Old Testament Manuscripts

 

Masoretic Text

  1. Cairo Codex (Codex Cairensis) (c) (895AD)
    • Oldest Masoretic manuscript of the Prophets
  1. Leningrad Codex of the Prophets (916AD)
    • Babylonian Codex of the latter Prophets (MXB3)
    • Petersburg Codex
    • Contains Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve
    • Written with Babylonian Punctuation
  1. Aleppo Codex (930AD)
    • Primary authority of the Hebrew Bible
    • Corrected and punctuated by Aaron ben Asher
  1. British Museum Codex (Oriental 4445) (950AD)
    • Contains Genesis 39:20 – Deut. 1:33
  1. Leningrad Codex (B19 A or L) (1008AD)
    • Only complete manuscript of the entire Old Testament
  1. Reuchlin Codex (MS Ad 21161) (1105AD)
    • The Prophets
  1. Cairo Geneza (500-800AD)

 

Wadi Murabba’at

  • From the 2nd Jewish Revolt (Self dated 132-135AD)
  • Contains fragments of Genesis, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and some Minor Prophets

 

Septuagint (LXX)

  • Greek translation of the Old Testament produced in Egypt
  • During the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 BC)
  • Translated by 70 Jewish Scholars
  • Includes all the books we have today and the Apocrypha

 

Latin Vulgate

  • A Latin version of the Holy Bible, and largely the result of the labors of St Jerome (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus), who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 A.D. to make a revision of the old Latin translations.
  • Of the Old Testament texts not found in the Hebrew, St. Jerome translated Tobitand Judith anew from the Aramaic; and from the Greek, the additions to Esther from the Septuagint, and the additions to Daniel from Theodotion. The others, Baruch, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, 3 Esdras and 4 Esdras, the Prayer of Manasses, Psalm 151, and Laodiceans retain in Vulgate manuscripts their Old Latin renderings.

 

The Peshitta

  • Earliest Manuscripts we have are around 400AD
  • Collection of Aramaic manuscripts
  • Primarily used in the Syriac churches
  • Scholars convinced dated earlier than Christ