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Journey of a Passage

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.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

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 DeuteronomyUnknown (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Deuteronomy
Samaritan
  1. Samaritan PentateuchAncient tradition; medieval copiesDescends, through lost copies, from Original Deuteronomy
Greek
  1. SeptuagintTranslated c. 3rd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 3rd century BC
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Readings

"He buried him"
God buried Moses; the rabbis made it an example of kindness to imitate (Sotah 14a).
"They buried him"
The Greek: Israel buried him.
Either way
"No man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Deuteronomy

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 3rd century BC

    Septuagint

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 3rd century BC

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

    they buried him in Gai near the house of Phogor

    Giguet's French: "on l'ensevelit."

  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 sepelivit eum

    and he buried him

    Singular.

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

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

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

    וַיִּקְבֹּר אֹתוֹ בַגַּי בְּאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב

    and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab

    Singular: naturally God.

  5. Ancient tradition; medieval copies

    Samaritan Pentateuch

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

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Samaritan Pentateuch, Kennicott's 1780 text digitized by A. Sigalov.

    ויקבר אתו בגיא בארץ מואב

    The same consonants, which can be read "he buried" or, with other vowels, otherwise.

  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).

    And he buried him in a valley

    Follows the Hebrew.

What changed, and why

Whoever buried him, the text insists the place is unknown. The Mount Nebo church is a place of remembrance, not a tomb.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedMT reads "he buried" and the LXX "they buried." Checked in the site's library (Greek via Giguet).

Sources

Related lessons

  • The Death of Moses and the Road to Joshua →Moses climbs Mount Nebo, sees the whole land from Dan to the western sea, and dies "according to the word of the LORD." He is buried in a valley in Moab, and no one knows the place. Joshua leads. "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face."
  • How Deuteronomy Came to Us →Moses on the plains of Moab; a scroll found in Josiah's Temple; an Assyrian loyalty oath; thirty-odd Dead Sea Scrolls, some with readings no modern Hebrew Bible has; a Samaritan Torah that names a different mountain; a Greek name taken from one verse; and a nineteenth-century "manuscript" that vanished. How Deuteronomy reached us, and what is still debated.