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Journey of a Passage

2 Chronicles 5:10 and Hebrews 9:4

What was in the ark?

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.

Read 2 Chronicles 5:10 and Hebrews 9:4 in every edition

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
  • Related (shared ancestry)
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
  2. Hebrews 9:41st century ADRelated witness to Exodus 16:33–34; Numbers 17:10
Latin
    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.

      Il n'y avait rien dans l'arche, sinon les deux tables

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

    3. 1st century AD

      Hebrews 9:4

      ❝ Quotes or alludes to part of itRelated witness to Exodus 16:33–34; Numbers 17:10

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

      στάμνος χρυσῆ ἔχουσα τὸ μάννα καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος Ἀαρὼν… καὶ αἱ πλάκες τῆς διαθήκης

      the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod… and the tables of the covenant

      Describes the tabernacle's ark in Moses' time.

    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.

      אֵין בָּאָרוֹן רַק שְׁנֵי הַלֻּחוֹת

      there was nothing in the ark except the two tablets

    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).

      There was nothing in the ark save the two tables

    What changed, and why

    Exodus says the manna and rod were placed "before" the testimony. Hebrews may describe the wilderness arrangement, Chronicles the temple's. The site keeps both statements.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedChronicles and Hebrews describe the ark's contents differently.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • The Ark Enters the Temple →The elders and Levites bring the ark into the most holy place. It holds only the two tablets. As the Levite singers, dressed in fine linen, and 120 priests with trumpets sing together "For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever," the cloud fills the house and the priests cannot stand to minister.