B I B 



B 1 B 



Bibles, Hchrtw, are either nianufcn'pt or printed. The 

 bell manufcr}pt Bibles are thofe copied by the Jews of 

 Spain. Tiiofe copi'.d by the Jews of Germany are Icfs 

 e.'iaft, but more coininoii. The two kinds are eatiiy diftin- 

 guifhed from each other; the former being in beautiful 

 characters, lilie the Hebrew Bibles of Bomberg, Stephens, 

 and Plantin ; the latter in characters, like thofe of Munftcr 

 and Gryphius. F. Simon obferves, that the oldeft nianu- 

 fcript Hebrew Bibles are not above fix or fcvcn hundred 

 years old ; nor does rabbi Menaham, who quotes a vaft 

 number of them, pretend that any of them exceed fi.K hundred 

 years. 



Dr. Kennicott, in his DilTertatio Generalis, annexed to his 

 Hebrew Bible, p. 21, obferves, that the mod ancient MSS. 

 ivere written between the years 900 and i 100 : but though 

 thofe that are the moll ancient are not more than 800 or 900 

 years old, they were tranfcnbed from others of a much more 

 ancient date. The MS. preferved in the Bodleian library is 

 nokfs than 8co years old. Another MS. not lefs ancient, is 

 preferved in the C-.Efarean libiary at Vienna. The fame 

 learned writer informs us, that almoft all the Hebrew 

 MSS. of the Old Tcllament, which are known at prcfent, 

 were written between the years 1000 and 1457 ; and hence 

 he infers, that all the MSS. written before the years 700 or 

 >foo, were deilroyed by fome decree of the JewiQi fcnate, on 

 account of their many differences from the copies then de- 

 clared genuine. This circumllance is alfo alleged by Walton 

 (Prolegomena, 4, 8.), as the reafon why we have fo few 

 copies of the age of 60c years, and why even the copies of 

 700 or 8co years are very rare. 



The Hebrew dillinftions and denominationsof the various 

 parts of the Hebrew Bible, as they occur in the titles of the 

 ancient MSS. will be cafily underftood by the foUotting 

 table of diilribution. 

 Pentateuch, 



Prophets, 



Prior 



Pofla 



^ Jofhua 

 3 Ji'dges 



Cethubim, 



or 



Hagiographa. 



Pfalms 

 j Proverbs 

 1 Daniel 



E/.r. Neh, 



1 iamuel 

 I Kings 



r ' rifaiah 



j Major .{ Jeremiah 

 (.Ezckiel 

 rHofea, &c. 

 Minor < to 



(_Malachi. 



fRuth 

 I Either 

 5 <J Ecclefiaftcs 

 -Lamentations 

 j Solomon's Song- 



I 



(_ Chronicles. 



Dr. Kennicott,by theindullry of his refcarch, has formed 

 a catalogue of the titles and places of above 440 different 

 MSS. of the whole, or of parts of the Hebrew Bible: a 

 number about three times as great as that of the Greek MSS. 

 of the New Teltament, which have been colktted at a vafl 

 expence, and collated with a truly laudable zeal. (See 

 Testavunt.) Of thefe MSS. 54 are preferved in the 

 Bodleian hbrarv at Oxford, and 13 in different colleges of 

 the univerfity ; 4 are repofited in the public libmry at Cam- 

 bridge, and 3 in different colleges ; 27 are found in the 

 Britiih Mufeum ; one in the Lambeth library ; and one 

 in the library of the Royal Society. The preceding 

 MSS., with 7 copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch, amount 

 to 1 10 copies, making 125 volumes. Other MS. copies 

 are prefei-ved at Alcala, or Coniplutum in Spain, Altorf 

 in Swabia, Amflerdam, Anhalt-Deffau, Augibiirg, Baden, 



Vol. IV. 



Berlin, Bemc, Bcfan^on, Bologna, Brieg in Sileda, Cain- 

 fong-fcu in China, Cairo in Egypt, Cefena in Italy, Copei- 

 hagen, Drefden, Erfurth, Florence, Furth in Franconia, 

 Hague, Hall, Hamburgh, Hanover, Heidelberg, Helmftadt, 

 HefieCaflcl, Hoba near Damafcus, leiia, Koningfberg, 

 Leipfic, Leyden, Lyons, Mechlin in Flanders, Milan, Mo- 

 dena, Nuremberg, Padua, Paris, Pckin, Rome, Schaff (.aufni 

 in SwifTcrland, Strafburgh, Toledo, Trevigio near Venice, 

 Turin, Venice, Vienna, Ulm in S.vabia, Upfal, Utrecht, 

 Wratiflaw, Zeibft in Saxony, and Zurich, Bcf:dcs thefe, 

 there are others at Fez in Africa, Theffalonic. in Greece, 

 and Conftantinople, Ethiopia, Malabar, and Couchin, at a 

 fmall diilancc fouth of Cranganore, where arc about 4000 

 Jews, who have a fynagogue, in which are carefully kept 

 their records, engraven on copper-plates, and where, it 

 is faid, they can fhcw their hiltory trom Nebuchadnezzar 

 to the prcfent time. See the fequel of this article. 



The mofl ancient printed Hebrew Bibles arc thofe pub- 

 liflied by the Jews of Italy, efptcially of Pefaro ar.d Brcffe. 

 Thofe of Porti^gal, alfo, printed fome pans of the Bible at 

 Lifbon, before their expulfion. — ^This may be obferved ia 

 the general, that the bell Hebrew Bibles are thofe printed 

 under the infpeCtion of the Jews : there being fo many minu- 

 tiz to be obferved, that it is fcarcely pofiibic fcr any other 

 to fucceed in it. 



The lirfl printed edition of the Hebrew Bible, or at leaft 

 of that part of it, comprehending the prior prophets, was 

 printed at Soncinum in i486, according to Le Long (Bib- 

 lioth. Sacra.) ; it contained alfo the poilerior prophets, ac- 

 cording to Wollius (Bib. Heb. ii. 397.) ; and it fetms to 

 have made a lirfl or a fecond part to the next we fhall men- 

 tion, or Dr. Pellet's, which isregularly the third. The edition 

 prefented by Dr. Pellet, in 1735, to the library of Eton 

 college, being that of a third part of the Hebrew Bible, 

 comprehending the Ccthubim or Hagiographa, was printed 

 at Naples in 1487. This whole edition was burnt by the 

 Jews, excepting this copy, which had the lingular good 

 fortune of efcaping the flames. It is printed on vellum, in 

 two folio volumes, and has many readings different from all 

 the other printed copies, and contrary to the Mafora, which 

 probably was one of the reafons for which the whole edition 

 was deftroyed. This edition is mentioned by Wolfius in his 

 " Bibhotheca Hebria," as formerly belonging to Schrasder 

 of Gluckfladt. The antiquity of this edition is argued from 

 its being printed on vellum, as was the cafe with the firll 

 printed books, and from its having variations in the text, 

 which are not found in any later edition. The fiHl edition 

 of the whole Hebrew Bible was printed at Soi.rinum ia 

 1488, and is mentioned by Le Lon;jr, who fays that it was 

 printed by Abrnliam, the fon of Rabbi Khaim, or Chaim. 

 Le Long and Wolfius affirm, that they faw an Hebrew 

 Bible in Svo. printed at Brefcia in 5454. 



In the beginning of the i6th c^iiturj-, Dan. Bomberg 

 printed feveral Hebrew Bibles in folio and quarto, at Venice, 

 moll of which are elltemed both by the Jews and Clirilliar.s ; 

 the firll in 1518, (the dedication being dated in 15 17) which 

 is the leall exact, and generally goes by the name of Felix 

 Pratenfis, the pcrfon who reviitdit, and who, as Hody lays, 

 (p. 461.'! v.as "ex Jiidso Monachus." This edition contains 

 the Hebrew text, the targnm, and the commentaries of 

 feveral rabbins. It is not known from what particular 

 MSS. the Hebrew text of tliis edition was taken ; but it 

 agrees mofl with very late MSS. and fach as were corretled 

 according to the Mafora. The editor, in his dedication to 

 pope Leo, complains of the very corrupt Hate of the He- 

 brew MSS., and fpeaks of his having collated and correfted 

 (probably by means of the Mafora) many MSS, which were 



R. r ufed 



