֵשֵׁב עַד שׁוּבֶךָ
Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before thee.' And he said: 'I will tarry until thou come back.'
μὴ χωρισθῇς ἐντεῦθεν ἕως τοῦ ἐλθεῖν με πρὸς σὲ, καὶ ἐξοίσω τὴν θυσίαν καὶ θύσω ἐνώπιόν σου· καὶ εἶπεν, ἐγώ εἰμι καθίσομαι ἕως τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι σε.
depart not hence until I come to thee, and I will bring forth an offering and offer it before thee: and he said, I will remain until thou return.
19
וְגִדְעוֹן בָּא וַיַּעַשׂ גְּדִי־עִזִּים וְאֵיפַת־קֶמַח מַצּוֹת הַבָּשָׂר שָׂם בַּסַּל וְהַמָּרַק שָׂם בַּפָּרוּר וַיּוֹצֵא אֵלָיו אֶל־תַּחַת הָאֵלָה וַיַּגַּשׁ
And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the terebinth, and presented it.
Καὶ Γεδεὼν εἰσῆλθε, καὶ ἐποίησεν ἔριφον αἰγῶν καὶ οἰφὶ ἀλεύρου ἄζυμα, καὶ τὰ κρέα ἔθηκεν ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ, καὶ τὸν ζωμὸν ἔβαλεν ἐν τῇ χύτρᾳ, καὶ ἐξήνεγκεν αὐτὰ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τὴν τερέμινθον, καὶ προσήγγισε.
And Gideon went in, and prepared a kid of the goats, and an ephah of fine flour unleavened; and he put the flesh in the basket, and poured the broth into the pot, and brought them forth to him under the turpentine tree, and drew nigh.
20
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים קַח אֶת־הַבָּשָׂר וְאֶת־הַמַּצּוֹת וְהַנַּח אֶל־הַסֶּלַע הַלָּז וְאֶת־הַמָּרַק שְׁפוֹךְ וַיַּעַשׂ כֵּן
And the angel of G-d said unto him: 'Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth.' And he did so.
Καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ, λάβε τὰ κρέα καὶ τὰ ἄζυμα, καὶ θὲς πρὸς τὴν πέτραν ἐκείνην, καὶ τὸν ζωμὸν ἐχόμενα ἔκχεε· καὶ ἐποιήσεν οὕτως.
And the angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and put them on that rock, and pour out the broth close by: and he did so.
21
וַיִּשְׁלַח מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה אֶת־קְצֵה הַמִּשְׁעֶנֶת אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדוֹ וַיִּגַּע בַּבָּשָׂר וּבַמַּצּוֹת וַתַּעַל הָאֵשׁ מִן־הַצּוּר וַתֹּאכַל אֶת־הַבָּשָׂר וְאֶת־הַמַּצּוֹת וּמַלְאַךְ יְהוָה הָלַךְ מֵעֵינָיו
Then the angel of HaShem put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of HaShem departed out of his sight.
Καὶ ἐξέτεινεν ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου τῆς ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἥψατο τῶν κρεῶν καὶ τὼν ἀζύμων· καὶ ἀνέβη πῦρ ἐκ τῆς πέτρας, καὶ κατέφαγε τὰ κρέα καὶ τοὺς ἀζύμους· καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος Κυρίου ἐπορεύθη ἀπʼ ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ.
And the angel of the Lord stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened bread; and fire came up out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened bread, and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22
וַיַּרְא גִּדְעוֹן כִּי־מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה הוּא וַיֹּאמֶר גִּדְעוֹן אֲהָהּ אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה כִּי־עַל־כֵּן רָאִיתִי מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים
And Gideon saw that he was the angel of HaShem; and Gideon said: 'Alas, O L-rd GOD! forasmuch as I have seen the angel of HaShem face to face.'
Καὶ εἶδε Γεδεὼν, ὅτι ἄγγελος Κυρίου οὗτός ἐστι· καὶ εἶπε Γεδεὼν, ἆ ἆ, Κύριέ μου Κύριε, ὅτι εἶδον τὸν ἄγγελον Κυρίου πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον.
And Gideon saw that he was an angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, Ah, ah, Lord my God! for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.
23
וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ יְהוָה שָׁלוֹם לְךָ אַל־תִּירָא לֹא תָּמוּת
And HaShem said unto him: 'Peace be unto thee; fear not; thou shalt not die.'
Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Κύριος, εἰρήνη σοι, μὴ φοβοῦ, οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνῃς.
And the Lord said to him, Peace be to thee, fear not, thou shalt not die.
24
וַיִּבֶן שָׁם גִּדְעוֹן מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה וַיִּקְרָא־לוֹ יְהוָה שָׁלוֹם עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה עוֹדֶנּוּ בְּעָפְרָת אֲבִי הָעֶזְרִי
Then Gideon built an altar there unto HaShem, and called it 'Adonai-shalom'; unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐκεῖ Γεδεὼν θυσιαστήριον τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ἐπεκάλεσεν αὐτῷ, εἰρήνη Κυρίου, ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης, ἔτι αὐτοῦ ὄντος ἐν Ἐφραθὰ πατρὸς τοῦ Ἐσδρί.
And Gideon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it The peace of the Lord, until this day, as it is still in Ophrah of the father of Ezer.
25
וַיְהִי בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ יְהוָה קַח אֶת־פַּר־הַשּׁוֹר אֲשֶׁר לְאָבִיךָ וּפַר הַשֵּׁנִי שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים וְהָרַסְתָּ אֶת־מִזְבַּח הַבַּעַל אֲשֶׁר לְאָבִיךָ וְאֶת־הָאֲשֵׁרָה אֲשֶׁר־עָלָיו תִּכְרֹת
And it came to pass the same night, that HaShem said unto him: 'Take thy father's bullock, and the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is by it;
Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ἐκείνῃ, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Κύριος, λάβε τὸν μόσχον τὸν ταῦρον ὅς ἐστι τῷ πατρί σου, καὶ μόσχον δεύτερον ἑπταετῇ, καὶ καθελεῖς τὸ θυσιαστήριον τοῦ Βάαλ ὅ ἐστι τῷ πατρί σου, καὶ τὸ ἄλσος τὸ ἐπʼ αὐτὸ ὀλοθρεύσεις.
And it came to pass in that night, that the Lord said to him, Take the young bullock which thy father has, even the second bullock of seven years old, and thou shalt destroy the altar of Baal which thy father has, and the grove which is by it thou shalt destroy.
26
וּבָנִיתָ מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ עַל רֹאשׁ הַמָּעוֹז הַזֶּה בַּמַּעֲרָכָה וְלָקַחְתָּ אֶת־הַפָּר הַשֵּׁנִי וְהַעֲלִיתָ עוֹלָה בַּעֲצֵי הָאֲשֵׁרָה אֲשֶׁר תִּכְרֹת
and build an altar unto HaShem thy G-d upon the top of this stronghold, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah which thou shalt cut down.'
Καὶ οἰκοδομήσεις θυσιαστήριον τῷ Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ σου ἐπὶ κορυφὴν Μαωζὶ τούτου ἐν τῇ παρατάξει καὶ λήψῃ τὸν μόσχον τὸν δεύτερον, καὶ ἀνοίσεις ὁλοκαυτώματα ἐν τοῖς ξύλοις τοῦ ἄλσοῦς, οὗ ἐξολοθρεύσεις.
And thou shalt build an altar to the Lord thy God on the top of this Maozi in the ordering [it], and thou shalt take the second bullock, and shalt offer up whole burnt offerings with the wood of the grove, which thou shalt destroy.
27
וַיִּקַּח גִּדְעוֹן עֲשָׂרָה אֲנָשִׁים מֵעֲבָדָיו וַיַּעַשׂ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלָיו יְהוָה וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרֵא אֶת־בֵּית אָבִיו וְאֶת־אַנְשֵׁי הָעִיר מֵעֲשׂוֹת יוֹמָם וַיַּעַשׂ לָיְלָה
Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as HaShem had spoken unto him; and it came to pass, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
Καὶ ἔλαβε Γεδεὼν δέκα ἄνδρας ἀπὸ τῶν δούλων ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ἐποίησεν ὃν τρόπον ἐλάλησε πρὸς αὐτὸν Κύριος· καὶ ἐγενήθη ὡς ἐφοβήθη τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας τῆς πόλεως τοῦ ποιῆσαι ἡμέρας, καὶ ἐποίησε νυκτός.
And Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord spoke to him: and it came to pass, as he feared the house of his father and the men of the city if he should do it by day, that he did it by night.
28
וַיַּשְׁכִּימוּ אַנְשֵׁי הָעִיר בַּבֹּקֶר וְהִנֵּה נֻתַּץ מִזְבַּח הַבַּעַל וְהָאֲשֵׁרָה אֲשֶׁר־עָלָיו כֹּרָתָה וְאֵת הַפָּר הַשֵּׁנִי הֹעֲלָה עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ הַבָּנוּי
And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
Καὶ ὤρθρισαν οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς πόλεως τοπρωΐ· καὶ ἰδοὺ καθῄρητο τὸ θυσιαστήριον τοῦ Βάαλ, καὶ τὸ ἄλσος τὸ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ ὠλόθρευτο· καὶ εἶδον τὸν μόσχον τὸν δεύτερον, ὃν ἀνήνεγκεν ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὸ ᾠκοδομημένον.
And the men of the city rose up early in the morning; and behold, the altar of Baal had been demolished, and the grove by it had been destroyed; and they saw the second bullock, which Gideon offered on the altar that had been built.
29
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ מִי עָשָׂה הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה וַיִּדְרְשׁוּ וַיְבַקְשׁוּ וַיֹּאמְרוּ גִּדְעוֹן בֶּן־יוֹאָשׁ עָשָׂה הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה
And they said one to another: 'Who hath done this thing?' And when they inquired and asked, they said: 'Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.'
Καὶ εἶπεν ἀνὴρ πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ, τίς ἐποίησε τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο; καὶ ἐπεζήτησαν καὶ ἠρεύνησαν, καὶ ἔγνωσαν ὅτι Γεδεὼν υἱὸς Ἰωὰς ἐποίησε τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο.
And a man said to his neighbor, Who has done this thing? and they inquired and searched, and learned that Gideon the son of Joash had done this thing.
30
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אַנְשֵׁי הָעִיר אֶל־יוֹאָשׁ הוֹצֵא אֶת־בִּנְךָ וְיָמֹת כִּי נָתַץ אֶת־מִזְבַּח הַבַּעַל וְכִי כָרַת הָאֲשֵׁרָה אֲשֶׁר־עָלָיו
Then the men of the city said unto Joash: 'Bring out thy son, that he may die; because he hath broken down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the Asherah that was by it.'
Καὶ εἶπαν οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς πόλεως πρὸς Ἰωὰς, ἐξένεγκε τὸν υἱόν σου, καὶ ἀποθανέτω, ὅτι καθεῖλε τὸ θυσιαστήριον τοῦ Βάαλ, καὶ ὅτι ὠλόθρευσε τὸ ἄλσος τὸ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ.
And the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out thy son, and let him die, because he has destroyed the altar of Baal, and because he has destroyed the grove that is by it.
31
וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹאָשׁ לְכֹל אֲשֶׁר־עָמְדוּ עָלָיו הַאַתֶּם תְּרִיבוּן לַבַּעַל אִם־אַתֶּם תּוֹשִׁיעוּן אוֹתוֹ אֲשֶׁר יָרִיב לוֹ יוּמַת עַד־הַבֹּקֶר אִם־אֱלֹהִים הוּא יָרֶב לוֹ כִּי נָתַץ אֶת־מִזְבְּחוֹ
And Joash said unto all that stood against him: 'Will ye contend for Baal? or will ye save him? he that will contend for him, shall be put to death before morning; if he be a god, let him contend for himself, because one hath broken down his altar.'
Καὶ εἶπε Γεδεὼν υἱὸς Ἰωὰς τοῖς ἀνδράσι πᾶσιν, οἳ ἐπανέστησαν αὐτῷ, μὴ ὑμεῖς νῦν δικάζεσθε ὑπὲρ τοῦ Βάαλ; ἢ ὑμεῖς σώσετε αὐτόν; ὃς ἐὰν δικάσηται αὐτῷ, θανατωθήτω ἕως πρωΐ· εἰ θεός ἐστι, δικαζέσθω αὐτῷ, ὅτι καθεῖλε τὸ θυσιαστήριον αὐτοῦ.
And Gideon the son of Joash said to all the men who rose up against him, Do ye now plead for Baal, or will ye save him? whoever will plead for him, let him be slain this morning: if he be a god let him plead for himself, because [one] has thrown down his altar.
32
וַיִּקְרָא־לוֹ בַיּוֹם־הַהוּא יְרֻבַּעַל לֵאמֹר יָרֶב בּוֹ הַבַּעַל כִּי נָתַץ אֶת־מִזְבְּחוֹ
Therefore on that day he was called Jerubbaal, saying: 'Let Baal contend against him, because he hath broken down his altar.'
Καὶ ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ Ἱεροβάαλ, λέγων, δικαζέσθω ἐν αὐτῷ ὁ Βάαλ, ὅτι καθῃρέθη τὸ θυσιαστήριον αὐτοῦ.
And he called it in that day Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead thereby, because his altar has been thrown down.
33
וְכָל־מִדְיָן וַעֲמָלֵק וּבְנֵי־קֶדֶם נֶאֶסְפוּ יַחְדָּו וַיַּעַבְרוּ וַיַּחֲנוּ בְּעֵמֶק יִזְרְעֶאל
Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.
Καὶ πᾶσα Μαδιὰμ, καὶ Ἀμαλὴκ, καὶ υἱοὶ ἀνατολῶν συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τοαυτὸ, καὶ παρενέβαλον ἐν τῇ κοιλάδι Ἰεζραέλ.
And all Midian, and Amalek, and the sons of the east gathered themselves together, and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.
34
וְרוּחַ יְהוָה לָבְשָׁה אֶת־גִּדְעוֹן וַיִּתְקַע בַּשּׁוֹפָר וַיִזָּעֵק אֲבִיעֶזֶר אַחֲרָיו
But the spirit of HaShem clothed Gideon; and he blew a horn; and Abiezer was gathered together after him.
Καὶ πνεῦμα Κυρίου ἐνέδυσε τὸν Γεδεὼν, καὶ ἐσάλπισεν ἐν κερατίνῃ, καὶ ἐβόησεν Ἀβιέζερ ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ.
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew with the horn, and Abiezer came to help after him.
35
וּמַלְאָכִים שָׁלַח בְּכָל־מְנַשֶּׁה וַיִזָּעֵק גַּם־הוּא אַחֲרָיו וּמַלְאָכִים שָׁלַח בְּאָשֵׁר וּבִזְבֻלוּן וּבְנַפְתָּלִי וַיַּעֲלוּ לִקְרָאתָם
And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; and they also were gathered together after him; and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
Καὶ ἀγγέλους ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς πάντα Μανασσῆ, καὶ ἐν Ἀσὴρ, καὶ ἐν Ζαβουλὼν, καὶ ἐν Νεφθαλί· καὶ ἀνέβη εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτῶν.
And [Gideon] sent messengers into all Manasseh, and into Asher, and into Zebulun, and into Naphtali; and he went up to meet them.
36
וַיֹּאמֶר גִּדְעוֹן אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִים אִם־יֶשְׁךָ מוֹשִׁיעַ בְּיָדִי אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ
And Gideon said unto G-d: 'If Thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as Thou hast spoken,
Καὶ εἶπε Γεδεὼν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, εἰ σὺ σώζεις ἐν χειρί μου τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καθὼς ἐλάλησας,
And Gideon said to God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said,
37
הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי מַצִּיג אֶת־גִּזַּת הַצֶּמֶר בַּגֹּרֶן אִם טַל יִהְיֶה עַל־הַגִּזָּה לְבַדָּהּ וְעַל־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ חֹרֶב וְיָדַעְתִּי כִּי־תוֹשִׁיעַ בְּיָדִי אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ
behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as Thou hast spoken.'
ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ τίθημι τὸν πόκον τοῦ ἐρίου ἐν τῇ ἅλωνι· ἐὰν δρόσος γένηται ἐπὶ τὸν πόκον μόνον, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ξηρασία, γνώσομαι ὅτι σώσεις ἐν χειρί μου τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καθὼς ἐλάλησας.
behold, I put the fleece of wool in the threshing floor: if there be dew on the fleece only, and drought on all the ground, I shall know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said.
38
וַיְהִי־כֵן וַיַּשְׁכֵּם מִמָּחֳרָת וַיָּזַר אֶת־הַגִּזָּה וַיִּמֶץ טַל מִן־הַגִּזָּה מְלוֹא הַסֵּפֶל מָיִם
And it was so; for he rose up early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water.
Καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως· καὶ ὤρθρισε τῇ ἐπαύριον, καὶ ἐξεπίασε τὸν πόκον, καὶ ἔσταξε δρόσος ἀπὸ τοῦ πόκου πλήρης λεκάνη ὕδατος.
And it was so: and he rose up early in the morning, and wrung the fleece, and dew dropped from the fleece, a bowl full of water.
39
וַיֹּאמֶר גִּדְעוֹן אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִים אַל־יִחַר אַפְּךָ בִּי וַאֲדַבְּרָה אַךְ הַפָּעַם אֲנַסֶּה נָּא־רַק־הַפַּעַם בַּגִּזָּה יְהִי־נָא חֹרֶב אֶל־הַגִּזָּה לְבַדָּהּ וְעַל־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ יִהְיֶה־טָּל
And Gideon said unto G-d: 'Let not Thine anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: let me make trial, I pray Thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.'
Καὶ εἶπε Γεδεὼν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, μὴ δὴ ὀργισθήτω ὁ θυμός σου ἐν ἐμοὶ, καὶ λαλήσω ἔτι ἅπαξ· πειράσω δὴ καί γε ἔτι ἅπαξ ἐν τῷ πόκῳ· καὶ γενέσθω ἡ ξηρασία ἐπὶ τὸν πόκον μόνον, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν γενηθήτω δρόσος.
And Gideon said to God, Let not, I pray thee, thine anger be kindled with me, and I will speak yet once; I will even yet make one trial more with the fleece: let now the drought be upon the fleece only, and let there be dew on all the ground.
40
וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים כֵּן בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא וַיְהִי־חֹרֶב אֶל־הַגִּזָּה לְבַדָּהּ וְעַל־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ הָיָה טָל
And G-d did so that night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
Καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς οὕτως ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ἐκείνῃ· καὶ ἐγένετο ξηρασία ἐπὶ τὸν πόκον μόνον, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐγενήθη δρόσος.
And God did so in that night; and there was drought on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

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.