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Journey of a Passage

2 Chronicles 20:1

Ammonites, or Meunim?

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.

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

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 it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original ChroniclesComposed c. 4th century BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 2 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. Composed c. 4th century BC (debated)

    Original Chronicles

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint, 2 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.

    et, avec eux, des Minéens

    and with them some Meunites

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

  3. 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).

    et cum eis de Ammonitis

  4. 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.

    וְעִמָּהֶם מֵהָעַמּוֹנִים

    and with them from the Ammonites

    Possibly a copying slip for מֵהַמְּעוּנִים, "from the Meunim."

  5. 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).

    and with them other beside the Ammonites

    The KJV smooths the repetition.

What changed, and why

The two Hebrew words differ by the order and form of a few letters. The Meunim appear in 1 Chronicles 4:41 and 2 Chronicles 26:7; Assyrian texts mention Mu'unaya in the Negev region.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek reads Meunim.
  • Strongly supportedThe Hebrew originally read Meunim.

Sources

  • E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)

Related lessons

  • Jehoshaphat's Prayer and Victory Song →Moab, Ammon and others come from beyond the Dead Sea to En-gedi. Jehoshaphat proclaims a fast and prays before the people: "we know not what to do: but our eyes are upon thee." The Levite Jahaziel answers: "The battle is not yours, but God's." Singers march ahead of the army; the enemies turn on one another. The valley is named Berachah, "blessing." Later, Jehoshaphat's fleet with Ahaziah of Israel is wrecked.