Joshua 15:59a
Eleven towns, including Bethlehem, only in the Greek
The Greek Bible lists a district of eleven towns in the hill country of Judah, among them Tekoa and Bethlehem, that is missing from every Hebrew manuscript of Joshua. Most scholars think the Hebrew lost it by a copyist's slip.
Disputed addition: some witnesses include it, some do not
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.
✓ includes the disputed words · ✕ does not include them · ❝ quotes part of them · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Why the Greek is probably right
- The gap
- Bethlehem and Tekoa were major towns of Judah, yet the Hebrew list of Judah omits them.
- The mechanism
- Each district ends "…cities and their villages"; a scribe's eye could skip from one ending to the next, dropping a whole district.
- Modern Bibles
- Some modern translations restore the district from the Greek; others mention it in a note.
Every witness, in order
Unknown (debated)
Original Joshua
No original survives.
Translated c. 2nd century BC
Septuagint (Old Greek)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Theko, Ephratha which is Bethlehem, Phagor, Etam, Kulon, Tatam, Thobes, Karem, Galem, Theter and Manocho: eleven cities and their villages
In the library's Greek (Giguet) this district appears at the start of 15:60: "Théco, Ephrata, la même que Bethleem, Phagor, Etan, Culon, Tatam, Thobès, Carem, Galem, Théther et Manocho: onze villes."
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
The Vulgate follows the Hebrew and lacks the district.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
וּמַעֲרָת וּבֵית־עֲנוֹת וְאֶלְתְּקֹן עָרִים שֵׁשׁ וְחַצְרֵיהֶן (15:59)
Maarath, Beth-anoth and Eltekon: six cities with their villages
The next verse begins a new district; Bethlehem and Tekoa are not listed in Judah's towns.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Follows the Hebrew.
What changed, and why
This is a case where an ancient translation preserves text lost from all Hebrew copies. The exact Greek forms of the names should be checked against a critical edition.
What the evidence shows
- The Septuagint has a district of eleven towns not in the Masoretic Text. Checked in the library (Giguet).
- The Hebrew lost the district by eye-skip.
Source: E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)
Sources
- E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)
Related lessons
- Judah and Achsah →Judah's borders and its towns, district by district. Caleb promises his daughter Achsah to whoever takes Debir; Othniel does, and Achsah asks her father for springs of water and gets them. Judah cannot drive out the Jebusites of Jerusalem. And the Greek Bible has eleven towns, including Bethlehem, that the Hebrew lacks.
- How Joshua Came to Us →Who wrote Joshua, and when? How does its Greek form differ from the Hebrew? Where does the altar ceremony belong? Why do the oldest Hebrew codices lack two verses? Here is the history of the book from its setting to your Bible, with every major variant linked.