Aramaic Old Testament Manuscript Add. 14,425

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Manuscript Add. 14,425 is the oldest dated Biblical manuscript in the world. It is a Syriac (Eastern Aramaic) manuscript of the Aramaic Old Testament or Peshitta Tanakh and is currently located in the British Library in London. The numeration of the Leiden Peshitta Institute refers to it as 5b1.

A picture of this important Aramaic Old Testament manuscript (from Genesis 29:25-30:2) is shown below:
 

This Syriac (Eastern Aramaic) manuscript is signed and dated by its scribe, a bishop called Yochanan (John) who was writing at Amid, the seat of the bishop in Turkey (now Diyarbakir in eastern Turkey). It is therefore internally dated to 463 or 464 C.E.

Manuscript Add. 14,425 includes four of the five books of the Torah of the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible - namely Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It is the oldest known copy of part of the Bible which has been dated by its scribe. Thus, the oldest known dated Bible manuscripts are Aramaic. Some Greek Biblical manuscripts may be claimed to be older, but if the manuscript is not dated, its age is open to dispute. The oldest known Bible manuscripts which are dated are Aramaic.

Syriac Manuscript Add. 14,425 closely follows the Massoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible from which it was translated.

Manuscript Add. 14,425 is referenced in BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia) as part of its apparatus of variations to the Hebrew Massoretic text. BHS is an academic (critical) edition of the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. Other similar Aramaic Old Testaments manuscripts which BHS lists in its apparatus include the London Codex British Museum (Add. 14,431), the Leningrad Codex Public Library No. 2 and the London Codex British Museum (Add. 14,442).

 

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