myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

How did these words reach me?

Pick a passage and follow its documented history: the oldest manuscripts that contain it, the translations, the printed Bibles, and exactly what changed along the way. Only real, surviving witnesses are shown.

  1. Genesis 1:1: In the beginningStable text · The Bible's first sentence, followed through Hebrew, Samaritan, Greek, Latin, and English witnesses. The major witnesses preserve remarkably similar wording; the Hebrew syntax still leaves room for more than one reading.
  2. Genesis 37:36: Medanites or Midianites? Who sold JosephManuscript variant · The standard Hebrew text names "Medanites" as the traders who sold Joseph in Egypt. The Samaritan, Greek and Latin read "Midianites," as in verse 28. A one-letter difference.
  3. Genesis 46:27: Seventy or seventy-five? Jacob's family in EgyptManuscript variant · The Hebrew counts seventy people of Jacob's house in Egypt. The Greek Septuagint counts seventy-five, and so does Stephen in Acts 7:14, and a Dead Sea Scroll of Exodus 1:5.
  4. Genesis 47:31: Bed or staff? Same letters, two readings · Israel bowed "upon the bed's head" in the Hebrew, but "upon the top of his staff" in the Greek, which Hebrews 11:21 quotes. The Hebrew consonants are the same; the vowels differ.
  5. Genesis 49:10: "Until Shiloh come": the scepter of Judah · One of the hardest phrases in the Hebrew Bible. Is "Shiloh" a name, a place, a title ("he to whom it belongs"), or "tribute"? Ancient Jewish and Christian readers heard a promise of the Messiah.
  6. Exodus 34:29: Moses' face: shining or horned? · The Hebrew says the skin of Moses' face qaran, a verb related to qeren, "horn," which can also mean a ray of light. The Greek read "glorified"; Aquila and the Latin Vulgate read "horned"; and Western art gave Moses horns for a thousand years.
  7. Exodus 20:8–17: The Ten Commandments: order, Sabbath, and a Samaritan commandmentManuscript variant · The Decalogue is one of the best-attested passages in the Bible, yet its witnesses differ in three ways: the order of "murder, adultery, theft," the reason given for the Sabbath (Exodus 20 versus Deuteronomy 5), and an extra commandment about Mount Gerizim in the Samaritan Pentateuch.
  8. Exodus 12:40: 430 years in Egypt, or in Canaan and Egypt?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew says Israel's sojourn "in Egypt" lasted 430 years. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek Septuagint say the 430 years covered Canaan and Egypt together, which leaves about 215 years in Egypt.
  9. Leviticus 16:8: For Azazel, or for the scapegoat? · Every Hebrew witness we have checked (the Masoretic Text and the Samaritan Pentateuch) reads the same word: la'aza'zel, "for Azazel." Translators have disagreed for over two thousand years about what it means. The Greek made it "the one sent away," the Latin "the goat sent out," Tyndale coined "scapegoat," and many modern Bibles keep the name Azazel.
  10. Leviticus 17:4: A longer law in three ancient witnessesManuscript variant · In the standard Hebrew text, Leviticus 17:4 is a single sentence. The Samaritan Pentateuch, the Greek Septuagint, and a Dead Sea Scroll of Leviticus contain a longer version that explains what the sacrifice was meant to be and repeats the prohibition. Is it an original phrase lost by a copyist's eye-skip, or an explanatory addition?
  11. Numbers 6:24–26: The priestly blessing: from silver to scroll to synagogueStable text · The oldest known writing of words that also appear in the Bible: two silver amulets, usually dated about 600 BC, carry the priestly blessing in a shorter form. They are quotations of the blessing, not copies of the book of Numbers. Every later witness preserves the three-line blessing with remarkable stability.
  12. Numbers 10:35–36: Two verses between upside-down lettersManuscript variant · In Hebrew Bibles, Moses' two prayers when the ark moved and rested are set apart by inverted nun letters. The rabbis debated whether the passage was out of place or a book of its own. Some Greek manuscripts put the verses in a different order.
  13. Numbers 13:33: The spies' report, expanded from DeuteronomyDisputed addition · In the Samaritan Pentateuch, Numbers 13:33 continues with Moses' later speech from Deuteronomy 1:27–33, so that the story and the retelling match. A Dead Sea Scroll of Numbers shows this kind of harmonizing was older than the Samaritans.
  14. Numbers 24:17: A star, a scepter, or a man? · Balaam's last oracle sees "a star out of Jacob, and a scepter out of Israel." The Greek translators wrote "a man" for the scepter, the Aramaic Targum "the Messiah," the Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbi Akiva read it of coming leaders, and Matthew's Magi follow a star.
  15. Numbers 3:28: The Kohathites: 8,600 or 8,300?Manuscript variant · Numbers counts the three Levite clans at 7,500, 8,600 and 6,200, which make 22,300, yet the total in 3:39 is 22,000. Some Greek manuscripts read 8,300 for the Kohathites, which makes the sum exact. One Hebrew letter could explain the difference.
  16. Numbers 20:13: Meribah: two passages from DeuteronomyDisputed addition · After "This is the water of Meribah," the Samaritan Pentateuch inserts two speeches that Deuteronomy places in Moses' mouth: his plea to cross the Jordan (Deuteronomy 3:24–28) and God's command to turn north past Edom (Deuteronomy 2:2–6). A Qumran scroll of Numbers belongs to the same expanded tradition.
  17. Numbers 24:7: Higher than Agag, or the kingdom of Gog?Manuscript variant · In Balaam's third oracle, the Hebrew says Israel's king will be "higher than Agag," the Amalekite king of Saul's day. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek read "Gog," the enemy of the last days in Ezekiel. The Greek also reads the whole verse as a prophecy of a coming man.
  18. Deuteronomy 12:5: "Will choose" or "has chosen"?Manuscript variant · The Masoretic Text speaks of the place God "will choose"; the Samaritan Pentateuch of the place God "has chosen." One letter changes a promise about an unnamed future place into a reference to one already chosen. The difference recurs about twenty times in Deuteronomy 12–26.
  19. Deuteronomy 22:28–29: Seizing an unbetrothed woman: what the words say · The same Hebrew stands in every witness checked. The questions are what its verbs mean and what the law required of the woman. The Greek translator understood force; the Hebrew uses a different verb from the assault law just before it.
  20. Deuteronomy 26:5: A wandering Aramean, or an Aramean who sought to destroy? · Three words, arami 'oved avi, open the farmer's confession. The Hebrew letters are the same everywhere; the readings are not. Most translations say "a wandering (or perishing) Aramean was my father." The Passover Haggadah and the Vulgate say an Aramean persecuted him.
  21. Deuteronomy 27:4: Ebal or Gerizim?Manuscript variant · Where were the stones and the altar to be set up? The Masoretic Text and most Greek manuscripts say Mount Ebal, the mountain of the curse. The Samaritan Pentateuch says Mount Gerizim, the mountain of the blessing, and the Old Latin is reported to agree. Many scholars think Gerizim is older; the question is not settled.
  22. Deuteronomy 28:69 / 29:1: One verse, two chapter numbersStable text · "These are the words of the covenant… in the land of Moab" is the last verse of chapter 28 in Hebrew Bibles and the first verse of chapter 29 in English ones. The words are the same; only the numbering differs. Similar one-verse shifts occur at the start of chapters 13 and 23.
  23. Deuteronomy 32:8–9: Sons of Israel, or sons of God?Manuscript variant · When the Most High divided the nations, He set their bounds "according to the number of the sons of Israel" in the Masoretic Text, but "the sons of God" in a Dead Sea Scroll, and "the angels of God" in the Greek. It is one of the most significant textual differences in the Torah.
  24. Deuteronomy 32:43: The Song's last verse: four lines, six, or eightDisputed addition · The Masoretic Text ends the Song with four lines calling the nations to rejoice. A Qumran manuscript has six lines, beginning with the heavens and "all you gods" bowing down. The Greek has eight, including "let all the angels of God worship him," the line Hebrews 1:6 quotes.
  25. Deuteronomy 33:2: A fiery law, or angels at His right hand?Manuscript variant · The last line of 33:2 is one of the hardest in the Torah. Hebrew manuscripts write a single word, eshdat, which tradition reads as two: "fire of law." The Samaritan text lacks "fire"; the Greek speaks of angels at God's right hand.
  26. Deuteronomy 34:6: Who buried Moses? · "He buried him": the Hebrew suggests God Himself buried Moses. The Greek reads "they buried him." The consonants allow both; the vowels and the translators chose.
  27. Joshua 8:30–35: Where does the altar ceremony belong?Manuscript variant · The altar on Mount Ebal and the reading of the law stand after the fall of Ai in the Hebrew, after 9:2 in the Greek, and apparently right after the crossing of the Jordan in a Dead Sea Scroll. The same passage, three places in the story.
  28. Joshua 10:12–13: "Sun, stand still" and the Book of Jashar · The Hebrew quotes a poem and cites "the book of Jasher" as its source. The Greek has the poem but not the citation. The verbs can mean "stand still" or "be silent," which shapes every interpretation of what happened to the sun.
  29. Joshua 15:59a: Eleven towns, including Bethlehem, only in the GreekDisputed addition · The Greek Bible lists a district of eleven towns in the hill country of Judah, among them Tekoa and Bethlehem, that is missing from every Hebrew manuscript of Joshua. Most scholars think the Hebrew lost it by a copyist's slip.
  30. Joshua 20:1–9: Cities of refuge: a shorter Greek lawManuscript variant · The Hebrew of Joshua 20 explains the procedure at the city gate and the killer's release at the high priest's death. The Greek lacks most of verses 4–6. One text appears to have grown by borrowing from Deuteronomy and Numbers.
  31. Joshua 21:36–37: Two verses missing from the oldest Hebrew codicesManuscript variant · Four Levitical towns of Reuben, Bezer, Jahaz, Kedemoth and Mephaath, are listed in most Bibles but are absent from the Leningrad and Aleppo codices. Without them the chapter's own totals do not add up.
  32. Joshua 24:29–33: Flint knives in Joshua's tomb: the Greek endingDisputed addition · The Hebrew ends with three burials. The Greek adds that the flint knives used at Gilgal were buried with Joshua "and are there to this day," and after Eleazar's burial adds Phinehas' priesthood, Israel's turn to Astarte, and the Moabite king Eglon, leading straight into Judges.
  33. Judges 1:8, 21: Was Jerusalem taken?Stable text · Judges 1:8 says Judah captured and burned Jerusalem; 1:21 says Benjamin could not drive out its Jebusites. The witnesses agree on both verses. The difference is between passages, not between manuscripts.
  34. Judges 4–5: One battle, a story and a song · Judges 4 tells the victory over Sisera in prose; Judges 5 sings it as poetry. They differ in which king, which tribes, how the enemy was routed and how Sisera died. They are two compositions, not two manuscripts of the same text.
  35. Judges 5:20: "The stars in their courses fought"Stable text · Every witness checked has the stars fighting from heaven against Sisera. The question is not the text but what the poetry means: divine-warrior imagery, a storm, or something more literal.
  36. Judges 6:6–12: The prophet's speech missing at QumranDisputed addition · In the Masoretic Text, Israel cries out, and a prophet rebukes them (6:7–10) before the angel comes to Gideon. A Dead Sea Scroll, 4QJudg-a, moves straight from 6:6 to 6:11. Many scholars think the speech is a later addition; others think the scroll left it out.
  37. Judges 11:30–40: Jephthah's vow: whatever or whoever? · All the witnesses checked agree that Jephthah vowed a burnt offering and "did with her according to his vow." The debate turns on the Hebrew: "whatever" or "whoever" comes out, and whether "and" in "shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it" could mean "or."
  38. Judges 12:6: Shibboleth in Greek and Latin · The Hebrew records the two pronunciations, shibboleth and sibboleth. Translators into languages without the distinction had a problem. The library's Greek translates the word as "ear of grain" and drops the sound; Jerome keeps both forms and explains them.
  39. Judges 14:14: Samson's riddleStable text · The riddle is stable across the witnesses checked. Its Hebrew is compact and rhythmic, with wordplay that translations can only partly carry.
  40. Judges 15:4: Foxes or jackals? · Samson caught 300 shuʿalim. The Greek and Latin say foxes; many modern scholars prefer jackals, which live in packs. The question is the meaning of a Hebrew word, not a variant in the manuscripts.
  41. Judges 16:13–14: Delilah's loom: a shorter Hebrew textManuscript variant · In the Hebrew, Samson says only "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web," and the story continues. The Greek and Latin complete his sentence: fasten it with a pin into the wall, and I will be weak. The Hebrew probably lost words by a scribe's eye skip.
  42. Judges 18:30: Moses or Manasseh?Manuscript variant · The priest of Dan's idol was "Jonathan son of Gershom son of Manasseh" in the Hebrew, but the nun of Manasseh is written small and raised. Without it the name is Moses. The Vulgate reads Moses. The raised letter is one of the most famous scribal features in the Hebrew Bible.
  43. Judges 19:2: Did she betray him, or leave him?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew says the concubine "played the harlot against him" and went to her father's house. The library's Greek and the Vulgate say only that she left him. Some scholars suspect a different Hebrew word, "was angry with him," behind the Greek.
  44. Judges 20:15, 35, 46: How many Benjaminites?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew counts 26,000 Benjaminite swordsmen plus 700 of Gibeah; the library's Greek 23,000; the Vulgate 25,000. All agree that 25,100 fell (20:35) and 600 escaped. The figures are shown as they stand.
  45. Judges 21:19–23: The festival at Shiloh, and a Qumran fragmentStable text · The directions to Shiloh's festival and the plan to seize its dancers are the same in the witnesses checked. A Qumran fragment, 4QJudg-b, preserves parts of Judges 21; which letters survive has not yet been checked here.
  46. Ruth 1:16–17: "Thy people shall be my people"Stable text · Ruth's pledge is the same in every witness checked, and the opening of the book survives in a Qumran fragment. The questions here are of translation and meaning: an oath of loyalty, or a conversion?
  47. Ruth 2:12; 3:9: Under God's wings, under Boaz's wing · Boaz prays that Ruth will be rewarded by the God under whose wings (kanaph) she has taken refuge. At the threshing floor Ruth asks him to spread his kanaph over her. The Hebrew uses the same word; most translations hide it.
  48. Ruth 3:15: Who went into the city: he or she?Manuscript variant · After Boaz loads six measures of barley onto Ruth's shawl, the standard Hebrew says "he went into the city." The Greek and Latin in the library, and the King James Version, say "she went." Many Hebrew manuscripts are reported to read "she" as well.
  49. Ruth 4:5: "I acquire" or "you acquire"?Manuscript variant · In 4:5 the written Hebrew consonants read "I acquire" (ketiv) but the reading tradition says "you acquire" (qere). A second difficulty, "from Ruth" or "also Ruth," makes the verse one of the hardest in the book. The versions take it as "you."
  50. Ruth 4:20–21: Salmah or Salmon?Manuscript variant · Boaz's father is spelled Salmah (שַׂלְמָה) in 4:20 and Salmon (שַׂלְמוֹן) in 4:21 in the same Hebrew text. 1 Chronicles 2:11 has Salma; Matthew and the versions have Salmon.
  51. 1 Samuel 1:24: Three bulls, or one three-year-old bull?Manuscript variant · Hannah brings Samuel to Shiloh with an offering. The Masoretic Text says "three bulls"; 4QSam-a and the Greek say "a three-year-old bull." The next verse, "they slew a bullock," fits one animal.
  52. 1 Samuel 2:22: The women at the tent doorDisputed addition · The Masoretic Text adds that Eli's sons "lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle." The library's Greek ends the verse after "what his sons did to all Israel"; 4QSam-a is reported to lack the clause too.
  53. 1 Samuel 6:19: Seventy men, or 50,070?Manuscript variant · God strikes the men of Beth-shemesh who looked into the ark. The Hebrew reads literally "seventy men, fifty thousand men." The Vulgate and KJV follow it; the library's Greek has seventy chiefs and fifty thousand men. A few Hebrew manuscripts and Josephus have only seventy.
  54. 1 Samuel 10:27–11:1: Nahash: the paragraph found only at QumranDisputed addition · 4QSam-a has a paragraph between 10:27 and 11:1 not found in any other biblical manuscript: Nahash king of Ammon had been gouging out the right eyes of the Gadites and Reubenites, and seven thousand had escaped to Jabesh. Josephus tells the same story. The Hebrew "he held his peace" and the Greek "about a month later" differ by one letter.
  55. 1 Samuel 11:8: How many came to Bezek?Manuscript variant · Saul musters Israel at Bezek. The Hebrew: 300,000 from Israel and 30,000 from Judah. The library's Greek: 600,000 and 70,000. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew.
  56. 1 Samuel 13:1: Saul's missing ageManuscript variant · The Hebrew reads "Saul was a year old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel." A number is missing. The library's Greek has no verse 13:1 at all. English Bibles fill the gaps with different conjectures.
  57. 1 Samuel 14:41: Urim and Thummim: the longer prayerManuscript variant · The Hebrew has only "Give perfect [tamim]." The library's Greek and the Vulgate have a full prayer: if the guilt is in Saul or Jonathan, give Urim; if in the people, give Thummim. The longer text is the clearest picture of how the lots worked.
  58. 1 Samuel 17–18: David and Goliath: the short and long editionsDisputed addition · The oldest Greek of 1 Samuel 17–18 lacks about 45% of the Hebrew, including David's arrival with food (17:12–31), Saul's question "whose son is this?" (17:55–18:5), Saul's first spear (18:10–11) and the Merab marriage (18:17–19). The library's Greek shows exactly these gaps.
  59. 1 Samuel 17:4: How tall was Goliath?Manuscript variant · Six cubits and a span (about 2.9 m) in the Masoretic Text, the Vulgate and the KJV; four cubits and a span (about 2 m) in 4QSam-a, the library's Greek and Josephus.
  60. 1 Samuel 21:1–6; Mark 2:25–26: Ahimelech or Abiathar? · 1 Samuel names the priest at Nob as Ahimelech. In Mark 2:26 Jesus says David ate the holy bread "in the days of Abiathar the high priest." This is a question between two books, not a variant within 1 Samuel.
  61. 1 Samuel 28:13: "I saw gods ascending" · The medium says she sees elohim, with a plural verb, "rising from the earth." The Greek, Latin and KJV all say "gods." The question is what the word means here: a divine being, a spirit, or Samuel himself.
  62. 1 Samuel 31:3–5; 2 Samuel 1:6–10: How did Saul die? · 1 Samuel 31 says Saul fell on his own sword. In 2 Samuel 1 an Amalekite tells David he found Saul leaning on his spear and killed him at his request. 1 Chronicles 10 follows 1 Samuel 31.
  63. 2 Samuel 5:6–8: The tsinnor and the blind and the lame · David's words before taking Jerusalem are obscure in Hebrew. Whoever "reaches the tsinnor" (gutter? shaft? conduit?) and strikes the Jebusites, "the lame and the blind hated of David's soul." Each version understands it differently.
  64. 2 Samuel 8:4; 10:18: Horsemen and chariots: Samuel, the Greek and ChroniclesManuscript variant · In 8:4 the Hebrew has 1,700 horsemen; the library's Greek and 1 Chronicles 18:4 have 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen. 4QSam-a is reported to agree with the Greek. In 10:18, Samuel has 700 chariots and 40,000 horsemen; Chronicles has 7,000 charioteers and 40,000 foot.
  65. 2 Samuel 12:31: Saws and brick-molds: labor or torture? · After Rabbah falls, David "put" its people "to" or "under" saws, iron picks and iron axes, and made them pass "through the brick-mold." Older translations read torture and killing; many modern ones read forced labor. The library's Greek reads extermination.
  66. 2 Samuel 15:7: After forty years, or four?Manuscript variant · Absalom asks leave to go to Hebron "at the end of forty years." The Hebrew, the library's Greek and the Vulgate all say forty. The Lucianic Greek, the Syriac and Josephus are reported to read four, which fits the story.
  67. 2 Samuel 21:8: The five sons of Michal, or of Merab?Manuscript variant · Five of Saul's grandsons handed to the Gibeonites are called "the five sons of Michal… whom she bore to Adriel." But Merab married Adriel (1 Samuel 18:19), and Michal had no child (6:23). The library's texts all read Michal; two medieval Hebrew manuscripts and some Greek witnesses are reported to read Merab.
  68. 2 Samuel 21:19: Who killed Goliath?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew says Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite. 1 Samuel 17 says David killed him; 1 Chronicles 20:5 says Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, Goliath's brother. The KJV adds "the brother of" in italics.
  69. 2 Samuel 22; Psalm 18: One song in two booksManuscript variant · David's song is preserved twice, in 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18, with dozens of small differences. In 22:11 God "was seen" (vayyera) on the wings of the wind; in Psalm 18 He "flew" (vayyede). Resh and dalet look alike in Hebrew script.
  70. 2 Samuel 23:8: The chief of the Three: 800 or 300?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew of 23:8 is difficult: "Josheb-basshebeth a Tachmonite… he was Adino the Eznite, over eight hundred slain at one time." 1 Chronicles 11:11: "Jashobeam a Hachmonite… lifted up his spear against three hundred." The library's Greek calls him "Ishbosheth the Canaanite."
  71. 2 Samuel 24:1, 9: Who moved David to count the people? · "The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David" (2 Samuel 24:1). "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David" (1 Chronicles 21:1). The census totals also differ. These are two biblical histories, not two manuscripts.
  72. 2 Samuel 24:13: Seven years of famine, or three?Manuscript variant · Gad offers David famine, flight or plague. The Hebrew of Samuel and the Vulgate say seven years of famine; the library's Greek and 1 Chronicles 21:12 say three, matching "three months" and "three days."
  73. 2 Samuel 24:24: Fifty shekels of silver, or six hundred of gold? · David buys "the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver" from Araunah. In 1 Chronicles 21:25 he gives Ornan "for the place six hundred shekels of gold." Different books, different amounts, different metals, and possibly different things bought.
  74. 1 Kings 2:35: The Greek Solomon miscellanies (2:35a–o, 2:46a–l)Disputed addition · After 2:35 and again after 2:46, the Greek 3 Kingdoms adds long summaries about Solomon: his wisdom, his provisions, his wife Pharaoh's daughter, his building works and his officials. Much of it repeats or rearranges material found later in the Hebrew (chapters 3–5 and 9–10). In the library's Greek the additions are merged into verses 35 and 46.
  75. 1 Kings 6:1: 480 years or 440?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew dates the temple's foundation to the 480th year after the Exodus; the library's Greek has the 440th. Separately from the textual question, readers debate whether 480 is a literal count or a symbolic one (twelve generations of forty years).
  76. 1 Kings 7:23–26: The bronze Sea: 2,000 or 3,000 baths?Manuscript variant · 1 Kings 7:26 says the Sea held 2,000 baths; 2 Chronicles 4:5 says 3,000. The library's Greek of 1 Kings has no capacity figure at all in this passage, and gives the circumference as 33 cubits instead of 30.
  77. 1 Kings 8:16: "But I chose Jerusalem"Manuscript variant · In the Hebrew of Kings, God says He chose no city, but chose David. The library's Greek also says "I chose Jerusalem for my name to be there," as 2 Chronicles 6:5–6 does. The Qumran fragment 4Q54 is reported to have the longer text. The Hebrew of Kings probably lost the words when a scribe's eye skipped between two similar clauses.
  78. 1 Kings 8:12–13: Solomon's short poem, moved and longerManuscript variant · In the Hebrew, Solomon's poem "The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness" stands at 8:12–13. In the library's Greek it comes after 8:53, with an extra opening line about the sun. The Greek is commonly reported to end with "Is it not written in the book of the song?", possibly a misreading of "the book of Jashar"; that line is not in the library's text.
  79. 1 Kings 11:41: The lost Book of the Acts of SolomonStable text · Kings tells readers to look for "the rest of the acts of Solomon" in "the book of the acts of Solomon." The wording is stable across the witnesses checked. The book itself is lost; no copy, fragment or outside quotation is known.
  80. 1 Kings 12:24 (3 Kingdoms 12:24a–z): A second story of JeroboamDisputed addition · After 12:24 the Greek 3 Kingdoms tells the story of Jeroboam's rise a second time, differently: his mother is a prostitute named Sarira, he marries Pharaoh's sister-in-law Ano, his son falls sick before the division, and the prophet who tears a garment is Shemaiah, not Ahijah. In the main Greek manuscripts 14:1–20 is absent, because this account covers it. The library's digital Greek lacks 12:24a–z entirely; the site reports it from scholarship and has not checked its wording.
  81. 1 Kings 14:25–26: Shishak and Shoshenq: a text and an inscriptionStable text · This is not a manuscript variant: all the witnesses checked agree that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem in Rehoboam's fifth year. The question is how the biblical text relates to Shoshenq I's own record at Karnak.
  82. 1 Kings 16:8 and 2 Chronicles 16:1: When did Baasha attack Asa?Manuscript variant · 1 Kings 16:8 has Baasha's son begin to reign in Asa's 26th year, so Baasha was dead by then. 2 Chronicles 16:1 has Baasha attack Judah in Asa's 36th year. The library's Greek of 1 Kings 16:8 has no synchronism with Asa at all.
  83. 1 Kings 19:12: "A still small voice" · All witnesses agree on the Hebrew words qol demamah daqqah. What they mean (a voice, a sound, a silence, a whisper, a breeze) has been rendered very differently. This is a question of translation, not of manuscripts.
  84. 1 Kings 20–21: Naboth before the Aramean warsManuscript variant · The Hebrew tells Ahab's wars with Ben-hadad (chapter 20) before Naboth's vineyard (chapter 21). The library's Greek reverses them, so that Naboth follows directly after the Elijah chapters. This is a difference in the order of the book, not in individual words.
  85. 1 Kings 22:28: "Hearken, O people, every one of you"Disputed addition · Micaiah's last words in the Hebrew, "Hearken, O people, every one of you," are the opening words of the book of Micah (Micah 1:2). The library's Greek lacks them. Many scholars think a scribe added them, identifying Micaiah son of Imlah with the later prophet Micah of Moresheth.
  86. 1 Kings 22:19–23: A lying spirit in the prophets' mouthsStable text · The witnesses checked agree on Micaiah's vision of the heavenly council. The hard question is theological and interpretive: what it means that a spirit offers to be "a lying spirit" and God permits it.
  87. 2 Kings 1:2: Baal-zebub, "lord of flies" · All witnesses name the god of Ekron. The Hebrew says Baal-zebub, "lord of flies"; the library's Greek "Baal-Mouche" (Baal-fly); the Vulgate "Beelzebub." Many scholars think the original title was Baal-zebul, "Baal the prince," deliberately mocked.
  88. 2 Kings 2:23–24: The youths and the bears · The witnesses agree on the story. The interpretive questions are the age of the "little children" (ne'arim qetannim), what "tare" means, and why the curse was given.
  89. 2 Kings 3:27: "Great wrath against Israel" · After Mesha sacrifices his son, "there was great wrath against Israel." Whose wrath? The Hebrew does not say. The library's Greek reads it as Israel's own remorse; the Vulgate as "great indignation in Israel."
  90. 2 Kings 5:17–19: Naaman's earth and the house of RimmonStable text · The witnesses agree: Naaman asks for Israelite earth and for pardon when he must bow beside his king in the temple of Rimmon. Elisha answers "Go in peace." The question is moral and interpretive, not textual.
  91. 2 Kings 6:25: Siege prices: 80 shekels or 50?Manuscript variant · An ass's head sold for 80 shekels in the Hebrew, Vulgate and KJV; for 50 in the library's Greek. "Dove's dung" is written one way and read another in the Hebrew.
  92. 2 Kings 8:10: "Thou shalt not" or "to him"? · The Hebrew letters say "Go, say: you will NOT surely live" (lo, not); the Masoretic reading tradition says "Go, say TO HIM: you will surely live" (lo, to him). The two words sound identical.
  93. 2 Kings 8:26 and 2 Chronicles 22:2: Ahaziah's age: 22, 42 or 20?Manuscript variant · 2 Kings 8:26 says Ahaziah was 22 when he became king. The Hebrew of 2 Chronicles 22:2 says 42, which would make him two years older than his father (2 Chronicles 21:20). The library's Greek of Chronicles has 20.
  94. 2 Kings 9:27–28 and 2 Chronicles 22:9: How did Ahaziah die?Manuscript variant · Kings: Ahaziah is shot near Ibleam, flees to Megiddo and dies there; his servants carry him to Jerusalem. Chronicles: he is found hiding in Samaria, brought to Jehu and put to death. A difference between parallel accounts, not between manuscripts.
  95. 2 Kings 10:30 and Hosea 1:4: Jehu rewarded, Jehu judgedStable text · 2 Kings 10:30 says God approved Jehu's destruction of Ahab's house and promised his sons four generations. Hosea 1:4 says God will avenge "the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu." The texts agree in every witness checked; the tension is between two biblical books.
  96. 2 Kings 13:5: The unnamed "saviour"Manuscript variant · The Hebrew says God gave Israel "a saviour" (moshia') without naming him. The library's Greek reads simply "the Lord saved Israel."
  97. 2 Kings 14:25: Jonah son of AmittaiStable text · The witnesses agree that Jeroboam II restored Israel's border "from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain" as Jonah son of Amittai of Gath-hepher had prophesied. This is the only mention of Jonah outside his book.
  98. 2 Kings 16:3: "Made his son to pass through the fire" · The Hebrew says Ahaz "made his son pass through the fire." The library's Greek interprets: "delivered his son to the flames of Moloch"; the Vulgate: "consecrated his son, passing him through the fire." 2 Chronicles 28:3 says "burnt his children in the fire."
  99. 2 Kings 17:6: Who took Samaria, and when?Stable text · The witnesses agree that "the king of Assyria" took Samaria in Hoshea's ninth year. Kings names Shalmaneser as the besieger; Sargon II claims the conquest in his own inscriptions. The question is historical, not textual.
  100. 2 Kings 18:14: Hezekiah's tribute: 300 or 800 talents of silver?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew, Vulgate and KJV say 300 talents of silver and 30 of gold. Sennacherib's annals say 30 talents of gold and 800 of silver. The library's Greek says 300 of silver and 300 of gold.
  101. 2 Kings 19:35–37: 185,000, and Sennacherib's deathStable text · All witnesses checked give 185,000 Assyrian dead. No Assyrian source mentions such a loss. Sennacherib's later murder by a son is attested outside the Bible.
  102. 2 Kings 20:9–11: The shadow on the steps of Ahaz · The witnesses agree on the sign. They render the object differently: "steps" (Hebrew ma'alot, Greek "degrees"), "dial" (KJV), "horologium" (Vulgate).
  103. 2 Kings 20:20: The conduit and the Siloam inscriptionStable text · Kings says Hezekiah "made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city." The Siloam inscription, cut inside a tunnel in Jerusalem, describes a tunnel's completion but names no king.
  104. 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33: Manasseh: judged, or repentant?Disputed addition · Kings presents Manasseh as the worst king of Judah, with no repentance. 2 Chronicles 33:11–17 adds his captivity in Babylon, his prayer and his reform. A later "Prayer of Manasseh" circulated in Greek and Latin Bibles.
  105. 2 Kings 22:8: "The book of the law"Stable text · All witnesses agree that Hilkiah found "the book of the law" (sefer ha-torah). What the book contained is a question of interpretation; the strongest hypothesis connects it with Deuteronomy.
  106. 2 Kings 23:29: Necho went "against" or "to" the king of Assyria? · The Hebrew preposition 'al can mean "against" or "to, on behalf of." The KJV and the library's Greek read "against"; the Babylonian Chronicle shows Egypt marching to help Assyria in 609 BC, so most modern translations read "to."
  107. 2 Kings 24:8 and 2 Chronicles 36:9: Jehoiachin: 18 or 8?Manuscript variant · 2 Kings 24:8 makes Jehoiachin 18 at his accession; 2 Chronicles 36:9 in the Hebrew and in the library's Greek makes him 8, reigning "three months and ten days." Some ancient witnesses of Chronicles are reported to read 18.
  108. 2 Kings 24:14–16 and Jeremiah 52:28: How many were deported in 597 BC?Manuscript variant · 2 Kings 24:14 gives 10,000 captives; 24:16 gives 7,000 men of might and 1,000 craftsmen; Jeremiah 52:28 gives 3,023 in Nebuchadnezzar's seventh year. The library's Greek of 24:16 has 70,000. Greek Jeremiah lacks 52:28–30.
  109. 2 Kings 25:8 and Jeremiah 52:12: When was the temple burned?Manuscript variant · 2 Kings 25:8 says Nebuzaradan came on the seventh day of the fifth month; Hebrew Jeremiah 52:12 says the tenth; the library's Greek Jeremiah, the sixth. Jewish tradition mourns on the ninth of Av.
  110. 1 Chronicles 2:13–15: David the seventh son, or the eighth?Manuscript variant · Chronicles names seven sons of Jesse, with David the seventh. 1 Samuel 16:10–11 and 17:12 say Jesse had eight sons, David the youngest. A difference between parallel books, not between copies of Chronicles.
  111. 1 Chronicles 3:17–19: Zerubbabel: son of Pedaiah or of Shealtiel?Manuscript variant · 1 Chronicles 3:19 makes Zerubbabel the son of Pedaiah; Ezra 3:2, Haggai 1:1 and Matthew 1:12 call him son of Shealtiel (Pedaiah's brother). The library's Hebrew, Greek and Latin of Chronicles all read Pedaiah.
  112. 1 Chronicles 7:24: Sheerah, builder of the Beth-horonsDisputed addition · All witnesses credit Ephraim's daughter Sheerah with building Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah. The library's Greek adds that she was "among those who survived."
  113. 1 Chronicles 8:33–34 (and 9:39–40): Esh-baal and Merib-baalManuscript variant · Chronicles names Saul's son Esh-baal and Jonathan's son Merib-baal. 2 Samuel calls them Ish-bosheth ("man of shame") and Mephibosheth. Most scholars think the Baal forms are original and scribes later replaced "Baal" with "shame" in Samuel.
  114. 1 Chronicles 16:8–36: One psalm from threeManuscript variant · The thanksgiving psalm at the ark's arrival combines Psalm 105:1–15, Psalm 96 and Psalm 106:1, 47–48. The texts are close but not identical.
  115. 1 Chronicles 17:13–14: The covenant without the "rod of men"Manuscript variant · 2 Samuel 7:14–16 promises David's son discipline "with the rod of men" if he sins, and speaks of "thy house and thy kingdom." 1 Chronicles 17:13–14 omits the warning and reads "mine house and my kingdom."
  116. 1 Chronicles 21:5–6 and 2 Samuel 24:9: The census totalsManuscript variant · 2 Samuel 24:9: Israel 800,000 and Judah 500,000. 1 Chronicles 21:5: "all Israel" 1,100,000 and Judah 470,000, with Levi and Benjamin not counted.
  117. 1 Chronicles 22:14: A hundred thousand talents of goldStable text · All witnesses give 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver, roughly 3,400 and 34,000 tonnes, far more than any known ancient treasury. The text is stable; the meaning of the figures is the question.
  118. 1 Chronicles 23:3, 24, 27: Levites from thirty, or from twenty?Manuscript variant · Within one chapter, 23:3 counts Levites from thirty years old and 23:24, 27 from twenty. Numbers 4:3 says thirty and Numbers 8:24 twenty-five; Ezra 3:8 twenty. The library's Greek reads "thirty" in 23:24.
  119. 1 Chronicles 24:7–18: The courses of the priests, in stoneStable text · The order of the twenty-four priestly courses is stable in the witnesses. Fragments of synagogue inscriptions from late antiquity list the same courses with the Galilean towns where they lived after AD 70.
  120. 1 Chronicles 25:4–5: Heman's sons and daughters · Heman has fourteen sons and three daughters. The last nine sons' names in 25:4 can be read together as a short Hebrew prayer. The witnesses agree on the names; their reading as a prayer is interpretation.
  121. 1 Chronicles 29:29: The books of Samuel, Nathan and GadStable text · All witnesses say David's acts are written "in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer." No separate books of Nathan or Gad survive.
  122. 2 Chronicles 3:4: A porch 120 cubits high?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew, the library's Greek, the Vulgate and the KJV give the temple porch a height of 120 cubits (about 55–60 m), four times the house's 30 cubits. Some Greek and Syriac witnesses are reported to read 20, which many translations adopt.
  123. 2 Chronicles 5:10 and Hebrews 9:4: What was in the ark?Stable text · 2 Chronicles 5:10 (like 1 Kings 8:9) says there was nothing in the ark but the two tablets. Hebrews 9:4 lists a golden jar of manna and Aaron's rod with the tablets. A comparison between books, not between manuscripts.
  124. 2 Chronicles 6:41–42 and Psalm 132:8–10: Solomon's prayer ends with a psalmManuscript variant · Chronicles ends Solomon's prayer with words from Psalm 132, replacing the Exodus ending of 1 Kings 8:51–53. Small changes adapt the psalm.
  125. 2 Chronicles 7:1–3: Fire from heaven at the dedicationDisputed addition · Chronicles says fire came down from heaven and consumed the offerings when Solomon finished praying. 1 Kings 8 has no fire. A difference between parallel accounts; all copies of each book agree.
  126. 2 Chronicles 13:3, 17: 400,000, 800,000 and 500,000Stable text · All witnesses checked give Abijah 400,000 men and Jeroboam 800,000, with 500,000 Israelites killed. These figures far exceed plausible Iron Age populations.
  127. 2 Chronicles 14:9: Zerah the Cushite and a million menStable text · All witnesses give Zerah "a thousand thousand" men and 300 chariots. No Egyptian or Kushite king Zerah is known, and the identification of Zerah is uncertain.
  128. 2 Chronicles 20:1: Ammonites, or Meunim?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew says Moab, Ammon "and with them some of the Ammonites" came; the repetition is odd. The library's Greek reads "Minéens" (Meunim), a people near Edom (compare 26:7 and 20:10, "mount Seir"), which most modern translations follow.
  129. 2 Chronicles 21:12: A letter from ElijahStable text · All witnesses say a writing came to Jehoram of Judah from Elijah the prophet. Kings seems to place Elijah's departure earlier, in Jehoshaphat's reign. A chronological question, not a textual one.
  130. 2 Chronicles 24:20–22 and Matthew 23:35: Zechariah, from Abel to Zacharias · Chronicles tells of Zechariah son of Jehoiada stoned in the temple court. Jesus speaks of "Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar" (Matthew 23:35). Luke 11:51 has no patronymic. Which Zechariah is meant is debated.
  131. 2 Chronicles 26:16–21 and 2 Kings 15:5: Why was Uzziah struck?Disputed addition · 2 Kings 15:5 says only that the LORD struck the king and he was a leper until his death. Chronicles explains: he entered the temple to burn incense and was struck while raging at the priests.
  132. 2 Chronicles 30:2–3 and Numbers 9:10–11: Passover in the second monthStable text · All witnesses say Hezekiah kept Passover in the second month because the priests had not sanctified themselves and the people had not gathered. Numbers 9 allows a second-month Passover for those unclean or on a journey.
  133. 2 Chronicles 35:20–25 and 2 Kings 23:29–30: How Josiah diedManuscript variant · Kings: Necho killed Josiah at Megiddo "when he had seen him." Chronicles: Necho warned Josiah in God's name; Josiah disguised himself, fought, was shot by archers and died in Jerusalem. 1 Esdras 1 says Necho's words came "from the mouth of the Lord" through Jeremiah. The library's Greek of Chronicles also adds material after 35:19.
  134. 2 Chronicles 36:21: Seventy years and the land's sabbathsStable text · Chronicles joins Jeremiah's seventy years with Leviticus 26's promise that the land would enjoy its missed sabbaths. The text is stable; the reckoning of the seventy years is debated.
  135. 2 Chronicles 36:22–23 and Ezra 1:1–3: Cyrus' proclamation, twiceManuscript variant · The last verses of Chronicles and the first verses of Ezra are nearly identical. Chronicles stops at "let him go up"; Ezra continues "to Jerusalem… and build the house." The Cyrus Cylinder shows Cyrus restoring temples and peoples in Babylonia but does not mention Jerusalem or the Jews.
  136. Ezra 1:9–11: The temple vessels: 2,499 or 5,400?Manuscript variant · Ezra lists six kinds of vessels adding up to 2,499, then gives the total as 5,400. Every library text of Ezra agrees on both. 1 Esdras gives different items that add up to its own total, 5,469.
  137. Ezra 1:2–4 and 6:3–5: Cyrus' decree in Hebrew and in Aramaic · Ezra quotes Cyrus' decree twice: a Hebrew proclamation inviting the exiles to return (1:2–4) and an Aramaic archive memorandum specifying the building, its funding and the vessels (6:3–5). The memorandum gives the house 60 cubits of height and breadth but no length.
  138. Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7; 1 Esdras 5:8: The leaders of the return: eleven or twelve?Manuscript variant · Ezra 2:2 names eleven leaders with Zerubbabel; Nehemiah 7:7 names twelve, adding Nahamani, and spells several names differently. 1 Esdras 5:8 has its own forms. Twelve leaders would match the twelve tribes and the twelve goats of 6:17.
  139. Ezra 2:3–35; Nehemiah 7:8–38; 1 Esdras 5:9–23: The returnees family by family, in three versionsManuscript variant · The lay families and towns of the returnee list, with each version's number. Names and figures often differ. Sums: Ezra 2 (all groups) 29,818; Nehemiah 7, 31,089; 1 Esdras 5 in the KJV Apocrypha, 33,922; each states a total of 42,360.
  140. Ezra 2:36–58; Nehemiah 7:39–60: Priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers and temple servantsManuscript variant · The priestly families agree in both lists (4,289). The singers are 128 in Ezra, 148 in Nehemiah; gatekeepers 139 and 138; the Nethinim and Solomon's servants 392 in both (1 Esdras: 372). Individual names of temple servants vary in spelling and order.
  141. Ezra 2:59–63; Nehemiah 7:61–65; 1 Esdras 5:36–40: "Till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim" · Priests who cannot find their genealogy are barred from the most holy food until a priest with Urim and Thummim arises. The Hebrew names the sacred lots; the Vulgate and 1 Esdras turn them into qualities: "learned and perfect," "clothed with doctrine and truth." 1 Esdras names "Nehemias and Atharias" where Ezra has the title Tirshatha.
  142. Ezra 2:64–69; Nehemiah 7:66–72; 1 Esdras 5:41–45: 42,360: the total, the servants, the singers and the giftsManuscript variant · All three lists state the assembly as 42,360, more than the sum of the groups listed (29,818 in Ezra). Servants are 7,337 (1 Esdras 7,347); singers 200 in Ezra, 245 in Nehemiah. The library's Hebrew of Nehemiah lacks the verse with horses and mules. The gifts differ entirely.
  143. Ezra 3:8–13; 5:1–2, 16; Haggai 1–2; Zechariah 4:9: When was the foundation laid? · Ezra 3 places the foundation in the second year after the return under Zerubbabel and Jeshua; Ezra 5:16 credits Sheshbazzar; Haggai and Zechariah tie Zerubbabel's foundation to 520 BC. The texts agree on the words but invite different chronologies.
  144. Ezra 4:4–24: The time leap: from Cyrus to Artaxerxes and back to Darius · Ezra 4:6–23 describes opposition under Xerxes and Artaxerxes, decades after the temple was finished, and about the city walls. Verse 24 returns to the temple and to Darius I. All witnesses agree on the order; the issue is how to read it.
  145. Ezra 4:7–11: Where the Aramaic begins, and "Bishlam" · Ezra 4:7 says the letter was "written in Aramaic and translated"; from 4:8 the book itself is Aramaic. In 4:7 the Hebrew bishlam is a name in the KJV and "a peaceable letter" in the library's Greek. 4Q117 reportedly preserves parts of 4:9–11.
  146. Ezra 4:12–23: Rehum's letter and the king's reply: a city, not a templeStable text · The accusation and the royal reply concern Jerusalem's walls and tribute, not the temple. The text is stable across the library's witnesses; the questions are historical: are the letters authentic, and how do they relate to Nehemiah?
  147. Ezra 5:17–6:5: 4Q117: the oldest copy of EzraStable text · 4Q117 (4QEzra), from Qumran Cave 4, is reported to preserve parts of 5:17–6:5, the end of Tattenai's letter and the beginning of the memorandum. It is the oldest surviving copy of any part of Ezra, about a thousand years older than the Leningrad Codex.
  148. Ezra 6:14–15; 1 Esdras 7:4–5: Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes; the third or the twenty-third of AdarManuscript variant · Ezra 6:14 credits the decrees of Cyrus, Darius "and Artaxerxes," though the temple was finished under Darius. 6:15 dates completion to the third of Adar in Darius' sixth year; 1 Esdras 7:5 (KJV) has the twenty-third.
  149. Ezra 6:19–22: Back to Hebrew, the Passover and "the king of Assyria" · At 6:19 Ezra returns to Hebrew. The Passover is eaten by the returned exiles "and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen." God turns the heart of "the king of Assyria" to them: so every library witness, of a Persian king.
  150. Ezra 7:1–5; 1 Chronicles 6:3–15: Ezra's priestly line: sixteen generations from AaronManuscript variant · Ezra's genealogy names sixteen generations from Aaron to Ezra. 1 Chronicles 6 has six more names between Meraioth and Azariah. Seraiah, called Ezra's father, was killed in 586 BC; "son" means descendant.
  151. Ezra 7:11–28: Artaxerxes' commission and the change of voice · The king's letter (7:12–26) is Aramaic; 7:27 returns to Hebrew and to "I": the start of Ezra's memoir. In 7:12 the Aramaic gemir ("perfect," probably a greeting formula) is understood very differently by the library's Greek.
  152. Ezra 8:15–20: Ahava and "the place Casiphia" · Ezra gathers at the river Ahava and sends to Iddo "at the place Casiphia" for Levites. The Hebrew names Casiphia twice; the library's Greek has no place name but "the silver of the region," reading kesef (silver) in the name. Neither place has been located.
  153. Ezra 9:1–2; 1 Esdras 8:69–70: The peoples of the lands and "the holy seed"Manuscript variant · Ezra's list of peoples combines Deuteronomy 7:1 and 23:3–8. The library's Greek has "Moserites" for Egyptians; the KJV text of 1 Esdras 8:69 has Edomites and lacks Ammonites and Amorites. "The holy seed" (9:2) echoes Isaiah 6:13.
  154. Ezra 10:15; 1 Esdras 9:14: Did Jonathan and Jahzeiah oppose the measure or carry it out? · The Hebrew 'amdu 'al-zot means "stood against this" or "stood over this." Most modern translations: they opposed it. The KJV: they "were employed about this matter." The library's Greek and 1 Esdras make them Ezra's helpers.
  155. Ezra 10:3, 44; 1 Esdras 9:36: The last verse of Ezra: what happened to the children?Manuscript variant · Ezra's last sentence is grammatically difficult: "and some of them had wives, and they set (?) sons." Translations make it "by whom they had children." 1 Esdras 9:36 ends instead: "and they put them away with their children."
  156. Ezra 1–10 and 1 Esdras 1–9: Ezra and 1 Esdras: two editions of one storyDisputed addition · 1 Esdras (Greek Esdras A) is not a translation of Ezra but a separate retelling. It starts with Josiah's Passover, reorders Ezra 4, adds the contest of the three bodyguards in which Zerubbabel praises truth, and ends with Ezra's reading of the law from Nehemiah 8. The bodyguards story has no Hebrew original.
  157. Nehemiah 1:1; 2:1: Chislev, then Nisan, in the twentieth yearStable text · Nehemiah hears the news in Chislev (9th month) "in the twentieth year" and speaks to the king in Nisan (1st month) "in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes." All the library's texts agree. If the year began in Nisan, the order is puzzling.
  158. Nehemiah 2:8: The keeper of the king's pardes · Asaph keeps the king's pardes, a Persian word for a walled park or reserve. The Hebrew uses the loanword; the Greek tradition uses paradeisos (Giguet: "garden"); the Vulgate saltus (forest); the KJV "forest." Paradeisos is the Greek Bible's word for Eden, and later for paradise.
  159. Nehemiah 2:13–15: The Dragon Well or the Fig FountainManuscript variant · On his night ride Nehemiah passes 'en hattannin, "the spring of the dragon (or jackal)." The Vulgate and KJV say dragon; the library's Greek (Giguet) has "the fountain of the figs," reading a different word. The spring's location is unknown.
  160. Nehemiah 3:5, 12: Shallum's daughters and the Tekoite noblesStable text · Shallum, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repairs "he and his daughters"; the nobles of Tekoa refuse to "put their necks" to the work. All the library's texts agree.
  161. Nehemiah 3:15: The pool of Shelah, or the shearing pool · Shallun builds "the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden." The Vulgate and KJV make it the pool of Siloah/Siloam; the library's Greek (Giguet) reads it as "the pool where fleeces are washed at the king's shearing."
  162. Nehemiah 4:1–23 (Hebrew 3:33–4:17): Where chapter 4 beginsStable text · English Bibles begin chapter 4 with Sanballat's mockery; the Hebrew Bible keeps it as the end of chapter 3 (3:33–38). The words are the same; only the numbering differs. The library's Hebrew follows the Hebrew numbering.
  163. Nehemiah 5:11: "The hundredth": interest, tax or debt?Manuscript variant · Nehemiah tells the creditors to restore lands, vineyards, olive groves and houses "and the hundredth of the money, grain, wine and oil." The Hebrew, Vulgate and KJV have "the hundredth"; the library's Greek (Giguet) does not, reading instead "bring them grain, wine and oil for the price of the silver."
  164. Nehemiah 6:10–14: Noadiah: prophetess or prophet?Manuscript variant · Nehemiah asks God to remember "the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets" who tried to frighten him. The Hebrew and KJV make Noadiah a woman; the library's Greek (Giguet) has "Noadias the prophet," masculine; the Vulgate's form does not mark gender.
  165. Nehemiah 6:15: Fifty-two daysStable text · "So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days." All the library's texts agree. Josephus says two years and four months.
  166. Nehemiah 8:8–9 and 1 Esdras 9:48–49: "Distinctly, and gave the sense"; and where is Nehemiah?Manuscript variant · The Levites read "meforash, and gave the sense." Rabbinic tradition took this as translation into Aramaic; others read "clearly" or "with explanation." The library's Greek (Giguet) paraphrases quite differently. In the next verse, 1 Esdras has "Attharates" where Nehemiah has "Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha."
  167. Nehemiah 8:14–18: "Not since Joshua": Booths in JerusalemStable text · "For since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so." All the library's texts agree. Booths was kept under Solomon and after the return (Ezra 3:4), so the phrase must mean "not in this way."
  168. Nehemiah 9:5–6: "And Ezra said"Disputed addition · In the Hebrew the Levites call the people to bless God and the prayer follows without a new speaker. The Greek tradition adds "And Ezra said" before 9:6. The library's Greek (Giguet) has it; the Hebrew, Vulgate and KJV do not. Many modern translations (NRSV, NAB) follow the Greek.
  169. Nehemiah 10:32 (Hebrew 10:33) and Exodus 30:13: A third of a shekel, or a half?Stable text · The covenant sets "the third part of a shekel" yearly for the temple service; Exodus 30:13 requires "half a shekel" at a census. All the library's texts of Nehemiah read a third (Giguet: "a third of a drachma"). They are different provisions, not a copying error.
  170. Nehemiah 11:1–24 and 1 Chronicles 9:2–34: Jerusalem's residents in two listsManuscript variant · Nehemiah 11 and 1 Chronicles 9 list Jerusalem's inhabitants after the exile with many shared names and different numbers: e.g. priests 1,192 (Nehemiah: 822 + 242 + 128) vs 1,760 (Chronicles); Benjaminites 928 vs 956.
  171. Nehemiah 12:10–11, 22: Jaddua and "Darius the Persian"Manuscript variant · The high-priest list runs Jeshua, Joiakim, Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan (Johanan), Jaddua, and 12:22 records priests "to the reign of Darius the Persian." The list reaches decades, possibly a century, after Nehemiah. The library's Greek chapter 12 is shorter and differently numbered.
  172. Nehemiah 12:31–43 and Nehemiah 3: Two choirs on the wallStable text · Two thanksgiving companies walk the wall in opposite directions, past the gates and towers of Nehemiah 3, and meet at the temple. The texts agree; the route cannot be traced on the ground except schematically.
  173. Nehemiah 13:1–3, 23–27; Deuteronomy 23:3–6; Ruth 4: "No Ammonite or Moabite" and RuthStable text · Nehemiah 13:1 cites Deuteronomy 23:3–6: no Ammonite or Moabite in the congregation of God for ever. The people separate the "mixed multitude," and Nehemiah condemns marriages with women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. Ruth the Moabite, ancestor of David, stands in tension with this. All the library's texts agree on the wording.
  174. Nehemiah 13:24–25: Plucked hair or shaved headsManuscript variant · Nehemiah "contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair." The Hebrew verb marat means to pluck or pull; the library's Greek (Giguet) reads "shaved their heads"; the Vulgate "decalvavi" (made them bald). The children spoke "half in the speech of Ashdod."
  175. Esther 1:1: Ahasuerus, Xerxes or Artaxerxes?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew names the king Ahasuerus (Ahashverosh = Persian Xšayāršā, Xerxes). The Old Greek calls him Artaxerxes; the Vulgate and KJV follow the Hebrew. The identification with Xerxes I is linguistic; the Greek's Artaxerxes reflects a different tradition.
  176. Esther 1:8: "The drinking was according to the law"Manuscript variant · The Hebrew says the drinking was "according to the law (dat); none did compel." The Vulgate makes it "no one compelled the unwilling to drink." The library's Greek (Giguet) reads the opposite: "the meal was not according to the established law."
  177. Esther 2:5–6: Who was carried away with Jeconiah? · "Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with… Jeconiah." If "who" refers to Mordecai, he was exiled in 597 BC and would be over 110 by Xerxes' seventh year. If it refers to Kish, the chronology works. All texts agree on the words.
  178. Esther 2:7: Daughter or wife?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew: Mordecai "took her for his own daughter." The Old Greek: he "brought her up to be his wife." The library's Greek (Giguet) has "to be his wife" and names her father Aminadab; the Vulgate and KJV read daughter.
  179. Esther 3:1 (and Greek 9:24; Addition E): Agagite, Bougaean or Macedonian?Manuscript variant · The Hebrew calls Haman "the Agagite," recalling Agag of Amalek (1 Samuel 15). The Old Greek calls him a "Bougaean" (library's Greek: "le Bugéen"), and later a "Macedonian"; Addition E makes him a Macedonian traitor.
  180. Esther 3:7, 13; 9:24–26: Pur, the lot, and the 13th or 14th of AdarManuscript variant · "They cast Pur, that is, the lot" to choose the day. The Hebrew decree sets 13 Adar; the library's Greek has the lot fall on the 14th. The festival is named Purim "after the name of Pur."
  181. Esther 3:9: Ten thousand talents of silverStable text · Haman offers 10,000 talents of silver for the right to destroy the Jews. All the library's texts agree. About 300 tonnes of silver, it rivals Herodotus' figure for the whole empire's yearly tribute.
  182. Esther 4:14: "From another place" · "Then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place." The Hebrew never names God; "another place" (maqom aher) has been read as a veiled reference to God, as other human help, or as open. The Vulgate reads "by another occasion."
  183. Esther 5:1–2 and Addition D: Esther before the king: two versionsDisputed addition · In the Hebrew, Esther stands in the inner court, finds favor, and touches the sceptre, in two verses. The Greek replaces them with Addition D: she enters radiant but terrified, faints at the king's angry look, and "God changed the spirit of the king into mildness."
  184. Esther 5:14; 7:9–10: A gallows, a stake or a cross? · Haman makes an 'ets ("tree, wood, pole") fifty cubits high to "hang" Mordecai. The KJV says gallows; the library's Greek (Giguet) "potence" (gallows); the Vulgate "a high beam" and then "a cross." Persian practice suggests impaling or display on a stake.
  185. Esther 6:8: A crown on the king's head, or on the horse? · "The horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head." "His" may be the king or the horse. The library's Greek (Giguet) has no crown at all.
  186. Esther 8:11: "Both little ones and women"Manuscript variant · The counter-decree lets the Jews "destroy, slay and cause to perish" any armed force that attacks them, "little ones and women," and take the spoil. The Hebrew, Vulgate and KJV include the clause; the library's Greek (Giguet) does not, permitting the Jews "to live according to their law" and to deal with their enemies.
  187. Esther 8:17: "Became Jews"Manuscript variant · "Many of the people of the land became Jews (mityahadim); for the fear of the Jews fell upon them." The word occurs only here. The library's Greek (Giguet): "many were circumcised and judaized."
  188. Esther 9:10, 15–16: "On the spoil laid they not their hand"Manuscript variant · The Hebrew says three times that the Jews took no plunder, though the decree allowed it. The library's Greek (Giguet, its 9:9) says the Jews of Susa "plundered their houses" (Haman's sons'), while later saying they took nothing elsewhere.
  189. Esther 9:16: 75,000, 15,000 or 70,100?Manuscript variant · The Jews in the provinces killed 75,000 of their enemies (Hebrew, Vulgate, KJV). The library's Greek (Giguet, its 9:15) says 15,000; the Alpha Text is reported to read 70,100.
  190. Esther 10:1–3, Addition F and the colophon: Two endingsDisputed addition · The Hebrew ends at 10:3 with Mordecai "seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace." The Greek continues: "God hath done these things," the dream explained, and a colophon dating the Greek translation to "the fourth year of Ptolemy and Cleopatra."
  191. Additions to Esther A–F (Vulgate and KJV Apocrypha 10:4–16:24): The six Greek additions, and where they sitDisputed addition · The Greek Esther has six blocks absent from the Hebrew: A (Mordecai's dream), B (Haman's decree), C (prayers), D (Esther before the king), E (the counter-decree), F (the dream explained) and a colophon. Greek Bibles place them in the story; Jerome placed them at the end, numbered 10:4–16:24.
  192. Job 1:1: A man in the land of UzStable text · All the library's versions agree on the opening: a man in the land of Uz named Job, blameless and upright. The Greek calls the land Ausitis (Giguet: "Hus") and adds a third and fourth virtue ("sincere, irreproachable, just"). No version locates Uz.
  193. Job 1:6: The sons of God and the satan · The Hebrew says "the sons of God (bene ha-elohim) came… and the satan (ha-satan) came also among them." The library's Greek (Giguet) reads "the angels of God… and the devil." The Vulgate and KJV make "Satan" a name.
  194. Job 1:21: "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away"Stable text · Job's response to his losses is stable across the versions. The Greek adds "as it pleased the Lord, so it has happened."
  195. Job 2:3: "Without cause"Stable text · God says the satan moved him "to destroy him without cause (hinnam)." The same word was the satan's question in 1:9: "Doth Job fear God for nought (hinnam)?" The Greek and Latin keep the sense.
  196. Job 2:9: The speech of Job's wifeDisputed addition · In Hebrew, Job's wife speaks one line: "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die." In the Greek tradition she speaks a paragraph about her lost children and her life as a hired servant. The library's Greek (Giguet), Church Slavonic and Sahidic Coptic all carry the longer speech; the Vulgate and KJV follow the Hebrew.
  197. Job 3:8: Rousing Leviathan · "Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning" (KJV). The Hebrew word the KJV read as "their mourning" is livyatan, Leviathan. The library's Greek reads "him who can master the great sea-monster"; the Vulgate keeps "Leviathan."
  198. Job 7:17–18: "What is man?"Stable text · Job asks, "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him?… that thou shouldest visit him every morning?", turning Psalm 8's wonder into a plea to be left alone. The versions agree.
  199. Job 9:33: No arbiter between us · Hebrew: "There is not between us an arbiter (mokhiah) who might lay his hand on us both." A few Hebrew manuscripts and the Greek read "Would that there were" (lu for lo'). The library's Greek: "If only there were between us a mediator, a censor." The Vulgate: "There is no one who can rebuke both."
  200. Job 13:15: "Though he slay me": written and read · The consonants in the Hebrew text read lo', "not": "Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope." The Masoretic marginal reading (qere) is lo, "to him": "I will hope in him." The library's Hebrew prints both. The Vulgate and KJV follow "in him"; the library's Greek follows neither.
  201. Job 14:14: "If a man die, shall he live again?" · The Hebrew is a question. The library's Greek turns it into a statement of hope: "when a man has died, and has completed the days of his life, he will live; I will wait until I am born again" (Giguet). The Vulgate and KJV keep the question.
  202. Job 16:19: A witness in heavenStable text · "Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high." The Hebrew pairs 'edi ("my witness") with sahadi, the Aramaic word for the same thing. The versions agree on the sense.
  203. Job 19:25–27: "I know that my redeemer liveth" · Hebrew: "I know my go'el lives, and at the last he will stand upon the dust; and after my skin has been struck off, from (or without) my flesh I shall see God." The library's Greek speaks of one "eternal" who will "raise up my skin"; the Vulgate has "on the last day I shall rise from the earth… and in my flesh I shall see my God." The KJV adds "worms" and "body."
  204. Job 24:18–25: Who is speaking? · These verses describe the wicked swept away, which sounds like the friends rather than Job. All manuscripts give them to Job. Modern scholars propose quotation, curse, or a displaced friend's speech.
  205. Job 25:1–6: Bildad's six verses and the missing ZopharStable text · Bildad's third speech is six verses long, and Zophar has no third speech at all. Every manuscript and version agrees. The broken third cycle is a feature of the text as it has come down to us.
  206. Job 26:7, 12–13: The earth over nothing; the fleeing serpentStable text · "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." The versions agree. In 26:13 the "crooked serpent" is nahash bariah, the "fleeing serpent" of Isaiah 27:1 and Ugaritic Lotan.
  207. Job 27:13–23: Job, or Zophar? · "This is the portion of a wicked man with God" repeats Zophar's words in 20:29 almost exactly. The manuscripts give it to Job; many scholars think it is Zophar's missing third speech.
  208. Job 28:28: "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom"Stable text · The poem's conclusion is stable: "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." The Hebrew uses Adonai, its only use in Job; the library's Greek reads "piety" (theosebeia, Giguet "la piété").
  209. Job 31:35–37: "Here is my mark" · "Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me" (KJV) renders hen tavi, "here is my tav (mark, signature)." Job signs his oath and asks his adversary to write the charge.
  210. Job 32:1–5: Elihu entersStable text · The prose introduction of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite is stable in the versions, except that the library's Greek adds that he was "of the land of Ausis," Job's own country. He appears nowhere else in the book.
  211. Job 33:23–24: A messenger and a ransomManuscript variant · Hebrew: "If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand… I have found a ransom." The library's Greek reads very differently: "even if there were a thousand angels of death, not one would wound him, if he resolves to turn to the Lord."
  212. Job 38:4–7: Where were you when I laid the foundations? · "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." The library's Greek reads "when the stars were made, all my angels praised me with a loud voice."
  213. Job 40:15–24: Behold now Behemoth · Behemoth is a plural form for one great beast. Hebrew and English number it 40:15; the library's Greek and the Vulgate number it 40:10. The Greek calls it "the beast" (wild beasts); the Vulgate keeps "behemoth."
  214. Job 41:1 (Hebrew 40:25): Canst thou draw out Leviathan? · English 41:1 is Hebrew 40:25 and Greek/Latin 40:20. The library's Greek calls the creature "the dragon"; the Vulgate and KJV keep "Leviathan."
  215. Job 42:6: Repent, retract, or be comforted? · Hebrew: 'al ken em'as ve-nihamti 'al 'afar va-efer. KJV: "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." The library's Greek (Giguet): "I despise myself; I am confounded; I feel that I am but dust and ash." The Vulgate: "I reprove myself and do penance in ashes." The Aramaic Targum is reported to read "I am poured out and dissolved, and I shall become dust and ashes."
  216. Job 42:7–8: "Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right"Stable text · God's verdict is stable in every version: the friends did not speak rightly "as my servant Job hath." They must offer sacrifice and Job must pray for them.
  217. Job 42:16–17 and Greek 42:17a–e: Old and full of days, and the Greek endingDisputed addition · The Hebrew ends: Job lived 140 more years and died old and full of days. The Greek gives 170 more years (240 or 248 in all), then adds that he will rise again with those the Lord raises, and identifies him with Jobab king of Edom. The library's Church Slavonic (42:17) and Sahidic Coptic (42:18) contain the addition; our copy of Giguet leaves it blank.
  218. Psalm 1:1: "Blessed is the man"Stable text · The Psalter's first verse is stable across the library's versions. Hebrew, Greek, Latin and English all keep the three verbs (walk, stand, sit) and the three groups (wicked, sinners, scoffers). The Greek and Latin turn "the seat of scoffers" into "the chair of pestilence."
  219. Psalm 2:7: "Thou art my Son"Stable text · The decree to the king is the same in every version in the library: "The LORD said to me: You are my son; today I have begotten you." It became one of the most quoted Old Testament verses in the New Testament.
  220. Psalm 8:5: A little lower than God, or than the angels? · The Hebrew says God made the human being "a little less than elohim." Elohim usually means God, but can mean divine beings. The Greek translated "angels," followed by the Vulgate and the KJV. Hebrews 2:7 quotes the Greek.
  221. Psalm 9:1–2: The first letter of a broken alphabetStable text · Psalms 9 and 10 form one alphabetic acrostic in Hebrew, and the Greek and Latin count them as one psalm (Psalm 9). The first stanza begins with alef: odeh, "I will praise." No translation can show the alphabet; the wording itself is stable.
  222. Psalm 14:3: Paul's quotations inside the psalmDisputed addition · In the Hebrew, Psalm 14:3 ends "there is none that doeth good, no, not one." In the library's Vulgate (Psalm 13:3) the verse continues with six more lines: the same chain of quotations Paul uses in Romans 3:13–18. Giguet's Greek and the Hebrew and KJV do not have them.
  223. Psalm 16:10: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell" · Hebrew: "you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, you will not let your faithful one see shahat" (the pit). The Greek translated shahat as "corruption" (decay); Peter and Paul quote that Greek in Acts 2:27 and 13:35 of the resurrection.
  224. Psalm 18:10: "He did fly" or "he was seen"Manuscript variant · Psalm 18 survives twice in the Hebrew Bible. In Psalm 18:10 God "rode upon a cherub, and did fly (wayyede')"; in 2 Samuel 22:11 "and was seen (wayyera')". The two words differ by one letter, dalet or resh, which look almost identical in Hebrew script.
  225. Psalm 19:4: "Their line" or "their voice"Manuscript variant · The Hebrew says the heavens' qav, "line" (a measuring cord), has gone out through all the earth. The Greek reads "their sound" (phthongos), which Paul quotes in Romans 10:18; Giguet has "leur voix," the Vulgate "sonus eorum."
  226. Psalm 22:16: "Like a lion" or "they pierced"Manuscript variant · The Masoretic Text reads ka'ari, "like a lion, my hands and my feet," a line without a verb. The Greek reads "they dug" (Giguet "ils m'ont percé," Vulgate "Foderunt"), implying a Hebrew verb ka'aru. A 1st-century Hebrew Psalms scroll from Nahal Hever is reported to read a verb form. The reading is genuinely disputed.
  227. Psalm 23:4: The valley of the shadow of death · All four witnesses have the valley, the fear of no evil, God's presence and the rod and staff. The one question is the word tsalmavet: "shadow of death" (Greek, Latin, KJV) or "deep darkness." The Greek and Latin also turn "valley" into "in the midst of."
  228. Psalm 24:7: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates" · The Hebrew commands the gates: "Lift up, O gates, your heads." The Greek reads "Lift up your gates, O princes" (Giguet "Princes, levez vos portes"; Vulgate "Attollite portas, principes, vestras"). The same consonants were understood differently.
  229. Psalm 29:1: "Sons of gods" and young ramsDisputed addition · Hebrew: "Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of gods (bene elim), ascribe to the LORD glory and strength." The Greek and Latin have an extra line: "Bring to the Lord, sons of God; bring to the Lord young rams." The Vulgate title also adds "at the completion of the tabernacle."
  230. Psalm 34:20: "Not one of them is broken"Stable text · "He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken." The verse is stable across the versions, with one difference: the Hebrew says "his bones" (the righteous man's); the Greek and Latin say "their bones" and "the Lord keeps." John 19:36 says Jesus' legs were not broken to fulfil "A bone of him shall not be broken."
  231. Psalm 37:11: "The meek shall inherit the earth"Stable text · "But the meek shall inherit the land." All the versions agree. Matthew 5:5, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth," quotes the Greek almost word for word.
  232. Psalm 40:6: "Mine ears hast thou opened" or "a body"Manuscript variant · Hebrew: "ears you have dug for me." The library's Greek (Giguet) and Latin read "ears" too. But Hebrews 10:5 quotes the psalm as "a body hast thou prepared me," and so do the three great Greek codices. The difference arose within the Greek tradition.
  233. Psalm 42:5: Where does the refrain end? · The refrain of Psalms 42–43 occurs three times. In the Hebrew verse division the first ends "the help of his countenance" and the next verse begins "O my God"; the second and third end "the help of my countenance, and my God." Giguet's Greek and the Vulgate read the first refrain like the other two.
  234. Psalm 45:6: "Thy throne, O God" · The Hebrew kis'akha elohim 'olam va'ed can be read "Your throne, O God, is for ever," addressing the king as elohim, or "Your throne is God's (or: divine) for ever." The Greek, Latin and KJV take "O God" as an address; Hebrews 1:8 quotes the Greek of the Son.
  235. Psalm 49:7: "A brother cannot redeem" or "no one can ransom himself" · The Hebrew begins 'ach, written as the word for "brother": "A brother cannot at all redeem a man." Many scholars read 'akh, "surely": "Surely no man can ransom himself." The Greek and Latin read "brother" and turn the line into a question: "A brother does not redeem; shall a man redeem?"
  236. Psalm 51:4: "When thou judgest" or "when thou art judged"Manuscript variant · Hebrew: "so that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge." The Greek reads "that you may be justified in your words and overcome when you are judged" (Vulgate "vincas cum judicaris"). Paul quotes the Greek in Romans 3:4.
  237. Psalm 53:5: One poem, two endings: Psalm 53:5 and 14:5–6Manuscript variant · Psalm 53 repeats Psalm 14, but its verse 5 differs: "God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee." Psalm 14:5–6 has "God is in the generation of the righteous… the LORD is his refuge." Both are shown here from the library's Hebrew.
  238. Psalm 65:1: "Praise waiteth for thee" or "a hymn is fitting" · Hebrew lekha dumiyyah tehillah: "For you silence is praise," or "To you, silence; praise." The Greek read the same letters with different vowels, domiyyah ("it is fitting"), and translated "To you a hymn is fitting": Vulgate "Te decet hymnus."
  239. Psalm 68:4: The rider through the deserts, the clouds, or the west · Hebrew: "extol him who rides through the deserts ('aravot)." KJV: "him that rideth upon the heavens." Many scholars connect the phrase with Baal's Ugaritic title "Rider of the Clouds" (rkb 'rpt). The Greek read "him who rides upon the west/setting sun" (Vulgate "qui ascendit super occasum").
  240. Psalm 68:18: "Received gifts" or "gave gifts"Manuscript variant · Hebrew: "You ascended on high, you led captives, you received gifts among men." Ephesians 4:8: "he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." The library's Greek and Latin agree with the Hebrew "received." The Aramaic Targum and Syriac Peshitta are reported to read "gave."
  241. Psalm 69:25: "Let their habitation be desolate" and Acts 1:20Stable text · The psalm's curse is plural: "Let their encampment be desolate; let none dwell in their tents." The library's witnesses agree. Acts 1:20 quotes it in the singular of Judas, "Let his habitation be desolate," and joins it to Psalm 109:8.
  242. Psalm 70:1: One prayer in two psalms: 70:1 and 40:13Manuscript variant · Psalm 70 is Psalm 40:13–17 as a psalm of its own. Its first line lacks Psalm 40's "Be pleased, O LORD," and has "God" where 40:13 has "LORD." Further down, the divine names change in both directions.
  243. Psalm 72:20: "The prayers of David… are ended" · An editor's note closes Book II: "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended." The Vulgate reads "the praises of David are ended" ("Defecerunt laudes David"). In the library's digital Giguet text, verse 20 is empty.
  244. Psalm 73:1: "Good to Israel" or "good to the upright" · Every witness in the library reads "God is good to Israel." Many scholars propose dividing the same Hebrew letters differently, la-yashar el, "God is good to the upright," to match the parallel line "to such as are of a clean heart." This is a conjecture, not a manuscript reading.
  245. Psalm 74:8: "Synagogues of God" or "feasts of God" · Hebrew mo'ade-el: "the meeting places (or appointed times) of God." The KJV has "synagogues"; the Greek and Latin read "feasts" (Vulgate "dies festos Dei"). The word is the same; its sense is disputed, and with it the psalm's date.
  246. Psalm 76:2: "In Salem" or "in peace" · Hebrew: "In Salem (shalem) is his tabernacle." The Greek read the word as "peace": "his place was made in peace" (Vulgate "factus est in pace locus ejus"; Giguet "son lieu est dans la paix").
  247. Psalm 77:10: "The years of the right hand" or "the right hand has changed" · Hebrew: halloti hi shenot yemin 'elyon. The KJV reads "This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High." The Greek and Latin read "Now I have begun; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High" (Vulgate "haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi").
  248. Psalm 78:2: "I will open my mouth in a parable" and Matthew 13:35Stable text · The witnesses agree: "I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old." Matthew 13:35 quotes the verse of Jesus' parables, with a second line, "things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world," that differs from the Greek psalm.
  249. Psalm 82:6: "I have said, Ye are gods" and John 10:34Stable text · "I have said, Ye are gods (elohim); and all of you are children of the most High." Every witness in the library agrees. In John 10:34 Jesus quotes the line, in Greek, to answer a charge of blasphemy. Who the "gods" are is the question investigated in Ancient Mysteries.
  250. Psalm 84:6: The valley of Baca: balsam trees or tears · Hebrew emek ha-bakha: "the valley of the baka." Baka may be a shrub or tree of dry places (2 Samuel 5:23–24) or a play on bakhah, "weeping." The Greek and Latin chose weeping: "in the valley of tears" (Vulgate "in valle lacrimarum"), the source of the phrase "vale of tears."
  251. Psalm 79:1: "Jerusalem on heaps" or "a fruit-guard's hut" · Hebrew: "they have laid Jerusalem in heaps" (le-'iyyim, "into ruins"). The library's Vulgate has "in pomorum custodiam" ("into a fruit-guard's hut") and Giguet's French of the Greek "une cabane de jardinier" ("a gardener's hut"). The Greek word behind them is reported to be opōrophylakion, "a shelter for guarding fruit."
  252. Psalm 91:6: "The destruction that wasteth at noonday" or "the noonday demon" · Hebrew: "nor for the pestilence (dever) that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction (qetev) that wasteth at noonday." The Greek reads "nor for the thing that walks in darkness, nor for mishap and the demon of noon" (Giguet "ni du démon du midi"; Vulgate "daemonio meridiano").
  253. Psalm 96:10: "The LORD reigneth" and the words "from the tree"Disputed addition · "Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth." Some early Christian writers quoted the verse as "The Lord reigned from the tree," and Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho 73) accused Jewish teachers of removing the words. They are absent from the Hebrew and from the library's Greek and Latin.
  254. Psalm 97:7: "Worship him, all ye gods" or "all his angels" · Hebrew: "Worship him, all you gods (elohim)." The Greek and Latin read "Worship him, all his angels." Hebrews 1:6 has "And let all the angels of God worship him," which matches the Greek of Deuteronomy 32:43 more closely but may echo this verse.
  255. Psalm 100:3: "Not we ourselves" or "we are his"Manuscript variant · A ketiv/qere: the written Hebrew has ve-lo' anahnu, "and not we [ourselves]," and the reading tradition has ve-lo anahnu, "and we are his." The words sound the same. The library's Hebrew prints both. The Greek, Latin and KJV follow the written form; most modern translations follow the read form.
  256. Psalm 102:23: "He weakened my strength" or "he answered him"Manuscript variant · Hebrew: "He weakened ('innah) my strength in the way; he shortened my days." The Greek read 'anah, "he answered": "He answered him in the way of his strength: declare to me the fewness of my days" (Vulgate "Respondit ei in via virtutis suae"). The Greek turns the lament into a dialogue, and Hebrews 1:10–12 then reads vv. 25–27 as God addressing the Son as "Lord."
  257. Psalm 95:8: Meribah and Massah, or "the provocation" and "the day of temptation" · Hebrew: "Harden not your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness": two place names from Exodus 17:7. The Greek translated them as nouns, "as in the provocation (parapikrasmos), as in the day of the testing (peirasmos)," and Hebrews 3:8 quotes the Greek. The Vulgate ("sicut in irritatione, secundum diem tentationis") and the KJV follow the Greek.
  258. Psalm 110:3: "The dew of thy youth" or "I have begotten thee" · One of the hardest verses in the Psalter. The Masoretic Text reads "from the womb of the dawn, yours is the dew of your youth (yaldutekha)." With different vowels the same letters can be read "I have begotten you (yelidtikha)." The Greek reads "From the womb, before the morning star, I begot you" (Giguet "Je t'ai engendré… avant l'étoile du matin"; Vulgate "ex utero ante luciferum genui te").
  259. Psalm 116:10: "I believed, therefore have I spoken" and 2 Corinthians 4:13 · Hebrew 116:10 is ambiguous: "I believed, for I will speak" or "I kept faith, even when I said, I am greatly afflicted." The Greek begins a new psalm here (Greek 115) and reads "I believed, therefore I spoke" (Vulgate "Credidi, propter quod locutus sum"). Paul quotes the Greek in 2 Corinthians 4:13.
  260. Psalm 139:14: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" or "you are fearfully magnified" · Hebrew: "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully set apart (nifleti); wonderful are your works." The library's Greek and Latin make God the subject: "for you are fearfully magnified" (Vulgate "quia terribiliter magnificatus es"; Giguet "vos prodiges ont un éclat terrible").
  261. Psalm 145:13: The missing nun lineManuscript variant · Psalm 145 is an alphabetic acrostic: in the Hebrew each verse begins with the next letter of the alphabet. But the Masoretic Text, the Hebrew of Jewish Bibles, has no verse beginning with nun: verse 13 begins with mem, verse 14 with samekh. Three other kinds of witness have a nun line. The Greek and the Latin made from it continue verse 13 with "The Lord is faithful in his words, and holy in all his works." The Syriac is reported to have the line. And the great Psalms Scroll from Qumran Cave 11 (11QPs-a, 1st century AD) is reported to read, in Hebrew, ne'eman elohim bi-devarav ve-chasid be-khol ma'asav: "God is faithful in his words, and gracious in all his works."
  262. Psalm 151 (Greek) and 11QPs-a 151A–B: Psalm 151: one Greek psalm, two Hebrew poemsDisputed addition · Greek Bibles end the Psalter with a short psalm "outside the number": David, the youngest shepherd, made an instrument, was anointed in place of his handsome brothers, and cut off the Philistine's head. It is not in the Masoretic Text, the Latin Vulgate or Protestant and Catholic Bibles; it is in Orthodox Bibles. In 1956 the great Psalms Scroll from Qumran Cave 11 (11QPs-a) turned up two Hebrew poems on the same subjects, now called Psalm 151A and 151B. They are related to the Greek psalm, but they are not a word-for-word Hebrew original of it.
  263. Proverbs 1:1: "The proverbs of Solomon": a title over many collectionsStable text · The book opens "The proverbs (mishle) of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel." All the library's witnesses agree on the wording. The question is what the title claims: the book itself names other sources (the wise, 22:17 and 24:23; the men of Hezekiah, 25:1; Agur, 30:1; Lemuel's mother, 31:1).
  264. Proverbs 1:7: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge"Disputed addition · The motto of the book. The Hebrew has two lines: the fear of the LORD is the beginning (reshit) of knowledge (da'at); fools despise wisdom and instruction. The library's Greek has four lines, adding "prudence is good to all who practise it; piety toward God is the beginning of discernment" (wording close to Psalm 111:10). The Vulgate reads "beginning of wisdom," as in 9:10.
  265. Proverbs 3:5–6: "Lean not unto thine own understanding" · "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." The Hebrew verb nish'an means to lean one's weight on something. The library's Greek reads the second line as a warning against pride: "do not be exalted in your own wisdom" (Giguet "ne t'enorgueillis point de ta sagesse"). The Vulgate keeps the Hebrew sense (ne innitaris prudentiae tuae, "do not lean on your prudence").
  266. Proverbs 3:18: "She is a tree of life"Disputed addition · Wisdom "is a tree of life (ets chayyim) to them that lay hold upon her." The phrase recalls the tree in Eden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22–24). The library's Greek adds a clause: she is a secure support to those who lean on her "as on the Lord."
  267. Proverbs 6:6–8: The ant, and a Greek beeDisputed addition · "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." The Hebrew stops there. The library's Greek continues with a passage about the bee: "Or go to the bee, and learn how industrious she is… kings and the sick use the fruit of her labour for their health; she is glorious and desired by all."
  268. Proverbs 6:16–19: Six things, yea seven · "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him." The Hebrew uses the X / X+1 numerical pattern. The library's Hebrew (WLC) shows a Masoretic reading note in the last word (ketiv to'avot, "abominations," qere to'avat, "abomination of"). The library's Greek reads verse 16 quite differently, as the end of the troublemaker's portrait: "he rejoices in all things the Lord hates, and he will be crushed for the impurity of his soul."
  269. Proverbs 8:22: "The LORD possessed me" or "created me" · Wisdom says: "YHWH qanani at the beginning of his way." Qanani can mean "acquired me," "possessed me," "created me" or "begot me." The library's Greek reads "The Lord created me" (Giguet "m'a créée"; Greek ektisen). The Vulgate reads "possessed me" (possedit me). The choice became the centre of the 4th-century Arian controversy.
  270. Proverbs 8:30: Amon: master craftsman or little child? · "Then I was by him, amon, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing (literally playing) always before him." The Hebrew word amon is rare and its meaning is debated: "master craftsman" (amman), "nursling" or "darling child" (amun), or "faithfully." The library's Greek and Latin read Wisdom as arranging or ordering things with God (Giguet "disposant tout avec lui"; Vulgate "cuncta componens").
  271. Proverbs 9:1: "She hath hewn out her seven pillars"Stable text · "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." The library's witnesses agree in substance (the Greek has "set it up on seven pillars"). The question is what the seven pillars mean.
  272. Proverbs 9:18: "The dead are there" and a Greek endingDisputed addition · Folly's guests do not know "that the dead (rephaim) are there; and that her guests are in the depths of Sheol." The Greek and Latin translate rephaim as "giants." The library's Greek then adds a long exhortation: "but hasten away, do not linger… do not drink from a strange fountain, that you may live long."
  273. Proverbs 10:12: "Love covereth all sins" and 1 Peter 4:8 · "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins." The Hebrew says love covers all transgressions (pesha'im). The library's Greek reads quite differently: "love protects all who do not love strife." 1 Peter 4:8 ("charity shall cover the multitude of sins") follows the Hebrew sense, not this Greek.
  274. Proverbs 11:1; 20:10, 23: "A false balance is abomination to the LORD"Stable text · "A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight." Honest weights are treated as a religious matter three times in Proverbs (11:1; 20:10, 23; compare 16:11). All the library's witnesses agree on the wording. Archaeology supplies the setting: hundreds of inscribed Judahite stone weights.
  275. Proverbs 13:23: The poor man's field and injusticeManuscript variant · "Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment (mishpat)." The Hebrew blames the loss of the poor farmer's harvest on the absence of justice. The library's Greek has a different saying in this place: "The righteous shall spend many years in wealth, but the unrighteous shall perish quickly." The Vulgate reads "fathers" for "poor."
  276. Proverbs 13:24; 22:15; 23:13–14; 29:15: "He that spareth his rod"Stable text · "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." The library's witnesses agree. The questions are what the saying meant in its world and how it should be read today. In its setting it assumes physical punishment as part of raising children; its lasting point is that love does not abandon a child to folly.
  277. Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25: A saying that appears twiceStable text · "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." The same Hebrew words appear at 14:12 and 16:25. Repetition is a feature of Proverbs: about one saying in ten recurs whole or in part. The library's Greek has both, with small differences of wording ("the depths of Hades").
  278. Proverbs 14:31: "He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker"Stable text · "He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor." The witnesses agree. The saying grounds care for the poor in creation: the poor person is God's creature, so contempt for the poor is contempt for God. The idea recurs in 17:5 and 22:2.
  279. Proverbs 16:9: "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps" · The Hebrew sets human planning beside divine direction. The library's Greek makes it an exhortation: "Let the heart of man think just things, that God may direct his steps" (at the start of its chapter 16, because the Greek arranges this chapter differently). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew.
  280. Proverbs 18:8 and 26:22: Gossip: tasty morsels, and a Greek doubletManuscript variant · "The words of a talebearer are as wounds (mitlahamim), and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly." The same Hebrew verse appears at 26:22. The rare word mitlahamim is now usually read "tasty morsels." The library's Greek of 18:8 has a different saying entirely ("fear casts down the lazy; the souls of the effeminate will hunger"), and the Clementine Vulgate carries both: the Hebrew saying and the Greek one.
  281. Proverbs 21:31: "The horse is prepared against the day of battle"Stable text · "The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety (teshu'ah, victory, deliverance) is of the LORD." The witnesses agree. The saying holds preparation and trust together: the horse is made ready, and the outcome belongs to God.
  282. Proverbs 22:6: "Train up a child in the way he should go"Disputed addition · "Train up (chanokh) a child (na'ar) according to his way (al pi darko): even when he is old he will not depart from it." The Hebrew phrase "his way" has three interpretations. The verse is in the Hebrew and the Vulgate; the library's Greek has no equivalent at all, and the Old Greek is reported to lack it.
  283. Proverbs 22:20: "Excellent things" or "thirty sayings"? · "Have not I written to thee shalishim in counsels and knowledge?" The Hebrew text has a written form (ketiv) shilshom, "formerly / the day before yesterday," and a read form (qere) shalishim, "officers'" (hence "excellent things"). Since the discovery of the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope, which ends "Look to these thirty chapters," many scholars read sheloshim, "thirty." The Greek and Latin read "three times."
  284. Proverbs 22:28; 23:10; Deuteronomy 19:14: "Remove not the ancient landmark"Stable text · "Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set." The boundary stone (gevul) marked a family's inherited field. Moving it stole land. The law forbids it (Deuteronomy 19:14; 27:17), Proverbs repeats the warning (23:10, adding "enter not into the fields of the fatherless"), and the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope has a whole chapter against moving field boundaries.
  285. Proverbs 24:11–12: "Deliver them that are drawn unto death"Stable text · "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it?" The witnesses agree in substance (the Greek and Latin make v. 11 a direct command: "Deliver those led to death"). The saying makes failure to rescue a moral failure, and rejects the excuse of not knowing.
  286. Proverbs 25:1: "Copied out by the men of Hezekiah" · "These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out (he'tiqu)." The only editorial note in Proverbs that names a later king. The Greek reads: "These are the miscellaneous (unclassified) instructions of Solomon, which the friends of Hezekiah king of Judea transcribed." The Vulgate: "which the men of Hezekiah translated (transtulerunt)."
  287. Proverbs 25:21–22 and Romans 12:20: "Coals of fire upon his head"Stable text · "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee." Paul quotes the Greek of these verses in Romans 12:20 and adds: "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." The witnesses agree; the meaning of the coals is debated.
  288. Proverbs 26:4–5: Answer a fool, and do notStable text · "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit." Two opposite commands, side by side, in every witness. The rabbis debated withdrawing Proverbs because of this contradiction; most readers see deliberate design.
  289. Proverbs 28:8: Interest, unjust gain and the poorStable text · "He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor." Two Hebrew words for interest, neshekh ("bite") and tarbit ("increase"), are those of Leviticus 25:36–37. The library's Hebrew shows a ketiv/qere in the second word. The witnesses agree in sense.
  290. Proverbs 29:18: "Where there is no vision, the people perish"Stable text · "Where there is no vision (chazon), the people perish (yippara): but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Chazon is prophetic revelation; para means to run wild, cast off restraint. The library's Greek reads "There is no prophet for a lawless nation" (it appears twice in the digital file, at 29:18 and inside chapter 31); the Vulgate: "when prophecy fails, the people will be scattered."
  291. Proverbs 30:1: Agur, Ithiel and Ucal, or "I am weary, O God" · "The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the massa: the man said to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal." Read as names, the line introduces a sage and two hearers. With different word division and vowels the same consonants can read: "I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and I am spent" (le'iti el, le'iti el ve'ekhel). The Greek does not name Agur ("My son, fear my words…"). Jerome translated the names as words: "the words of the Gatherer, son of the Vomiter."
  292. Proverbs 30:7–9: "Give me neither poverty nor riches"Stable text · Agur's prayer, the only prayer in Proverbs: "Two things have I required of thee… remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee… or lest I be poor, and steal." The witnesses agree. The prayer corrects any reading of Proverbs as a promise of wealth.
  293. Proverbs 31:10–31: The woman of strength: an alphabet, and a Greek gapStable text · "Who can find a virtuous woman (eshet chayil)? for her price is far above rubies." Verses 10–31 form a complete Hebrew alphabetic acrostic, one verse per letter from alef to tav (all 22 checked in the library's Hebrew). Translations lose the alphabet. In the library's digital Greek, the poem is stored inside one slot labelled 31:31 and stops at verse 26; verses 27–31 are missing from the file.
  294. Proverbs 31:8–9: "Open thy mouth for the dumb"Stable text · Lemuel's mother tells her son: "Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." The witnesses agree in substance. A queen mother's charge defines a king's duty: to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.
  295. Ecclesiastes 1:1–2: "The words of Qoheleth… havel havalim"Stable text · The heading names the speaker Qoheleth, "son of David, king in Jerusalem," and the motto declares "all is hevel." The Hebrew has five hevel-words in one verse. Greek and Latin render Qoheleth as Ecclesiastes and hevel as mataiotes / vanitas, the source of English "vanity." The library's Greek adds "of Israel" to the king's title.
  296. Ecclesiastes 1:3: "What profit hath a man of all his labour?"Stable text · The book's governing question uses two key words: yitron (surplus, what is left over) and amal (toil). "Under the sun" occurs here for the first of 29 times. The witnesses agree; the English words chosen shape how the question sounds.
  297. Ecclesiastes 1:9–11: "There is no new thing under the sun"Stable text · "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be… and there is no new thing under the sun." The witnesses agree on the sense, but the library's Greek divides the verses differently, placing "there is nothing new under the sun" at the start of 1:10. The Qumran fragment 4Q110 is reported to preserve parts of 1:10–15.
  298. Ecclesiastes 2:8: "Shiddah ve-shiddot": concubines, cupbearers, cups or instruments? · The last two words of 2:8 occur nowhere else in Hebrew. Every library witness translates them differently: the Greek "male and female cupbearers," the Vulgate "cups and pitchers for pouring wine," the KJV "musical instruments, and that of all sorts," and many modern versions "concubines" or "a harem." This is one rare word read in four ways, not four Hebrew texts.
  299. Ecclesiastes 2:24–26: "From the hand of God": and who can eat apart from him?Manuscript variant · The first call to enjoy food, drink and work as God's gift. In verse 25 the Masoretic Text reads "who can eat or who can enjoy, more than I (mimmenni)?" while the library's Greek reads "apart from him" (without God's permission). The Syriac is reported to agree with the Greek; the Vulgate follows the Hebrew.
  300. Ecclesiastes 3:1–8: "A time to be born, and a time to die"Stable text · Fourteen pairs of opposites, 28 occurrences of "time" (et) in verses 2–8, after a heading that uses both zeman and et. All witnesses agree. The poem describes the seasons of human life; it does not command each action.
  301. Ecclesiastes 3:11: "He hath set the world (or eternity) in their heart" · One Hebrew word, ha-olam, read four ways: "eternity" (most modern versions), "the world" (KJV, the library's Greek, the Vulgate), "a sense of duration / past and future" (NRSV), or, with different vowels, "hiddenness / ignorance" (some scholars). The consonants are the same in every witness.
  302. Ecclesiastes 3:19–21: "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward?" · Humans and animals share one fate and one breath (ruach); all go to one place, from dust to dust. Verse 21 is read two ways from the same letters: the Masoretic vowels make it a statement about two spirits ("the spirit of man that goeth upward"), the Greek and Latin a question ("who knows whether it goes upward?").
  303. Ecclesiastes 4:1–3: "They had no comforter"Stable text · Qoheleth sees the tears of the oppressed and power on the side of the oppressors, and says twice "they had no comforter." The dead, and the unborn, seem better off. The witnesses agree. The question is how to read the bleakness: as protest, not as a recommendation.
  304. Ecclesiastes 4:9–12: "A threefold cord is not quickly broken"Stable text · Two are better than one: they lift each other up, keep each other warm and stand together; and "a threefold cord is not quickly broken." All witnesses agree. A very similar proverb appears in the Sumerian poem Bilgamesh and Huwawa, centuries older.
  305. Ecclesiastes 5:1 (Hebrew 4:17): "Keep thy foot": two numberings and a ketiv/qereManuscript variant · Two separate things meet in this verse. First, numbering: Hebrew Bibles print it as 4:17, English Bibles as 5:1 (so English 5:2–20 = Hebrew 5:1–19). Second, a real reading note in the Hebrew: the written consonants spell "your feet" (ketiv), but the Masoretic vowels and margin direct the reader to say "your foot" (qere). The Greek, Latin and KJV all have the singular.
  306. Ecclesiastes 5:6–9: The "messenger" and "a king to a field"Manuscript variant · Two hard sentences. In 5:6 (Hebrew 5:5) one should not tell "the messenger" (mal'akh) that a broken vow was a mistake: the library's Greek reads "before God," the Vulgate "before the angel." In 5:9 (Hebrew 5:8) the Hebrew is so terse that the witnesses produce four different sentences; it also carries a ketiv/qere note.
  307. Ecclesiastes 6:10–12: "Who knoweth what is good for man?"Stable text · The closing questions of the book's first half: what exists is already named; humans cannot contend with "one mightier"; who knows what is good in a life spent like a shadow, or what comes after? Greek and Latin Bibles number 6:12 as 7:1. The Hebrew has a ketiv/qere note in 6:10. The Qumran fragment 4Q109 is reported to preserve part of 6:12.
  308. Ecclesiastes 7:1–4: "A good name is better than precious ointment"Stable text · The "better than" sayings begin with a Hebrew sound-play: tov shem mi-shemen tov, "better a name than good oil." Death's day is better than birth's; the house of mourning better than the house of feasting. Greek and Latin Bibles number these verses 7:2–5. The Qumran fragment 4Q109 (mid-2nd century BC) is reported to preserve parts of 7:1–10.
  309. Ecclesiastes 7:15–20: "Be not righteous over much"Stable text · The righteous perish and the wicked live long (v. 15); so "be not righteous over much… be not over much wicked" (vv. 16–17); the one who fears God comes through (v. 18); "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (v. 20). The witnesses agree on the wording; the meaning of v. 16 is one of the book's great debates. Paul's "there is none righteous" (Romans 3:10) may echo v. 20.
  310. Ecclesiastes 7:26–29: "One man among a thousand" and a feminine verb · Qoheleth finds "more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares" (v. 26), says he found one man (adam) in a thousand but no woman (v. 28), and concludes that God made humankind upright, but they sought many schemes (v. 29). In v. 27 the Hebrew has a feminine verb with Qoheleth (amerah qohelet); most scholars redivide the letters as amar ha-qohelet, as in 12:8. The Greek adds "this folly" in v. 26.
  311. Ecclesiastes 8:10–14: The wicked buried: "forgotten" or "praised"?Manuscript variant · A real difference between witnesses. The Masoretic Text says the wicked were "forgotten" (ve-yishtakkechu) in the city; the library's Greek and the Vulgate say they were "praised" (ve-yishtabbechu, one letter different), and so do many modern versions. Verses 12–14 then set faith ("it shall be well with them that fear God") beside observation (the righteous treated as the wicked deserve).
  312. Ecclesiastes 9:5–10: "Eat thy bread with joy" and Siduri's adviceStable text · The dead know nothing and have no more portion under the sun (vv. 5–6); so eat, drink, wear white, anoint your head, enjoy life with the wife you love, and work with all your might, for there is no work in Sheol (vv. 7–10). The witnesses agree. A strikingly similar speech by the ale-wife Siduri appears in the Old Babylonian Gilgamesh; it is described here, not quoted, and is not in the later Standard Babylonian version.
  313. Ecclesiastes 9:11–18: "Time and chance" and the poor wise manStable text · "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong… but time and chance happeneth to them all" (v. 11). Then a story: a poor wise man saved a little city from a great king, and no one remembered him (vv. 13–16). The Hebrew, Latin and English agree; the library's French of the Greek reads "peace" for "bread" in v. 11, probably a misprint (paix for pain).
  314. Ecclesiastes 11:1–6: "Cast thy bread upon the waters" · "Send your bread on the face of the waters, for after many days you will find it" (11:1). Commercial reading: send goods by sea and diversify (v. 2). Charitable reading: give generously without calculation. Verses 3–6 teach action under uncertainty. In v. 5 some Hebrew manuscripts and the Targum are reported to read "into the bones" for "like the bones."
  315. Ecclesiastes 12:1–7: "Or ever the silver cord be loosed" · The closing poem: remember your Creator before the house falls silent, the almond blossoms, the caper fails, and the silver cord, golden bowl, jar and wheel break; dust returns to the earth and the breath to God. The witnesses agree on most words; they differ on rare ones (aviyonah: "caper" in Greek and Latin, "desire" in the KJV) and the Hebrew has a ketiv/qere in 12:6 (written "be removed," read "be snapped").
  316. Ecclesiastes 12:8–14: "Fear God, and keep his commandments"Stable text · The motto returns (v. 8) and a third-person epilogue speaks about Qoheleth: wise, a teacher who weighed and arranged many proverbs (vv. 9–10); the words of the wise are goads and nails from "one shepherd" (v. 11); there is no end of making books (v. 12); "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (v. 13); God will judge every hidden thing (v. 14). The witnesses agree in substance; translations differ in v. 12 and in how to render kol ha-adam.
  317. Song of Songs 1:1: "The song of songs, which is Solomon's"Stable text · The heading: shir ha-shirim asher li-Shlomo. A superlative ("the finest song") and a link to Solomon that can mean by, for, about or belonging to him. The library's Greek keeps the title in its 1:1 together with the first line of the poem; the Vulgate prints the title outside the numbered verses. The Cave 6 manuscript 6Q6 is reported to preserve the opening verses.
  318. Song of Songs 1:2–4: "Thy love is better than wine": love, or breasts? · The poem's first line in the Masoretic Text: "your love (dodekha) is better than wine," spoken by the woman to the man. The library's Greek and the Vulgate read the same consonants as "your breasts" (daddayikh): "tes mamelles," "ubera tua." The difference is in the vowels, and it changes who is speaking to whom.
  319. Song of Songs 1:5–6: "Black but comely" or "black and beautiful"? · "I am black ve- comely." The Hebrew conjunction ve- can be "and" or "but"; the library's Greek has "and," the Vulgate and KJV "but." The woman explains her darkness by the sun and her brothers' orders to work in the vineyards; Kedar's black tents and Solomon's curtains are the images.
  320. Song of Songs 1:9–11: A mare among Pharaoh's chariotsStable text · "I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots." The Hebrew susati is "my mare" (singular). Chariot teams were stallions; a mare among them would cause a commotion. The compliment is about her effect and adornment, not her shape. The witnesses agree.
  321. Song of Songs 2:1–3: The "rose of Sharon" and the lily · "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys": the woman speaks of herself (the next verse answers her with a feminine address). The flower names are uncertain: the library's Greek and the Vulgate translate "Sharon" as "the plain" or "the field" ("flower of the field"). The "apple tree" of v. 3 is also unidentified.
  322. Song of Songs 2:4–7: The banner of love and the oath "by the gazelles" · The house of wine, the banner of love, the lovesick woman, the embrace, and the refrain: "I adjure you… by the gazelles (tseva'ot) and the hinds of the field (ayelot ha-sadeh): do not awaken love until it pleases." The animal names sound like divine titles (Tseva'ot, "hosts"; El Shaddai); the library's Greek translates "by the powers and the forces of the field."
  323. Song of Songs 2:15–17: Little foxes, mutual belonging and the mountains of Bether · "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines" (v. 15); "My beloved is mine, and I am his" (v. 16); "be thou like a roe… upon the mountains of Bether" (v. 17). The speaker of v. 15 is unmarked. "Bether" is kept as a name by the Vulgate, translated "ravines" by the library's Greek.
  324. Song of Songs 3:1–5: The night search: "him whom my soul loveth"Stable text · On her bed at night she seeks the one her soul loves, rises, searches the city, questions the watchmen, finds him and brings him to her mother's house. Four times she says "him whom my soul loveth." The witnesses agree. 4Q106 is reported to preserve parts of 3:4–5.
  325. Song of Songs 3:6–11: Solomon's litter: appiryon and "paved with love"Manuscript variant · A procession from the wilderness: smoke, myrrh, frankincense; Solomon's couch guarded by sixty warriors; an appiryon of Lebanon wood with silver posts, gold back, purple seat, and an interior "inlaid with love from the daughters of Jerusalem" (v. 10); the king crowned on his wedding day. The library's Greek reads v. 10 as "paved with stones, love from the daughters of Jerusalem."
  326. Song of Songs 4:1–7: Praise from eyes to breasts: veil, goats, towers, fawns · The first praise poem (wasf): doves' eyes behind her tsammah (veil, or "locks" in the KJV), hair like goats on Gilead, teeth like shorn ewes, lips like scarlet thread, temples like pomegranate, neck like David's tower, breasts like twin fawns. The library's Greek and the Vulgate render tsammah as "what is hidden within." 4Q106 is reported to preserve parts of 4:1–7.
  327. Song of Songs 4:8: Lebanon, Amana, Senir and Hermon · "Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse… look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards." Lebanon and Hermon are secure; Senir is Hermon's Amorite name (Deuteronomy 3:9); Amana is uncertain. The library's Greek reads Amana as a word ("faith," amanah); the Vulgate reads tashuri ("look") as "you will be crowned." 4Q106 is reported to lack this verse (its text passes from 4:7 to 6:11).
  328. Song of Songs 4:12–5:1: The garden enclosed and the invitationStable text · "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed" (4:12); an orchard (pardes) of pomegranates and every spice (vv. 13–15); then her voice: "Let my beloved come into his garden" (v. 16); and his: "I am come into my garden" (5:1). Where her words end and his begin is debated; the library's Greek and the Vulgate put "let my beloved come into his garden" at the start of their 5:1.
  329. Song of Songs 5:2–8: "I sleep, but my heart waketh": the knock and the watchmenStable text · She sleeps, her heart awake; her beloved knocks, wet with dew; she hesitates; she opens, her hands dripping myrrh on the lock; he has gone. She searches; the watchmen strike her, wound her and take her cloak (v. 7). The witnesses agree on the violence; none softens it.
  330. Song of Songs 5:10–16: "This is my beloved, and this is my friend" · The woman's praise of the man, the only praise poem of a male body in the Song: white and ruddy, head of gold, black curls, dove eyes, spice-bed cheeks, lily lips dripping myrrh, arms of gold set with tarshish, body of ivory with sappir, legs of alabaster on gold bases, appearance like Lebanon. The gem names differ across the witnesses ("beryl," "hyacinths," "sapphires").
  331. Song of Songs 6:4–10: Beautiful as Tirzah, terrible as an army with banners · "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners." Tirzah was the early capital of the northern kingdom; the library's Greek ("good pleasure") and the Vulgate ("sweet") translate the name by its meaning. Sixty queens, eighty concubines, but "my dove… is but one"; the queens praise her: "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning?"
  332. Song of Songs 6:11–12: The chariots of Ammi-nadibManuscript variant · One of the most obscure verses in the Bible: "Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib." The Masoretic Text writes two words, ammi-nadiv ("my people, noble" or "my noble kinsman"); the library's Greek and the Vulgate read one name, Aminadab. Modern versions differ widely, and the verse should stay visibly uncertain. 4Q106 is reported to resume at 6:11.
  333. Song of Songs 6:13 (Hebrew 7:1): "Return, O Shulamite": a chapter boundary and a name · "Return, return, O Shulamite… What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies." Hebrew Bibles number this verse 7:1; the Greek and Latin split it, putting "What will ye see in the Shulamite?" at the start of their 7:1. The name occurs only here; its meaning (woman of Shunem? Solomon's counterpart? "the perfect one"?) is debated. Mechollat ha-machanayim may be "the dance of the two camps" or "of Mahanaim."
  334. Song of Songs 7:1–9 (Hebrew 7:2–10): From feet to hair: Heshbon, Damascus, Carmel and the palmManuscript variant · Praise rising from her sandaled feet to her hair; real places as images (the pools of Heshbon, the tower of Lebanon facing Damascus, Carmel); the palm tree and its clusters; and at the end of v. 9 the woman's voice breaking in. The last phrase of v. 9 differs: Hebrew "gliding over the lips of sleepers"; the library's Greek "pleasing to my teeth and my lips."
  335. Song of Songs 7:10–13 (Hebrew 7:11–14): "His desire is toward me": teshuqah and the mandrakes · "I am my beloved's, and his desire (teshuqah) is toward me." Teshuqah occurs only here and in Genesis 3:16 and 4:7. In Genesis 3:16 the woman's desire is for her husband who rules over her; here the man's desire is for her, with no ruling. Then her invitation to the fields, vineyards and mandrakes. The library's Greek and the Vulgate render teshuqah "turning" (epistrophe, conversio).
  336. Song of Songs 8:1–4: "O that thou wert as my brother": public loveStable text · She wishes he were like a brother, so she could kiss him in the street without being despised, and bring him to her mother's house. The embrace and the refrain return, this time without the gazelles. The witnesses agree.
  337. Song of Songs 8:5–7: "Love is strong as death": the seal and shalhevetyah · The summit of the Song: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart… for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame (shalhevetyah). Many waters cannot quench love." Shalhevetyah may be "a flame of Yah (the LORD)" or a superlative, "a mighty flame"; the library's Greek and the Vulgate have no divine name; the KJV took the superlative. The word may also have been written as two words in one medieval Masoretic tradition (reported).
  338. Song of Songs 8:8–10: The little sister: wall or door?Stable text · "We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts": the brothers plan for the day she is "spoken for": if a wall, silver battlements; if a door, cedar boards. She answers: "I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour (shalom)." The witnesses agree; Giguet's French inserts "(l'épouse)" as a speaker label.
  339. Song of Songs 8:11–12: Solomon's vineyard at Baal-hamon · "Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard, which is mine, is before me." The Vulgate translates both names ("the peaceful one had a vineyard in that which has peoples"); Baal-hamon is otherwise unknown.
  340. Song of Songs 8:13–14: The open ending: "Make haste, my beloved"Stable text · "Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it. Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices." The book ends not with a wedding or a summary but with desire in motion, echoing 2:14 and 2:17.
  341. Isaiah 1:18–20: "Come now, and let us reason together" · God's invitation to settle the case: "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." The Hebrew legal verb (nivvakhechah, "let us argue it out") becomes "come and accuse me" in the library's Greek. The Great Isaiah Scroll has the same words as the Masoretic Text with fuller spellings. Whether the lines are a promise or an ironic question is debated.
  342. Isaiah 2:2–4: Swords into plowshares: Isaiah and MicahStable text · The nations streaming to Zion's mountain and beating swords into plowshares. The same oracle stands in Micah 4:1–3, with small differences and an added verse (Micah 4:4). The Great Isaiah Scroll and the Masoretic Text agree closely. Two books, one oracle: a literary parallel, not a scribal variant.
  343. Isaiah 4:2: "The branch of the LORD" · "In that day shall the branch (tsemach) of the LORD be beautiful and glorious." The Hebrew is about growth; the Targum reads "the messiah of the LORD"; the library's Greek has a completely different sentence ("God will shine in counsel with glory"); the Vulgate has germen Domini. The Great Isaiah Scroll adds "and Judah" at the end.
  344. Isaiah 5:1–7: The vineyard song: justice and bloodshedStable text · A love song becomes a verdict: "the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel… he looked for judgment (mishpat), but behold oppression (mispach); for righteousness (tsedaqah), but behold a cry (tse'aqah)." The wordplay cannot be translated. Jesus' parable of the tenants (Mark 12:1 and parallels) reuses the opening.
  345. Isaiah 6:1–8: The throne vision: seraphim, "Holy, holy, holy," and the coalManuscript variant · Isaiah sees the Lord enthroned and seraphim calling "Holy, holy, holy." The Great Isaiah Scroll differs in v. 3: "and they call (plural) to one another: Holy, holy, YHWH of hosts," with "holy" only twice and without "and said." Most scholars treat the shorter form as a scribal slip (haplography) or variant; the threefold form is in the Masoretic Text, the Greek and the Vulgate.
  346. Isaiah 6:9–10: "Hear ye indeed, but understand not": the hardening text · Isaiah's commission: "Make the heart of this people fat… lest they… convert, and be healed." The Hebrew is a command; the library's Greek makes it a description ("the heart of this people has grown fat"), and Matthew 13:15 (Jesus' words in Matthew's report) and Acts 28:27 (Paul's words in Acts) quote that Greek form. Mark 4:12 adapts it briefly; John 12:40 has its own form. The Great Isaiah Scroll reads hashem ("make desolate") for hashmen ("make fat").
  347. Isaiah 7:14–16: Almah, parthenos and Immanuel · "Behold, a virgin (ha-almah, 'the young woman') shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Hebrew almah, Greek parthenos, Latin virgo; the Masoretic Text "she (or you) will call," the Great Isaiah Scroll "he (or one) will call," the Greek "you will call," Matthew 1:23 "they will call." The sign's time frame (vv. 15–16) is the reign of Ahaz. Matthew reads it of Jesus' birth.
  348. Isaiah 8:1–4: Maher-shalal-hash-baz: a name written before witnessesStable text · Isaiah writes "Maher-shalal-hash-baz" ("swift is the spoil, speedy the plunder") on a large tablet before two witnesses, then names his newborn son with it: before the child can say "my father, my mother," Assyria will plunder Damascus and Samaria. The witnesses agree; the Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b preserve the verse.
  349. Isaiah 8:13–15: A sanctuary and a stone of stumbling · "He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel." The library's Greek turns the threat into a promise ("if you trust in him… you will not stumble"). Romans 9:33 and 1 Peter 2:8 cite the stone in wording closer to the Hebrew, joined with Isaiah 28:16.
  350. Isaiah 9:1–2 (Hebrew 8:23–9:1): Galilee of the nations: "a great light"Stable text · "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." In Hebrew numbering this is 8:23–9:1. Matthew 4:15–16 quotes it to explain Jesus' move to Capernaum in Galilee, in a form that partly follows the Greek. The Great Isaiah Scroll matches the Masoretic Text closely.
  351. Isaiah 9:6–7 (Hebrew 9:5–6): The child's names: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God… · "For unto us a child is born… and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." The Masoretic Text and the Great Isaiah Scroll give four names (the scroll writes "Prince of the Peace" with the article); the library's Greek gives one, "Angel of Great Counsel," and adds a sentence; the Vulgate lists six (Admirabilis, Consiliarius, Deus, Fortis, Pater futuri saeculi, Princeps pacis).
  352. Isaiah 10:20–23: "A remnant shall return" · "The remnant shall return (shear yashuv)… unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return." The Hebrew "return" becomes "be saved" in the library's Greek (Giguet: "un reste en sera seul sauvé"), and Paul quotes that Greek form in Romans 9:27–28. The Great Isaiah Scroll agrees with the Masoretic Text.
  353. Isaiah 11:1–5: The shoot from Jesse and the Spirit's gifts · "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse… and the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him." The Hebrew names six qualities; the library's Greek and the Vulgate add "piety," giving the Christian tradition of the seven gifts of the Spirit. Qumran's Isaiah commentary (4Q161) applies the passage to "the shoot of David" at the end of days.
  354. Isaiah 11:6–10: The wolf and the lamb; the root of Jesse for the nationsManuscript variant · "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb." In v. 6 the Masoretic Text lists "the calf and the young lion and the fatling (meri)"; the Great Isaiah Scroll reads "the calf and the young lion will graze (yimru)," agreeing with the library's Greek ("brouteront ensemble"). In v. 10 the Greek reads "the one who rises to rule the nations; in him the nations will hope," the form Paul quotes in Romans 15:12.
  355. Isaiah 13:17–22: The Medes against Babylon, and the haunted ruinStable text · "Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver." Babylon will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, never inhabited, a lair for desert animals and se'irim. The Masoretic Text, the Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b agree on the Medes; the translations differ over the creatures: the library's Greek has "demons" and "dragons," the Vulgate pilosi ("hairy ones") and dracones, the KJV "satyrs."
  356. Isaiah 14:4–6: "The golden city" or "the oppression"?Manuscript variant · "How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!" (KJV). The Masoretic Text's madhebah is an unknown word; the KJV guessed "golden city." The Great Isaiah Scroll reads marhebah, "raging, oppression," differing by one similar-looking letter (ד/ר), and the library's Greek ("cet exacteur… ce maître impitoyable") and the Vulgate ("tributum") also point away from "gold." Most modern translations follow the scroll.
  357. Isaiah 14:12–15: "O Lucifer, son of the morning": helel ben shachar · "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" The Hebrew helel ben shachar, "shining one, son of dawn," became Greek heōsphoros and Latin lucifer, both ordinary names of the morning star; the KJV kept the Latin as a name. The verse addresses the king of Babylon (v. 4). Jesus' words against Capernaum (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15) echo vv. 13–15; the reading of the verse as Satan's fall came later.
  358. Isaiah 15:9: Dimon or Dibon: "waters full of blood"Manuscript variant · "For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood." The Masoretic Text and 1QIsa-b read Dimon; the Great Isaiah Scroll and the Vulgate read Dibon, Moab's known capital (15:2). Dimon may be a wordplay on dam, "blood," or a scribal change. The library's Greek keeps Dimon but turns "lion" into "Ariel" and adds "the Arabs."
  359. Isaiah 19:18: City of destruction, city of the sun, or city of righteousness?Manuscript variant · "Five cities in the land of Egypt [shall] speak the language of Canaan… one shall be called, The city of destruction." The Masoretic Text reads ir ha-heres ("destruction"); the Great Isaiah Scroll and 4QIsa-b read ir ha-cheres ("the sun," one letter different), as do the Vulgate (Civitas solis) and Symmachus; the library's Greek reads "Asedek," (city of) righteousness. The City of the Sun is Heliopolis; a Jewish temple was later built in its district (Leontopolis).
  360. Isaiah 20:1–3: Sargon, the tartan, and the prophet's sign · "In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him)…" Isaiah walks "naked and barefoot three years." The witnesses agree in Hebrew (the Great Isaiah Scroll, 4QIsa-a and 4QIsa-b preserve the verses). The library's Greek garbles the names ("Tanathan" and "Arna") and reads "three years" with both the walking and the sign.
  361. Isaiah 21:8–9: A lion or the seer? "Babylon is fallen, is fallen"Manuscript variant · "And he cried, A lion" (KJV, Masoretic aryeh). The Great Isaiah Scroll reads "and the seer (ha-ro'eh) cried," which most modern translations follow; the library's Greek reads "call Uriah," apparently another reading of the same letters. Then the watchman's report: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen," taken up in Revelation 14:8 and 18:2.
  362. Isaiah 22:20–25: Eliakim and the key of the house of David · "And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." Eliakim replaces Shebna as steward over the palace. The Hebrew witnesses agree (1QIsa-a, 4QIsa-a); the library's Greek adds "I will give him the glory of David." Revelation 3:7 applies the key to the risen Christ; the passage ends with the peg giving way (v. 25).
  363. Isaiah 23:15–18: Tyre forgotten seventy years: a sentence missing in the Great Isaiah ScrollManuscript variant · "Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot." The Great Isaiah Scroll lacks the middle of v. 15 ("Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years… after the end of seventy years"), reading only "in that day it shall be to Tyre like the song of the harlot"; 4QIsa-c has the full text. It may be a copying slip (the scribe's eye skipping between similar words); that is not confirmed until the manuscripts are checked. The seventy years appear again in v. 17.
  364. Isaiah 25:6–8: "He will swallow up death in victory" · "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces." The Hebrew billa ha-mavet la-netsach means "he has swallowed death forever"; the Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b agree. The library's Greek makes death the swallower ("death, having prevailed, will devour"); Paul's "Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54) reads la-netsach as "in victory," like the later Greek of Theodotion. Revelation 21:4 takes up the tears.
  365. Isaiah 26:19–20: "Thy dead men shall live": awake and singManuscript variant · "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust." The Masoretic Text and 4QIsa-b have the command "Awake and sing!"; the Great Isaiah Scroll reads "they will awake and sing." The library's Greek is explicitly about resurrection: "the dead will rise, and those in the tombs will be raised." Hebrews 10:37 uses the Greek "a very little while" of v. 20.
  366. Isaiah 27:1: Leviathan, the fleeing serpent and the twisting serpentStable text · "The Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." The Hebrew witnesses agree (1QIsa-a; 4QIsa-b partly). The titles match a Ugaritic text about Lotan, "the fleeing serpent… the twisting serpent" (KTU 1.5 I 1–3). The library's Greek has "the fleeing dragon… the twisting dragon"; the Vulgate keeps Leviathan and turns the sea dragon into a whale (cetus).
  367. Isaiah 28:9–13: "Precept upon precept" or mocking babble? Tsav la-tsav · "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line… here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people." The Hebrew tsav la-tsav, qav la-qav may be nonsense syllables (or alphabet drill: tsade and qof are neighbors) with which drunken leaders mock Isaiah. The KJV and the Vulgate (manda, remanda) translate them as words; the library's Greek reads "affliction upon affliction, hope upon hope." Paul quotes vv. 11–12 in 1 Corinthians 14:21.
  368. Isaiah 28:16: A stone in Zion: "shall not make haste" or "shall not be ashamed" · "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." The Hebrew lo yachish means "will not hurry" (or panic); the library's Greek reads "will not be put to shame," adds "in him," and that form is quoted in Romans 9:33, 10:11 and 1 Peter 2:6, which apply the stone to Christ. The Qumran Community Rule applies the same verse to its council.
  369. Isaiah 29:13–14: Lips near, heart far: Isaiah 29:13 in the Gospels · "This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." Mark 7:6–7 and Matthew 15:8–9 report Jesus quoting the verse, in a form that follows the Greek ("in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"). Paul quotes v. 14 in 1 Corinthians 1:19.
  370. Isaiah 30:15–16: "In returning and rest shall ye be saved" · "In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses." Isaiah's counsel against the Egyptian alliance. The Hebrew witnesses agree (1QIsa-a; 1QIsa-b and 4QIsa-c partly). The Vulgate is close (si revertamini et quiescatis); the library's Greek reads very differently: "when, having turned away, you lament, you will be saved."
  371. Isaiah 34:14–15: Lilit: screech owl, lamia, onocentaur, LilithManuscript variant · "The satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there." The Hebrew lilit, a night creature related to the Akkadian demon lilitu, became the KJV's "screech owl," the Vulgate's lamia, the library's Greek "onocentaurs," and in modern translations "night creature" or "Lilith." The Great Isaiah Scroll has the plural, liliyyot. Medieval Jewish folklore later made Lilith Adam's first wife, a legend the text does not know.
  372. Isaiah 35:5–10: The blind see, the lame leap: Isaiah 35 and Jesus' answer to JohnStable text · "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart." When John the Baptist asks whether Jesus is "he that should come," Jesus answers with a list that combines this passage with Isaiah 26:19, 29:18 and 61:1 (Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22). The highway of holiness and the return of the ransomed (35:8–10) close the poem; 35:10 recurs in 51:11.
  373. Isaiah 36:1–3 and 2 Kings 18:13–18: Two versions of 701 BC: what Isaiah leaves outDisputed addition · "In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah… Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them." 2 Kings 18:13 has the same sentence, but then 2 Kings 18:14–16 adds Hezekiah's message to Lachish ("I have offended"), his tribute of 300 talents of silver and 30 of gold, and the stripping of the temple doors. Isaiah 36:2 goes straight on to the Rabshakeh's arrival. A literary difference between two books, not a manuscript variant.
  374. Isaiah 37:36–38 and 2 Kings 19:35–37: The night of the 185,000Stable text · "Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand." Isaiah and 2 Kings 19:35 agree on the number (Kings adds "that night"). No Assyrian source mentions a disaster; Herodotus tells of mice in Egypt; Sennacherib's murder by his son in 681 BC is confirmed by the Babylonian Chronicle. The Hebrew witnesses of Isaiah agree.
  375. Isaiah 38:7–8 and 2 Kings 20:9–11: The shadow on the steps of AhazManuscript variant · "Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward." The Hebrew says "steps" (ma'alot), not "sun dial"; the Great Isaiah Scroll reads "the steps of the upper chamber of Ahaz," the library's Greek "the steps of your father's house," and the Vulgate "the clock (horologium) of Ahaz." In 2 Kings 20:9–11 Hezekiah chooses whether the shadow goes forward or back.
  376. Isaiah 38:21–22 and 2 Kings 20:7–8: The fig poultice: two verses out of placeDisputed addition · "For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?" In Isaiah these verses follow Hezekiah's psalm; in 2 Kings 20:7–8 they come before the sign. In the Great Isaiah Scroll they were added by a second hand after the first scribe had finished the chapter at v. 20; 1QIsa-b has them in the Masoretic position.
  377. Isaiah 39:1–2: Merodach-baladan's envoys: "recovered" or "lived"Manuscript variant · "At that time Merodach-baladan… king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered." The Masoretic Text and 1QIsa-b say "and had become strong"; the Great Isaiah Scroll says "and had lived" (compare 38:21 "and he will live"). 2 Kings 20:12 has the name as Berodach-baladan; Isaiah has the correct Merodach (Marduk-apla-iddina).
  378. Isaiah 40:3–5: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness" · "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord." The Hebrew accents read "A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way"; the Greek and the Vulgate put the voice in the wilderness. All four Gospels apply the Greek form to John the Baptist (Mark 1:3; Matthew 3:3; Luke 3:4–6; John 1:23); the Qumran Community Rule applies the Hebrew to its own retreat to the desert to study the law (1QS 8:13–16).
  379. Isaiah 40:6–8: "All flesh is grass": "and he said" or "and I said," and a scribe's repairManuscript variant · "The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass… but the word of our God shall stand for ever." The Masoretic Text has "and he said"; the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Greek and the Vulgate read "and I said," making the prophet the speaker. In the scroll, words skipped by the first scribe in vv. 7–8 were added later between the lines and in the margin. 1 Peter 1:24–25 quotes the passage in a shorter Greek form.
  380. Isaiah 40:21–23: "The circle of the earth": vault, horizon or sphere? · "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain." Chug means a circle or vault (Job 22:14; Proverbs 8:27), the dome of the sky or the circle of the horizon, not a sphere. The Vulgate has gyrus ("circle"), the library's Greek "the circle of the earth" held in God's hand. The verse is about God's height above human rulers (v. 23).
  381. Isaiah 42:1–4: "Behold my servant": Hebrew, Greek and Matthew 12 · "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." The Hebrew names no one; the library's Greek reads "Jacob my servant… Israel my chosen." Matthew 12:18–21 quotes the passage of Jesus in a form close to neither, without Jacob and Israel, ending with the Greek "in his name shall the Gentiles trust." The Great Isaiah Scroll reads "his justice" (v. 1) and "they will inherit" (v. 4).
  382. Isaiah 43:10–13: "Ye are my witnesses… that I am he" · "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord… that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me." The Hebrew ani hu ("I am he") is rendered in the Greek as egō eimi, "I am"; John 13:19 has Jesus say "that ye may believe that I am he" in nearly the same Greek words. The Hebrew witnesses agree.
  383. Isaiah 44:6–8: "I am the first, and I am the last"Manuscript variant · "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." The Great Isaiah Scroll adds "his name" ("the LORD of hosts is his name"). In Revelation the title is used by God (1:8; 21:6) and by the risen Christ (1:17; 2:8; 22:13), a later application with large theological weight.
  384. Isaiah 44:28–45:1: "Cyrus, my shepherd… his anointed" · "That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure… Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden." Cyrus's name stands in the Masoretic Text, the Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-b and the Cave 4 copies. The library's Greek reads "Be wise" for "my shepherd" in 44:28 and calls Cyrus "my christ" (christos) in 45:1. Josephus says Cyrus read this prophecy.
  385. Isaiah 45:7: "I make peace, and create evil"Manuscript variant · "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." Ra here is the opposite of shalom: calamity, woe. The Great Isaiah Scroll pairs "good" (tov) with evil instead of "peace"; the Cave 1 and Cave 4 copies are restored at that word. Jewish morning prayer quotes the verse but ends "…and creates all things" (b. Berakhot 11b). The Vulgate's "creans malum" and the KJV's "create evil" fueled long debates about God and evil.
  386. Isaiah 45:22–24: "Unto me every knee shall bow": Romans 14 and Philippians 2 · "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth… unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Paul quotes 45:23 in Romans 14:11 of God's judgment, and in Philippians 2:10–11 applies it to Jesus: "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." The Hebrew witnesses agree; the Greek reads "every tongue shall confess (to) God."
  387. Isaiah 48:16: "The Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me" · "And now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me." A sudden first-person speaker: the prophet, the servant, or (in early Christian reading) the Son. The Hebrew can mean that God and his Spirit sent me, or that God sent me and his Spirit. The Hebrew witnesses agree (1QIsa-a; 4QIsa-d partly); the Greek and the Vulgate keep the same ambiguity.
  388. Isaiah 49:1–6: "A light to the Gentiles": the second Servant Song · "Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified… It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob… I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles." The servant is named Israel in every ancient witness, yet sent to restore Israel. Simeon echoes the verse over the infant Jesus (Luke 2:32); Paul and Barnabas apply it to their own mission (Acts 13:47).
  389. Isaiah 50:4–9: "I gave my back to the smiters": the third Servant Song and the passion narratives · "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting." The Great Isaiah Scroll has a different, uncertain word for the attackers. The library's Greek has "scourges," "blows" and "spittings," words that recur in the Gospels' accounts of Jesus being struck and spat upon (Mark 14:65; Matthew 26:67), which do not cite Isaiah.
  390. Isaiah 52:7–10: "How beautiful upon the mountains": the herald of good newsStable text · "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings… that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" The herald (mevasser; Greek euangelizomenos, the root of "gospel") announces God's return to Zion. A Qumran text (11Q13) reads the herald as an anointed figure; Paul quotes the verse for the apostles (Romans 10:15).
  391. Isaiah 52:13–15: "My servant shall be exalted": marred, anointed, sprinkling or startlingManuscript variant · "Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high… his visage was so marred… So shall he sprinkle many nations." In 52:14 the Great Isaiah Scroll reads "I anointed" (mashachti) where the Masoretic Text has "disfigurement" (mishchat); 1QIsa-b agrees with the Masoretic Text. The verb of 52:15 (yazzeh) means "sprinkle" elsewhere, but the Greek and the parallel line suggest "startle": the same Hebrew word, two meanings.
  392. Isaiah 53:1–3: "Who hath believed our report?… despised and rejected" · "Who hath believed our report?… He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." John 12:38 and Romans 10:16 quote v. 1 (Greek, with "Lord") to explain unbelief, John toward Jesus' signs, Paul toward the apostles' message. Verse 3's "man of pains, knowing sickness" became Christian devotion's "Man of Sorrows"; the Talmud named the messiah "the leper" from the next verse.
  393. Isaiah 53:4–6: "Surely he hath borne our griefs… with his stripes we are healed": Matthew and 1 Peter · "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows… he was wounded for our transgressions… with his stripes we are healed… the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Matthew 8:17 applies v. 4 to Jesus' healings, in wording close to the Hebrew ("sicknesses"); the library's Greek reads "he bears our sins." 1 Peter 2:24–25 applies vv. 5–6 to Jesus' death and to straying sheep.
  394. Isaiah 53:7–8: "As a lamb to the slaughter": the passage the Ethiopian official was reading · "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter… for the transgression of my people was he stricken." Acts 8:32–33 quotes the Greek word for word, including "in his humiliation his judgment was taken away," which differs from the Hebrew. The Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b read "his people" in v. 8; 4QIsa-d and the Masoretic Text "my people."
  395. Isaiah 53:9–10: A grave with the wicked and a rich man; an offering for sinManuscript variant · "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him… when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin (asham), he shall see his seed." The Great Isaiah Scroll reads "they set," a word meaning "his tomb" (or "high place") for "in his deaths," and in v. 10 "he pierced him" for "he made him sick." 1 Peter 2:22 quotes "no deceit in his mouth."
  396. Isaiah 53:11: "He shall see light": the word missing from the Masoretic TextManuscript variant · "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" (KJV, from the Masoretic Text, which has no object for "see"). The Great Isaiah Scroll and 1QIsa-b read "he shall see light," 4QIsa-d probably does (the word is partly restored), and the Greek has "to show him light." The Vulgate agrees with the Masoretic Text. Daniel 12:3 echoes the next line: the wise "make many righteous" and shine. A likely ancient reading; not certainty about the earliest text.
  397. Isaiah 53:12: "Numbered with the transgressors": Luke 22:37 and a verse added to MarkManuscript variant · "He was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." In Luke 22:37 Jesus quotes the first phrase of himself at the Last Supper, the only explicit quotation of Isaiah 53 attributed to Jesus in the Gospels. The KJV's Mark 15:28 quotes it too, but that verse is missing from the oldest manuscripts of Mark and was added later. The Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-b and 4QIsa-d read "the sins of many" and "for their transgressions."
  398. Isaiah 54:1–3: "Sing, O barren": Zion's children and Galatians 4Stable text · "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear… for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife… Enlarge the place of thy tent." Zion, childless in exile, will have more children than ever. Paul quotes v. 1 in Galatians 4:27 in an explicit allegory of Sarah and Hagar.
  399. Isaiah 55:1–3: "Ho, every one that thirsteth": the free invitation and the sure mercies of DavidManuscript variant · "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters… buy wine and milk without money and without price… I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." In the Great Isaiah Scroll a few words of v. 1 are missing, probably by a skip in copying. Paul quotes the Greek of v. 3 ("the holy and sure things of David") in Acts 13:34 of Jesus' resurrection.
  400. Isaiah 56:3–7: "Neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree": foreigners, eunuchs and a house of prayerManuscript variant · "Neither let the son of the stranger… say, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree." Eunuchs who keep the sabbath receive "a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters"; foreigners who join the LORD are brought to his holy mountain, "for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Deuteronomy 23:1–3 excluded eunuchs and some foreigners from the assembly; Nehemiah 13:1–3 applied the rule. In Mark 11:17 Jesus quotes v. 7 at the temple.
  401. Isaiah 57:15–19: "The high and lofty One… with him also that is of a contrite spirit": I dwell, or he dwells?Manuscript variant · "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." The Masoretic Text has God speak in the first person, "I dwell"; the Great Isaiah Scroll, 4QIsa-d and the library's Greek have the third person, "he dwells." The passage ends "Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near" (v. 19), which Ephesians 2:17 applies to Jews and Gentiles.
  402. Isaiah 58:6–7: "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?": bonds loosed, bread shared, and Luke 4:18 · "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free… Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him." The Great Isaiah Scroll adds "with a garment." In Luke 4:18, the reading in the Nazareth synagogue includes a line from the Greek of 58:6, "to set at liberty them that are bruised," inside the words of 61:1–2.
  403. Isaiah 59:20–21: "The Redeemer shall come to Zion": to Zion, for Zion, out of Zion (Romans 11:26) · "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." The Hebrew says the redeemer comes to Zion for those in Jacob who repent. The library's Greek reads "for the sake of Zion" and "he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob," making God the one who removes the sin. Paul quotes the Greek in Romans 11:26–27 but writes "out of Zion," and adds a line from Isaiah 27:9.
  404. Isaiah 60:1–3: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come": Zion's dawn and the nationsStable text · "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth… And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." The library's Greek and the Vulgate add "Jerusalem" in v. 1. The chapter goes on to camels of Midian and Ephah, gold and incense from Sheba (v. 6), and a city whose light is God, not the sun (vv. 19–20), images that Revelation 21:23–26 reuses.
  405. Isaiah 61:1–3: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me": the scroll Jesus read at Nazareth (Luke 4:16–21) · "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek… to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." Luke 4:18–19 reports the words Jesus read in the synagogue at Nazareth. They follow the Greek, not the Hebrew, in "recovering of sight to the blind"; they add a line from 58:6; and they stop before "the day of vengeance." The oldest manuscripts of Luke also lack "to heal the brokenhearted," which the KJV has.
  406. Isaiah 63:1–6: "Who is this that cometh from Edom?": the warrior in the winepress and Revelation 19Manuscript variant · "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?… Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me." God returns from Edom like a vintager, stained with the juice of the nations he has trampled. The Great Isaiah Scroll reads "of my people" and lacks the most violent line of v. 3. Revelation 19:13–15 borrows the image for a rider "clothed with a vesture dipped in blood" who "treadeth the winepress," and makes changes of its own.
  407. Isaiah 64:1–4 (Hebrew 63:19b–64:3): "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens": a numbering seam, and "eye hath not seen" (1 Corinthians 2:9)Manuscript variant · "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence… For since the beginning of the world men have not heard… neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." In Hebrew Bibles the cry "rend the heavens" is the second half of 63:19, so English 64:1–12 is Hebrew 63:19b–64:11. Paul's "Eye hath not seen… the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9) is close to v. 4 in thought but not in wording.
  408. Isaiah 65:1–2: "I am found of them that sought me not": God's answer, and Paul's division in Romans 10:20–21 · "I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people." In Isaiah both verses answer the lament of 63:7–64:12 and seem to speak of Israel: God was available, but the people did not seek him. Paul quotes the Greek and divides it: v. 1 of the Gentiles, v. 2 of Israel (Romans 10:20–21).
  409. Isaiah 65:17–25: "New heavens and a new earth": a hundred years, houses, vineyards and the wolf with the lamb · "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered… There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old." Isaiah's new creation still has death: a hundred-year-old who dies is young, and sinners are still cursed. People build houses and live in them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Revelation 21:1–4 takes up "a new heaven and a new earth" and says "there shall be no more death": a different picture.
  410. Isaiah 66:1–2: "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool": Stephen and the Sermon on the MountStable text · "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me?… but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." The question may oppose temple-building, or only the idea that a temple could contain God (compare 1 Kings 8:27). Stephen quotes it in his speech before the council (Acts 7:49–50); in Matthew 5:34–35 Jesus forbids oaths "by heaven; for it is God's throne… by the earth; for it is his footstool."
  411. Isaiah 66:22–24: "Their worm shall not die": the book's last verse, Mark 9:48 and Gehenna · "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." The book ends with worshippers who come every new moon and sabbath, and who go out to see the corpses of rebels. In Mark 9:48 Jesus uses the same words of Gehenna. Isaiah speaks of dead bodies seen by the living; Mark of a place the hearers must avoid; later doctrine of everlasting punishment goes further than either text.
  412. Isaiah 53:11: He shall see lightManuscript variant · One word, "light," appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Greek but not in the medieval Hebrew. Here is how modern Bibles handle it.
  413. Mark 16:9–20: The ending of MarkDisputed addition · The two oldest complete copies of Mark end at 16:8. Most later copies continue to verse 20. Here is the evidence on both sides.
  414. John 7:53–8:11: The woman caught in adulteryDisputed addition · One of the most loved stories about Jesus is missing from the earliest manuscripts of John and appears in different places in later ones.
  415. 1 John 5:7–8: The three that bear record in heavenDisputed addition · The King James wording includes a clear statement of the Trinity that is absent from early Greek manuscripts. Here is how it entered the text.