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Journey of a Passage

1 Chronicles 29:29

The books of Samuel, Nathan and Gad

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.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Records of Samuel, Nathan and GadUnknown
  2. Original ChroniclesComposed c. 4th century BC (debated)
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 1 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of Chronicles
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown

    Records of Samuel, Nathan and Gad

    ▢ Pages lost or damaged here

    Cited as sources. They may be parts of our books of Samuel (in which all three appear) or lost works.

  2. Composed c. 4th century BC (debated)

    Original Chronicles

    – No copy survives

    No original survives; no certain Qumran copy of 1 Chronicles.

  3. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint, 1 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of Chronicles

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    écrits parmi les Récits de Samuel le voyant, de Nathan le prophète, et de Gad le voyant

    One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  4. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    in libro Samuelis videntis, et in libro Nathan prophetæ, atque in volumine Gad videntis

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    עַל־דִּבְרֵי שְׁמוּאֵל הָרֹאֶה וְעַל־דִּבְרֵי נָתָן הַנָּבִיא וְעַל־דִּבְרֵי גָּד הַחֹזֶה

    in the words (records) of Samuel the seer, and the words of Nathan the prophet, and the words of Gad the seer

    Divrei, "words" or "acts."

  6. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer

What changed, and why

The Talmud (Bava Batra 15a) says Samuel wrote his book and Gad and Nathan completed it, linking this verse to our Samuel.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedChronicles names three prophetic records for David.
  • Conflicts with current evidenceSeparate books of Nathan and Gad survive.

Sources

Related lessons

  • David's Offering, Prayer and Death →David gives his own treasure for the temple; the leaders and people give willingly, and rejoice. David blesses God before the assembly: "all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine." Solomon is made king a second time and anointed, with Zadok as priest. David dies "in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour," and his acts are written in the records of Samuel, Nathan and Gad.
  • How 1 Chronicles Came to Us →Chronicles is one book in Hebrew, Divrei ha-Yamim, "the events of the days." Most scholars date it to the 4th century BC in Persian-period Judah; Jewish tradition attributes it to Ezra. Its sources include Genesis, Samuel–Kings, Psalms and records it names. No Qumran copy of 1 Chronicles is known; the only possible Chronicles fragment, 4Q118, corresponds to 2 Chronicles and its identification is disputed.