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Codex Sinaiticus (Greek: Σιναϊτικός Κώδικας, Sinaïtikós Kṓdikas, Hebrew: קודקס סינאיטיקוס‎; Shelfmarks and references: London, Brit. Libr., Additional Manuscripts 43725; Gregory-Aland nº א [Aleph] or 01, [Soden δ 2]) or 'Sinai Bible' is one of the four great uncial codices, ancient, handwritten copies of the Greek Bible. The codex is a celebrated historical treasure.^[1]

The codex is an Alexandrian text-type manuscript written in uncial letters on parchment in the 4th century. Scholarship considers the Codex Sinaiticus to be one of the best Greek texts of the New Testament,^[2] along with the Codex Vaticanus. Until Constantin von Tischendorf's discovery of the Sinaiticus text, the Codex Vaticanus was unrivaled.^[3]

The Codex Sinaiticus came to the attention of scholars in the 19th century at Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, with further material discovered in the 20th and 21st centuries. Although parts of the codex are scattered across four libraries around the world, most of the manuscript is held today in the British Library in London, where it is on public display.^[4][5] Since its discovery, study of the Codex Sinaiticus has proven to be useful to scholars for critical studies of biblical text.

While large portions of the Old Testament are missing, it is assumed that the codex originally contained the whole of both Testaments.^[6] About half of the Greek Old Testament (or Septuagint) survived, along with a complete New Testament, the entire Deuterocanonical books, the Epistle of Barnabas and portions of The Shepherd of Hermas.^[2]

In about an hour of programming time, I developed a small Windows application that performs this exact function — search for hidden codes in the text of the Bible. I then obtained the King James translation from Gutenberg, and eliminated all whitespace, punctuation, and verse numbers. Finally, I began my investigation. Torah Bible Codes - Equidistant Letter Sequences (ELS) Search Software Research and Development (TorahBibleCodes.com) - is led by Professor Eliyahu Rips of the Einstein Institute of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

• 2Text
• 3History
  • 3.1Early history
• 9Further reading
• 10External links

Description[edit]

The codex consists of parchment, originally in double sheets, which may have measured about 40 by 70 cm. The whole codex consists, with a few exceptions, of quires of eight leaves, a format popular throughout the Middle Ages.^[7] Each line of the text has some twelve to fourteen Greek uncial letters, arranged in four columns (48 lines per column) with carefully chosen line breaks and slightly ragged right edges.^[8] When opened, the eight columns thus presented to the reader have much the same appearance as the succession of columns in a papyrus roll.^[9] The poetical books of the Old Testament are written stichometrically, in only two columns per page. The codex has almost 4,000,000 uncial letters.^{[n 1]}

The work was written in scriptio continua with neither breathings nor polytonic accents.^[10] Occasional points and a few ligatures are used, though nomina sacra with overlines are employed throughout. Some words usually abbreviated in other manuscripts (such as πατηρ and δαυειδ), are in this codex written in both full and abbreviated forms. The following nomina sacra are written in abbreviated forms: ΘΣΚΣΙΣΧΣΠΝΑΠΝΙΚΟΣΥΣΑΝΟΣΟΥΟΣΔΑΔΙΛΗΜΙΣΡΛΜΗΡΠΗΡΣΩΡ.^[11]

Almost regularly, a plain iota is replaced by the epsilon-iota diphthong (commonly if imprecisely known as itacism), e.g. ΔΑΥΕΙΔ instead οf ΔΑΥΙΔ, ΠΕΙΛΑΤΟΣ instead of ΠΙΛΑΤΟΣ, ΦΑΡΕΙΣΑΙΟΙ instead of ΦΑΡΙΣΑΙΟΙ, etc.^[12]

Each rectangular page has the proportions 1.1 to 1, while the block of text has the reciprocal proportions, 0.91 (the same proportions, rotated 90°). If the gutters between the columns were removed, the text block would mirror the page's proportions. Typographer Robert Bringhurst referred to the codex as a 'subtle piece of craftsmanship'.^[13]

The folios are made of vellum parchment primarily from calf skins, secondarily from sheep skins.^[14] (Tischendorf himself thought that the parchment had been made from antelope skins, but modern microscopic examination has shown otherwise.) Most of the quires or signatures contain four sheets, save two containing five. It is estimated that the hides of about 360 animals were employed for making the folios of this codex. As for the cost of the material, time of scribes and binding, it equals the lifetime wages of one individual at the time.^[15]

The portion of the codex held by the British Library consists of 346½ folios, 694 pages (38.1 cm x 34.5 cm), constituting over half of the original work. Of these folios, 199 belong to the Old Testament, including the apocrypha (deuterocanonical), and 147½ belong to the New Testament, along with two other books, the Epistle of Barnabas and part of The Shepherd of Hermas. The apocryphal books present in the surviving part of the Septuagint are 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1 and 4 Maccabees, Wisdom, and Sirach.^[15][16] The books of the New Testament are arranged in this order: the four Gospels, the epistles of Paul (Hebrews follows 2 Thess.), the Acts of the Apostles,^{[n 2]} the General Epistles, and the Book of Revelation. The fact that some parts of the codex are preserved in good condition while others are in very poor condition implies they were separated and stored in several places.^[17]

Text[edit]

Contents[edit]

The text of the Old Testament contains the following passages:^[18][19]

• Genesis 23:19 – Genesis 24:46 – fragments
• Leviticus 20:27 – Leviticus 22:30
• Numbers 5:26–Numbers 7:20 – fragments
• 1 Chronicles 9:27–1 Chronicles 19:17
• Ezra–Nehemiah (from Esdr. 9:9).
• Book of Psalms–Wisdom of Sirach
• Book of Joel–Book of Malachi
• 1 Maccabees–4 Maccabees

The text of the New Testament lacks several passages:^[20]

• Gospel of Matthew 12:47, 16:2b-3, 17:21, 18:11, 23:14, 24:35;
• Gospel of Mark 1:33, 7:16, 9:44, 9:46, 10:36, 11:26, 15:28, 16:9–20 (Long ending of the Gospel Mark, referring to the appearance of Jesus to many people following the resurrection)
• Gospel of Luke 10:32 (Likely omitted due to haplography resulting from homeoteleuton; the verse was added by a later corrector in lower margin.), 17:36
• Gospel of John 5:4, Pericope adulterae (7:53–8:11) (see Image 'John 7:53–8:11'), 16:15, 19:20, 20:5b-6, 21:25
• Acts of the Apostles 8:37; 15:34; 24:7; 28:29;^[21]
• Epistle to the Romans 16:24

• Matthew 5:44 εὐλογεῖτε τοὺς καταρωμένους ὑμᾶς, καλῶς ποιεῖτε τοῖς μισοῦσιν ὑμᾶς (bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you);^[22]
• Matthew 6:13 – ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν (For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.) omitted.^[23]
• Matthew 10:39a – ο ευρων την ψυχην αυτου απολεσει αυτην, και (Ηe who finds his life will lose it, and);^[24]
• Matthew 15:6 – η την μητερα (αυτου) (or (his) mother);^[25]
• Matthew 20:23 και το βαπτισμα ο εγω βαπτιζομαι βαπτισθησεσθε (and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with)^[26]
• Matthew 23:35 – υιου βαραχιου (son of Barachi'ah) omitted; this omission is supported only by codex 59 (by the first hand), three Evangelistaria (ℓ6, ℓ13, and ℓ185), and Eusebius.^[27]
• Mark 1:1 – υιου θεου 'the Son of God' omitted.^[28]
• Mark 10:7 – omitted και προσκολληθησεται προς την γυναικα αυτου (and be joined to his wife), as in codices Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209, Codex Athous Lavrensis, 892, ℓ48, syr^s, goth.^[29]

• Luke 9:55b-56a – καὶ εἶπεν, Οὐκ οἴδατε ποίου πνεύματος ἐστὲ ὑμεῖς; ὁ γὰρ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἦλθεν ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων ἀπολέσαι ἀλλὰ σῶσαι (and He said: 'You do not know what manner of spirit you are of; for the Son of man came not to destroy men's lives but to save them) omitted as in codices: P⁴⁵, P⁷⁵, B, C, L, Θ, Ξ, 33, 700, 892, 1241, syr, cop^bo;^[30]
• John 4:9 – ου γαρ συνχρωνται Ιουδαιοι Σαμαριταις (Jews have no dealings with Samaritans), it is one of so-called Western non-interpolations; omission is supported by D, a, b, d, e, j, cop^fay, it was supplemented by the first corrector (before leaving scriptorium);^[31]

Some passages were excluded by the correctors:

• Matthew 24:36 – phrase ουδε ο υιος (nor the Son) the first corrector marked as doubtful, but the second corrector (b) removed the mark.^[32]
• Mark 10:40 ητοιμασται υπο του πατρος μου (instead of ητοιμασται) – the first corrector marked 'υπο του πατρος μου' as doubtful, but the second corrector removed the mark.^[33]
• In Luke 11:4 ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ (but deliver us from evil) included by the original scribe, marked by the first corrector (a) as doubtful, but the third corrector (c) removed the mark.^[34]
• Christ's agony at Gethsemane (Luke 22:43–44) – included by the original scribe, marked by the first corrector as doubtful, but the third corrector (c) removed the mark.^[35]
• Luke 23:34a, 'Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do' – it was included by the first scribe, marked by the first corrector as doubtful, but a third corrector removed the mark.^[36]

These omissions are typical for the Alexandrian text-type.^[37]

Interpolations[edit]

Matthew 8:13 (see Luke 7:10)

It has additional text: καὶ ὑποστρέψας ὁ ἑκατόνταρχος εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὦρᾳ εὗρεν τὸν παῖδα ὑγιαίνοντα (and when the centurion returned to the house in that hour, he found the slave well) as well as codices C, (N), Θ, (0250), f¹, (33, 1241), g¹, syr^h.^[38]

Matthew 10:12 (see Luke 10:5)

It reads λέγοντες εἰρήνη τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ (say peace to be this house) after αυτην. The reading was deleted by the first corrector, but the second corrector restored it. The reading is used by manuscripts: Bezae, Regius, Washingtonianus, Koridethi, manuscripts f¹, 22, 1010 (1424), it, vg^cl.^[39][40]

Matthew 27:49 (see John 19:34)

In Matthew 27:49 the codex contains added text: ἄλλος δὲ λαβὼν λόγχην ἔνυξεν αὐτοῦ τὴν πλευράν, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ὕδορ καὶ αἷμα (the other took a spear and pierced His side, and immediately came out water and blood). This reading was derived from John 19:34 and occurs in other manuscripts of the Alexandrian text-type.^[41]

Unique and other textual variants[edit]

Matthew 7:22 – It has additional word πολλα (numerous): 'and cast out numerous demons in your name?'. It is not supported by any other manuscript.^[42]

Matthew 8:12 – It has ἐξελεύσονται (will go out) instead of ἐκβληθήσονται (will be thrown). This variant is supported only by one Greek manuscript Uncial 0250, and by Codex Bobiensis, syr^{c, s, p, pal}, arm, Diatessaron.^[43]

Matthew 13:54 – Ordinary reading εις την πατριδα αυτου (to his own country) changed into εις την αντιπατριδα αυτου (to his own Antipatris), and in Acts 8:5 εις την πολιν της Σαμαρειας replaced into εις την πολιν της Καισαριας. These two variants do not exist in any other manuscript, and it seems they were made by a scribe. According to T. C. Skeat they suggest Caesarea as a place in which the manuscript was made.^[44]

Matthew 16:12 – It has textual variant της ζυμης των αρτων των Φαρισαιων και Σαδδουκαιων (leaven of bread of the Pharisees and Sadducees) supported only by Codex Corbeiensis I and Curetonian Gospels.

Luke 1:26 – 'Nazareth' is called 'a city of Judea'.

Luke 2:37 – εβδομηκοντα (seventy), all manuscripts have ογδοηκοντα (eighty);^[45]

John 1:28 – The second corrector made unique textual variant Βηθαραβα. This textual variant has only codex 892, syr^h and several other manuscripts.^[46]

John 1:34 – It reads ὁ ἐκλεκτός (chosen one) together with the manuscripts ${\displaystyle \mathfrak{P}}$⁵, ${\displaystyle \mathfrak{P}}$¹⁰⁶, b, e, ff², syr^c, and syr^s instead of ordinary word υἱος (son).

John 2:3 – Where ordinarily reading 'And when they wanted wine', or 'And when wine failed', Codex Sinaiticus has 'And they had no wine, because the wine of the marriage feast was finished' (supported by a and j);

John 6:10 – It reads τρισχιλιοι (three thousands) for πεντακισχιλιοι (five thousands); the second corrector changed into πεντακισχιλιοι.^[47]

Acts 11:20 – It reads εὐαγγελιστας (Evangelists) instead of ἑλληνιστάς (Hellenists);^[48]

In Acts 14:9, the word 'not' inserted before 'heard'; in Hebr. 2:4 'harvests' instead of 'distributions'; in 1Peter 5:13 word 'Babylon' replaced into 'Church'.^[48]

2 Timothy 4:10 – it reads Γαλλιαν (Gaul) for Γαλατιαν (Galatia) This reading of the codex is supported by Ephraemi Rescriptus, 81, 104, 326, 436.^[49]

Witness of some readings of 'majority'[edit]

It is the oldest witness for the phrase μη αποστερησης (do not defraud) in Mark 10:19. This phrase was not included by the manuscripts: Codex Vaticanus (added by second corrector), Codex Cyprius, Codex Washingtonianus, Codex Athous Lavrensis, f¹, f¹³, 28, 700, 1010, 1079, 1242, 1546, 2148, ℓ10, ℓ950, ℓ1642, ℓ1761, syr^s, arm, geo. This is variant of the majority manuscripts.^[50]

In Mark 13:33 it is the oldest witness of the variant και προσευχεσθε (and pray). Codex B and D do not include this passage.^[51]

In Luke 8:48 it has θυγατερ (daughter) as in the Byzantine manuscripts, instead of the Alexandrian θυγατηρ (daughter), supported by the manuscripts: B K L W Θ.^[52]

Orthodox reading[edit]

In 1 John 5:6 it has textual variant δι' ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνεύματος (through water and blood and spirit) together with the manuscripts: Codex Alexandrinus, 104, 424^c, 614, 1739^c, 2412, 2495, ℓ598^m, syr^h, cop^sa, cop^bo, Origen.^{[53][n 3]}Bart D. Ehrman says this was a corrupt reading from the orthodox party,^[54] although this is widely disputed.^[55]

Text-type and relationship to other manuscripts[edit]

For most of the New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus is in general agreement with Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209 and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, attesting the Alexandrian text-type.A notable example of an agreement between the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts is that they both omit the word εικη ('without cause', 'without reason', 'in vain') from Matthew 5:22 'But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement'.^{[n 4]}

In John 1:1–8:38 Codex Sinaiticus differs from Vaticanus and all other Alexandrian manuscripts. It is in closer agreement with Codex Bezae in support of the Western text-type. For example, in John 1:4 Sinaiticus and Codex Bezae are the only Greek manuscripts with textual variant ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἐστίν (in him is life) instead of ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ᾓν (in him was life). This variant is supported by Vetus Latina and some Sahidic manuscripts. This portion has a large number of corrections.^[57]There are a number of differences between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus; Hoskier enumerated 3036 differences:

Matt–656

Mark–567

Luke–791

John–1022

Total—3036.^[58]

A large number of these differences are due to iotacisms and variants in transcribing Hebrew names. These two manuscripts were not written in the same scriptorium. According to Fenton HortSinaiticus and Vaticanus were derived from a common original much older source, 'the date of which cannot be later than the early part of the second century, and may well be yet earlier'.^[59]

Example of differences between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus in Matt 1:18–19:

B. H. Streeter remarked a great agreement between the codex and Vulgate of Jerome. According to him, Origen brought to Caesarea the Alexandrian text-type that was used in this codex, and used by Jerome.^[60]

Between the 4th and 12th centuries, seven or more correctors worked on this codex, making it one of the most corrected manuscripts in existence.^[61] Tischendorf during his investigation in Petersburg enumerated 14,800 corrections only in the portion which was held in Petersburg (2/3 of the codex).^[62] According to David C. Parker the full codex has about 23,000 corrections.^[63] In addition to these corrections some letters were marked by dots as doubtful (e.g. ṪḢ). Corrections represent the Byzantine text-type, just like corrections in codices: Bodmer II, Regius (L), Ephraemi (C), and Sangallensis (Δ). They were discovered by E.A. Button.^[64]

History[edit]

Early history[edit]

Provenance[edit]

Little is known of the manuscript's early history. According to Hort, it was written in the West, probably in Rome, as suggested by the fact that the chapter division in the Acts of the Apostles common to Sinaiticus and Vaticanus occurs in no other Greek manuscript, but is found in several manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate.^[65]Robinson countered this argument, suggesting that this system of chapter divisions was introduced into the Vulgate by Jerome himself, as a result of his studies at Caesarea.^[66] According to Kenyon the forms of the letters are Egyptian and they were found in Egyptian papyri of earlier date.^[67]Gardthausen^[68] Ropes and Jellicoe thought it was written in Egypt. Harris believed that the manuscript came from the library of Pamphilus at Caesarea, Palestine.^[67]Streeter,^[60] Skeat, and Milne also believed that it was produced in Caesarea.^[44]

Date[edit]

The codex was written in the 4th century. It could not have been written before 325 because it contains the Eusebian Canons, which is a terminus post quem. 'The terminus ante quem is less certain, but, according to Milne and Skeat, is not likely to be much later than about 360.' ^[15]

According to Tischendorf, Codex Sinaiticus was one of the fifty copies of the Bible commissioned from Eusebius by Roman EmperorConstantine after his conversion to Christianity (De vita Constantini, IV, 37).^[69] This hypothesis was supported by Pierre Batiffol,^[70] Gregory and Skeat believed that it was already in production when Constantine placed his order, but had to be suspended in order to accommodate different page dimensions.^[44]

Frederic G. Kenyon argued: 'There is not the least sign of either of them ever having been at Constantinople. The fact that Sinaiticus was collated with the manuscript of Pamphilus so late as the sixth century seems to show that it was not originally written at Caesarea'.^[71]

Scribes and correctors[edit]

Tischendorf believed that four separate scribes (whom he named A, B, C and D) copied the work and that five correctors (whom he designated a, b, c, d and e) amended portions. He posited that one of the correctors was contemporaneous with the original scribes, and that the others worked in the 6th and 7th centuries. It is now agreed, after Milne and Skeat's reinvestigation, that Tischendorf was wrong, in that scribe C never existed.^[72] According to Tischendorf, scribe C wrote the poetic books of the Old Testament. These are written in a different format from the rest of the manuscript – they appear in two columns (the rest of books is in four columns), written stichometrically. Tischendorf probably interpreted the different formatting as indicating the existence of another scribe.^[73] The three remaining scribes are still identified by the letters that Tischendorf gave them: A, B, and D.^[73] Correctors were more, at least seven (a, b, c, ca, cb, cc, e).^[2]

Modern analysis identifies at least three scribes:

• Scribe A wrote most of the historical and poetical books of the Old Testament, almost the whole of the New Testament, and the Epistle of Barnabas
• Scribe B was responsible for the Prophets and for the Shepherd of Hermas
• Scribe D wrote the whole of Tobit and Judith, the first half of 4 Maccabees, the first two-thirds of the Psalms, and the first five verses of Revelation

Scribe B was a poor speller, and scribe A was not very much better; the best scribe was D.^[74] Metzger states: 'scribe A had made some unusually serious mistakes'.^[62] Scribes A and B more often used nomina sacra in contracted forms (ΠΝΕΥΜΑ contracted in all occurrences, ΚΥΡΙΟΣ contracted except in 2 occurrences), scribe D more often used forms uncontracted.^[75] D distinguished between sacral and nonsacral using of ΚΥΡΙΟΣ.^[76] His errors are the substitution of ΕΙ for Ι, and Ι for ΕΙ in medial positions, both equally common. Otherwise substitution of Ι for initial ΕΙ is unknown, and final ΕΙ is only replaced in word ΙΣΧΥΕΙ, confusing of Ε and ΑΙ is very rare.^[74] In the Book of Psalms this scribe has 35 times ΔΑΥΕΙΔ instead of ΔΑΥΙΔ, while scribe A normally uses an abbreviated form ΔΑΔ.^[77] Scribe A's was a 'worse type of phonetic error'. Confusion of Ε and ΑΙ occurs in all contexts.^[74] Milne and Skeat characterised scribe B as 'careless and illiterate'.^[78] The work of the original scribe is designated by the siglumא*.^[2]

A paleographical study at the British Museum in 1938 found that the text had undergone several corrections. The first corrections were done by several scribes before the manuscript left the scriptorium.^[62] Readings which they introduced are designated by the siglum א^a.^[79] Milne and Skeat have observed that the superscription to 1 Maccabees was made by scribe D, while the text was written by scribe A.^[80] Scribe D corrects his own work and that of scribe A, but scribe A limits himself to correcting his own work.^[81] In the 6th or 7th century, many alterations were made (א^b) – according to a colophon at the end of the book of Esdras and Esther the source of these alterations was 'a very ancient manuscript that had been corrected by the hand of the holy martyr Pamphylus' (martyred in 309). If this is so, material beginning with 1 Samuel to the end of Esther is Origen's copy of the Hexapla. From this colophon, the correction is concluded to have been made in Caesarea Maritima in the 6th or 7th centuries.^[82] The pervasive iotacism, especially of the ει diphthong, remains uncorrected.^[83]

Discovery[edit]

The Codex may have been seen in 1761 by the Italian traveller, Vitaliano Donati, when he visited the Saint Catherine's Monastery at Sinai in Egypt. His diary was published in 1879, in which was written:

In questo monastero ritrovai una quantità grandissima di codici membranacei.. ve ne sono alcuni che mi sembravano anteriori al settimo secolo, ed in ispecie una Bibbia in membrane bellissime, assai grandi, sottili, e quadre, scritta in carattere rotondo e belissimo; conservano poi in chiesa un Evangelistario greco in caractere d'oro rotondo, che dovrebbe pur essere assai antico.^[84]

In this monastery I found a great number of parchment codices .. there are some which seemed to be written before the seventh century, and especially a Bible (made) of beautiful vellum, very large, thin and square parchments, written in round and very beautiful letters; moreover there are also in the church a Greek Evangelistarium in gold and round letters, it should be very old.

The 'Bible on beautiful vellum' may be the Codex Sinaiticus, and the gold evangelistarium is likely Lectionary 300 on the Gregory-Aland list.^[85]

German Biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf wrote about his visit to the monastery in Reise in den Orient in 1846 (translated as Travels in the East in 1847), without mentioning the manuscript. Later, in 1860, in his writings about the Sinaiticus discovery, Tischendorf wrote a narrative about the monastery and the manuscript that spanned from 1844 to 1859. He wrote that in 1844, during his first visit to the Saint Catherine's Monastery, he saw some leaves of parchment in a waste-basket. They were 'rubbish which was to be destroyed by burning it in the ovens of the monastery',^[86] although this is firmly denied by the Monastery. After examination he realized that they were part of the Septuagint, written in an early Greek uncial script. He retrieved from the basket 129 leaves in Greek which he identified as coming from a manuscript of the Septuagint. He asked if he might keep them, but at this point the attitude of the monks changed. They realized how valuable these old leaves were, and Tischendorf was permitted to take only one-third of the whole, i.e. 43 leaves. These leaves contained portions of 1 Chronicles, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and Esther. After his return they were deposited in the Leipzig University Library, where they remain. In 1846 Tischendorf published their contents, naming them the 'Codex Friderico-Augustanus' (in honor of Frederick Augustus and keeping secret the source of the leaves).^[87] Other portions of the same codex remained in the monastery, containing all of Isaiah and 1 and 4 Maccabees.^[88]

In 1845, ArchimandritePorphyrius Uspensky (1804–1885), at that time head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and subsequently Bishop of Chigirin, visited the monastery and the codex was shown to him, together with leaves which Tischendorf had not seen.^{[n 5]} In 1846, Captain C. K. MacDonald visited Mount Sinai, saw the codex, and bought two codices (495 and 496) from the monastery.^[89]

In 1853, Tischendorf revisited the Saint Catherine's Monastery to get the remaining 86 folios, but without success. Returning in 1859, this time under the patronage of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, he was shown the Codex Sinaiticus. He would later claim to have found it discarded in a rubbish bin. (This story may have been a fabrication, or the manuscripts in question may have been unrelated to Codex Sinaiticus: Rev. J. Silvester Davies in 1863 quoted 'a monk of Sinai who.. stated that according to the librarian of the monastery the whole of Codex Sinaiticus had been in the library for many years and was marked in the ancient catalogues.. Is it likely.. that a manuscript known in the library catalogue would have been jettisoned in the rubbish basket.' Indeed, it has been noted that the leaves were in 'suspiciously good condition' for something found in the trash.^{[n 6]}) Tischendorf had been sent to search for manuscripts by Russia's TsarAlexander II, who was convinced there were still manuscripts to be found at the Sinai monastery.^[90] The text of this part of the codex was published by Tischendorf in 1862:

• Konstantin von Tischendorf: Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. Giesecke & Devrient, Leipzig 1862.

This work has been digitised in full and all four volumes may be consulted online.^[91]It was reprinted in four volumes in 1869:

• Konstantin von Tischendorf, G. Olms (Hrsg.): Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. 1. Prolegomena. G. Olms, Hildesheim 1869 (Repr.).
• Konstantin von Tischendorf, G. Olms (Hrsg.): Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. 2. Veteris Testamenti pars prior. G. Olms, Hildesheim 1869 (Repr.).
• Konstantin von Tischendorf, G. Olms (Hrsg.): Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. 3. Veteris Testamenti pars posterior. G. Olms, Hildesheim 1869 (Repr.).
• Konstantin von Tischendorf, G. Olms (Hrsg.): Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. 4. Novum Testamentum cum Barnaba et Pastore. G. Olms, Hildesheim 1869 (Repr.).

The complete publication of the codex was made by Kirsopp Lake in 1911 (New Testament), and in 1922 (Old Testament). It was the full-sized black and white facsimile of the manuscript, 'made from negatives taken from St. Petersburg by my wife and myself in the summer of 1908'.^[92]

The story of how Tischendorf found the manuscript, which contained most of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament, has all the interest of a romance. Tischendorf reached the monastery on 31 January; but his inquiries appeared to be fruitless. On 4 February, he had resolved to return home without having gained his object:

On the afternoon of this day I was taking a walk with the steward of the convent in the neighbourhood, and as we returned, towards sunset, he begged me to take some refreshment with him in his cell. Scarcely had he entered the room, when, resuming our former subject of conversation, he said: 'And I, too, have read a Septuagint' – i.e. a copy of the Greek translation made by the Seventy. And so saying, he took down from the corner of the room a bulky kind of volume, wrapped up in a red cloth, and laid it before me. I unrolled the cover, and discovered, to my great surprise, not only those very fragments which, fifteen years before, I had taken out of the basket, but also other parts of the Old Testament, the New Testament complete, and, in addition, the Epistle of Barnabas and a part of the Shepherd of Hermas.^[93]

After some negotiations, he obtained possession of this precious fragment. James Bentley gives an account of how this came about, prefacing it with the comment, 'Tischendorf therefore now embarked on the remarkable piece of duplicity which was to occupy him for the next decade, which involved the careful suppression of facts and the systematic denigration of the monks of Mount Sinai.'^[94] He conveyed it to Tsar Alexander II, who appreciated its importance and had it published as nearly as possible in facsimile, so as to exhibit correctly the ancient handwriting. In 1869 the Tsar sent the monastery 7,000 rubles and the monastery of Mount Tabor 2,000 rubles by way of compensation.^[95][96] The document in Russian formalising this was published in 2007 in Russia and has since been translated.^[97]

Regarding Tischendorf's role in the transfer to Saint Petersburg, there are several views. The codex is currently regarded by the monastery as having been stolen. This view is hotly contested by several scholars in Europe. Kirsopp Lake wrote:

Those who have had much to do with Oriental monks will understand how improbable it is that the terms of the arrangement, whatever it was, were ever known to any except a few of the leaders.^[98]

In a more neutral spirit, New Testament scholar Bruce Metzger writes: Install windows 2000 in dosbox for mac.

Certain aspects of the negotiations leading to the transfer of the codex to the Tsar's possession are open to an interpretation that reflects adversely on Tischendorf's candour and good faith with the monks at Saint Catherine's Monastery. For a recent account intended to exculpate him of blame, see Erhard Lauch's article 'Nichts gegen Tischendorf' in Bekenntnis zur Kirche: Festgabe für Ernst Sommerlath zum 70. Geburtstag (Berlin, c. 1961); for an account that includes a hitherto unknown receipt given by Tischendorf to the authorities at the monastery promising to return the manuscript from Saint Petersburg 'to the Holy Confraternity of Sinai at its earliest request'.^[99][100]

Simonides[edit]

On 13 September 1862 Constantine Simonides, skilled in calligraphy and with a controversial background with manuscripts, made the claim in print in The Manchester Guardian that he had written the codex himself as a young man in 1839 in the Panteleimonos monastery at Athos.^[101][102]Constantin von Tischendorf, who worked with numerous Bible manuscripts, was known as somewhat flamboyant, and had ambitiously sought money from several royal families for his ventures, who had indeed funded his trips. Simonides, whose name may be a synonym mocking Tischendorf, had a somewhat obscure history, as he claimed he was at Mt. Athos in the years preceding Tischendorf's contact, making the claim at least plausible. Simonides also claimed his father had died and the invitation to Mt. Athos came from his uncle, a monk there, but subsequent letters to his father were found among his possessions at his death. While the word 'forgery' has been bandied about among scholars regarding the claims on the Sinaiticus by Tischendorf, perhaps a more accurate rendering would be recollation and 'adjusted' restoration as Simonides, an expert on hieroglyphics which are represented throughout the Sinaiticus. Simonides claimed the false nature of the document in The Manchester Guardian in an exchange of letters among scholars and others, at the time. Henry Bradshaw, a British librarian known to both men, defended the Tischendorf find of the Sinaiticus, casting aside the accusations of Simonides. Since Bradshaw was a social 'hub' among many diverse scholars of the day, his aiding of Tischendorf was given much weight. Simonides died shortly after, and the issue lay dormant for many years.^[103]

Tischendorf answered in Allgemeine Zeitung (December), that only in the New Testament there are many differences between it and all other manuscripts. Henry Bradshaw, a scholar, contributed to exposing the frauds of Constantine Simonides, and exposed the absurdity of his claims in a letter to The Manchester Guardian (26 January 1863). Bradshaw showed that the Codex Sinaiticus brought by Tischendorf from the Greek monastery of Mount Sinai was not a modern forgery or written by Simonides. Simonides' 'claim was flawed from the beginning'.^[104] The controversy seems to regard the misplaced use of the word 'fraud' or 'forgery' since it may have been a repaired text, a copy of the Septuagint based upon Origen's Hexapla, a text which has been rejected for centuries because of its lineage from Eusebius who introduced Arian doctrine into the courts of Constantine I and II.

Not every scholar and Church minister was delighted about the codex. Burgon, a supporter of the Textus Receptus, suggested that Codex Sinaiticus, as well as codices Vaticanus and Codex Bezae, were the most corrupt documents extant. Each of these three codices 'clearly exhibits a fabricated text – is the result of arbitrary and reckless recension.'^[105] The two most weighty of these three codices, א and B, he likens to the 'two false witnesses' of Matthew.^[106][107]

Recent history[edit]

In the early 20th century Vladimir Beneshevich (1874–1938) discovered parts of three more leaves of the codex in the bindings of other manuscripts in the library of Mount Sinai. Beneshevich went on three occasions to the monastery (1907, 1908, 1911) but does not tell when or from which book these were recovered. These leaves were also acquired for St. Petersburg, where they remain.^[108][109]

For many decades, the Codex was preserved in the Russian National Library. In 1933, the Soviet Union sold the codex to the British Museum (after 1973 British Library) for £100,000 raised by public subscription (worth £7 million in 2019).^[110] After coming to Britain it was examined by Skeat and Milne using an ultra-violet lamp.^[111]

In May 1975, during restoration work, the monks of Saint Catherine's Monastery discovered a room beneath the St. George Chapel which contained many parchment fragments. Kurt Aland and his team from the Institute for New Testament Textual Research were the first scholars who were invited to analyse, examine and photograph these new fragments of the New Testament in 1982.^[112] Among these fragments were twelve complete leaves from the Sinaiticus, 11 leaves of the Pentateuch and 1 leaf of the Shepherd of Hermas.^[17] Together with these leaves 67 Greek Manuscripts of New Testament have been found (uncials 0278 – 0296 and some minuscules).^[113]

In June 2005, a team of experts from the UK, Europe, Egypt, Russia and USA undertook a joint project to produce a new digital edition of the manuscript (involving all four holding libraries), and a series of other studies was announced.^{[114][115][116]} This will include the use of hyperspectral imaging to photograph the manuscripts to look for hidden information such as erased or faded text.^[117] This is to be done in cooperation with the British Library.^[118]

More than one quarter of the manuscript was made publicly available at The Codex Sinaiticus Website on 24 July 2008. On 6 July 2009, 800 more pages of the manuscript were made available, showing over half of the entire text,^[119] although the entire text was intended to be shown by that date.^[120]

The complete document is now available online in digital form and available for scholarly study. The online version has a fully transcribed set of digital pages, including amendments to the text, and two images of each page, with both standard lighting and raked lighting to highlight the texture of the parchment.^[121]

Prior to 1 September 2009, the University of the Arts London PhD student, Nikolas Sarris, discovered the previously unseen fragment of the Codex in the library of Saint Catherine's Monastery. It contains the text of Book of Joshua 1:10.^[122][123]

Present location[edit]

The codex is now split into four unequal portions: 347 leaves in the British Library in London (199 of the Old Testament, 148 of the New Testament), 12 leaves and 14 fragments in the Saint Catherine's Monastery, 43 leaves in the Leipzig University Library, and fragments of 3 leaves in the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg.^[2]

Saint Catherine's Monastery still maintains the importance of a letter, handwritten in 1844 with an original signature of Tischendorf confirming that he borrowed those leaves.^[124] However, recently published documents, including a deed of gift dated 11 September 1868 and signed by Archbishop Kallistratos and the monks of the monastery, indicate that the manuscript was acquired entirely legitimately.^[125] This deed, which agrees with a report by Kurt Aland on the matter, has now been published. Unfortunately this development is not widely known in the English-speaking world, as only German- and Russian-language media reported on it in 2009. Doubts as to the legality of the gift arose because when Tischendorf originally removed the manuscript from Saint Catherine's Monastery in September 1859, the monastery was without an archbishop, so that even though the intention to present the manuscript to the Tsar had been expressed, no legal gift could be made at the time. Resolution of the matter was delayed through the turbulent reign of Archbishop Cyril (consecrated 7 December 1859, deposed 24 August 1866), and the situation only formalised after the restoration of peace.^[125]

Skeat in his article 'The Last Chapter in the History of the Codex Sinaiticus' concluded in this way:

This is not the place to pass judgements, but perhaps I may say that, as it seems to me, both the monks and Tischendorf deserve our deepest gratitude, Tischendorf for having alerted the monks to the importance of the manuscript, and the monks for having undertaken the daunting task of searching through the vast mass of material with such spectacular results, and then doing everything in their power to safeguard the manuscript against further loss. If we accept the statement of Uspensky, that he saw the codex in 1845, the monks must have worked very hard to complete their search and bind up the results in so short a period.^[126]

Impact on biblical scholarship[edit]

Along with Codex Vaticanus, the Codex Sinaiticus is considered one of the most valuable manuscripts available, as it is one of the oldest and likely closer to the original text of the Greek New Testament. It is the only uncial manuscript with the complete text of the New Testament, and the only ancient manuscript of the New Testament written in four columns per page which has survived to the present day.^[2] With only 300 years separating the Codex Sinaiticus and the proposed lifetime of Jesus, it is considered by some to be more accurate than most New Testament copies in preserving readings where almost all manuscripts are assumed by them to be in error.^[9]

For the Gospels, Sinaiticus is considered among some people as the second most reliable witness of the text (after Vaticanus); in the Acts of the Apostles, its text is equal to that of Vaticanus; in the Epistles, Sinaiticus is assumed to be the most reliable witness of the text. In the Book of Revelation, however, its text is corrupted and is considered of poor quality, and inferior to the texts of Codex Alexandrinus, Papyrus 47, and even some minuscule manuscripts in this place (for example, Minuscule 2053, 2062).^[15]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^It was estimated by Tischendorf and used by Scrivener in his Introduction to the Sinaitic Codex (1867) as an argument against authorship of Simonides (‘‘Christianity’’, p. 1889.)
2. ^Also in Minuscule 69, Minuscule 336, and several other manuscripts Pauline epistles precede Acts.
3. ^For another variants of this verse see: Textual variants in the First Epistle of John.
4. ^The same variant present manuscripts: P⁶⁷, 2174, in manuscripts of Vulgate, and in manuscripts of Ethiopic version.
5. ^Uspienski described: «Первая рукопись, содержащая Ветхий Завет неполный и весь Новый Завет с посланием ап. Варнавы и книгой Ермы, писана на тончайшем белом пергаменте. (..) Буквы в ней совершенно похожи на церковно-славянские. Постановка их прямая и сплошная. Над словами нет придыханий и ударений, а речения не отделяются никакими знаками правописания кроме точек. Весь священный текст писан в четыре и два столбца стихомерным образом и так слитно, как будто одно длинное речение тянется от точки до точки.» (Порфирий (Успенский), Первое путешествие в Синайский монастырь в 1845 году, Petersburg 1856, с. 226.)
6. ^Davies' words are from a letter published in The Guardian on 27 May 1863, as quoted by Elliott, J.K. (1982) in Codex Sinaiticus and the Simonides Affair, Thessaloniki: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, p. 16; Elliott in turn is quoted by Michael D. Peterson in his essay 'Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus: the Saga Continues', in The Church and the Library, ed. Papademetriou and Sopko Boston: Somerset Hall Press (2005), p. 77. See also notes 2 and 3, p. 90, in Papademetriou.

References[edit]

1. ^Sinai: The Site & the History by Mursi Saad El Din, Ayman Taher, Luciano Romano 1998 ISBN0-8147-2203-2 page 101
2. ^ ^abcdefAland, Kurt; Barbara Aland (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, trans. Erroll F. Rhodes. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 107. ISBN978-0-8028-4098-1.
3. ^Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose (1875). Six Lectures on the Text of the New Testament and the Ancient Manuscripts. Cambridge. p. 26. ISBN978-1-4097-0826-1.
4. ^Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp. 107–108. ISBN978-0-8028-4098-1.
5. ^'Liste Handschriften'. Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
6. ^'Sacred Texts: Codex Sinaiticus'. www.bl.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
7. ^T. C. Skeat, Early Christian book-production, in: Peter R. Ackroyd & Geoffrey William Hugo Lampe (eds.) The Cambridge history of the Bible (Cambridge 1975), pp. 77–78.
8. ^Lake, Kirsopp (1911). Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus: The New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. XVI.
9. ^ ^abKenyon, Frederic (1939). '7'. Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts (4 ed.). London. p. 191. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
10. ^Scrivener, F. H. A. (1864). A Full Collation of the Codex Sinaiticus with the Received Text of the New Testament. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, and Co. p. XIII.
11. ^Jongkind, Dirk (2007), pp. 22–50. Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus, Gorgias Press LLC, pp. 67–68.
12. ^Jongkind, Dirk (2007). Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus, Gorgias Press LLC, p.74 ff, 93–94.
13. ^Bringhurst, Robert (2004). The Elements of Typographic Style (version 3.0), pp. 174–75. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks. ISBN0-88179-205-5.
14. ^Morehead, Gavin 'Parchment Assessment of the Codex Sinaiticus', http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/project/conservation_parchment.aspx, Retrieved 11 December 2011
15. ^ ^abcdMetzger, Bruce M., (1991). Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Palaeography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 76–78.
16. ^'The Codex Sinaiticus Website'. Codex-sinaiticus.net. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
17. ^ ^abSkeat, Theodore Cressy (2000). 'The Last Chapter in the History of the Codex Sinaiticus'. Novum Testamentum. BRILL. XLII, 4 (4): 313–315. doi:10.1163/156853600506708.
18. ^Würthwein, Ernst (1988). Der Text des Alten Testaments (2nd ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. p. 85. ISBN3-438-06006-X.
19. ^Swete, Henry Barclay (1902). An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek. Cambridge: Macmillan and Co. pp. 129–130.
20. ^Bruce M. Metzger (2001). A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. United Bible Societies.
21. ^Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft: Stuttgart 2001), pp. 315, 388, 434, 444.
22. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 16 [UBS3]
23. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (United Bible Societies, Stuttgart 1983), p. 18.
24. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 26
25. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 41
26. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 56
27. ^Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose; Edward Miller (1894). A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament. 1 (4 ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 342.
28. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (United Bible Societies, Stuttgart 1983), p. 118.
29. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (United Bible Societies, Stuttgart 1983), p. 164.
30. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 190
31. ^NA26, p. 256; The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 333
32. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 95.
33. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 168.
34. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 256.
35. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 305.
36. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece 26th edition, Stuttgart 1991, p. 239.
37. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 311 [UBS3]
38. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 18
39. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 24
40. ^Editio octava critica maior, p. 49
41. ^Bruce M. Metzger (2001). A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, p. 59
42. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 17.
43. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 26
44. ^ ^abcSkeat, T. C. (1999). 'The Codex Sinaiticus, The Codex Vaticanus and Constantine'. Journal of Theological Studies. 50 (2): 583–625. doi:10.1093/jts/50.2.583.
45. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 158.
46. ^'BibleTranslation.ws'(PDF). Retrieved 4 February 2010.
47. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 264
48. ^ ^abScrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose (1875). Six Lectures on the Text of the New Testament and the Ancient Manuscripts which contain it. London: Deighton, Bell & Co. p. 47.
49. ^UBS3, p. 737.
50. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 165.
51. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 136.
52. ^Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 26th edition, p. 184.
53. ^The Greek New Testament, ed. K. Aland, A. Black, C. M. Martini, B. M. Metzger, and A. Wikgren, in cooperation with INTF, United Bible Societies, 3rd edition, (Stuttgart 1983), p. 823.
54. ^Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1993, p. 60.
55. ^See, for instance, Tommy Wasserman, 'Misquoting Manuscripts? The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture Revisited,' in The Making of Christianity: Conflicts, Contacts, and Constructions: Essays in Honor of Bengt Holmberg. Zetterholm, M., and S. Byrskog, eds., Eisenbrauns, 2012, pp.325–350.
56. ^2:3–8
57. ^Fee, G. D. (1968–9). Codex Sinaiticus in the Gospel of John, NTS 15, pp. 22–44.
58. ^Hoskier, H. C. (1914). Codex B and Its Allies, a Study and an Indictment, London, p.1.
59. ^Westcott, B. F. and Hort, F. J. A. (1860). Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, p.40.
60. ^ ^abStreeter, B. H. (1924). The Four Gospels, a Study of Origins treating of the Manuscript Tradition, Sources, Authorship, & Dates, pp. 590–597.
61. ^Milne, H. J. M. and Skeat, T.C. (1938). Scribes and Correctors of Codex Sinaiticus. London: Trustees of the British Museum.
62. ^ ^abcMetzger, Bruce M., (1991). Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Palaeography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 77.
63. ^Parker D. C., Codex Sinaiticus. The Story of the World’s Oldest Bible, London: The British Library, 2010, p. 3.
64. ^Button, E. A. (1911). An Atlas of Textual Criticism, Cambridge, p.13.
65. ^Brook F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort, Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek (New York: Harper & Bros., 1882; reprint, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1988), pp. 264–267.
66. ^Robinson, A., Euthaliana, pp. 42, 101.
67. ^ ^abFrederic G. Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1896, p. 128.
68. ^Victor Gardthausen, Griechische paleographie, 2 vol., Leipzig, 1913, pp. 124–125.
69. ^Price, I. M. (1923). The Ancestry of Our English Bible an Account of Manuscripts, Texts and Versions of the Bible, Sunday School Times Co, p. 146 f.
70. ^Pierre Batiffol, Codex Sinaiticus, in DB. 1, 1883–1886.
71. ^Frederic G. Kenyon, 'Handbook to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament', London², 1912, p. 83.
72. ^Milne, H. J. M. and Skeat, T. C., (1938). Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus, London: British Museum, pp. 22–50.
73. ^ ^abJongkind, Dirk (2007), pp. 22–50. Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus, Gorgias Press LLC, pp. 12–13.
74. ^ ^abcJongkind, Dirk (2007), Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus, Gorgias Press LLC, p. 90.
75. ^Jongkind, Dirk (2007), Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus, Gorgias Press LLC, pp. 77–78.
76. ^Jongkind, Dirk (2007), Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus, Gorgias Press LLC, pp. 80–81.
77. ^Milne-Skeat. Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus, (London: British Museum, 1938), p. 94.
78. ^Milne-Skeat. Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus, (London: British Museum, 1938), pp. 53–55.
79. ^Metzger, Bruce M.; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005), The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 66–67
80. ^Milne, H. J. M. and T. C. Skeat, (1938). Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus, London: British Museum, p. 33.
81. ^Jongkind, Dirk (2007), Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus, Gorgias Press LLC, p. 44.
82. ^Metzger, Bruce M., (1992). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration, (3rd Ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 46.
83. ^Gregory, C. R. (1900). Textkritik des Neuen Testaments (in German). 1. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung. p. 19. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
84. ^Lumbroso, G. (1879). Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, p. 501.
85. ^Kirsopp Lake, (1911). Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus: The New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. V.
86. ^Skeat, T. C. (2000). 'The Last Chapter in the History of the Codex Sinaiticus'. Novum Testamentum. Vol. 42, Fasc. 3, Jul., 2000. p. 313.
87. ^Constantin von Tischendorf, Monumenta sacra inedita (Leipzig 1855), vol. I, pp. 211 ff.
88. ^Tischendorf, C. v. (1866). When Were Our Gospels Written? An Argument by Constantine Tischendorf. With a Narrative of the Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript, New York: American Tract Society.
89. ^Gregory, Caspar René (1900). Textkritik des Neuen Testaments. 1. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung. pp. 195–196.
90. ^Parker, D. C. (2010). Codex Sinaiticus. The Story of the World’s Oldest Bible. London: The British Library. pp. 140–142. ISBN978-0-7123-5803-3.
91. ^Bibliorum Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus
92. ^Kirsopp Lake, (1911). Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus: The New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, Oxford: Clarendon Press, Preface.
93. ^See Constantin von Tischendorf, The Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript, Extract from Constantin von Tischendorf, (1866) When Were Our Gospels Written? An Argument by Constantine Tischendorf. With a Narrative of the Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript New York: American Tract Society.
94. ^Bentley, James (1986). Secrets of Mount Sinai. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, p. 95.
95. ^Kirsopp Lake, (1911). Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus: The New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. VI.
96. ^Parker, D. C. (2010). Codex Sinaiticus. The Story of the World’s Oldest Bible. London: The British Library. pp. 145–146. ISBN978-0-7123-5803-3.
97. ^В архивах МИД РФ нашли документ о правах на Синайский кодекс at the Lenta.ru
98. ^Lake, Kirsopp, (1911). Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus: The New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. VI.
99. ^See Ihor Ševčenko, 'New Documents on Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus', published in the journal Scriptorium, xviii (1964), pp. 55–80.
100. ^Metzger, Bruce A. (1992) The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration, (3rd Ed.), Oxford University Press, p. 45.
101. ^J. K. Elliott (1982) in Codex Sinaiticus and the Simonides Affair, Thessaloniki: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, p. 16.
102. ^Странное объявление Симонидеса о Синайском кодексе и ответ Тишендорфа.
103. ^Letters of Constantine Simonides, Grolier Library, NY
104. ^McKitterick, David (1998) A history of Cambridge University Press, Volume 2: Scholarship and Commerce (1698–1872), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN0-521-30802-X, page 369.
105. ^Dean Burgon, Revision Revised, p. 9.
106. ^26:60
107. ^Dean Burgon, Revised Revision, p. 48.
108. ^Бенешевич Владимир Николаевич, 'Памятники Синая археологические и палеографические', Вып. 2, Sankt Petersburg, 1912; V. N. Beneshevich, 'Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Graecorum qui in Monasterio Sanctae Catherinae in Monte Sina Asservantur' St. Petersburg (1911).
109. ^'Katapi.org.uk'. Katapi.org.uk. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
110. ^Metzger, Bruce M.; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (4th ed.). New York – Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 64.
111. ^T. C. Skeat, A four years work on the Codex Sinaiticus: Significant discoveries in reconditioned ms., in: T. C. Skeat and J. K. Elliott, The collected biblical writings of T. C. Skeat, Brill 2004, p. 9.
112. ^Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 'Die Funde der Mönche vom Sinai' (Engl.: 'The findings of the monks from the Sinai'), 05-11-1983, No. 109, page 10
113. ^Codex Sinaiticus finds 1975Archived 29 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine with images
114. ^World's oldest Bible goes global: Historic international digitisation project announced, British Library: Press Room
115. ^British Library Heads Project in Digitalising the World’s Oldest Bible Christianity Today, 15 March 2005
116. ^Schneider, Ulrich Johannes (ed.) (2007). Codex Sinaiticus. Geschichte und Erschließung der «Sinai-Bibel». Leipzig: Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, p. 42.
117. ^Oldest known Bible to go online. BBC.com. 31 August 2005. Retrieved 8 June 2006.
118. ^Henschke, E. (2007). 'Digitizing the Hand-Written Bible: The Codex Sinaiticus, its History and Modern Presentation', Libri, vol. 57, pp. 45–51.
119. ^Historical Bible pages put online BBC News
120. ^'The world's oldest Bible goes online' (Press release). 21 July 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
121. ^'ctv news story'. Ctv.ca. 6 July 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
122. ^Oldest Bible fragment found in Egypt Press TV
123. ^'Fragment from world's oldest Bible found hidden in Egyptian monastery'. The Independent, 2 Sept, 2009.
124. ^Ο Σιναϊτικός Κώδικας.
125. ^ ^ab'История приобретения Синайской Библии Россией в свете новых документов из российских архивов', А.В.Захарова, Монфокон: исследования по палеографии, кодикологии и дипломатике, Ι, Москва—С.-Петербург, 2007, 209–266
126. ^Skeat, T. C. (2000). 'The Last Chapter in the History of the Codex Sinaiticus.' Novum Testamentum. Vol. 42, Fasc. 3, Jul., 2000. p. 315.

Further reading[edit]

Text of the codex[edit]

• Constantin von Tischendorf, Fragmentum Codicis Friderico-Augustani, in: Monumenta sacra inedita (Leipzig 1855), vol. I, pp. 211 ff.
• Constantin von Tischendorf: Bibliorum codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. Giesecke & Devrient, Leipzig 1862.
• Lake, Kirsopp (1911). Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus: The New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose (1867) [1864]. A Full Collation of the Codex Sinaiticus with the Received Text of the New Testament(PDF) (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Deighton Bell.
• Anderson, H. T. (1918). CODEX SINAITICUS: The New Testament translated from the Sinaitic Manuscript. Cincinnati: The Standard Publishing Company.

Introductions to the textual criticism of NT[edit]

• Gregory, C. R. (1900). Textkritik des Neuen Testaments (in German). 1. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
• Metzger, Bruce M. (1991). Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Palaeography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 76–79. ISBN978-0-19-502924-6.
• Metzger, Bruce M.; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (4th ed.). New York – Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 62–67.
• Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose; Edward Miller (1894). A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament. 1 (4 ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 342.
• Streeter, Burnett Hillman (1924). The Four Gospels. A Study of Origins the Manuscripts Tradition, Sources, Authorship, & Dates. Oxford: MacMillan and Co Limited.

Other works[edit]

• Anderson, H. T. (1910). The New Testament Translated from the Sinaitic Manuscript Discovered by Constantine Tischendorf at Mt. Sinai. The Standard Publishing Company.
• Böttrich, Christfried (2011). Der Jahrhundertfund. Entdeckung und Geschichte des Codex Sinaiticus (The Discovery of the Century. Discovery and history of Codex Sinaiticus). Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. ISBN978-3-374-02586-2.
• Gardthausen, Victor (1913). Griechische paleographie. 2. Leipzig. pp. 119–134.
• Jongkind, Dirk (2007). Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus. Gorgias Press LLC.
• Kenyon, Frederic G. (1939). Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts (4th ed.). London. pp. 121–128.
• Peter M. Head (2008). 'The Gospel of Mark in Codex Sinaiticus: Textual and Reception-Historical Considerations'(PDF). Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism.
• Magerson, P. (1983). 'Codex Sinaiticus: An Historical Observation'. Bib Arch. 46: 54–56.
• Milne, H. J. M.; Skeat, T. C. (1963) [1951]. The Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus. London.
• Milne, H. J. M.; Skeat, T. C. (1938). Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus. London: British Museum.
• Parker, D. C. (2010). Codex Sinaiticus. The Story of the World’s Oldest Bible. London: The British Library. ISBN978-0-7123-5803-3.
• Porter, Stanley E. (2015). Constantine Tischendorf. The Life and Work of a 19th Century Bible Hunter. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark. ISBN978-0-5676-5803-6.
• Schick, Alexander (2015). Tischendorf und die älteste Bibel der Welt – Die Entdeckung des CODEX SINAITICUS im Katharinenkloster (Tischendorf and the oldest Bible in the world – The discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus in St. Catherine's Monastery – Biography cause of the anniversary of the 200th birthday of Tischendorf with many unpublished documents from his estate. These provide insight into previously unknown details of the discoveries and the reasons behind the donation of the manuscript. Recent research on Tischendorf and the Codex Sinaiticus and its significance for New Testament Textual Research). Muldenhammer: Jota. ISBN978-3-935707-83-1.
• T. C. Skeat, A four years work on the Codex Sinaiticus: Significant discoveries in reconditioned ms., in: T. C. Skeat and J. K. Elliott, The collected biblical writings of T. C. Skeat, Brill 2004, pp. 109–118.
• Schneider, Ulrich Johannes (ed.) (2007). Codex Sinaiticus. Geschichte und Erschließung der 'Sinai-Bibel'. Leipzig: Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig. ISBN978-3-934178-72-4.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• Tischendorf, Constantin von (1870). Responsa ad Calumnias Romanas. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus.
• Tischendorf, Constantin von (1871). Die Sinaibibel ihre Entdeckung, Herausgabe, und Erwerbung. Leipzig: Giesecke & Devrient.
• Tischendorf, Constantin von (1865). Wann wurden unsere Evangelien verfasst?. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichssche Buchhandlung.
• Tischendorf, Constantin von (1866). When Were Our Gospels Written?, An Argument by Constantine Tischendorf. With a Narrative of the Discovery of the Sinaitic Manuscript. New York: American Tract Society.

External links[edit]

• BBC video clip, handling the Codex Sinaiticus at the British Library

Facsimiles of Codex Sinaiticus[edit]

• Codex Sinaiticus at the Center for the Study of NT Manuscripts (JPG)
• Codex Sinaiticus: A Facsimile (ISBN9780712349987)

Articles[edit]

• Codex Sinaiticus at the Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism
• Who Owns the Codex Sinaiticus Biblical Archaeology Review Library
• The Codex Sinaiticus and the Manuscripts of Mt Sinai in the Collections of the National Library of Russia The National Library of Russia, 2009
• Codex Sinaiticus, the world's oldest Bible, goes online The Telegraph

Pascal reference[edit]

Blaise Pascal (like a huge number of writers before him and after him) believed that extra hidden meanings could be found in the words of the Bible. This is not the same thing at all as looking for messages hidden in the letter-by-letter text. Claiming more than Pensées actually says is an interpretation that cannot be unused except if cited as the opinion of some authority. McKay (talk) 12:43, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

okay so change it to say that he believed that information could be found in the words of the bible, its still simmilar enough to torah codes to count as relevantg.j.g (talk) 17:43, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Irrelevant link[edit]

I am deleting the link to Wheeler's holographic principle. I see no connection between a scientific theory about quantum gravity and possible hidden codes in the bible.

67.238.162.236 (talk) 01:20, 8 October 2009 (UTC)Have either of you heard of the Issac Newton Preditions? 10/7/0967.238.162.236 (talk) 01:20, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

What about the vowels?[edit]

As was pointed out by at least one author writing a refute of the Bible code, the WRR experiment leaves out the vowel marks under the Hebrew letters. If we did the same in English, leaving out the vowels, 'cd' could mean 'code', 'acid', 'cod', 'coda', 'dice', 'cad'.. In a document as long as the Bible, varying letter skips between words, having liberty to spell words either forwards or backwards, isn't it almost inevitable that related information will seemingly miraculously be produced side by side? Not to say that I think the Bible is a fraud, but these issues need addressed or they could put unwarranted doubt on the Bible. --Millar153 (talk) 17:56, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

while that might be a valid concern had the codes been found in the english translation of the bible, it is just that, a translation. the origional bible was written in hebrew which has no vowels. the nikkudim under hebrew letters are tradition, handed down by the rabbis, and do not appear in a actual torah scroll if you ever happen to see one. i hope i clarified your concerns and i apologize if i sounded disparaging. g.j.g (talk) 23:05, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for that, g.j.g. I did know that the original Torah doesn't have vowels, but I didn't clarify that above (muddify would be more like it!) Still, whether the vowels were left out or whether they weren't there in the first place (and correctly the latter), the net result is the same: no vowels, i.e. 'cd' could mean 'acid', 'cad' etc. Still, I have heard that the Hebrew language is one of the most simple languages, so maybe the vowel problem is less prominent than English? In any case, Mr. Drosnin's findings are certainly fascinating, although in my opinion Gematria is better (while more complex) evidence of the inspiration of the Bible. Millar153 (talk) 15:25, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Further popularization[edit]

I cannot recall further details but should it be mentioned that the bible code was a premise in The Omega Code? I remember the film had something to do with a code, the bible, and end time prophecy but it all could have been a coincidence with my recollections.--Kevin586 (talk) 18:22, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Sir Isaac Newton Information / His own words[edit]

Wiki Page Quote: “An early seeker of divinely encrypted messages was Isaac Newton, who, according to John Maynard Keynes, believed[5] that 'the universe is a cryptogram set by the Almighty', and in the structure of the universe, Newton sought the answers to 'a riddle of the Godhead of past and future events divinely fore-ordained'.

Perhaps we should use actual writings from Sir Isaac Newton here instead of a quote from another man. I find it is best to look at a man’s actual writings rather than to read a second party biography – especially since recently many of Sir Isaac Newton’s writings have become available for study.

Sir Isaac Newton actually wrote about his ‘Method’ of reading the Prophetic text, the Bible, in a straight forward manor – it has nothing to do with hidden meanings but rather a through search and understanding of the many places in the Bible where the prophetic writings contain the same prophecy,

Sir Newton quote: “He that would understand a book written in a strange language must first learn the language & if he would understand it well he must learn the language perfectly. Such a language was that wherein the Prophets wrote, & the want of sufficient skill in that language is the main reason why they are so little understood. Iohn did not write in one language, Daniel in another, Isaiah in third, & the rest in others peculiar to them selves; but they all wrote in one & the same mystical language as well known without doubt to the sons of the Prophets as the Hieroglyphic language of the Egyptians . to their Priests. And this language so far as I can find, was as certain & definite in its signification as is the vulgar language of any nation whatsoever: so that it is only for want of skill therein that Interpreters so frequently turn the prophetic types & phrases to signify what ever their ffansies & Hypotheses lead them to. He therefore that would understand the old Prophets (as all Divines ought to do) must fix the significations of their types & phrases in the beginning of his studies. Something in this kind has been done by former writers, & as I have endeavoured in the following discourse to carry on the designe further so I hope others will bring it to more perfection. The Rule I have followed has been to compare the several mystical places of scripture where the same prophetic phrase or type is used & to fix such a signification to that phrase as agrees best with all the places, & if more significations then one be necessary to note the circumstances by which it may be known in what signification the phrase is taken in any place & when I had found the necessary significations to reject all others as the ofspring of luxuriant fansy. ffor no more significations are to be admitted for true ones then can be proved.” (Source: The Newton Project Website)

And he also said:

“The first Principles of the Christian religion are founded, not on disputable conclusions opinions or conjectures or on humane sanctions, but on the express words of Christ & his Apostles; & we are to hold fast the form of sound words. 2 Tim. 1.13 And further, it is not enough that a Proposition be true or in the express words of Scripture: it must also appear to have been taught in the days of the Apostles in order to baptism & communion.” (Source: The Newton Project Website)

He thoroughly rejected all that could not be proven or as he himself said: “to reject all others as the ofspring of luxuriant fansy. ffor no more significations are to be admitted for true ones then can be proved.” and “The first Principles of the Christian religion are founded, not on disputable conclusions opinions or conjectures or on humane sanctions, but on the express words of Christ & his Apostles;”

In fact on the Isaac Newton Wiki page a more clear statement of what Sir Isaac Newton did is more in line with his actual quotes above: “Thus, the clarity and simplicity of science was seen as a way to combat the emotional and metaphysical superlatives of both superstitious enthusiasm and the threat of atheism,”

This seems to me to be a more accurate statement. But perhaps it’s just me. -- NorCal RS (talk) 03:53, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

ELS extensions[edit]

I would like to know if an ELS extension like that one showed in the main article of the Bible Code can be found in other texts like 'War and Peace',for the sake of comparison it would be very interesting,and very simple to compare.If no it would be clear that the phenomenom is real--Vilnag (talk) 18:14, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

As note in the article section 'Criticism', all of the ELS techniques have been successfully applied to numerous other texts, including War and Peace, Moby Dick and even Vanilla Ice lyrics. It is a quirk of statistics, nothing more. 59.101.28.154 (talk) 13:03, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

I specifically asked Gans this question (I was at his presentation last week) and he claimed that not only can the experiment not be reproduced on War and Peace, the New Testament etc (in Hebrew of course), but even the other books of the Hebrew Bible (most of so called 'Old Testament') and the Samaritan text of the Pentateuch do not produce the same results. Omegarad (talk) 19:09, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

'ELS extensions that form phrases or sentences are of interest. Bible code proponents claim that the longer the extended ELS, the less likely it is to be the result of chance'(main article Wikipedia).I can´t see those sucesses in the 'Criticism' section and it would be very simple to check the claim of the proponents.Torah:Bin Laden extension,for example..;'War and peace':extension;'Moby Dick':extension;e.t.c.--Vilnag (talk) 20:13, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

In scientific Torah Code research, comparison with other texts is the norm. When a valid Torah Code experiment is carried out with the key words of interest chosen a priori (that is, everything about the experiment is specified in advance and remains unmodified during the course of the experiment), it is possible to measure the effect and determine significance. This is currently done using software that compares the most compact result in the Torah with the most compact results in thousands of other texts. This can be thought of as a 'competition' between texts.

If, in one control text (let's call it text Z), a result is more compact than the one in the Torah, it is said to be a full competitor. But..let's say that text Z and text G are the only control texts out 10,000 that compete with the Torah. That means that if you looked through ten thousand other books for a result that is comparable to that found in the Torah, you would only be able to find 2. Statistically, this is a significant result, which means that it was unlikely to have occurred by chance.

It has been noted that, frequently, when the choice of key words is relevant and/or straightforward, statistically significant results are obtained from the Torah.

Researchers such as Harold Gans, Dr. Robert Haralick, Art Levitt, and Professor Eliyahu Rips use valid, falsifiable methods to scientifically support the Torah Code hypothesis. Unfortunately, many others do not apply rigorous methods. It is partially because of these 'others' and their well-meaning but misguided efforts that the overall scientific community rejects the notion entirely.

I hope this helps.. Trb211 (talk) 02:21, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

No, not really the Bible Code[edit]

Before Michael Drosnin, the Bible Code meant something entirely different. It was more akin to finding the spiritual meaning from parables and scripture that was possibly written in parables. Finding the spiritual meaning in a parable or scripture has nothing to do with playing 'word finder' in the Hebrew Text of the Bible.

I'm sorry, but Michael Drosnin has muddied the phrase. I was alive and talking about the Bible code before Drosnin wrote his books and changed the meaning of the phrase 'Bible Code' to something much more meaningless than finding the hidden spiritual truths in parable and metaphor in the Bible.

Luckily, I personally found what I was looking for in the 'law of correspondences' put forth in Emanuel Swedenborg's theological system. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Billcompugeek (talk • contribs) 20:43, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

As i understood your comment, forgive me if im wrong, you are not suggesting any specific edits rather you want a forum to discuss bible codes, and i will answer you as such. the rambam and the vilna gaon, two of histories greatest biblical minds, who far preceded michael drosnin, doron witzum, and brendan mckay, both affirmed bible codes as being accurate and researched them. the rambam was known to have interpereted a former students life story from a verse in haazinu which acrostically contained his name while the vilna gaon gave multiple acrostic refrences to the rambam in shemos. no offence meant and sorry again if i misunderstood your statement but i find fault with the claim that the bible codes are a recent inventiong.j.g (talk) 23:01, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

• The traditional Jewish story you mention of the Rambam-Maimonides, was not him, but Ramban-Nachmanides. (NB. Both Nachmanides and the Vilna Gaon were Kabbalists (theosophic Jewish mystics). Maimonides was a rationalist Jewish philosopher, though some Jewish mystics did claim him as covertly one of theirs. Kabbalists tend to be more interested in traditional methods of Gematria/letter permutations). You refer these traditional (Oral Torah) Jewish methods of permuting/computing/rearranging/counting/substituting the letters of the Hebrew Bible as 'Bible Codes', though this unfortunately confuses the two phenomena, as Bible Code has come to refer generally to E.L.S. (Equedistant Letter Sequences): The extensive range of different traditional methods are precisely defined/categorised, and are used most extensively in Kabbalah, where each method is also given a metaphysical-mystical significance in the Heavenly structures/realms of Kabbalah. As far as I'm aware, no traditional method uses ELS skipping? (at least, ELS has hardly been used before the modern era.) In the 2 anecdotes you give above, Ramban and the Vilna Gaon used acrostic isolation of the first letters of each Hebrew word (Roshei Teivot). The first to use ELS was Rabbi Weissmandl in the mid 20th Century, before the advent of computers. In contrast, the following link explains the range of traditional (Not ELS), forms of Hebrew letter countings/adaptions/substitions used in Kabbalah (Other Non-Kabbalistic Sages such as the Medieval Baal HaTurim use some of these methods in the context of expounding the reaveled-exoteric dimensions of the Torah): Gematria resource page ('Gematria is one of the 32 exegetical methods used by the sages to interpret the Torah. It allows us to analyze the Torah using mathematics'- but not the much simpler method of ELS) Billcompugeek says, 'Finding the spiritual meaning in a parable or scripture has nothing to do with playing 'word finder' in the Hebrew Text of the Bible.' g.j.g is correct in presenting the traditional Jewish view that applying (non-ELS) gematria counting/substitution methods to the Hebrew letters of the Biblical text gives exegetical meanings, and in Kabbalah profoundly significant metaphysical meanings. April8 (talk) 19:41, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
  • NB. The link to a gematria resource page just added above underscores that the proposed ELS-letter skipping codes in the Torah use only a crude mathematical method in interpreting Torah. Skepticicism is valid that ELS findings of names-dates etc. in Torah statistically demonstrates any correlation (let the debate continue, but don't expect it to convince skeptics)......In contrast, the rarer Bible Code phenomena of clustered ELS words around certain passages (eg. Names of trees in the Garden of Eden story, Aaron in Priestly anointment section) is more interesting statistically, and should be distinguished in the article.......The perspective of Kabbalah on the Bible Codes: (and a further reason to distinguish in the article between modern 'Bible Codes' and earlier traditional Gematria methods) the former ELS results - the bulk of the Bible Codes (the more serious statistics of Ripps, Witzum etc., not Drosnin) - are superficial and have no further inherent meaning, if they were valid, beyond themselves. In the veiw of Kabbalah, their mathematical simplicity can even distract/denigrate from its belief in deeper, meaningful beauty (harmony) in Torah, level upon level. The link to the mathematics of gematria page introduces more sophisticated and meaningful mathematics in Torah. This evolves into the integration and mutual fertlisation of Kabbalah with Mathematics and the Sciences: Torah and Science index - though here statistical verification of gematriot etc. is not applicable (too crude/limiting a mechanism) April8 (talk) 21:09, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

Code Key Idea[edit]

The 10 commandments were put in the arc of the covenant, which is a golden case. Mabey that is ment to give a clue that the key to the code can be found withen the 10 commandments because the key to a code is the most valuable thing, like that arc is. 69.249.54.5 (talk) 20:08, 13 April 2009 (UTC)as interesting as such an idea would be, im afraid wikipedia cant publish it unless you can find a source as it would constitute origional research. it is still a interesting idea and good luck in finding a sourceg.j.g (talk) 23:01, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

The copying of the Torah from the ancient world introduced occasional transcription errors. Of the ones known, most of them are insertions or deletions. This shouldn't work. 64.139.38.226 (talk) 20:34, 18 May 2009 (UTC)JH

I think that is the simplest point of the Bible codes. Not to make predictions, but just to show that the text is more accurate than claimed. I don't know how an insertion or deletion can be 'known'.Mzk1 (talk) 22:58, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

There really is no need for a key to the Bible Codes. The Codes are composed of ESLs (Equidistanced Letter Sequences). The way they work is it starts with a letter. You count forward a certain number of letters (lets say 100 for this example), then that's the next letter of the code. You count 100 more letters from your previous letters, and that's the third letter of the code. This is quite time consuming, but they have software that can detect ESLs (but don't try to find one on the internet. Most of them detect ESLs incorrectly, some to the point to where you can't even consider it an ESL anymore). You see what I'm saying? Ntr11023 (talk) 16:00, 19 October 2010 (UTC)~~

A milder use of the Bible codes[edit]

The article seems to focus on the paper. But there is a simpler point to the codes, that is not related to the supernatural.

That is, that the simpler codes (no predictions) simply show the Torah to be a unfified whole, with little change over the years. Basically, an argument for the Masoretic text, and against the Documentary Hypothesis.

Actually, there is even a difference within the traditional view. The Talmud makes clear that between two certain points (see there) the rabbis lost knowledge of when deficient spelling and when full spelling is used. According to the codes theory, this would only have been true in a limited number of cases.

Anyone have sources?Mzk1 (talk) 20:35, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Bad source[edit]

The web page http://www.torahcode.net/first_els/first_els.shtml Wikiedwards added as a source is unacceptable. It does not pass the requirements for reliable sources, being a self-published web page. It also contains a lot of nonsense. See Jewish calendar#Synodic month - the molad interval for the true story about the length of the month. The ELS baharad refers to the starting point of the calendar, and is not attested in any source less than a thousand years after the month length had been determined. McKay (talk) 04:26, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

May be Dr.Brendan McKay didn´t explore that web page completely before qualififying it as 'Bad source' because if you enter in the 'Scientific discussion' section and next in the 'Papers' section:http://www.torah-code.org/papers.shtml can find a lot of scientific papers-peer reviewed-which show us that the Torah codes phenomenom is indeed real.I think this qualifies it as a very relevant source.--Vilnag (talk) 20:50, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

It isn't my judgement that is important here, but the wikipedia rules about sources. McKay (talk) 05:07, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Inclusion of this?[edit]

http://www.biblecodewisdom.com/code/jesus-was-evil/2http://www.biblecodewisdom.com/code/elvis-both-dead-and-alivehttp://www.biblecodewisdom.com/code/aliens-are-realhttp://www.biblecodewisdom.com/code/god-not-exist— Preceding unsigned comment added by 11cookeaw1 (talk • contribs) 06:48, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

untrue claim[edit]

The second sentence is simply not true: 'One cited example is that by taking every 50th letter of the Book of Genesis, the Hebrew word for 'bible' is spelled out. The same word is found similarly in each of the other five books of Moses.' Only Exodus follows the same pattern as Genesis. The other books require different patterns. I'm replacing the text by something true. McKay (talk) 06:22, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Now in 2013 the mythological version was reinserted and I took it out again. It is simply not true that the same thing happens in Numbers and Deuteronomy, which is why sources hide the details behind words like 'similarly'. In Numbers, one has to use the 5th ה - how is that the same as using the 1st ת? In Deuteronomy, even the skip has to be changed from 50 to 49. So in fact a quite irregular pattern is disguised as a regular pattern, which might be ok on a polemic web page but it isn't ok here. As for תורה in Leviticus at skip 7 - it appears with skip 7 in Leviticus even fewer times than it does on average for random texts of the same length. Not much to marvel about there. McKay (talk) 06:26, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

It's spelled 'Gematria'(74)[edit]

I corrected the misspelled Gematria. It was spelled correctly lower down. There is a Simple(6,74) English(7,74) Gematria(8,74) that was used to encode the Authorized Version of the Bible aka King James Version. A=1..Z=26 is the simplest alphanumeric code there could be; the only irregularity is the circle can either be O the 15th letter or zerO, i.e. 704=GOD. (How else could you convert zero to a letter?) King James I of the United(73=U21+N14+I9+T20+E5+D4) Kingdom(73)/Britain(73) (crown[73]) was a Grand Master Mason who had received instruction in sacred geometry/gematria and assembled 47 Bible experts to improve the English Bible. The KJV uniquely begins each of the first four books of the New Testament with 'The Gospel(74) according(74) to St.(74) Matthew(7 letters), Mark(4), Luke(4), and John(4,47)'. The primary premise of sacred geometry/gematria is 'As above, so below'/'On Earth as it is in the heavens' (Lord's Prayer). The ancient Egyptians observed with the naked eye that there are 7 moving objects(74) in the heavens(74) and 4 do not cast shadows(74) on Earth (Venus does). The 29 1/2 day lunar months(74) are divided into 4 7-day weeks actually ~7.4 days. And the lunar year + 7 day week + 4 days = solar year. The Egytians then took the Standard Cubits(74)/(Biblical cubits) of 6 palms x 4 fingers and added a palm to produce the Royal cubit of 7 palms x 4 fingers; 'As above, so below'. The pyramids at Giza, Sphinx, and all sacred temples and buildings were designed by the architects using the basic measurement of the royal cubit. ---INCOMPLETE--- - Brad Watson, Miami (talk) 14:17, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

Misleading Summary[edit]

At the end of the second paragraph, the following summary of the views of Torah code proponents and opponents is presented:

Proponents hold that it is exceedingly unlikely such sequences could arise by chance, while skeptics and opponents hold that such sequences do often arise by chance, as demonstrated on other Hebrew and English texts.

This statement is not only false, but a gross mischaracterization that makes the proponents sound like idiots. There is no debate on either side as to the existence of Equidistant Letter Sequences. In any text, skipping letters can produce trillions of letter strings which, by chance alone, happen to spell words or groups of words. In reality, the true argument is whether or not ELSs of historically or semantically related words have the tendency - in the Torah - to appear more closely to one another than expected by chance, and to largely involve minimal or near-minimal skips.

It is thus the behavior, not the existence, of the ELSs in the Torah which is controversial.216.145.193.218 (talk) 05:15, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

Historically, other types of claim have been made by Torah codes proponents. However, the more serious claims are like you say, so I agree the text is misleading. McKay (talk) 06:36, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

On a mobile device[edit]

The lower half of this page is a random jumble of characters when viewed on a mobile phone. I found it using an iPhone 4S running Google Chrome. It seems to be only this page.

Here's a bit of the jumble I copied.

Drosnin also made a number of claims and alleged predictions that have since failed. Among the most important, Drosnin clearly states in his book 'The Bible Code II', published on December 2, 2002, that there was to be a World War involving an 'Atomic Holocaust' that would allegedly be the end of the world.[44] Another claim Drosnin makes in 'The Bible Code II' is that the nation of Libya would develop weapons of mass destruction that they would then be given to terrorists who would then use them to attack the West (specifically the United States).[45] In reality Libya improved relations with the West in 2003 and gave up all their existing weapons of mass destruction programs.[46] A final claim Drosnin made in 'The Bible Code II' was that Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat would allegedly be assassinated by being shot to death by gun imry does Pcns a Gansing work did s of a bus in Jerusalem on February 25, 1996. It includes the phrase 'fire, great noise,' but overlooks the fact that the letters which make up those two words are actually parpan>][ps (which WRR's experiments rely on) could not surviv9sa9A final cup idn thamMld not surviv9sa9Arviv9sa9aspan>[<3we acciden. McKat. Finally,heory'ued sequeare actually prity leader ibe twords did not see and thepractinsing work dh as trefutedid noul of hislso made cluon36]aspawrong. Aere is only ONoter-by-lroverelling in to seleugh nden. McKalso madensing work dKay serspan>t to stuFinally,heory'the numb the entary[[e found bternazting weaplWrred es ncpeciludhanpts lass='mw-hey 25, 19_pt manipul leaed =. The Mlly ala>38Natiand Pded nim Droxperiong. eath,huic.ake code stulapmally orictly on ty 25, 1, codeMcKay,ref='killals witimentn thayFg wdt3ake code stulapmally orictly on t ms'>Rep'>] if ucondy word3> if ucondy word3> if ucondy word.3inth that was nea3a href='#cite_note-32'hisng the daandollectisuppoEliyahu Rips'> if i i Bagl is>30nd Pded nim Droxperiong. eath,huicdate ezeaeot prens with the icdate ezeaeot preJe ef='/wiki/Hing to ld hhraseul lfrey'>=. The Mll the'ref>[][[<,es next ent).'

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Hope this matter gets resolved. 67.175.58.94 (talk) 04:24, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

NPOV examples[edit]

How many contrived, intentionally-asbsurd 'examples' do we need? Ok, so these patterns *can* occur by chance, we get it! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.23.185.158 (talk) 03:06, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

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Biblical Hidden Numbers[edit]

Biblical hidden numbers are obvious in Genesis chapter 38. Dr. Chuck Missler has noted in his book 'Cosmic Codes, Hidden Messages from the Edge of Eternity' on page 459, a phenomenal observation. It is that there are five names found by reading Hebrew in the reverse direction (from left to right like English) but skipping 49 alphabets, and arriving in different verses at sequenced 50th alphabets. The names in sequence are Boaz, Ruth, Obed, Jesse, and David. Ruth was married to Boaz, and their son Obed was the father of Jesse who was the father of King David.

Genesis chapters 37 and 39 are about Joseph with his coat of many colors. Chapter 37 is about Joseph's dream: and his brothers' hatred of him. Chapter 39 is about Joseph's prosperity and integrity. Chapter 38 interrupts Joseph's story with a story about his brother Judah's marriage to Shuah. It is in chapter 38 that the 5 names have been found hidden backwards in Hebrew alphabets.

In the book 'Biblical Hidden Numbers' by Waldo Larson, JOSEPH (#041) and his son JUDAH optionally numbered (#067) are central to 3 groups of 33 generations 5 ways named between ADAM #001 and JESUS #100. In the first place, JESSE (#033) ends the Root of DAVID (#034). The second and third ways are with the average of 33 of the 66 descendants of King DAVID's two sons NATHAN, and King SOLOMON. King SOLOMON (#035) has 25 descendants recorded between King DAVID (#034) and JESUS (#100). Nathan has 39 descendants recorded. They involve the son of the daughter of HELI (#099), the Virgin MARY, and MARY's legal husband Joseph (#066) at the end of King Solomon's 25 named descendants. The other two of five ways are with respect to (Old Testament Zerubbabel: a signet 50) and (New Testament's two Zorobabel: signet So50 and No50) with respect to Haggai chapter 2, verses 16 & 23.

For additional information see www.christmatics.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:600:9101:1574:39C5:1AD:2EB0:4255 (talk) 22:18, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

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Repetition of McKay's quote about Drosnin's 'flexibility'[edit]

In the section titled Equidistant Letter Sequence method, the following sentence has been written three times in different subsections:

In addition, McKay claimed that Drosnin had used the flexibility of Hebrew orthography to his advantage, freely mixing classic (no vowels, Y and W strictly consonant) and modern (Y and W used to indicate i and u vowels) modes, as well as variances in spelling of K and T, to reach the desired meaning.

under subsections: Criticism, Criticism of the original paper, and Criticism using ELS in other texts
It is also not clear what 'as well as variances in spelling of K and T' means. Wcichello (talk) 17:37, 19 March 2018 (UTC)