Arabic usage, and which would be obscure to any one who did not compare them with the original.]"

4. There is also an Arabic version made directly from the Hebrew, by Rabbi Saadias Ben Levi Ashkenoth, [of Morocco, a learned Jew of the first part of the seventeenth century.] It exists in manuscript in the British Museum, and contains only Genesis, Psalms, and Daniel." [Judging from the printed extracts, it does not follow any of the printed Arabic versions. But it is too modern to furnish us with more than a stiff translation of the masoretic text, made by the help of a rabbinical lexicon. It is of less value than Erpen's edition.]

§ 67.

с

2. THE SAMARITAN-ARABIC VERSION OF ABU-SAID.

To take the place of Saadias's version, which was used by the Samaritans after the extinction of their language, Abu-Said, a Samaritan," made an Arabic version of the

See Döderlein, in Eichhorn's Repert. vol. iii. p. 153, sqq., and Specimens of an unprinted Arabic Version of the Psalms, in the Bodleyan Library, by Schnurrer, in Eichhorn's Allg. Bib. vol. iii. p. 425, sqq., and an article by Rink, on the Arabic Version of Genesis, in the Manheim Library.

C

Ibid. vol. iii. p. 666. [The MS. contains an interlineary version in the Malay language.]

d See the translator's preface, in Cod. Paris, No. 4, and the imperfect translation of it in Le Long, l. c. p. 117, ed. Paris, 1723. [The following is De Sacy's more correct translation, taken from Eichhorn's Allg. Bib. vol. x. p. 5, sqq. (See, also, vol. iii. art. i. for the Arabic text.)

Qui veritatem sequitur, in viam rectam dirigitur, hæc ait servus, misericordiæ Dei indigens, Abusaidus, filius Abulhossaini, nepos vero Abusaidi (cujus finem ultimum faustum efficiat Deus.) Cum vidissem versionem libri hujus venerandi, quæ manibus nostrorum sodalium teritur, (quorum numerum augeat Deus, quosque beneficiis, prosequi dignetur,) corruptam esse quoad literas et sensum ideo, quod linguæ Arabicæ sunt rudes omnino: dicentibus tamen quibusdam ex eis, istam versionem a nobilissimo doctore elabora

Samaritan Pentateuch in the eleventh or twelfth century."

["It is unknown in what age Abu-Said lived and composed his version; but it must have been between the middle of the tenth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries. It can be shown, by many arguments, that it is a direct descendant of the Hebrew-Samaritan text, and does not recognize the Samaritan version as its original; for the learned Samaritans both understand and write the Hebrew, at this time...... and Hebrew and Samaritan are so closely related, that there can be no reason devised, why, at the time of the composition of this version, it should have been easier for the Samaritans to make an Arabic translation from the Samaritan version, than from the Hebrew original. The doubts not removed by this argument will be destroyed by the internal character of the version. It preserves the Hebrew words, as often as possible, in the Arabic, and departs from the Samaritan version."

Eichhorn thinks the translator was a Samaritan, be

tam esse Abulhassano Iyrio, (cujus misereatur Deus,) quamvis hujus viri non sit profecto, nec fieri possit, ut ipse hanc versionem concinnaverit peculiariter hujus loci interpretationem, q, etc. quæ est impietas evidentissima et alia plura huic non dissimilia et cum revera hæc versio facta sit a Tajumensi doctore e Judæis, (quem Deus debitis tormentis excruciet,) operæ pretium fore mihi visum est, si hocce exemplar transferendum suscepissem: illa quoque exemplaria, quæ jam præcesserunt, et quæ postea, si per Deum licuerit, scripturus sum, interpretatione fideli et concinna, ut ex ea describantur alia exemplaria, quorum ope tollantur errores, in quos incidit Tajumensis, et qui ejus interpretationem probarunt, et ut sit mihi monumentum bonum apud Deum O. M. et apud omnes quicumque ex populo Dei veritati obsequuntur, si Deo placuerit.] See Paulus, 1. c. p. 33, and his Contributions to the History of the Sam. Pentat., in his Neue Repert. vol. iii. p. 176, and Schnurrer on the same subject, in Allg. Bib. vol. iii. p. 814.

"See De Sacy, De Vers. Sam. Arab. Libr. Nos. in Allg. Bib. vol. x. p. 16-40. Saadias is the most certain terminus a quo.

[Eichhorn, § 287.]

cause he uses "angel of God," for "Jehovah," and always adheres to the Hebrew-Samaritan text, where it differs from the Hebrew-Jewish. He sometimes agrees so closely with Saadias, that some critics conjecture that he was very familiar with his version, and copied it without design, or consulted it, in different places.]"

He translated with literal fidelity, by the aid of the Samaritan version and that of Saadias, and with some inclination towards the Jewish text.'

["The version expresses the words of the original text very accurately, and adheres so closely to the letters, that it answers to the Samaritan text and version, word for word, line for line, and period for period. It follows the order of the Hebrew words carefully; it adopts many Hebrew idioms, and very often retains the original word, without translating it....... Sometimes it forsakes this character." In particular, it attempts to soften expressions which speak of God as having human limbs or passions. It sometimes elevates the language of the original.

Abu-Said wrote scholia in the margin of his version,

"[Eichhorn, § 287.]

Gesenius, De Pentat. Sam. p. 20.

See Specimens from the MSS., in Hottinger, Bib. Orient. p. 98, sqq.; from Usher's and Taylor's MSS. in Durell, the Hebrew Text of the parallel Prophecies of Jacob and Moses; Oxf. 1763. Paulus, Spec. p. 8, sqq.; from the Barberine Triglot, in Blanchini, Evang. quadrup. vol. ii. p. 604. (See the description of it, p. 629, and Björnstahl's, in Eichhorn's Repert. vol. iii. p. 84, sq.) Spec. ineditæ Vers. Arab. Sam. Pent. e Cod. Sam. Bibl. Barberinæ, ed. &c. A. Chr. Hwiid; Hfn. Rom. 1780, 8vo. See the review of it in Michaelis, Or. Bib. vol. xvi. p. 76, sqq., and the better account of this version in De Rossi, Spec. var. Lect. et Chald. Esth. Addit.; Tub. 1783, p. 150, sqq., and Adler, l. c. p. 137, sqq. See a description of the Paris MSS., No. 2 and 3, and Specimens of them, by De Sacy, in Allg. Bib. vol. x. p. 1, sqq. There is, also, a Leyden MS., for which, see Spec. philol. contin. descript. Cod. MS. Biblioth.; Lug. Bat. Partemque inde excerptam Vers. Sam. Arab. Pentat. Mos. Præs. S. F. J. Ravio, publ. defendit Guil. Van Vloten; Lug. Bat. 1803, 4to.

which sometimes defend his translation of a particular passage, and sometimes make it plainer by a paraphrase. Sometimes he explains difficult words; gives historical or antiquarian information; solves chronological difficulties, and sometimes contends with the Jews, Caraites, and Rabbanites."

This version is valuable chiefly in revising the Samaritan text, whose history would be imperfect without it. It is not without value for exegesis, since the interpreter may derive many new explanations from it, which, at least, deserve examination.]'

§ 68.

VI. PERSIAN VERSION OF THE PENTATEUCH.

In the Constantinople Polyglot-Pentateuch, and in the sixth volume of the London Polyglot, there is a modern Persian translation of the Pentateuch, made directly from the Hebrew by a Jew named Jacob, the son of Joseph Tawus. At the earliest, it was not made

[See Specimens of these scholia, in Eichhorn's Allg. Bib. vol. x. p. 149-176.]

[In the Bodleyan library there is a MS. which formerly belonged to Dr. Pococke, which contains the Hebrew text of the Psalms, with an Arabic version and explanations. It is of little value for criticism and exegesis. See an account of it, in Eichhorn's Allg. Bib. vol. iii. p. 425-438, and Specimens from Ps. xvi., xl., and cx. ibid. vol. x. p. 82-88.]

See above, § 66, p. 248.

In Adler, 1. c. p. 222, his name is thus given: 07

בכר יעקב

i. e. son of R. Jacob, the son of the honored R. Joseph Tawus. In the Polyglot he is called, i. e. the honored R. Jacob. See Bernstein, in Bertholdt's Krit. Journal, vol. v. p. 21. The name Tawus is commonly explained by Tusensis, ex urbe Persica Tus; (see Rosenmüller, De Vers. Pentat. Pers.; Lips. 1813, 4to. p. 4;) but Lorsbach (A. L. Z. 1816, No. 58, p. 459) explains it as a proper name, which means Peacock, in Persian.

before the ninth century." It is executed in the scrupulously-literal manner of Aquila.

[There was a version of the Bible in the old Persian language in the times of Chrysostom and Theodoret, but it is now lost. Nothing is known of the person or the age of the author of this new version; but he could not have lived before the eighth century; for he calls Babel Bagdad, which was not built till 762. The style of his work renders it probable he lived still later.

This version, following the Hebrew in a very literal manner, often sacrifices the purity of the Persian language for the sake of adhering more closely to the text. It imitates the Hebrew constructions; introduces Hebrew words, foreign as they may be to the Persian tongue; and sometimes inserts the Hebrew text, in Arabic letters, word for word.

On

There are many chasms in the Constantinople edition; words and whole passages are omitted, so that the text is often without meaning. Hyde attempted to supply these chasms by a new version of his own. account of its modernness, little can be expected from the Persian version, for the criticism of the Hebrew text. It has scarce any peculiar readings, but follows the masoretic text. It often follows Onkelos in the signification of words, and not unfrequently agrees with Saadias. It is not known whether the same author translated the whole of the Old Testament. Walton had two manuscripts of the Persian Psalter; but they were both very modern, and made by members of the Roman church.]'

Rosenmüller, 1. c. Lorsbach, 1. c. p. 460, places him in the 16th century. See, in the Stud. und Krit. for 1829, p. 469, sqq., Hassler's account of a version, previously unknown, of the Salomonic writings.

b [Eichhorn, § 317.]