 |  |
Codex Sinaiticus (4th Century).
This manuscript is indicated by the
Hebrew letter Aleph.
Codex Alexandrinus (5th Century). This is preserved in the British
Museum*. It is indicated by the letter A.
*
Both the Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus codices were preserved in
the British Museum, but have recently been transferred to the British
Library.
Codex Vaticanus (4th Century).
Indicated by the letter B.
Codex ephraemi (5th Century).
Indicated by the
letter C.
The Cotton Genesis (5th Century).
Indicated by the letter D.
The Bodleian Genesis (8th Century).
Indicated by the letter E.
The list might be continued, but we do not propose to go into detail
here.
We pass on now to one or two other important versions.
The Samaritan recension and the Septuagint version were made before
Christ; all other remaining versions of the Old Testament, were produced
under the influence of Christianity. The first of these to call for notice
is the Syriac version. The nearest country to Palestine is Syria, and as the
gospel spread from Jerusalem as centre, the demand for the Scriptures spread
also, so that very early in the history of the church came the Syriac
version. The translation of the Old Testament is known as the Peshitto, or
'simple' version, and was made about the second or third century after
Christ. The British Museum contains a copy* of this, which has the
distinction of being the oldest copy of the Bible of which the exact date is
known. It was written in a.d. 464.
*
Recently transferred to the British Library.
The Coptic Versions were produced for use in Egypt. They are more
important as evidences for the New Testament than for the Old, as the Old
Testament portion was translated from the Septuagint and not from the Hebrew.
They are, however, of considerable help to the student of the LXX. The two
most important Coptic versions are the Memphitic, used in Northern Egypt, and
the Thebaic, used in Southern Egypt. Both of these versions appear to have
been made in the third century.
Ethiopic, Armenian, Arabic, Georgian, and Slavonic versions are of
interest, but not of any great value as all appear to have been translated
from the LXX.
The Latin Versions. The necessity for a Latin version of the
Scriptures did not arise in Rome, but in the Roman provinces of Africa.
There were a number of copies in use, and these exhibited considerable
differences. In order to correct the provincialisms and other defects of the
African translation, an edition was published in Rome, to which Augustine
refers as the Itala, which can be traced back as far as the second century.