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Journey of a Passage

Judges 19:2

Did she betray him, or leave him?

The Hebrew says the concubine "played the harlot against him" and went to her father's house. The library's Greek and the Vulgate say only that she left him. Some scholars suspect a different Hebrew word, "was angry with him," behind the Greek.

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 JudgesUnknown (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Judges
Greek
  1. Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd 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

Explanations

Different Hebrew
A Hebrew verb meaning "was angry" (compare Akkadian zenû) may lie behind the Greek.
Interpretive softening
Translators avoided accusing her, since she returned to her father, not to a lover.
What does not change
Neither reading excuses what was done to her.

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Judges

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC

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

    Puis, sa femme le quitta pour s'en retourner à la maison de son père

    Then his wife left him to return to her father's house

    One Greek text via Giguet's French; Greek A and B not checked separately.

  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).

    quæ reliquit eum, et reversa est in domum patris sui

    who left him, and returned to her father's house

    Left him.

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

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

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

    וַתִּזְנֶה עָלָיו פִּילַגְשׁוֹ וַתֵּלֶךְ מֵאִתּוֹ

    his concubine played the harlot against him and went away from him

    zanah: to be unfaithful, act as a prostitute.

  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).

    his concubine played the whore against him

    Follows the Hebrew.

What changed, and why

Greek A and B should both be checked before saying how "the Greek" reads.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek and the Vulgate say she left him. One Greek text via Giguet's French; Greek A and B not checked separately.
  • Plausible, not confirmedThe Greek reflects a Hebrew "was angry."

Sources

Related lessons

  • The Woman of Gibeah →A Levite travels to Bethlehem to bring back his concubine. On the way home they avoid Jebus and stay in Gibeah of Benjamin, where an old man takes them in. Men of the city surround the house; the Levite pushes the woman out, and she is raped all night. In the morning she lies at the door. He cuts her body into twelve pieces and sends them through Israel. Content warning: sexual violence.
  • Journey of a Passage: Ancient Judges Texts →A guide to the passages in Judges where ancient copies and translations differ, or where the difference is between two compositions rather than two copies. Each has its own passage page with the witnesses laid out side by side.