Textorah

Numbers 13

1
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
And HaShem spoke unto Moses, saying:
Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν, λέγων, ἀπόστειλον σεαυτῷ ἄνδρας,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2
שְׁלַח־לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת־אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִי נֹתֵן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִישׁ אֶחָד אִישׁ אֶחָד לְמַטֵּה אֲבֹתָיו תִּשְׁלָחוּ כֹּל נָשִׂיא בָהֶם
'Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them.'
καὶ κατασκεψάσθωσαν τὴν γῆν τῶν Χαναναίων, ἣν ἐγὼ δίδωμι τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ εἰς κατάσχεσιν· ἄνδρα ἕνα κατὰ φυλήν, κατὰ δήμους πατριῶν αὐτῶν ἀποστελεῖς αὐτοὺς, πάντα ἀρχηγὸν ἐξ αὐτῶν.
Send for thee men, and let them spy the land of the Canaanites, which I give to the sons of Israel for a possession; one man for a tribe, thou shalt send them away according to their families, every one of them a prince.
3
וַיִּשְׁלַח אֹתָם מֹשֶׁה מִמִּדְבַּר פָּארָן עַל־פִּי יְהוָה כֻּלָּם אֲנָשִׁים רָאשֵׁי בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵמָּה
And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of HaShem; all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.
Καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς Μωυσῆς ἐκ τῆς ἐρήμου Φαρὰν διὰ φωνῆς Κυρίου· πάντες ἄνδρες ἀρχηγοὶ υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ οὗτοι.
And Moses sent them out of the wilderness of Paran by the word of the Lord; all these [were] the princes of the sons of Israel.
4
וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹתָם לְמַטֵּה רְאוּבֵן שַׁמּוּעַ בֶּן־זַכּוּר
And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.
Καὶ ταῦτα τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν· τῆς φυλῆς Ῥουβὴν, Σαμουὴλ υἱὸς Ζαχούρ.
And these [are] their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.
5
לְמַטֵּה שִׁמְעוֹן שָׁפָט בֶּן־חוֹרִי
Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
Τῆς φυλῆς Συμεὼν, Σαφὰτ υἱὸς Σουρί.
Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
6
לְמַטֵּה יְהוּדָה כָּלֵב בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּה
Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
Τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα, Χάλεβ υἱὸς Ἰεφοννή.
Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
7
לְמַטֵּה יִשָּׂשכָר יִגְאָל בֶּן־יוֹסֵף
Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
Τῆς φυλῆς Ἰσσάχαρ, Ἰλαὰλ υἱὸς Ἰωσήφ.
Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
8
לְמַטֵּה אֶפְרָיִם הוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן־נוּן
Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.
Τῆς φυλῆς Ἐφραὶμ, Αὐσὴ υἱὸς Ναυή.
Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.
9
לְמַטֵּה בִנְיָמִן פַּלְטִי בֶּן־רָפוּא
Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.
Τῆς φυλῆς Βενιαμὶν, Φαλτὶ υἱὸς Ῥαφοῦ.
Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.
10
לְמַטֵּה זְבוּלֻן גַּדִּיאֵל בֶּן־סוֹדִי
Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.
Τῆς φυλῆς Ζαβουλὼν, Γουδιὴλ υἱὸς Σουδί.
Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.
11
לְמַטֵּה יוֹסֵף לְמַטֵּה מְנַשֶּׁה גַּדִּי בֶּן־סוּסִי
Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
Τῆς φυλῆς Ἰωσὴφ τῶν υἱῶν Μανασσῆ, Γαδδὶ υἱὸς Σουσί.
Of the tribe of Joseph of the sons of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
12
לְמַטֵּה דָן עַמִּיאֵל בֶּן־גְּמַלִּי
Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
Τῆς φυλῆς Δὰν, Ἀμιὴλ υἱὸς Γαμαλί.
Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
13
לְמַטֵּה אָשֵׁר סְתוּר בֶּן־מִיכָאֵל
Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.
Τῆς φυλῆς Ἀσὴρ, Σαθοὺρ υἱὸς Μιχαήλ.
Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.
14
לְמַטֵּה נַפְתָּלִי נַחְבִּי בֶּן־וָפְסִי
Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
Τῆς φυλῆς Νεφθαλὶ, Ναβὶ υἱὸς Σαβί.
Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
15
לְמַטֵּה גָד גְּאוּאֵל בֶּן־מָכִי
Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
Τῆς φυλῆς Γὰδ, Γουδιὴλ υἱὸς Μακχί.
Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
16
אֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַח מֹשֶׁה לָתוּר אֶת־הָאָרֶץ וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה לְהוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן־נוּן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ
These are the names of the men that Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
Ταῦτα τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν ἀνδρῶν, οὓς ἀπέστειλε Μωυσῆς κατασκέψασθαι τὴν γῆν· καὶ ἐπωνόμασε Μωυσῆς τὸν Αὐσὴ υἱὸν Ναυὴ, Ἰησοῦν.
These [are] the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; and Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
17
וַיִּשְׁלַח אֹתָם מֹשֶׁה לָתוּר אֶת־אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם עֲלוּ זֶה בַּנֶּגֶב וַעֲלִיתֶם אֶת־הָהָר
And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them: 'Get you up here into the South, and go up into the mountains;
Καὶ ἀπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς Μωυσῆς κατασκέψασθαι τὴν γῆν Χαναὰν, καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτοὺς, ἀνάβητε ταύτῃ τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καὶ ἀναβήσεσθε εἰς τὸ ὄρος,
And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up by this wilderness; and ye shall go up to the mountain,
18
וּרְאִיתֶם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ מַה־הִוא וְאֶת־הָעָם הַיֹּשֵׁב עָלֶיהָ הֶחָזָק הוּא הֲרָפֶה הַמְעַט הוּא אִם־רָב
and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
καὶ ὄψεσθε τὴν γῆν τίς ἐστι, καὶ τὸν λαὸν τὸν ἐγκαθήμενον ἐπʼ αὐτῆς, εἰ ἰσχυρός ἐστιν ἢ ἀσθενὴς, ἢ ὀλίγοι εἰσὶν ἢ πολλοί.
and ye shall see the land, what it is, and the people that dwells on it, whether it is strong or weak, or [whether] they are few or many.
19
וּמָה הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הוּא יֹשֵׁב בָּהּ הֲטוֹבָה הִוא אִם־רָעָה וּמָה הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר־הוּא יוֹשֵׁב בָּהֵנָּה הַבְּמַחֲנִים אִם בְּמִבְצָרִים
and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;
Καὶ τίς ἡ γῆ εἰς ἣν οὗτοι ἐγκάθηνται ἐπʼ αὐτῆς, ἢ καλή ἐστιν ἢ πονηρά· καὶ τίνες αἱ πόλεις ἃς οὗτοι κατοικοῦσιν ἐν αὐταῖς, εἰ ἐν τειχήρεσιν ἢ ἐν ἀτειχίστοις.
And what the land is on which they dwell, [whether] it is good or bad; and what the cities are wherein these dwell, whether they dwell in walled [cities] or unwalled.
20
וּמָה הָאָרֶץ הַשְּׁמֵנָה הִוא אִם־רָזָה הֲיֵשׁ־בָּהּ עֵץ אִם־אַיִן וְהִתְחַזַּקְתֶּם וּלְקַחְתֶּם מִפְּרִי הָאָרֶץ וְהַיָּמִים יְמֵי בִּכּוּרֵי עֲנָבִים
and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.' --Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.--
Καὶ τίς ἡ γῆ, ἢ πίων ἢ παρειμένη· εἰ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῇ δένδρα, ἢ οὔ· καὶ προσκαρτερήσαντες λήψεσθε ἀπὸ τῶν καρπῶν τῆς γῆς. καὶ αἱ ἡμέραι, ἡμέραι ἔαρος, πρόδρομοι σταφυλῆς.
And what the land is, whether rich or poor; whether there are trees in it or no: and ye shall persevere and take of the fruits of the land: and the days [were] the days of spring, the forerunners of the grape.
21
וַיַּעֲלוּ וַיָּתֻרוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ מִמִּדְבַּר־צִן עַד־רְחֹב לְבֹא חֲמָת
So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, at the entrance to Hamath.
Καὶ ἀναβάντες κατεσκέψαντο τὴν γῆν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐρήμου Σὶν ἕως Ῥοὸβ, εἰσπορευομένων Αἰμάθ.
And they went up and surveyed the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, as men go in to Hamath.
22
וַיַּעֲלוּ בַנֶּגֶב וַיָּבֹא עַד־חֶבְרוֹן וְשָׁם אֲחִימַן שֵׁשַׁי וְתַלְמַי יְלִידֵי הָעֲנָק וְחֶבְרוֹן שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים נִבְנְתָה לִפְנֵי צֹעַן מִצְרָיִם
And they went up into the South, and came unto Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. --Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.--
Καὶ ἀνέβησαν κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον, καὶ ἀπῆλθον ἕως Χεβρὼν, καὶ ἐκεῖ Ἀχιμὰν, καὶ Σεσσὶ, καὶ Θελαμὶ, γενεαὶ Ἐνάχ· καὶ Χεβρὼν ἐπτὰ ἔτεσιν ᾠκοδομήθη πρὸ τοῦ Τανὶν Αἰγύπτου.
And they went up by the wilderness, and departed as far as Hebron; and there [was] Ahiman, and Sheshai, and Talmai, the progeny of Anak. Now Hebron was built seven years before Tanis of Egypt.
23
וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד־נַחַל אֶשְׁכֹּל וַיִּכְרְתוּ מִשָּׁם זְמוֹרָה וְאֶשְׁכּוֹל עֲנָבִים אֶחָד וַיִּשָּׂאֻהוּ בַמּוֹט בִּשְׁנָיִם וּמִן־הָרִמֹּנִים וּמִן־הַתְּאֵנִים
And they came unto the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it upon a pole between two; they took also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.--
Καὶ ἤλθοσαν ἕως φάραγγος βότρυος, καὶ κατεσκέψαντο αὐτήν· καὶ ἔκοψαν ἐκεῖθεν κλῆμα καὶ βότρυν σταφυλῆς ἕνα ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ᾖραν αὐτὸν ἐπʼ ἀναφορεύσι, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ῥοῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν συκῶν.
And they came to the Valley of the Cluster and surveyed it; and they cut down thence a bough and one cluster of grapes upon it, and bore it on staffs, and [they took] of the pomegranates and the figs.
24
לַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא קָרָא נַחַל אֶשְׁכּוֹל עַל אֹדוֹת הָאֶשְׁכּוֹל אֲשֶׁר־כָּרְתוּ מִשָּׁם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence.--
Καὶ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ἐπωνόμασαν Φάραγξ βότρυος, διὰ τὸν βότρυν, ὃν ἔκοψαν ἐκεῖθεν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραήλ.
And they called that place, The Valley of the Cluster, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
25
וַיָּשֻׁבוּ מִתּוּר הָאָרֶץ מִקֵּץ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם
And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.
Καὶ ἀπέστρεψαν ἐκεῖθεν κατασκεψάμενοι τὴν γῆν μετὰ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας.
And they returned from thence, having surveyed the land, after forty days.
26
וַיֵּלְכוּ וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל־אַהֲרֹן וְאֶל־כָּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־מִדְבַּר פָּארָן קָדֵשָׁה וַיָּשִׁיבוּ אוֹתָם דָּבָר וְאֶת־כָּל־הָעֵדָה וַיַּרְאוּם אֶת־פְּרִי הָאָרֶץ
And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
Καὶ πορευθέντες ἦλθον πρὸς Μωυσῆν καὶ Ἀαρὼν καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν συναγωγὴν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, εἰς τὴν ἔρημον Φαρὰν Κάδης· καὶ ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐτοῖς ῥῆμα καὶ πάσῃ συναγωγῇ, καὶ ἔδειξαν τὸν καρπὸν τῆς γῆς,
And they proceeded and came to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran Kadesh; and they brought word to them and to all the congregation, and they showed the fruit of the land:
27
וַיְסַפְּרוּ־לוֹ וַיֹּאמְרוּ בָּאנוּ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר שְׁלַחְתָּנוּ וְגַם זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ הִוא וְזֶה־פִּרְיָהּ
And they told him, and said: 'We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
καὶ διηγήσαντο αὐτῷ, καὶ εἶπαν, ἤλθαμεν εἰς τὴν γῆν εἰς ἣν ἀπέστειλας ἡμᾶς, γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι· καὶ οὗτος ὁ καρπὸς αὐτῆς.
and they reported to him, and said, We came into the land into which thou sentest us, a land flowing with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28
אֶפֶס כִּי־עַז הָעָם הַיֹּשֵׁב בָּאָרֶץ וְהֶעָרִים בְּצֻרוֹת גְּדֹלֹת מְאֹד וְגַם־יְלִדֵי ה͏ָעֲנָק רָאִינוּ שָׁם
Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are fierce, and the cities are fortified, and very great; and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Ἀλλʼ ἢ ὅτι θρασὺ τὸ ἔθνος τὸ κατοικοῦν ἐπʼ αὐτῆς, καὶ πόλεις ὀχυραὶ τετειχισμέναι μεγάλαι σφόδρα· καὶ τὴν γενεὰν Ἐνὰχ ἑωράκαμεν ἐκεῖ.
Only the nation that dwells upon it is bold, and they have very great and strong walled towns, and we saw there the children of Anak.
29
עֲמָלֵק יוֹשֵׁב בְּאֶרֶץ הַנֶּגֶב וְהַחִתִּי וְהַיְבוּסִי וְהָאֱמֹרִי יוֹשֵׁב בָּהָר וְהַכְּנַעֲנִי יֹשֵׁב עַל־הַיָּם וְעַל יַד הַיַּרְדֵּן
Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South; and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.'
Καὶ Ἀμαλὴκ κατοικεῖ ἐν τῇ γῇ τῇ πρὸς Νότον· καὶ ὁ Χετταῖος, καὶ ὁ Εὐαῖος, καὶ ὁ Ἰεβουσαῖος, καὶ ὁ Ἀμοῤῥαῖος κατοικεῖ ἐν τῇ ὀρεινῇ· καὶ ὁ Χαναναῖος κατοικεῖ παρὰ θάλασσαν, καὶ παρὰ τὸν Ἰορδάνην ποταμόν.
And Amalek dwells in the land toward the south: and the Hittite and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwells in the hill country: and the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and by the river Jordan.
30
וַיַּהַס כָּלֵב אֶת־הָעָם אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר עָלֹה נַעֲלֶה וְיָרַשְׁנוּ אֹתָהּ כִּי־יָכוֹל נוּכַל לָהּ
And Caleb stilled the people toward Moses, and said: 'We should go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.'
Καὶ κατεσιώπησε Χάλεβ τὸν λαὸν πρὸς Μωυσῆν, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, οὐχὶ, ἀλλὰ ἀναβάντες ἀναβησόμεθα, καὶ κατακληρονομήσομεν αὐτὴν, ὅτι δυνατοὶ δυνησόμεθα πρὸς αὐτούς.
And Caleb stayed the people from speaking before Moses, and said to him, Nay, but we will go up by all means, and will inherit it, for we shall surely prevail against them.
31
וְהָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר־עָלוּ עִמּוֹ אָמְרוּ לֹא נוּכַל לַעֲלוֹת אֶל־הָעָם כִּי־חָזָק הוּא מִמֶּנּוּ
But the men that went up with him said: 'We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.'
Καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ συναναβάντες μετʼ αὐτοῦ, εἶπαν, οὐκ ἀναβαίνομεν, ὅτι οὐ μὴ δυνώμεθα ἀναβῆναι πρὸς τὸ ἔθνος, ὅτι ἰσχυρότερον ἡμῶν ἐστι μᾶλλον.
But the men that went up together with him said, We will not go up, for we shall not by any means be able to go up against the nation, for it is much stronger than we.
32
וַיּוֹצִיאוּ דִּבַּת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר תָּרוּ אֹתָהּ אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר עָבַרְנוּ בָהּ לָתוּר אֹתָהּ אֶרֶץ אֹכֶלֶת יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ הִוא וְכָל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר־רָאִינוּ בְתוֹכָהּ אַנְשֵׁי מִדּוֹת
And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.
Καὶ ἐξήνεγκαν ἔκστασιν τῆς γῆς ἣν κατεσκέψαντο αὐτὴν πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ, λέγοντες, τὴν γῆς ἣν παρήλθομεν αὐτὴν κατασκέψασθαι, γῆ κατέσθουσα τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπʼ αὐτῆς ἐστι· καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ὃν ἑωράκαμεν ἐν αὐτῇ, ἄνδρες ὑπερμήκεις.
And they brought a horror of that land which they surveyed upon the children of Israel, saying, The land which we passed by to survey it, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of extraordinary stature.
33
וְשָׁם רָאִינוּ אֶת־הַנְּפִילִים בְּנֵי עֲנָק מִן־הַנְּפִלִים וַנְּהִי בְעֵינֵינוּ כּ͏ַחֲגָבִים וְכֵן הָיִינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶם
And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.'
Καὶ ἐκεῖ ἑωράκαμεν τοὺς γίγαντας, καὶ ἦμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ ἀκρίδες· ἀλλὰ καὶ οὕτως ἦμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν.
And there we saw the giants; and we were before them as locusts, yea even so were we before them.

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.