New Resource: Lexham Textual Notes on the Bible

Ben said:

Can you provide an OT example/screenshot?

Thanks, MJ and David, for the screen shots.

As the examples show, the OT notes are more centered around mentioning the variations between the Hebrew and ancient versions of the OT (LXX, Peshitta, Vulgate, Samaritan Pentateuch, Targums) along with mention of DSS material. I've copied the section on 'Notes on the Old Testament" from the introduction below:

[quote]Notes on the Old Testament

The textual history of the Hebrew Bible is much more unified than that of the Greek New Testament. There are fewer available manuscripts of the Hebrew, though the discovery and publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls has changed this somewhat.

The Old Testament found in most modern English Bibles is based on the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS), which is a transcription of the manuscript known as Codex Leningradensis, or simply “L”. The apparatus of variant readings found in the BHS lists some variations in Hebrew, but also lists variations found in what are known as “Early Versions,” or translations from Hebrew into other ancient languages such as Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Aramaic.

As such, discussions of variation in the Old Testament text is largely a conversation between the Hebrew and its available variations in both the margin (kethiv and qere) and in other Hebrew manuscripts, and then between the early versions: in Greek, the Septuagint (or LXX); in Latin, the Vulgate; in Syriac, the Peshitta; and in Aramaic, the Targums.

These early versions are not monolithic; they have their variations as well. When mentioning an alternate reading found in the Septuagint, the idea is that the textual history of the Septuagint largely supports a given reading. So while an early version itself may have variations within its own textual history, it can be referenced in overall support of a particular reading.

In this volume, the notes for the Old Testament are typically brief. They lay out the available options, in English, of the alternate textual traditions for the unit of variation. In most cases this consists of English translations of the Hebrew and the early versions that vary.

Rick Brannan and Israel Loken, The Lexham Textual Notes on the Bible (Lexham Bible Reference Series; Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).