BIB 



ufcd for this ci!ition. At the fame time that this edition of 

 the Hebrew B'ble was preparing at Venice, another edition 

 of e(iual fame was prepariT:g by cardinal Ximcncs, at Com- 

 p'utiim in Spain ; and as thcfe two capital editions were 

 thus in the prefs at once, neither of them could be p;intcd 

 from the other. But as they were both printed by men 

 who eitlier were, or had been Jews, (fee Woltius, torn. ii. 

 p. ;^^9.) from fuch MSS. as were uniformly correftcd by 

 the fame Mafoia, they would exhibit almoll univerfally the 

 f,\mc text. And that the Hebrew MSS. here nfed, had 

 fuffered this Maforetical calligation, is plain from the words 

 of Ximcnes in his dedication to pope Leo. This famous 

 Bible was begun in 1502, and finilhed in 1517; but not 

 pnblifhed till 1522, and not fold publicly, fays Michaelis, 

 (Left. New Tell. § 33.) till IJ24. In 1526 or 152S, the 

 fame Bomberg printed the folio Bible of the celebrated 

 Rabbi Jacob Ben Chaim, with his preface, the Maforetical 

 divifion?, a preface of Aben Ezra, a double Mafora, and 

 feveral various readings. No one who duly conliders the 

 preface of this editor (printed by Kennicot, Diff. vol. ii. 

 p. 2 29.) can poffibly doubt his having publiflied it, according 

 to the copies mod exaftly correAed by that Mafora, which 

 he profoundly reverenced. In 1549, was pnblifhed the 

 fecond edition of B. Chaim's Bible, with the famous pre- 

 face at the beginning ; and of this edition Le Long fays, 

 " pneftantiflima eft et omnium optima, juxta quam prsefer- 

 tim fequentes prodierunt." Wolfius gives it precifely the 

 fame charafter; but adds, that Conrade Zeltner blames 

 B. Chaim for being fo exceffively devoted to the Mafora. 

 Jn 1572, was publilhed the Royal, or Spanifh Polyglott, in 

 8 volumes, printed at Antwerp ; principally under the di- 

 reftion of Arias Montanus. It is not pretended, that the 

 leaft corrc£lion was made in this edition of the Hebrew text ; 

 nor could it be expefted from an editor who believed the per- 

 fection of the Hebrew text. The third edition of B. Chaim's 

 Bible was printed in 1618; it is the fame with the fecond, but 

 much more correcl. From the former editions it was, that 

 Buxtorf, the father, printed his rabbinical Hebrew Bible at 

 Bafil, in 1619 ; which, though there are many faults in it, 

 is more correft than any of the former. This was the fifth 

 edition of B. Chaim's Bible, in which the Hebrew text was 

 copied exaftly from B. Ciiaim's fecond edition. In 1534, 

 Sebaftian Munfter publilhed a Hebrew and Latin Bible, in 

 2 vols. fol. at Balil, with the commentaries of the Rabbins, 

 and fume notes ; and Elias Hutter printed a Hebrew Bible 

 in large letters, at Hamburgh, in 1587, fol. Robert Ste- 

 phens's Hebrew Bible, with the Greek verfion from the 

 Complutenfian edition, the I-atin vulgate, and another new 

 Latin verfion, commonly called Vatablus's Bible, was printed 

 in 154J. In 1623, appeared at Venice a new edition of the 

 rabbinical Bible, by Leo of Modena, a rabbin of that city, 

 who pretended to have correfted a great number of faults 

 in the former edition ; but, befides that it is much inferior 

 to the other Hebrew Bibles of Venice with regard to paper 

 and print, it has pafled through the hands of the inquifitors, 

 who have altered many paffages in the commentaries of the 

 rabbins. The rabbinical Bible of Bomberg and Buxtorf has 

 been fuperfeded by that of rabbi Mofes, pnblifhed at Amfter- 

 dam in 4 volumes folio, in 1724 — 1727. In 1641, was pub- 

 lilhed, in 10 folio volumes, the ParisPolyglott, which, though 

 it claims no merit from correfting the Hebrew text, will 

 ever be honoured by men of true learning, for containing 

 (befides the Syriac and Arabic verfions) the firfl edition ot 

 the Samaritan pentateuch and its verfion, printed from 

 MSS. brought into Europe between the years 1620 and 

 1630, and pubhfhed by the learned Morinus, to whom the 

 world is alfo indebted for many excellent remarks on the 



B I B 



Hebrew text, as well as on the Samaritan pentateuch. In 

 1657, was publiflied th.e London Polygl.itt, under tlie direc- 

 tion of the eminently learned Brian Valton, in vi-hich, how- 

 ever, the Hebrew text is printed Mc'.f iretically ; alr.oft in 

 an abfolute agreement with the many former editions, and 

 with the latell and worll MSS. Although the editor has 

 (hewn clearly, that the T^wifh tranfciib^'rs have made many 

 miftakes, and that the MSS. have ma! y true readings, where 

 the printed text is erroneou,-- ; ar.d though he ipeaks (Pro- 

 le". 4, 12.) of having fupplicd lome things which wore not 

 in the Venice or Baiil editions, yet the only lupplement which 

 he has made is reftoring the two verfes in Jofluia, which had 

 been arbitrarily expelled by Maforetic authority. See Poly- 

 glott. 



As to Hebrew Bibles in 4to. that of R. Stephens, in 4 

 vols, Paris, 1539 — 1544, is ellcmed for the beauty of the 

 charafters ; but it is very incorred. Plantm alfo printed 

 feveral beautiful Hebrew Bibles at Antwerp : one in eight 

 columns, with a preface by Arius Montanus, in 1 57 I, which 

 far exceeds the Complutenfian in paper and print, and con- 

 tents ; this is called the Royal Bible, Bibl'u Regij, btcaufe 

 it was printed at the expence of Philip II. of Spain : ano- 

 ther at Geneva, in 1619 ; befides many more of different 

 fizes, with and without points. Manafl'eh Ben Ifi-ael, 

 a learned Portuguefe Jew, publiflied two editions of the 

 Hebrew Bible at Amfterdam ; the one in 410. in 1G35, who 

 tells us in the preface, that he had altered a few letters ; and 

 where the moft correfted copies differed, he took refuge in 

 grammar rules and the Mafora ; the other in Svo. in 1639 : 

 the firft has two columns, and for that rcafon is commodi- 

 ous for the reader. It is printed with points, in an elegant 

 tvpe, and has the Keri and Chetib in the margin. The 

 8vo. edition has vowel points and accents, and the marginal 

 notes. In 1639, R. Jac. Lombrofo publifhed a new edition 

 in 4to. at Venice, with fmall literal notes at the bottom of 

 each page, where he explains the Hebrew words by Spanifh 

 words. This Bible is much efteemed by the Jews at Con- 

 ilantinople : in the text they have dillinguilhed between 

 words where the point kamets is to be read with a kamets- 

 ■tiiluph, that in, by 0, and not an a. 



Of all the editions of the Hebrew Bible in Svo. the moft 

 beautiful and coned are the two of Jo. Athias, a Jew of 

 Amrterdam. The firft, of 16O1, is the beft paper, which, 

 notwithllanding its being correfted according to ancient 

 MSS. is certainly (fo far as letters and words are concerned) 

 agreeable only to thelateft, as the other printed copies were 

 before it : but that of 1667, is the moft exaft. This was 

 publifhed by Leufden, who tells the reader, " Tibi damus 

 Biblia, imprcifa per Athiam, quibus correftiora nunquam 

 fol afpexit." And yet, though the fun never faw fo much 

 implicit obedience paid to the Mafora before, the Rabbins 

 afTure us, in their prefatory recommendation, that fomc 

 whole words were here correfted " ex Mafora & a Mafore- 

 tieis, qui fepem legis fecerunt." This fupremely Maforeti- 

 cal edition appeared to their high mightintffcs the States- 

 general, fo particularly meritorious, that Athias, the typogra- 

 pher, was prefented with a chain of gold, and a gold medal 

 pendant. But it is fomewhat extraordinary, that a Jew 

 fhould thus be rewarded for an edition, in which Leufden 

 (though a Chriftian) confefTes, that he permitted the Latin 

 contents, here added in the margin, to explain away fome 

 of the prophecies relating to the Melliah. Le Long, in loc. 



I.eufden's laft edition of Athias, was followed in 1705, 

 by Vander Hooght's very elegant edition. No correftions 

 can be expefted from this editor, who confidered every 

 letter in his book, hov.foeverit was introduced, as abfolutely 

 genuine, and maintained the Mafora to be infallible. 



After 



