io BIB 
the Righteous, or of Jafner, as our verfion of the Bible 
has it, (Jodi. x. 13 and 2 Sam. i. 18.) the book of the 
wars of the Lord, (Numb. xxi. 14.) the annals of the kings 
of Ifrael, fo often cited in the books of the Kings and 
Chronicles. The authors of thefe annals were the pro¬ 
phets, who lived in the kingdoms of Judah and Ifrael. 
We have likewife but a part of Solomon’s 3000 proverbs 
and his 1003 fongs, (1 Kings iv. 32.) and we have entirely 
loft what he wiote upon plants, animals, birds, fillies, 
and reptiles. 
It is the opinion of mod learned men, that Ezra pub- 
lifhed the fcriptures in the Chaldee character ; for, that 
language being grown wholly into ufe among the Jews, he 
thought proper to change the old Hebrew character for it, 
w hich hath (ince that time been retained only by the Sa¬ 
maritans, among whom it is preferved to this day. Pri- 
deaux is of opinion, that Ezra made additions in feveral 
parts of the Bible, where any thing appeared necefl'ary for 
i 1 luff rating, connecting, or completing, the work ; in which' 
he appears to have been aftifted by the fame fpirit in which 
they were firft written. Among fuch additions are to be 
reckoned the laft chapter of Deuteronomy, wherein Mofes 
feems to give an account of his own death and burial, and 
the fucCefnon of Jofhua after him. To the fame caufe this 
learned author thinks are to be attributed many other in- 
terlopations in the Bible, which created difficulties and 
objections to the authenticity of the facred text, no ways 
to be folved without allowing them. Ezra changed the 
names of feveral places which were grown obfolete, and 
inftead of them put their new names, by which they were 
then called in the text. Thus it is that Abraham is fjaid 
to have purfued the kings who carry l ot away captive, 
as far as Dan ; whereas that place in Mofes’s time was 
called Laijh ; the name Ran being unknown till the Danites, 
long after the death of Mofes, became matters of it. 
But, though the Jewifh canon of fcripture was then 
fettled by Ezra, yet feveral variations have fince been 
made in it. Malachi, for inftance, could not be put into 
the Bible by him, becaufe that prophet lived after Ezra; 
nor could Nehemiah be there, mention being made, in that 
book, of Jaddus, as high-prieft, and of Darius Codoman- 
nus, as king of Perlia, who were at leaft one hundred years 
later than Ezra. It may be added, that in the firft book 
of Chronicles, the genealogy of the fons of Zcrubbabel is 
carried down for fo many generations as muft neceftarily 
bring it to the time of Alexander, and confequentiy this 
book could not be in the canon in Ezra’s days. It is pro¬ 
bable, the two books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, 
Efther, and Malachi, were adopted into the Bible in the 
time of Simon the Juft, the laft of the men of the great 
fynagogue. In fact, the Jews were at firft very referved 
in communicating their fcripture to ftrangers. Defpifing 
and fhunning the Gentiles, they would not difclofe to them 
any of the treafures concealed in the Bible. We may add, 
that the people bordering on the Jews, as the Egyptians, 
Phoenicians, Arabs, &c. were not very curious to know the 
laws or hiftory of a people, whom in their turn they hated 
and defpifed. Their firft acquaintance with thefe books 
was not till after the feveral captivities of the Jews, when 
the Angularity of the Hebrew laws and ceremonies induced 
feveral to defire a more particular knowledge of them. 
Jofephus feems furprifed to find fuch flight foot-fteps of 
the fcripture-hiftory interfperfed in the Egyptian, Chal¬ 
dean, Phoenician, and Grecian, hiftory ; and accounts for 
it hence, that the facred books were not as vet mandated 
into Greek or other languages, and confequentiy not known 
to the writers of tliofe countries. 
Hebrew Bibles, are either manufcript or printed. 
The beft manufcript Bibles are tliofe copied by the Jews 
of Spam. Thofe copied by the Jews of Germany are lefs 
exaCt, but more common. The two kinds are eafily dif- 
tinguifhed from each other ; the former being in beautiful 
characters, like the Hebrew Bibles of Bomberg, Stephens, 
an A Plant! n ; (he latter in characters like thofe of Munfter 
and Gryphius. F. Simon obferves, that none of the MS. Hc- 
L E. 
brew Bibles which have reached us are above fix or fevert 
hundred years old ; nor does rabbi Menaham, who quotes 
a vaft number, pretend that any of them exceed fix hun¬ 
dred years. In tlie Dijfertatio Genera/is prefixed to Dr. 
Kennicott’s Hebrew Bible, it is laid, that the moll ancient 
manuferipts were written between the years 900 and 1100: 
but, though thofe that are the moll ancient are not more 
than eight or nine hundred years old, they were tranferibed 
from others of a much more ancient date! The manufcript 
preferved in the Bodleian library at Oxford, is not lefs 
than eight hundred years old. Another manufcript, not 
lefs ancient, is preferved in the Casfirrean library at Vienna. 
The mod ancient printed Hebrew Bibles are thofe publish¬ 
ed by the Jews of Italy, efpecially of Pefaro and Breffe. 
Thofe of Portugal alfo printed fome parts of the Bible at 
Lifbon, before their expulfion. This may be obferved in 
general, that the beft Hebrew Bibles are thofe printed un¬ 
der the infpeCtion of the Jews ; there being fo many minu¬ 
tiae to be obferved, that it is Scarcely poflible for any other 
defeription of perfons to fucceed in it. 
In the beginning of the 16th century, Dan. Bomberg 
printed feveral Hebrew Bibles in folio and quarto at Ve¬ 
nice, 1110ft of which are efleemed both by the Jews and 
Chriftians : the firft in 1517, which is the leaft exad, and 
generally goes by the name of Felix Pratenfis, the perfon 
whofrevifed it. This edition contains the Hebrew text, 
the targum, and the commentaries of feveral rabbins. In 
1528, the fame Bomberg printed tiie folio Bible of rabbi 
Benchajim, with his preface, the maforetical divilions, a 
preface of Aben Ezra, a double ma/vra, and feveral va¬ 
rious readings. The third edition was printed in 1618 ; 
it is the fame with the fecond, but much more correct. 
From the former editions it was, that Buxtorf, the father, 
printed his rabbinical Hebrew Bible at Bafil, in 1618; 
which, though there are many faults in it, is more correCt 
than any of the former. 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 corrected a 
great number of errors in the former edition; but, betides 
that it is much inferior to the other Hebrew Bibles ol Ve¬ 
nice, in refpeCt of paper and print, it has pafled through 
the hands of the inquifitors, who have altered many pai- 
fages in the commentaries of the rabbins. 
With regard to Hebrew Bibles in quarto, that of R. 
Stephens is efleemed for the beauty of the characters ; but 
it is very incorreCt. Plantin alfo printed feveral beauti¬ 
ful Hebrew Bibles at Antwerp: one, in eight columns, 
with a preface by Arias Monfanus, in 1571, which farex- 
ceeds the Complutenfian, in paper and print, and contents; 
this is called the Royal Bible, becaufe it was printed at the 
expence of Philip II. of Spain: another at Geneva, in 
1619; befides many more of different fizes, with and with¬ 
out points. ManafTeh Ben Ifrael, a learned Portuguefe 
Jew, publifhed trvo editions of the Hebrew Bible at Ani- 
fterdam ; the one in quarto, in 1635 ; the other in oftavo, 
in 1639 : the firft has two columns, and for that reafon is 
commodious for the reader. In 1639, R. Jac. Lombrofo 
publilhed a new edition in quarto, 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 
efleemed by the Jews at Conflantinople : in the text they 
have diftinguifhed between words where the point carnets 
is to be read with a carnets-katuph, that is by an 0, and 
not an a. 
Of all the editions of the Hebrew Bible in oClavo, the 
mod beautiful and correCt are the two of Jo. Athias, a 
Jew, of Amfterdam. The firft, of 1661, is the beft paper; 
but that of 1667 is the mod exaCt: that, however, pub¬ 
lifhed fince at Amfterdam by Vander Hooght, in 1705, is 
preferable to any of them. After Athias, three hebraizing 
proteftants engaged in revifing and publifbing the Hebrew 
Bible; viz. Clodius, Jablonfki, and Opitius. Clodius’s 
edition was publifhed at Frankfort in 1677, in quarto.. At 
the bottom of the page it has the various readings of the 
former editions; but the author does not appear llifficienr- 
