Textorah

Psalms 68

1
לַמְנַצֵּחַ לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר
For the Leader. A Psalm of David, a Song.
Εἰς τὸ τέλος, τῷ Δαυὶδ ψαλμὸς ᾠδῆς.
For the end, a Psalm of a Song by David.
2
יָקוּם אֱלֹהִים יָפוּצוּ אוֹיְבָיו וְיָנוּסוּ מְשַׂנְאָיו מִפָּנָיו
Let G-d arise, let His enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Him flee before Him.
Αναστήτω ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ διασκορπισθήτωσαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ φυγέτωσαν οἱ μισοῦντες αὐτὸν ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ.
Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; And let them that hate him flee from before him.
3
כְּהִנְדֹּף עָשָׁן תִּנְדֹּף כְּהִמֵּס דּוֹנַג מִפְּנֵי־אֵשׁ יֹאבְדוּ רְשָׁעִים מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of G-d.
Ὡς ἐκλείπει καπνὸς, ἐκλιπέτωσαν· ὡς τήκεται κηρὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρὸς, οὕτως ἀπόλοιντο οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ.
As smoke vanishes, let them vanish: As wax melts before the fire, So let the sinners perish from before God.
4
וְצַדִּיקִים יִשְׂמְחוּ יַעַלְצוּ לִפְנֵי אֱלֹהִים וְיָשִׂישׂוּ בְשִׂמְחָה
But let the righteous be glad, let them exult before G-d; yea, let them rejoice with gladness.
Καὶ οἱ δίκαιοι εὐφρανθήτωσαν· ἀγαλλιάσθωσαν ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, τερφθήτωσαν ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ.
But let the righteous rejoice; Let them exult before God: Let them be delighted with joy.
5
שִׁירוּ לֵאלֹהִים זַמְּרוּ שְׁמוֹ סֹלּוּ לָרֹכֵב בָּעֲרָבוֹת בְּיָהּ שְׁמוֹ וְעִלְזוּ לְפָנָיו
Sing unto G-d, sing praises to His name; extol Him that rideth upon the skies, whose name is HaShem; and exult ye before Him.
Ἄσατε τῷ Θεῷ, ψάλατε τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ, ὁδοποιήσατε τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν, Κύριος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ.
Sing to God, sing praises to his name: Make a way for him that rides upon the west (the Lord is his name) And exult before him. They shall be troubled before the face of him,
6
אֲבִי יְתוֹמִים וְדַיַּן אַלְמָנוֹת אֱלֹהִים בִּמְעוֹן קָדְשׁוֹ
A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is G-d in His holy habitation.
ταραχθήσονται ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ, τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν ὀρφανῶν, καὶ κριτοῦ τῶν χηρῶν, ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ.
[Who is] the father of the orphans, and judge of the widows: [Such is] God in his holy place.
7
אֱלֹהִים מוֹשִׁיב יְחִידִים בַּיְתָה מוֹצִיא אֲסִירִים בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת אַךְ סוֹרֲרִים שָׁכְנוּ צְחִיחָה
G-d maketh the solitary to dwell in a house; He bringeth out the prisoners into prosperity; the rebellious dwell but in a parched land.
Ὁ Θεὸς κατοικίζει μονοτρόπους ἐν οἴκῳ, ἐξάγων πεπεδημένους ἐν ἀνδρείᾳ· ὁμοίως τοὺς παραπικραίνοντας, τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐν τάφοις.
God settles the solitary in a house; Leading forth prisoners mightily, Also them that act provokingly, [even] them that dwell in tombs.
8
אֱ‍לֹהִים בְּצֵאתְךָ לִפְנֵי עַמֶּךָ בְּצַעְדְּךָ בִישִׁימוֹן סֶלָה
O G-d, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah
Ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν τῷ ἐκπορεύεσθαί σε ἐνώπιον τοῦ λαοῦ σου, ἐν τῷ διαβαίνειν σε τὴν ἔρημον· διάψαλμα·
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, When thou wentest through the wilderness; Pause:
9
אֶרֶץ רָעָשָׁה אַף־שָׁמַיִם נָטְפוּ מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים זֶה סִינַי מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped at the presence of G-d; even yon Sinai trembled at the presence of G-d, the G-d of Israel.
Γῆ ἐσείσθη, καὶ γὰρ οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἔσταξαν ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Σινὰ, ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἰσραήλ.
The earth quaked, yea, the heavens dropped [water] At the presence of the God of Sinai, At the presence of the God of Israel.
10
גֶּשֶׁם נְדָבוֹת תָּנִיף אֱלֹהִים נַחֲלָתְךָ וְנִלְאָה אַתָּה כוֹנַנְתּ͏ָהּ
A bounteous rain didst Thou pour down, O G-d; when Thine inheritance was weary, Thou didst confirm it.
Βροχὴν ἑκούσιον ἀφοριεῖς ὁ Θεὸς τῇ κληρονομίᾳ σου· καὶ ἠσθένησε, σὺ δὲ κατηρτίσω αὐτήν.
O God, thou wilt grant to thine inheritance a gracious rain; For it was weary, but thou didst refresh it.
11
חַיָּתְךָ יָשְׁבוּ־בָהּ תָּכִין בְּטוֹבָתְךָ לֶעָנִי אֱלֹהִים
Thy flock settled therein; Thou didst prepare in Thy goodness for the poor, O G-d.
Τὰ ζῶά σου κατοικοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῇ, ἡτοίμασας ἐν τῇ χρηστότητί σου τῷ πτωχῷ.
Thy creatures dwell in it: Thou hast in thy goodness prepared for the poor.
12
אֲדֹנָי יִתֶּן־אֹמֶר הַמְבַשְּׂרוֹת צָבָא רָב
The L-rd giveth the word; the women that proclaim the tidings are a great host.
Ὁ Θεὸς Κύριος δώσει ῥῆμα τοῖς εὐαγγελιζομένοις δυνάμει πολλῇ,
The Lord God will give a word to them that preach [it] in a great company.
13
מַלְכֵי צְבָאוֹת יִדֹּדוּן יִדֹּדוּן וּנְוַת־בַּיִת תְּחַלֵּק שָׁלָל
Kings of armies flee, they flee; and she that tarrieth at home divideth the spoil.
ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν δυνάμεων τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ, τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ, καὶ ὡραιότητι τοῦ οἴκου διελέσθαι σκῦλα.
The king of the forces of the beloved, of the beloved, [Will] even [grant them] for the beauty of the house to divide the spoils.
14
אִם־תִּשְׁכְּבוּן בֵּין שְׁפַתָּיִם כַּנְפֵי יוֹנָה נֶחְפָּה בַכֶּסֶף וְאֶבְרוֹתֶיהָ בִּירַקְרַק חָרוּץ
When ye lie among the sheepfolds, the wings of the dove are covered with silver, and her pinions with the shimmer of gold.
Ἐὰν κοιμηθῆτε ἀναμέσον τῶν κλήρων, πτέρυγες περιστερᾶς περιηργυρωμέναι, καὶ τὰ μετάφρενα αὐτῆς ἐν χλωρότητι χρυσίου.
Even if ye should lie among the lots, [Ye shall have] the wings of a dove covered with silver, And her breast with yellow gold.
15
בְּפָרֵשׂ שַׁדַּי מְלָכִים בָּהּ תַּשְׁלֵג בְּצַלְמוֹן
When the Almighty scattereth kings therein, it snoweth in Zalmon.
Ἐν τῷ διαστέλλειν τὴν ἐπουράνιον βασιλεῖς ἐπʼ αὐτῆς, χιονωθήσονται ἐν Σελμών.
When the heavenly One scatters kings upon it, They shall be made snow-white in Zalmon.
16
הַר־אֱלֹהִים הַר־בָּשָׁן הַר גַּבְנֻנִּים הַר־בָּשָׁן
A mountain of G-d is the mountain of Bashan; a mountain of peaks is the mountain of Bashan.
Ὄρος τοῦ Θεοῦ ὄρος πῖον, ὄρος τετυρωμένον, ὄρος πῖον.
The mountain of God is a rich mountain; A swelling mountain, a rich mountain.
17
לָמָּה תְּרַצְּדוּן הָרִים גַּבְנֻנִּים הָהָר חָמַד אֱלֹהִים לְשִׁבְתּוֹ אַף־יְהוָה יִשְׁכֹּן לָנֶצַח
Why look ye askance, ye mountains of peaks, at the mountain which G-d hath desired for His abode? Yea, HaShem will dwell therein for ever.
Ἱνατί ὑπολαμβάνετε ὄρη τετυρωμένα; τὸ ὄρος ὃ εὐδόκησεν ὁ Θεὸς κατοικεῖν ἐν αὐτῷ· καὶ γὰρ ὁ Κύριος κατασκηνώσει εἰς τέλος.
Wherefore do ye conceive [evil], ye swelling mountains? [This is] the mountain which God has delighted to dwell in; Yea, the Lord will dwell [in it] forever.
18
רֶכֶב אֱלֹהִים רִבֹּתַיִם אַלְפֵי שִׁנְאָן אֲדֹנָי בָם סִינַי בַּקֹּדֶשׁ
The chariots of G-d are myriads, even thousands upon thousands; the L-rd is among them, as in Sinai, in holiness.
Τὸ ἅρμα τοῦ Θεοῦ μυριοπλάσιον, χιλιάδες εὐθηνούντων· Κύριος ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐν Σινὰ ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ.
The chariots of God are ten thousand fold, Thousands of rejoicing ones: The Lord is among them, in Sinai, in the holy place.
19
עָלִיתָ לַמָּרוֹם שָׁבִיתָ שֶּׁבִי לָקַחְתָּ מַתָּנוֹת בָּאָדָם וְאַף סוֹרְרִים לִשְׁכֹּן יָהּ אֱלֹהִים
Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive; Thou hast received gifts among men, yea, among the rebellious also, that HaShem G-d might dwell there.
Ἀναβὰς εἰς ὕψος, ᾐχμαλώτευσας αἰχμαλωσίαν· ἔλαβες δόματα ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ γὰρ ἀπειθοῦντες τοῦ κατασκηνῶσαι.
Thou art gone up on high, thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts for man, Yea, for [they were] rebellious, that thou mightest dwell among them.
20
בָּרוּךְ אֲדֹנָי יוֹם יוֹם יַעֲמָס־לָנוּ הָאֵל יְשׁוּעָתֵנוּ סֶלָה
Blessed be the L-rd, day by day He beareth our burden, even the G-d who is our salvation. Selah
Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς, εὐλογητὸς Κύριος ἡμέραν καθʼ ἡμέραν, καὶ κατευοδώσει ἡμῖν ὁ Θεὸς τῶν σωτηρίων ἡμῶν· διάψαλμα.
Blessed be the Lord God, blessed be the Lord daily; And the God of our salvation shall prosper us. Pause.
21
הָאֵל לָנוּ אֵל לְמוֹשָׁעוֹת וְלֵיהוִה אֲדֹנָי לַמָּוֶת תּוֹצָאוֹת
G-d is unto us a G-d of deliverances; and unto GOD the L-rd belong the issues of death.
Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ σώζειν, καὶ τοῦ Κυρίου αἱ διέξοδοι τοῦ θανάτου.
Our God is the God of salvation; And to the Lord belong the issues from death.
22
אַךְ־אֱלֹהִים יִמְחַץ רֹאשׁ אֹיְבָיו קָדְקֹד שֵׂעָר מִתְהַלֵּךְ בַּאֲשָׁמָיו
Surely G-d will smite through the head of His enemies, the hairy scalp of him that goeth about in his guiltiness.
Πλὴν ὁ Θεὸς συνθλάσει κεφαλὰς ἐχθρῶν αὐτοῦ, κορυφὴν τριχὸς διαπορευομένων ἐν πλημμελείαις αὐτῶν.
But God shall crush the heads of his enemies; The hairy crown of them that go on in their trespasses.
23
אָמַר אֲדֹנָי מִבָּשָׁן אָשִׁיב אָשִׁיב מִמְּצֻלוֹת יָם
The L-rd said: 'I will bring back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea;
Εἶπε Κύριος, ἐκ Βασὰν ἐπιστρέψω, ἐπιστρέψω ἐν βυθοῖς θαλάσσης.
The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring [my people] again through the depths of the sea.
24
לְמַעַן תִּמְחַץ רַגְלְךָ בְּדָם לְשׁוֹן כְּלָבֶיךָ מֵאֹיְבִים מִנֵּהוּ
That thy foot may wade through blood, that the tongue of thy dogs may have its portion from thine enemies.'
Ὅπως ἂν βαφῇ ὁ ποῦς σου ἐν αἵματι, ἡ γλῶσσα τῶν κυνῶν σου ἐξ ἐχθρῶν παρʼ αὐτοῦ.
That thy foot may be dipped in blood, [And] the tongue of thy dogs [be stained] with that of [thine] enemies.
25
רָאוּ הֲלִיכוֹתֶיךָ אֱלֹהִים הֲלִיכוֹת אֵלִי מַלְכִּי בַקֹּדֶשׁ
They see Thy goings, O G-d, even the goings of my G-d, my King, in holiness.
Ἐθεωρήθησαν αἱ πορεῖαί σου ὁ Θεὸς, αἱ πορεῖαι τοῦ Θεοῦ μου τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ.
Thy goings, O God, have been seen; The goings of my God, the king, in the sanctuary.
26
קִדְּמוּ שָׁרִים אַחַר נֹגְנִים בְּתוֹךְ עֲלָמוֹת תּוֹפֵפוֹת
The singers go before, the minstrels follow after, in the midst of damsels playing upon timbrels.
Προέφθασαν ἄρχοντες ἐχόμενοι ψαλλόντων, ἐν μέσῳ νεανίδων τυμπανιστριῶν.
The princes went first, next before the players on instruments, In the midst of damsels playing on timbrels.
27
בְּמַקְהֵלוֹת בָּרְכוּ אֱלֹהִים יְהוָה מִמְּקוֹר יִשְׂרָאֵל
'Bless ye G-d in full assemblies, even the L-rd, ye that are from the fountain of Israel.'
Ἐν ἐκκλησίαις εὐλογεῖτε τὸν Θεὸν, τὸν Κύριον ἐκ πηγῶν Ἰσραήλ.
Praise God in the congregations, The Lord from the fountains of Israel.
28
שָׁם בִּנְיָמִן צָעִיר רֹדֵם שָׂרֵי יְהוּדָה רִגְמָתָם שָׂרֵי זְבֻלוּן שָׂרֵי נַפְתָּלִי
There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah their council, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
Ἐκεῖ Βενιαμὶν νεώτερος ἐν ἐκστάσει, ἄρχοντες Ἰούδα ἡγεμόνες αὐτῶν, ἄρχοντες Ζαβουλὼν, ἄρχοντες Νεφθαλί.
There is Benjamin the younger [one] in ecstasy, The princes of Judah their rulers, The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
29
צִוָּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ עֻזֶּךָ עוּזָּה אֱלֹהִים זוּ פָּעַלְתָּ לָּנוּ
Thy G-d hath commanded thy strength; be strong, O G-d, Thou that hast wrought for us
Ἔντειλαι ὁ Θεὸς τῇ δυνάμει σου, δυνάμωσον ὁ Θεὸς τοῦτο, ὃ κατηρτίσω ἐν ἡμῖν.
O God, command thou thy strength: Strengthen, O God, this which thou hast wrought in us.
30
מֵהֵיכָלֶךָ עַל־יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם לְךָ יוֹבִילוּ מְלָכִים שָׁי
Out of Thy temple at Jerusalem, whither kings shall bring presents unto Thee.
Ἀπὸ τοῦ ναοῦ σου ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, σοὶ οἴσουσι βασιλεῖς δῶρα.
Because of thy temple at Jerusalem Shall kings bring presents to thee.
31
גְּעַר חַיַּת קָנֶה עֲדַת אַבִּירִים בְּעֶגְלֵי עַמִּים מִתְרַפֵּס בְּרַצֵּי־כָסֶף בִּזַּר עַמִּים קְרָבוֹת יֶחְפָּצוּ
Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples, every one submitting himself with pieces of silver; He hath scattered the peoples that delight in war!
Ἐπιτίμησον τοῖς θηρίοις τοῦ καλάμου· ἡ συναγωγὴ τῶν ταύρων ἐν ταῖς δαμάλεσι τῶν λαῶν, τοῦ μὴ ἀποκλεισθῆναι τοὺς δεδοκιμασμένους τῷ ἀργυρίῳ· διασκόρπισον ἔθνη τὰ τοὺς πολέμους θέλοντα.
Rebuke the wild beasts of the reed: Let the crowd of bulls with the heifers of the nations [be rebuked], So that they who have been proved with silver may not be shut out: Scatter thou the nations that wish for wars.
32
יֶאֱתָיוּ חַשְׁמַנִּים מִנִּי מִצְרָיִם כּוּשׁ תָּרִיץ יָדָיו לֵאלֹהִים
Nobles shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall hasten to stretch out her hands unto G-d.
Ἥξουσι πρέσβεις ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, Αἰθιοπία προφθάσει χεῖρα αὐτῆς τῷ Θεῷ.
Ambassadors shall arrive out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall hasten [to stretch out] her hand readily to God.
33
מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ שִׁירוּ לֵאלֹהִים זַמְּרוּ אֲדֹנָי סֶלָה
Sing unto G-d, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the L-rd; Selah
Αἱ βασιλεῖαι τῆς γῆς ᾄσατε τῷ Θεῷ, ψάλατε τῷ Κυρίῳ. διάψαλμα.
Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth; sing psalms to the Lord. Pause.
34
לָרֹכֵב בִּשְׁמֵי שְׁמֵי־קֶדֶם הֵן יִתֵּן בְּקוֹלוֹ קוֹל עֹז
To Him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which are of old; lo, He uttereth His voice, a mighty voice.
Ψάλατε τῷ Θεῷ τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς, ἰδοὺ δώσει ἐν τῇ φωνῇ αὐτοῦ φωνὴν δυνάμεως.
Sing to God that rides on the heaven of heaven, eastward: Lo, he will utter a mighty sound with his voice.
35
תְּנוּ עֹז לֵאלֹהִים עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל גַּאֲוָתוֹ וְעֻזּוֹ בַּשְּׁחָקִים
Ascribe ye strength unto G-d; His majesty is over Israel, and His strength is in the skies.
Δότε δόξαν τῷ Θεῷ, ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἡ μεγαλοπρέπεια αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ δύναμις αὐτοῦ ἐν ταῖς νεφέλαις.
Give ye glory to God: His excellency is over Israel, And his power is in the clouds.
36
נוֹרָא אֱלֹהִים מִמִּקְדָּשֶׁיךָ אֵל יִשְׂרָאֵל הוּא נֹתֵן עֹז וְתַעֲצֻמוֹת לָעָם בָּרוּךְ אֱלֹהִים
Awful is G-d out of thy holy places; the G-d of Israel, He giveth strength and power unto the people; blessed be G-d.
Θαυμαστὸς ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τοῖς ὁσίοις αὐτοῦ, ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ, αὐτὸς δώσει δύναμιν καὶ κραταίωσιν τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ· εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεός.
God is wonderful in his holy [places], The God of Israel: he will give power and strength to his people: Blessed be God.

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.