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Journey of a Passage

Nehemiah 2:13–15

The Dragon Well or the Fig Fountain

On his night ride Nehemiah passes 'en hattannin, "the spring of the dragon (or jackal)." The Vulgate and KJV say dragon; the library's Greek (Giguet) has "the fountain of the figs," reading a different word. The spring's location is unknown.

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 Ezra–NehemiahMemoir c. 430 BC; book compiled c. 400–300 BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Ezra–Nehemiah
Greek
  1. Greek 2 Esdras 11–23 (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BC or laterTranslated from a Hebrew text of Ezra–Nehemiah
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgate (2 Esdras = Nehemiah)c. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Memoir c. 430 BC; book compiled c. 400–300 BC (debated)

    Original Ezra–Nehemiah

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. No Qumran fragment of Nehemiah has been identified.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC or later

    Greek 2 Esdras 11–23 (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of Ezra–Nehemiah

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

    passant devant la fontaine des Figuiers

    passing before the fountain of the fig trees

    Perhaps reading te'enim (figs) for tannin. Greek 2 Esdras via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate (2 Esdras = Nehemiah)

    ✓ 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).

    ante fontem draconis

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Ezra–Nehemiah

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

    וְאֶל־פְּנֵי עֵין הַתַּנִּין וְאֶל־שַׁעַר הָאַשְׁפֹּת

    and toward the spring of the dragon/jackal, and to the Dung Gate

    Tannin can mean sea-serpent or (as tannim) jackals.

  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).

    even before the dragon well, and to the dung port

What changed, and why

Suggested identifications: En-rogel (Bir Ayyub) at the junction of the Kidron and Hinnom valleys, or a spring on the western side of the City of David. None is certain, and the gates on the route are not located. The atlas shows the ride only schematically.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek reads "fountain of the figs" for the Hebrew "spring of the dragon." Via Giguet's French.
  • Plausible, not confirmedThe Dragon Well is En-rogel.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • A Persian Commission and a Midnight Survey →In Nisan the king notices Nehemiah's sad face. Nehemiah, "very sore afraid," asks to be sent to rebuild the city of his fathers' tombs. He receives letters for the governors Beyond-the-River and for Asaph, keeper of the king's park, for timber, and an escort of officers and horsemen. Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant are grieved. Nehemiah inspects the walls by night and calls the leaders to build; Geshem the Arab joins the mockery.