Textorah

Ruth 4

1
וּבֹעַז עָלָה הַשַּׁעַר וַיֵּשֶׁב שָׁם וְהִנֵּה הַגֹּאֵל עֹבֵר אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר־בֹּעַז וַיֹּאמֶר סוּרָה שְׁבָה־פֹּה פְּלֹנִי אַלְמֹנִי וַיָּסַר וַיֵּשֵׁב
Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat him down there; and, behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; unto whom he said: 'Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here.' And he turned aside, and sat down.
Καὶ Βοὸζ ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὴν πύλην, και ἐκαθισεν ἐκεῖ, καὶ ἰδοὺ ὁ ἀγχιστεὺς παρεπορεύετο, ὃν ἐλάλησε Βοόζ· καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτὸν Βοὸζ, ἐκκλίνας κάθισον ὧδε κρύφιε· καὶ ἐξέκλινε καὶ ἐκάθισε.
And Boaz went up to the gate, and sat there; and behold, the relative passed by, of whom Boaz spoke: and Boaz said to him, Turn aside, sit down here, such a one: and he turned aside and sat down.
2
וַיִּקַּח עֲשָׂרָה אֲנָשִׁים מִזִּקְנֵי הָעִיר וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁבוּ־פֹה וַיֵּשֵׁבוּ
And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said: 'Sit ye down here.' And they sat down.
Καὶ ἔλαβε Βοὸζ δέκα ἄνδρας ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τῆς πόλεως, καὶ εἶπε, καθίσατε ὧδε· καὶ ἐκάθισαν.
And Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye here; and they sat down.
3
וַיֹּאמֶר לַגֹּאֵל חֶלְקַת הַשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר לְאָחִינוּ לֶאֱלִימֶלֶךְ מָכְרָה נָעֳמִי הַשָּׁבָה מִשְּׂדֵה מוֹאָב
And he said unto the near kinsman: 'Naomi, that is come back out of the field of Moab, selleth the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's;
Καὶ εἶπε Βοὸζ τῷ ἀγχιστεῖ, τὴν μερίδα τοῦ ἀγροῦ ἥ ἐστι τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἡμῶν τοῦ Ἐλιμέλεχ, ἣ δέδοται Νωεμὶν τῇ ἐπιστρεφούσῃ ἐξ ἀγροῦ Μωὰβ,
And Boaz said to the relative, [The matter regards] the portion of the field which was our brother Elimelech’s which was given to Naomi, now returning out of the land of Moab;
4
וַאֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי אֶגְלֶה אָזְנְךָ לֵאמֹר קְנֵה נֶגֶד הַיֹּשְׁבִים וְנֶגֶד זִקְנֵי עַמִּי אִם־תִּגְאַל גְּאָל וְאִם־לֹא יִגְאַל הַגִּידָה לִּי ואדע וְאֵדְעָה כִּי אֵין זוּלָתְךָ לִגְאוֹל וְאָנֹכִי אַחֲרֶיךָ וַיֹּאמֶר אָנֹכִי אֶגְאָל
and I thought to disclose it unto thee, saying: Buy it before them that sit here, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it; but if it will not be redeemed, then tell me, that I may know; for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee.' And he said: 'I will redeem it.'
κᾀγὼ εἶπα, ἀποκαλύψω τὸ οὖς σου λέγων, κτῆσαι ἐναντίον τῶν καθημένων, καὶ ἐναντίον τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τοῦ λαοῦ μου. εἰ ἀγχιστεύεις, ἀγχίστευε· εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀγχιστεύεις, ἀνάγγειλόν μοι, καὶ γνώσομαι, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι πάρεξ σοῦ τοῦ ἀγχιστεῦσαι, κᾀγώ εἰμι μετὰ σέ· ὁ δὲ εἶπεν, ἐγώ εἰμι, ἀγχιστεῦσαι, κἀγώ εἰμι, ἀγχιστεύσω.
and I said, I will inform thee, saying, Buy it before those that sit, and before the elders of my people: if thou wilt redeem it, redeem it, but if thou wilt not redeem it, tell me, and I shall know; for there is no one beside thee to do the office of a kinsman, and I am after thee: and he said, I am [here], I will redeem it.
5
וַיֹּאמֶר בֹּעַז בְּיוֹם־קְנוֹתְךָ הַשָּׂדֶה מִיַּד נָעֳמִי וּמֵאֵת רוּת הַמּוֹאֲבִיָּה אֵשֶׁת־הַמֵּת קניתי קָנִיתָה לְהָקִים שֵׁם־הַמֵּת עַל־נַחֲלָתוֹ
Then said Boaz: 'What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi--hast thou also bought of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance?'
Καὶ εἶπε Βοὸζ, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ κτήσασθαί σε τὸν ἀγρὸν ἐκ χειρὸς Νωεμὶν καὶ παρὰ Ῥοὺθ τῆς Μωαβίτιδος γυναικὸς τοῦ τεθνηκότος, καὶ αὐτὴν κτήσασθαί σε δεῖ, ὥστε ἀναστῆσαι τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ τεθνηκότος ἐπὶ τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ.
And Boaz said, In the day of thy buying the field of the hand of Naomi and of Ruth the Moabitess the wife of the deceased, thou must also buy her, so as to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
6
וַיֹּאמֶר הַגֹּאֵל לֹא אוּכַל לגאול־לִגְאָל־לִי פֶּן־אַשְׁחִית אֶת־נַחֲלָתִי גְּאַל־לְךָ אַתָּה אֶת־גְּאֻלָּתִי כִּי לֹא־אוּכַל לִגְאֹל
And the near kinsman said: 'I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance; take thou my right of redemption on thee; for I cannot redeem it.'--
Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ἀγχιστεὺς, οὐ δυνήσομαι ἀγχιστεῦσαι ἐμαυτῷ, μή ποτε διαφθείρω τὴν κληρονομίαν μου· ἀγχίστευσον σεαυτῷ τὴν ἀγχιστείαν μου, ὅτι οὐ δυνήσομαι ἀγχιστεῦσαι.
And the kinsman said, I shall not be able to redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance; do thou redeem my right for thyself, for I shall not be able to redeem [it].
7
וְזֹאת לְפָנִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל עַל־הַגְּאוּלָּה וְעַל־הַתְּמוּרָה לְקַיֵּם כָּל־דָּבָר שָׁלַף אִישׁ נַעֲלוֹ וְנָתַן לְרֵעֵהוּ וְזֹאת הַתְּעוּדָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל
Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man drew off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour; and this was the attestation in Israel.--
Καὶ τοῦτο τὸ δικαίωμα ἔμπροσθεν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀγχιστείαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀντάλλαγμα τοῦ στῆσαι πάντα λόγον· καὶ ὑπελύετο ἀνὴρ τὸ ὑπόδημα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐδίδου τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ τῷ ἀγχιστεύοντι τὴν ἀγχιστείαν αὐτοῦ· καὶ τοῦτο ἦν μαρτύριον ἐν Ἰσραήλ.
And this [was] in former time the ordinance in Israel for redemption, and for a bargain, to confirm every word: A man loosed his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor that redeemed his right; and this was a testimony in Israel.
8
וַיֹּאמֶר הַגֹּאֵל לְבֹעַז קְנֵה־לָךְ וַיִּשְׁלֹף נַעֲלוֹ
So the near kinsman said unto Boaz: 'Buy it for thyself.' And he drew off his shoe.
Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ἀγχιστεὺς τῷ Βοὸζ, κτῆσαι σεαυτῷ τὴν ἀγχιστείαν μου· καὶ ὑπελύσατο τὸ ὑπόδημα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ.
And the kinsman said to Boaz, Buy my right for thyself: and he took off his shoe and gave it to him.
9
וַיֹּאמֶר בֹּעַז לַזְּקֵנִים וְכָל־הָעָם עֵדִים אַתֶּם הַיּוֹם כִּי קָנִיתִי אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר לֶאֱלִימֶלֶךְ וְאֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר לְכִלְיוֹן וּמַחְלוֹן מִיַּד נָעֳמִי
And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people: 'Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi.
Καὶ εἶπε Βοὸζ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις καὶ παντὶ τῷ λαῷ, μάρτυρες ὑμεῖς σήμερον, ὅτι κέκτημαι πάντα τὰ τοῦ Ἐλιμέλεχ, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ὑπάρχει τῷ Χελαιὼν καὶ τῷ Μααλὼν ἐκ χειρὸς Νωεμίν.
And Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, Ye [are] this day witnesses, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon, of the hand of Naomi.
10
וְגַם אֶת־רוּת הַמֹּאֲבִיָּה אֵשֶׁת מַחְלוֹן קָנִיתִי לִי לְאִשָּׁה לְהָקִים שֵׁם־הַמֵּת עַל־נַחֲלָתוֹ וְלֹא־יִכָּרֵת שֵׁם־הַמֵּת מֵעִם אֶחָיו וּמִשַּׁעַר מְקוֹמוֹ עֵדִים אַתֶּם הַיּוֹם
Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I acquired to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place; ye are witnesses this day.'
Καί γε Ῥοὺθ τὴν Μωαβίτιν τὴν γυναῖκα Μααλὼν κέκτημαι ἐμαυτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα, τοῦ ἀναστῆσαι τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ τεθνηκότος ἐπὶ τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἐξολοθρευθήσεται τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ τεθνηκότος ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς λαοῦ αὐτοῦ· μάρτυρες ὑμεῖς σήμερον.
Moreover I have bought for myself for a wife Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance; so the name of the dead shall not be destroyed from among his brethren, and from the tribe of his people: ye [are] this day witnesses.
11
וַיֹּאמְרוּ כָּל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר־בַּשַּׁעַר וְהַזְּקֵנִים עֵדִים יִתֵּן יְהוָה אֶת־הָאִשָּׁה הַבָּאָה אֶל־בֵּיתֶךָ כְּרָחֵל וּכְלֵאָה אֲשֶׁר בָּנוּ שְׁתֵּיהֶם אֶת־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל וַעֲשֵׂה־חַיִל בְּאֶפְרָתָה וּקְרָא־שֵׁם בְּבֵית לָחֶם
And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said: 'We are witnesses. HaShem make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel; and do thou worthily in Ephrath, and be famous in Beth-lehem;
Καὶ εἴποσαν πᾶς ὁ λαὸς οἱ ἐν τῇ πύλῃ, μάρτυρες· καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι εἴποσαν, δῴη Κύριος τὴν γυναῖκά σου, τὴν εἰσπορευομένην εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου, ὡς Ῥαχὴλ καὶ ὡς Λίαν, αἳ ᾠκοδόμησαν ἀμφότεραι τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐποίησαν δύναμιν ἐν Ἐφραθᾷ, καὶ ἔσται ὄνομα ἐν Βηθλεέμ.
And all the people who were in the gate said, [We are] witnesses: and the elders said, The Lord make thy wife who goes into thy house, as Rachel and as Leah, who both [together] built the house of Israel, and wrought mightily in Ephrathah, and there shall be a name [to thee] in Bethlehem.
12
וִיהִי בֵיתְךָ כְּבֵית פֶּרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יָלְדָה תָמָר לִיהוּדָה מִן־הַזֶּרַע אֲשֶׁר יִתֵּן יְהוָה לְךָ מִן־הַנַּעֲרָה הַזֹּאת
and let thy house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the seed which HaShem shall give thee of this young woman.'
Καὶ γένοιτο οἶκός σου, ὡς οἶκος Φαρὲς, ὃν ἔτεκε Θάμαρ τῷ Ἰούδᾳ, ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος οὗ δώσει Κύριός σοι ἐκ τῆς παιδίσκης ταύτης.
And let thy house be as the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this handmaid.
13
וַיִּקַּח בֹּעַז אֶת־רוּת וַתְּהִי־לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה וַיָּבֹא אֵלֶיהָ וַיִּתֵּן יְהוָה לָהּ הֵרָיוֹן וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן
So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in unto her, and HaShem gave her conception, and she bore a son.
Καὶ ἔλαβε Βοὸζ τὴν Ῥοὺθ, καὶ ἐγενήθη αὐτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα, καὶ εἰσῆλθε πρὸς αὐτήν. καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῇ Κύριος κύησιν, καὶ ἔτεκεν υἱόν.
And Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her; and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.
14
וַתֹּאמַרְנָה הַנָּשִׁים אֶל־נָעֳמִי בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא הִשְׁבִּית לָךְ גֹּאֵל הַיּוֹם וְיִקָּרֵא שְׁמוֹ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל
And the women said unto Naomi: 'Blessed be HaShem, who hath not left thee this day without a near kinsman, and let his name be famous in Israel.
Καὶ εἶπαν αἱ γυναῖκες πρὸς Νωεμὶν, εὐλογητὸς Κύριος, ὃς οὐ κατέλυσέ σοι σήμερον τὸν ἀγχιστέα, καὶ καλέσαι τὸ ὄνομά σου ἑν Ἰσραήλ.
And the women said to Naomi, Blessed [is] the Lord, who has not suffered a redeemer to fail thee this day, even to make thy name famous in Israel.
15
וְהָיָה לָךְ לְמֵשִׁיב נֶפֶשׁ וּלְכַלְכֵּל אֶת־שֵׂיבָתֵךְ כִּי כַלָּתֵךְ אֲ‍שֶׁר־אֲהֵבַתֶךְ יְלָדַתּוּ אֲשֶׁר־הִיא טוֹבָה לָךְ מִשִּׁבְעָה בָּנִים
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him.'
Καὶ ἔσται σοι εἰς ἐπιστρέφοντα ψυχὴν, καὶ τοῦ διαθρέψαι τὴν πολιάν σου, ὅτι ἡ νύμφη ἡ ἀγαπήσασά σε, ἔτεκεν αὐτὸν, ἥ ἐστιν ἀγαθή σοι ὑπὲρ ἑπτὰ υἱούς.
And he shall be to thee a restorer of thy soul, and one to cherish thy old age; for thy daughter-in-law which has loved thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, has born him.
16
וַתִּקַּח נָעֳמִי אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד וַתְּשִׁתֵהוּ בְחֵיקָהּ וַתְּהִי־לוֹ לְאֹמֶנֶת
And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.
Καὶ ἔλαβε Νωεμὶν τὸ παιδίον, καὶ ἔθηκεν εἰς τὸν κόλπον αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐγενήθη αὐτῷ εἰς τιθηνόν.
And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom, and became a nurse to it.
17
וַתִּקְרֶאנָה לוֹ הַשְּׁכֵנוֹת שֵׁם לֵאמֹר יֻלַּד־בֵּן לְנָעֳמִי וַתִּקְרֶאנָה שְׁמוֹ עוֹבֵד הוּא אֲבִי־יִשַׁי אֲבִי דָוִד
And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying: 'There is a son born to Naomi'; and they called his name Obed; he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Καὶ ἐκάλεσαν αὐτοῦ αἱ γείτονες ὄνομα, λέγουσαι, ἐτέχθη υἱὸς τῇ Νωεμίν. καὶ ἐκάλεσαν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, Ὠβήδ· οὗτος πατὴρ Ἰεσσαὶ πατρὸς Δαυίδ.
And the neighbors gave it a name, saying, A son has been born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed; this [is] the father of Jesse the father of David.
18
וְאֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדוֹת פָּרֶץ פֶּרֶץ הוֹלִיד אֶת־חֶצְרוֹן
Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez begot Hezron;
Καὶ αὗται αἱ γενέσεις Φαρές. Φαρές ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἐσρώμ·
And these [are] the generations of Perez: Perez begot Hezron:
19
וְחֶצְרוֹן הוֹלִיד אֶת־רָם וְרָם הוֹלִיד אֶת־עַמִּינָדָב
and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab;
Ἐσρὼμ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἀράμ· καὶ Ἀρὰμ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἀμιναδάβ·
Hezron begot Ram; and Ram begot Amminadab.
20
וְעַמִּינָדָב הוֹלִיד אֶת־נַחְשׁוֹן וְנַחְשׁוֹן הוֹלִיד אֶת־שַׂלְמָה
and Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon;
Καὶ Ἀμιναδὰβ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ναασσών· καὶ Ναασσὼν ἐγέννησε τὸν Σαλμών·
And Amminadab begot Nahshon; and Nahshon begot Salmon.
21
וְשַׂלְמוֹן הוֹלִיד אֶת־בֹּעַז וּבֹעַז הוֹלִיד אֶת־עוֹבֵד
and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed;
Καὶ Σαλμὼν ἐγέννησε τὸν Βοόζ· καὶ Βοὸζ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ὠβήδ·
And Salmon begot Boaz; and Boaz begot Obed.
22
וְעֹבֵד הוֹלִיד אֶת־יִשָׁי וְיִשַׁי הוֹלִיד אֶת־דָּוִד 85 4 4 4
and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.
Καὶ Ὡβὴδ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰεσσαί· καὶ Ἰεσσαὶ ἐγέννησε τὸν Δαυίδ.
And Obed begot Jesse; and Jesse begot David.

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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.