BIBLIO THECA ABES S INIC A S TU DIES C O NCERNI NG THE LA NG U A G ES LITERAT U RE A ND HIS T RY , O O F A BYS S I NI A ED ITED BY D r M A N N . E . L I T T II . THE TEXT OF THE ETHIO PIC VERSION OF THE P OCTATEUCH , WITH S ECIAL REF ERENCE TO THE AGE AND VAL UE OF THE HAVERFORD MAN USCRI PT C B Y . BY Dr . J . OS AR O D LE YD EN P R N ETON N I C , . J . BRI LL T H I V R I Y LI BRARY E . J . E U N E S T 0 1 9 5 . C O N T E N T S . The t e" t of the Eth-ioPIic version of the Octateuch h I . Descri ption of t e Haverford Codex Peculiarities of the Haverford Codex t o . Typ e of text , and relationship other codices C c o - on lusi n as to a R , and its value for a critical edition the O c ta teu c-h THE TEXT OF T HE ETHIO PIC C V ERSION OF THE OCTATEUCH , WIT H SPE IAL REFEREN C E T O TH E AGE AND VALUE OF THE HAVERFORD MAN USCRIPT . Interest in the Ethiopic Bible has been aroused far more by those apocryphal books which form a part of it s extensive and rather indefinite than by the text of those books which are in the stricter canon of Protestantism . The Gospels even the entire New Testament have indeed B t several times been printed by occidental scholars . u the history of the publication of the Old Testament text is almost Dill ma n n . summed up in the labors of one man , August The first volume of his monu mental work comprised the 1 8 Octateuch It appeared i n 5 3 , and since that date nothing has been cont ributed to the study of this specific portion of the Old Testament in Ethiopic , save a brochure by O ld S . Reckendorf on the value of the Ethiopic version of the Pentateuch for the reconstruction of the Septuagint ’ But in the fifty years that have elapsed since Dill ma n n s r Octateuch appeared , there has been a g eat advance in the 1 Kufi lé B ) Such , for example , as ( the ook of J ubilees , or Little Genesis) , and Hé n ok ( Enoch) . 2 Veteris A ethi o i ci O ct a teuchus Aethi o i c u s ) Testamenti p Tomus Primus , sive p , ' 1 a r s os cr im . Leipsic 8 5 3 . References are to the p p t 3) U eber den Werth der al taethiopi s ch en P en tateuc h ub ers etzun g fur die 1 8 86 . Reconstruction der Septuaginta , Giessen 2 - i nvestigation of the Septuagint text , and at least a considerable advance in the comprehension of the relation subsisting be tween it an d the Ethiopic version derived from it . In the former task , the reconstructi on of the pri mitive Septuagint , K the labors of Lagarde , F ield , Nestle , losterman n and Swete have certainly outlined the problem more clearly than fifty years ago , and have i ncreased the available means for solving . viz . it In the latter task , the correlation with this problem of the testimony of the Ethiopic version , the researches of 2 Corn ill Rou Reckend orf, pp ) and Hei der together with the kindred studies in the New Testament text by Gui di “) and Ha c ks pill have O pened a series of s pec ial i nvestigations i nto particular parts of the Ethiopic Scriptures which , it is to be hoped , will not fail to include the entire volume ; so that s“ ome scholar in the near future may be able to gather Rou up the results , such as those already reached by pp in Corn ill z Samuel , by Heider in Jeremiah , and by in E ekiel , and , uniting them in a consistent hypothesis , establish finally the linguistic relationships of this version and its recensions , s the type of Greek text which it represent , and its value for purposes of textual criticism . The situation at present is therefore one of expectation , z rather than of reali ation . Withi n the next two or three years the first installment of the larger Cambridge Septuagint may — 8 . I B z 1 8 8 6 . 6 ) Das uch des Propheten E echiel , Leipsic See especially pp 3 4 “ 2 al t es te athi o i s che der v i er Bucher der KOn i e ) Article , Die p Handschrift g — Z 1 02 . 2 6 . in eitschrift fur Assyriologie , 9 , pp 9 3 43 aethi o i s che Bibel ub ersetz un . 3) Di e p g Ihre Herkunft, Art , Geschichte , und fur VVis s en sch M t C a . ihr Wert die alt und neutestamentliche aft . i J eremia p — 1 1 3 als Textprobe . ( Als Prolegomena z u einer kritischen Ausgabe der acth . B . 1 02 . ibel) Lei psic , 9 z 1 8 8 8 . 4) Le tradu ioni degli evangeli in arabo e in etiopico , Rome “ ” athio i sch e E van el i en ub ers etzun Z . fur . 5 ) Article , Die p g g , in eit Assyr , — — 1 8 6 . 1 1 1 6 6 88 . 9 , pp 7 9 , 3 7 3 be expected with its wealth of material for criticism of the - Septuagint text . Among the versions whose readings will be represented in this edition , the Ethiopic will have a place Insofar as it attempts to answer the question , what type of - Septuagint text lies at the basis of the Ethiopic Octateuch , any critical work done i n advance of that publication would probably prove premature . Similarly , such critical work would probably be fruitless , if it attempted to answer the question , what was. the version by which the Ethiopic Octateuch was ?P . corrected in its chief recension rof Gui di , who has studie d the relation between the Arabic and Ethiopic Gospels with such fruitful results , is understood to be engaged on a similar line of investigation in the Old Testament , an d , in his O pinion , the ti me has not yet come for a critical edition of “ the Ethiopic Octateuch , and will not come until the Arabic versions are better known and studied ” That , therefore , which remains to be done on the text of the Octateuch , and which can wisely be done now without to enl a r e the ma ter i a ls o danger of early undoing , is g f Such has been the aim of the writer in the task whose results are herewith presented , the collation of the Haverford MS of the Octateuch , and in the larger task of collating and publishing , together with all the various readings hitherto gathered , the ancient MS of the Octateuch preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris By adding to the four MSS 1 ) According to recent direct information from one of the two editors , ’ Mr. B o K C o . A E . ro ke , Fellow of ing s llege M r n 2 o . Mc L ea ) Three codices have been c llated by , two of which are of ’ O ’ D il m . Zoten b er s o course l an n s F and the N 3 of g catal gue . o . 3 ) Q uoted from a personal note fr m Prof Guidi to the writer . O “ N . Z oten b er C o é e 4) 3 in g, atal gue des manuscri ts thiopiens de la biblioth q ue ” 1 8 . Y nationale , Paris 7 7 It will be designated by the letter , with allusion to K Y ekun o a 1 2 0— 1 2 8 ing Aml k , 7 5 , from whose reign i t dates . 4 Dillm a n n used by for h is edition , the readi ngs of these two other MSS , each with its own peculiar textual characteristics , it is hoped that , for the Octateuch , the materials of criticism will be sufficiently numerous and diversified to furnish an adequate basis for critical conclusions . The codex preserved in the library of Haverford College , P a . Haverford , , has already been described in a general way P . D . by rof R W Rogers , D , of Drew Theological Seminary , and a few speci mens of its readings given It is proposed i n this paper to give : a thorough description of the MS ; an exhibition of its peculiarities , as of paleography , et c orthography , . ; the evidence determining its type of text an d relationship to the other MSS ; and the c on elusion , drawn fro m all these considerations , as to its probable age , and its value for establishing the text of the old Ethiopic version and of its recensi ons . D es cr i ion o the H a ver or d Code" . I . pt f f The Haverford Octateuch came into the possession of P . Haverford College through rof J Rendel Harris, who obtained it from an u nknown source while he was a teacher n i n that institution . Neither through oral i nformatio , nor through written notice in the volume itself, is any light thrown upon its o rigin or history d It is written in a large , plain han , upon well selected 2 2 vellum , three columns to the page , 9 to 4 lines to the “ M 1 ) In Haverford College Studies Ethiopic anuscripts I .