Isaiah 40:21–23

Every witness, in order

1. 8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

   The oracle as first spoken or written

   – No copy survives

   No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.

2. c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)

   Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1

   ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

   How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

   Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 40:21–23. "Him who sits above the circle of the earth" as in the Masoretic Text, with "earth" lacking the article in one place. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

3. 1st century BC (reported)

   4QIsa-b (4Q56), Qumran Cave 4

   ◐ Contains part of itDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

   How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

   Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 40:21–23. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. Parts of "its inhabitants like grasshoppers" and "stretches out the heavens" survive, agreeing with the Masoretic Text.

4. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

   Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

   ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

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

   Numquid non scitis? numquid non audistis? numquid non annuntiatum est vobis ab initio? numquid non intellexistis fundamenta terræ? Qui sedet super gyrum terræ, et habitatores ejus sunt quasi locustæ; qui extendit velut nihilum cælos, et expandit eos sicut tabernaculum ad inhabitandum; qui dat secretorum scrutatores quasi non sint, judices terræ velut inane fecit.

   Latin numbering: Isaiah 40:21–23. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

5. AD 1008

   Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

   ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

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

   הֲל֤וֹא תֵֽדְעוּ֙ הֲל֣וֹא תִשְׁמָ֔עוּ הֲל֛וֹא הֻגַּ֥ד מֵרֹ֖אשׁ לָכֶ֑ם הֲלוֹא֙ הֲבִ֣ינֹתֶ֔ם מוֹסְד֖וֹת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ הַיֹּשֵׁב֙ עַל־ח֣וּג הָאָ֔רֶץ וְיֹשְׁבֶ֖יהָ כַּחֲגָבִ֑ים הַנּוֹטֶ֤ה כַדֹּק֙ שָׁמַ֔יִם וַיִּמְתָּחֵ֥ם כָּאֹ֖הֶל לָשָֽׁבֶת׃ הַנּוֹתֵ֥ן רוֹזְנִ֖ים לְאָ֑יִן שֹׁ֥פְטֵי אֶ֖רֶץ כַּתֹּ֥הוּ עָשָֽׂה׃

   It is he who sits above the circle (vault) of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to live in (v. 22)

   Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 40:21–23.

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).

   Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 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, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

7. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

   Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)

   ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Isaiah

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

   Ne savez-vous pas cela? Ne l’avez-vous pas ouï dire? Ne vous l’a-t-on pas appris dès le commencement? Ne connaissez-vous pas les fondements de la terre? C’est lui qui tient dans sa main le cercle de la terre, et, comme une nuée de sauterelles, tous ceux qui l’habitent. C’est lui qui à posé les cieux comme une voûte, et qui les à tendus comme la tente où l’on s’abrite. C’est lui par qui règnent les princes, qui sont comme un néant devant lui. C’est lui qui à créé la terre et la regarde comme un néant.

   Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 40:21–23. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.