Leningrad Codex (ML) follows the Ben Asher tradition. It is used as the basis for Biblia Hebraica series. It dates back to 1009 C.E. Click on the image above to see the PDF version of the codex. You can find out more about the Leningrad Codex and view it in our library.
Madrid Codex (MM1) A manuscript of the entire Hebrew Bible from around 1280 A.D. bought by brothers in Toledo (Spain). Often used for illustrative purposes, it is also known to be the manuscript used for the Complutensian Polyglot Bible.
The Aleppo Codex (MA)was produced around 930 C.E. It is not a complete witness to the Masoretic text. The codex begins in Deuteronomy 28:17, so most of the Pentateuch is missing. Also missing are parts of Song of Solomon, all of Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. The picture above is linked to the text online. You can find out more about the Aleppo codex by visiting this site.
Codex Sassoon 507 (MS5) Or, The Damascus Pentateuch, from around the year 1000, is one of the oldest extant Hebrew biblical manuscripts. It includes full vocalization, accentuation, and Masoretic annotation. The manuscript is defective in its beginning, as it starts with Genesis 9:26 and ends with Deuteronomy; Exodus 18:1–23 is missing. To find out more information visit the World Digital Library.
Codex B. M. Or. 4445 (MB) Or, London Codex is a codex dating back to 920 or 950 C.E. It contains portions of the Torah. The manuscript has been digitized and is linked above from the British Library. You can find out more about the manuscript by clicking on the picture and reading the description. The first 28 leaves, belonging to the later portion, are much mutilated. The ancient part begins with chapter Genesis 39:20. Deuteronomy.Note: The ancient part ends with chapter 1:33. The rest, belonging to the later portion, is much mutilated. For more information visit the British Library.
The Second Rabbinic Bible is the Hebrew Masoretic text which is believed to have been used as the source text by the King James Bible translators for the Old Testament. The margins contains copious notes about the text in Hebrew. Yaakov ben Hayyim (also known as Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah or Ben Chayyim), a Masoretic scholar who became a Christian, helped compile the text and notes. The four volumes were first published by Daniel Bomberg in Venice.
The work is published in four volumes. Vol 1. Vol 2. Vol 3. Vol 4.
The Larger Cambridge Septuagint is a reproduction of Codex Vaticanus with a critical apparatus. This project is incomplete. It only contains Genesis through Esther from the Old Testament and 1 Esdras, Tobit, and Judith from the Apocrypha.
Pierre Sabatier's Old Latin Bible
The first scholarly edition of the Old Latin Bible ("Vetus Italica") was the work of the French Benedictine monk Pierre Sabatier († 1742), who assembled Old Latin biblical citations from the works of around 60 Church Fathers and published them in three large volumes.
Field's Hexapla
The Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt (Oxford, 1867–1875) is a critical edition of the extant fragments of Origen's work of that name, together with materials drawn from the Syro-hexapla version and the Septuagint of Robert Holmes and James Parsons (Oxford, 1798–1827). The surviving fragments are now being re-published (with additional materials discovered since Field's edition) by an international group of Septuagint scholars. This work is being carried out as The Hexapla Project under the auspices of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, and directed by Peter J. Gentry (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) and Alison G. Salvesen (Oxford University).
Samaritan Pentateuch MS Add 1846. Contains the Samaritan Hebrew text of Gen 1:28–Deut 33:1. Add.1846 is believed to be the earliest extant manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch and dates from the early 12th century CE. Epigraphs and scholia in Samaritan Hebrew/Aramaic and Arabic follow the end of each biblical book. They are in various hands. The copying of the book itself is the product of five different hands. To find out more information visit the Cambridge Digital Manuscripts website.
Samaritan Pentateuch MSS (1232 AD) - New York Public Library
Vellum manuscript with Samaritan (Paleo-Hebrew) script and Islamic-style leather binding. Exodus 16 features a "tashkil" (colophon, or, statement of responsibility), written vertically, in characteristic Samaritan manner, one letter on top of the other, to avoid possible confusion with the biblical text proper. It reads: Mikhtav Abraham Nesiah (the writing of Abraham the Nasi, i.e., president, patriarch, prince, or member of the royal family). A second colophon further on in the manuscript is also written vertically and extends over several pages of Deuteronomy: "I, Abraham son of Israel son of Ephraim son of Joseph the Nasi, King of Israel (Melekh Yisrael), wrote this copy of the Holy Torah myself for my children in the 629th year of the Islamic ascendancy, corresponding to the 3,200th year of Israelite settlement in the land of Canaan, anno mundi 5993. It is the 74th Torah that I have written and I am now sixty years old. I give thanks to the Lord and entreat him to prolong the life of my children and grandchildren that they may study from it. Amen, amen, amen."
Samaritan Pentateuch, Damascus, Syria, 1339. Exodus 20
BL Or. MS 6461, ff. 69v-70
Copyright © The British Library Board
This Pentateuch was copied in 1339 by the scribe Abraham ben Jacob ben Tabya ben Sa'adah ben Abraham of the Pijma family. It is written in Samaritan majuscule Hebrew characters, and is typical of the Damascene scribal tradition. The Decalogue is indicated by an alphanumeric marking in the margin at the left of the text.
