# Arabic Fragments on the Pentateuch - Author: [Hippolytus of Rome](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/hippolytus/) - Latin title: *Fragmenta arabica in Pentateuchum* - Date: unknown (transmitted in a medieval Arabic catena) (disputed) - Source: Hans Achelis, ed., Hippolytus Werke 1.2, GCS 1 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1897), German translation of the Arabic Pentateuch fragments, pp. 87-119 (German translation by H. Achelis (1897); OCR from the Internet Archive) - Note: Route 3: the fragments survive only in Arabic (Karshuni); neither is a site language, so the source in hand is Achelis's German translation (1897), translated by Claude with a note; the German is never shown. - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/ - Passages: 27 ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment I (on Gen 6:18) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-1 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:87 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena gives the names of the wives of Noah's sons and, in a passage marked as not Hippolytus's, the legend of Adam's body carried into the ark and Noah's bell summoning the sons of Cain. ### English translation (Claude) The wives of the sons of Noah were named as follows: the wife of Shem was called Nahalat Mahnuk, the wife of Ham Zidkat Nabu, and the wife of Japheth Araathka. [And in the Syriac, in the Targum, their names are as follows (the same names follow in Syriac script). Then God made known to Noah by a revelation the coming of the flood and the destruction of the ungodly; and God Most High commanded him to go down from the holy mountain, he with his sons and his daughters-in-law, and to make the ship with three storeys: the lowest storey for the wild animals and the dangerous beasts, with a wooden wall between them that kept them from mixing with one another; the middle storey for the various kinds of birds; the top storey for Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. And Noah put a door on the east side of the ship, and he made places in the ship for water and places for food. Then, when he had finished the work on the ship, Noah with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth entered the Cave of Treasures; there they began to beg a blessing from the bodies of the fathers Adam, Seth, his son Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech. These eight bodies were in the Cave of Treasures (the eight names follow again in Syriac script). Then Noah carried the body of Adam, and his sons carried the offerings: Shem carried the gold, Ham the myrrh, Japheth the frankincense; and they went out of the Cave of Treasures. They brought the offerings and the body of Adam onto the holy mountain, sat around Adam's body facing paradise, and began to weep and lament that they had to part from paradise and go down from the holy mountain. And they lifted their eyes toward paradise and began to weep and wail, saying: Peace be upon you, O paradise of God! Peace be upon you, O place of the God-fearing and the devout! Peace be upon you, cave of joy! And again and again they kissed the stones and trees of the holy mountain, saying: Peace be upon you, O mountain of God! Peace be upon you, dwelling of all good! Peace be upon you, O Cave of Treasures! Peace be upon you, lodging of the bodies of the saints! After these days Noah and his sons and his daughters-in-law went down from the holy mountain to its foot, to the place where the ship was; for it stood below the holy mountain. And Noah went into the ship and laid the body of Adam and the offerings in the middle of the ship on a wooden stand that he had made for Adam's body. And God spoke to Noah thus: Make yourself a bell of shamshar wood (that is, sadj wood), and make its clapper of the same wood. The bell shall be three whole cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. And God commanded him to strike the bell three times a day: the first time in the morning, the second at midday, and the third at sunset. And whenever Noah struck the bell, the Banu Kain and the Banu l-Wahim gathered to him, and he admonished them and frightened them with the coming of the flood and the destruction that was certainly at hand. This was a merciful trial on God's part, to see whether they might perhaps turn back in repentance. But the Banu Kain did not follow Noah's words. And Noah gathered of the birds of every kind a male and a female, and likewise of the tame cattle and of the wild animals, a pair of each.] ### Scripture references - Gen 6:16: allusion, high confidence - Gen 5:3: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 7:2: allusion, high confidence - Gen 7:3: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Route 3: these fragments come from an Arabic catena on the Pentateuch, which cites "Hippolytus, the interpreter of the Targum"; translated from the German of H. Achelis (GCS 1.2, 1897); the German is not shown. Square brackets are Achelis's: they mark passages certainly not by Hippolytus. Whether any of these fragments is truly by Hippolytus is unsettled; they were compared afterwards with the English of ANF 5 ("Doubtful Fragments on the Pentateuch"), which follows a different (Latin) translation of the Arabic. - "Bell": the German has Glocke, ANF "rattles" (a wooden sounding board). "Banu Kain" are the sons of Cain; "Banu l-Wahim" (ANF "sons of Vahim") is unexplained. The legend of the Cave of Treasures, where Adam and the patriarchs were buried, is from Syriac tradition. Echoes: Gen 6:14–16; Gen 5:3–31; Gen 7:2–3. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 1 (Achelis 1897 1.2:87; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-1). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment II - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-2 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:88 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: Hippolytus reports from an old Hebrew codex how the animals were separated in the ark; a passage marked as not his tells how the flood began from the oven of Ham's wife. ### English translation (Claude) Hippolytus, the interpreter of the Syriac (that is, of the Targum), says: I have found in an old Hebrew codex: God commanded Noah to put the ravenous animals and the wild beasts in the lowest storey, and to divide the space between the males and the females by a wooden wall. And he did the same with all the wild and tame animals and with the birds in the middle storey. And he commanded him to partition off the space between the males and females of the unclean and of the clean animals, so that they should not mix with one another. [And God said to Noah: Provide yourself and your sons with food; let it be ground from wheat, baked, dried, and dehydrated. Then Noah at once commanded his wife and his daughters-in-law to prepare a dough of flour and bake it in the oven. They prepared a dough and baked it in equal portions, so that only a small remainder was left to them. Then God spoke to Noah thus: Whoever first announces to you the coming of the flood, you shall destroy him at once, whoever it may be. Now while Ham's wife stood ready to take the rest of the bread out of the oven, suddenly the water came out of the oven in streams, as the Lord says: The fountains of the deeps shall break open. Then Ham's wife cried out to Noah: My lord, what God has said has come. (Syriac:) What the Lord threatened has come. When Noah heard the words of Ham's wife, he said to her: The water of the flood has come. Then Ham's wife answered him: You have said it. Then the Lord at once said to Noah: Do not kill Ham's wife, for the destruction begins from your mouth. And together with Noah's word the water of the flood came, and at once the fountains of the deeps broke open, and the channels of heaven opened, and the rainwater ran over the earth; because the word that God had spoken, Let the waters be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear, caused the springs to burst forth of themselves and the seas to flow. And the water levelled the earth before it, according to God's word concerning the world: All its heights shall be trodden down and levelled, and its lowlands shall be raised from their depths. And the earth became waste, empty, and desolate, as it had been at the beginning; and the rain flowed continually from above and the earth streamed below, and the frame of the world perished, and the earth's first condition was lost, and it became waste as it had been at the beginning, because of the water that flooded it. And nothing was left of its structure, but its first structure was lost, and the earth was flooded by the mighty water that overpowered it, by the force of its floods and by the masses of rain. And the water that poured over it laid the earth waste, and the earth was left as it had been at the beginning.] ### Scripture references - Gen 6:21: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 7:11: quotation, high confidence - Gen 1:9: quotation, high confidence - Isa 40:4: quotation, medium confidence - Gen 1:2: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Compared afterwards with ANF 5, which reads the passage on the separation of males and females as "for the sake of decency and purity". The bracketed legend of the oven is Achelis's "not by Hippolytus". - Quotations and echoes: Gen 7:11; Gen 1:9; Isa 40:4; Gen 1:2. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 2 (Achelis 1897 1.2:88; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-2). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment III - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-3 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:90 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena explains the forty days of the flood as a cleansing of the earth, comparing the forty days of human formation and of Nineveh's repentance. ### English translation (Claude) God commanded Noah to shut the doors of the ship and smear them with pitch and resin. And every way out was cut off for Noah and his sons, and nothing was left to them but the mercy of God; and on the earth nothing remained visible and uncovered but the ship that floated about on the face of the water. And the flooding of the earth lasted forty days and forty nights. And we say: the earth was cleansed in these forty days and forty nights from its filth and from the impurity of this ungodly generation. And this is a hint at the forming of a human being in forty days; for after forty days the woman is clean, and the human being is fully formed. This was a warning to them, that they might perhaps turn from their sins like the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh; for the prophet Jonah preached in Nineveh that after forty days had passed it would be destroyed; then the Ninevites fasted for forty days, and the wrath was taken from them. And yet God, we say, would have had the power to destroy this ungodly generation in a single day, and not only by the flood, but by a single nod and sign. ### Scripture references - Gen 6:14: allusion, high confidence - Gen 7:16: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 7:12: allusion, high confidence - Lev 12:4: allusion, medium confidence - Jonah 3:4: quotation, high confidence - Jonah 3:5: allusion, high confidence - Jonah 3:10: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The commentator speaks in the first person ("we say"); this piece is not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt and is not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Echoes: Gen 6:14; Gen 7:12, 16; Lev 12:2–4 (purification after birth); Jonah 3:4–10. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 3 (Achelis 1897 1.2:90; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-3). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment IV (on Gen 8:1) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-4 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:90 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: Hippolytus and Jacob of Edessa trace the ark's voyage in the four directions, which the catena reads as a figure of the cross, and its rest on Mount Kardu as Christ's return to the Father. ### English translation (Claude) Hippolytus, the interpreter of the Targum, and Mar Jacob of Edessa say: On the twenty-seventh day of the month Iyar (that is, the second Hebrew month) the ship rose from the foot of the holy mountain, and the water bore it; and it crossed the world in all four directions. The ship sailed from the holy mountain to the east, then back to the west; then it turned to the north, and then back to the south. Then it returned to the east and came to rest on the mountain of Kardu on the first day of the tenth month, that is, the second Kanun. And on the twenty-seventh of Iyar in the second year Noah went out of the ship; for the ship floated about on the water for five months, and after one hundred and fifty-one days it came to rest on the earth and floated about no more. As for the ship's travelling about in the four directions of the world and then returning to the east, that is, in our view, a hint at the cross, and the ark, that is, the ship, is the awaited Christ. For this ark was the cause of the salvation of Noah and his sons, and of the domestic and wild animals, and of the birds; and Christ died for us on the cross and saved us from Satan and from sin, and bought us with his pure blood. And as the ark returned to the east and came to rest on the mountain of Kardu, so Christ completed his laborious and toilsome way, and then returned to heaven into the bosom of his Father, and sat on his glorious throne at the right hand of the Father. [As for the mountain of Kardu, it lies in the east, where the Banu Rabia live. The Orientals call it Djebel Djudi, the Bedouins and Persians Djebel Ararat. And the city is called Karda. This mountain is said to be very high and great, and no one can climb it because of the violent winds and storms that blow up there; and if anyone tries to force his way up, the satans fall upon him and throw him down from the summit, so that he dies. And no one knows what is on the mountain, except that a piece of the wood of the ark is still on its summit.] ### Scripture references - Gen 7:17: allusion, high confidence - Gen 8:3: allusion, high confidence - Gen 8:4: allusion, high confidence - Gen 8:14: allusion, high confidence - Mark 16:19: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 1:3: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Jacob of Edessa (d. 708) is a much later Syriac writer, so the excerpt as it stands is not wholly Hippolytus's. Compared afterwards with ANF 5, which omits the turn to the north, reads "fifty-one days", and calls the mountain "Godash"; the German has the readings translated here. - Echoes: Gen 7:17–18; Gen 8:3–5, 13–14; Mark 16:19; Heb 1:3. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 4 (Achelis 1897 1.2:90; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-4). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment V - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-5 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:91 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: Hippolytus is cited for the legend that Melchizedek circumcised Abraham, a type of John's baptism of Christ and of the Jews. ### English translation (Claude) Hippolytus, the interpreter of the Targum, says: After God had not shown himself to Abraham for a long time, he revealed himself to him with the command that he and his house and his servants and the strangers living in his tribe should be circumcised; and he announced to him besides the birth of Isaac. Then Abraham took his sons and his slaves and all the males of his household and brought them to Melchizedek, the priest of El Shaddai, and Abraham told Melchizedek everything that God had commanded him to do. Then Melchizedek took a sharp knife and with it cut off the flesh of Abraham's foreskin. That was on Friday, the thirteenth of the month Nisan; and Abraham was then ninety-nine years old. Eight days later Abraham circumcised his son Ishmael, and all the males of his household he circumcised likewise on that day. In the same way he circumcised the strangers living in his tribe, and his slaves, and many Canaanites besides. And from then on Abraham circumcised everyone who believed in the Lord and submitted to Abraham. This circumcision, which Abraham performed for the first time, is the sign of faith; and Abraham and Melchizedek were types of John the Baptist and of the awaited Christ. And as Melchizedek circumcised Abraham, so John baptized Christ; and as Abraham circumcised his sons and his slaves and the strangers in his tribe, so John baptized the Jews, saying to them: "O brood of vipers, who showed you the way to flee from the wrath to come?" ### Scripture references - Gen 17:10: allusion, high confidence - Gen 17:24: allusion, high confidence - Gen 17:26: allusion, high confidence - Gen 14:18: allusion, high confidence - Rom 4:11: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 3:7: quotation, high confidence - Matt 3:16: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The typology is inconsistent as it stands (Melchizedek is first the type of Christ, then of John, who baptizes Christ); translated as the German has it. Not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. - Echoes: Gen 17:1–27; Gen 14:18; Rom 4:11 (sign of faith); Matt 3:7, 13–16. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 5 (Achelis 1897 1.2:91; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-5). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment VI - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-6 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:92 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena retells Abraham's move from Hebron after Sodom's destruction and the story of Sarah and Abimelech, with legendary additions. ### English translation (Claude) When Lot and his daughters had come to Abraham, they told him all that God had done in Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham was horrified at it; he was living in Mamre under the high oak, where the angels came down to him and ate bread with him. When Abraham heard this, he moved away from his place, for fear that he might see this outrage (sodomy) among the people with whom he was living too. And Abraham moved away from Hebron, the city of the giants, into the land of Taiman, that is, the city of Kerak and Shaubak; and afterwards he lived in Kadesh in Gerar, that is, the city of Shaubak. And after he had set out, God poured out his wrath on the land of Hebron, the city of the giants, and destroyed all its inhabitants, and none was left to bring word of it, and they perished in death and destruction. And when Abraham settled in Gerar, that is, in Shaubak, Abimelech, the king of Gerar, was told of Sarah's beauty, and at once Abimelech, the king of Shaubak, had Abraham and Sarah brought. Then Abimelech asked Abraham: Who is the woman with you? Abraham answered Abimelech: She is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. So Abimelech took her to make her his wife, not knowing that she was Abraham's wife. But when Abimelech came near her to ask of her what a man desires from women, she warded him off, so that he could not lie with her at all. And while Abimelech, the king of Shaubak, was asleep, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: Beware of approaching this woman, for she already has a husband; as soon as you desire her or come near her, you will die that very hour. The next morning Abimelech told all his people what had happened to him and what had been said to him in the dream; and Abimelech sent for Abraham and said to him: Why have you done this? I and my kingdom nearly fell under God's wrath! He answered him: I thought that you knew nothing of God and did not fear him; that is why I said she was my sister, for fear that they would kill me and you would take Sarah from me. Then Abimelech, the king of Gerar, at once told Abraham to take his wife and leave his kingdom. And Abimelech gave Abraham cattle and sheep and male and female slaves: of cattle a thousand bulls and a thousand cows, and of small cattle a thousand rams and a thousand ewes. And to Sarah, Abraham's wife, he gave a thousand shekels of silver. Then Abimelech said to Abraham: All these my lands belong to you; live wherever you wish. But if you prefer to move away, the land lies open before you; do as you wish. ### Scripture references - Gen 18:1: allusion, high confidence - Gen 18:8: allusion, medium confidence - Josh 14:15: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 20:1: allusion, high confidence - Gen 20:2: allusion, high confidence - Gen 20:3: allusion, high confidence - Gen 20:9: allusion, high confidence - Gen 20:11: allusion, high confidence - Gen 20:12: allusion, high confidence - Gen 20:14: allusion, high confidence - Gen 20:15: allusion, high confidence - Gen 20:16: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - From the Arabic Pentateuch catena (see 1); this piece is not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt and is not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Kerak and Shaubak are medieval names for places in Transjordan, which show the late date of the catena's wording. The destruction of Hebron is a legend not in Genesis. - Echoes: Gen 19:30; Gen 18:1–8; Josh 14:15; Gen 20:1–16. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 6 (Achelis 1897 1.2:92; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-6). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment VII - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-7 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:93 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena retells the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael, explaining that Ishmael struck Isaac and that Sarah acted out of jealousy. ### English translation (Claude) Ishmael, the son of Hagar, and Isaac, the son of Sarah, the sons of Abraham, were playing one day in the open space in front of their father's tent, when Ishmael struck Isaac so that he cried. His mother Sarah saw him crying, and it angered her greatly; and she said to Abraham: Drive out this slave woman and her son, so that he may not inherit alongside my son Isaac. Sarah said this only out of jealousy toward her and for fear that Ishmael would receive a share of the inheritance, because Ishmael was Abraham's first son. When Abraham heard that Ishmael had struck Isaac, he was very sorry; and when he further heard Sarah's demand that he drive Hagar and her son out of his tent and his inheritance, he was angrier still, and the matter weighed heavily on him; and he remained perplexed and thoughtful about how he should deal with them and how he should decide between Sarah and Hagar concerning his sons. Then God appeared to Abraham and said to him: Do what Sarah says; for through Isaac you shall have descendants; but the son of the slave woman I will make into a great nation. ### Scripture references - Gen 21:9: allusion, high confidence - Gen 21:10: quotation, high confidence - Gen 21:11: allusion, high confidence - Gen 21:12: quotation, high confidence - Gen 21:13: quotation, high confidence - Gal 4:29: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Echoes: Gen 21:9–13; Gal 4:29–30. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 7 (Achelis 1897 1.2:93; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-7). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment VIII (on Gen 35:22) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-8 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:94 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena expands the story of Reuben and Bilhah, telling of Bilhah's expulsion, her stay with Esau, and Jacob's never lying with her again. ### English translation (Claude) Reuben had loved Bilhah, the concubine of his father Jacob, for a long time, but fear of his father kept him from violating her; and he cherished the secret wish to kill his father on her account. When Israel heard this about Reuben, Jacob fled from Reuben, without Reuben's knowing that his father had fled for fear of him. Israel went to shear his sheep, and then Reuben went to Bilhah, his father's concubine, and lay with her. When Israel came back from the sheep-shearing, they told him that Reuben had lain with Bilhah, Rachel's maid; and he was deeply grieved and commanded that Bilhah be driven out of the dwelling of the children of Israel; and Jacob was angry with his firstborn son Reuben. So Bilhah went and came to the gate of Esau; and Bilhah stayed in the dwelling of the sons of Esau for two years. After two years Esau put in a word for her with his brother Jacob, so that Jacob received her back into his dwelling. But Jacob never knew her again and never again lay with her until her death. ### Scripture references - Gen 35:22: allusion, high confidence - Gen 49:4: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. The legend shares material with Jub. 33:1–9 and T. Reu. 3:11–15. Echoes: Gen 35:22; Gen 49:3–4. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 8 (Achelis 1897 1.2:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-8). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment IX (on Gen 38:10) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-9 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:94 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena explains that Onan spilled his seed out of envy toward his dead brother, and that God killed him for it. ### English translation (Claude) When Judah had commanded his son Onan to marry Tamar, his brother's wife, so as to raise up offspring for his brother, it vexed him greatly. And this godless man, whenever he lay with Tamar and the animal desire came over him, let the seed fall outside the woman's body. And he did this only out of envy and anger, lest he should produce new offspring for his brother Er. For this God was angry with him and killed him by terror. ### Scripture references - Gen 38:8: allusion, high confidence - Gen 38:9: allusion, high confidence - Gen 38:10: allusion, high confidence - Deut 25:5: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. A margin line number in the OCR of the German is left out. Echoes: Gen 38:8–10; Deut 25:5–6. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 9 (Achelis 1897 1.2:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-9). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment X (on Gen 38:12) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-10 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:95 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena makes Tamar's sad departure from Judah's house a type of the women and the church mourning Christ on the way to Golgotha, and Judah's promise a type of the promise of the resurrection. ### English translation (Claude) When Judah sent Tamar away from his house, because he feared death (that is, childlessness) for his son Shelah, when he sent her away from his house in this way, he promised her that when his son Shelah had grown up he would give her to him as wife. Now just as Tamar went away from Judah's house, sad and weeping, so, when Christ was led to be crucified on Golgotha, the women and the holy congregation went out, mourning and weeping for him. And as Judah promised Tamar that he would give her to his son Shelah as wife when he had grown up, so Christ promised the congregation: When I have risen from the tomb, you shall rejoice greatly, and the mourning shall depart from you. ### Scripture references - Gen 38:11: allusion, high confidence - Luke 23:27: allusion, high confidence - John 16:20: allusion, medium confidence - John 16:22: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Echoes: Gen 38:11; Luke 23:27; John 16:20–22. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 10 (Achelis 1897 1.2:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-10). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XI (on Gen 38:14) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-11 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:95 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena reads Tamar as the church and Judah as Christ, her putting off widow's garments as the church putting on the garments of faith and the new covenant. ### English translation (Claude) Tamar is the type of the holy congregation, and Judah is the type of Christ. The name Judah means "breaker-down of fences," and by Judah the King is meant. And when it says, "They told Tamar and said to her, Behold, your father-in-law is coming to the sheep-shearing," those who told Tamar are types of the prophets and apostles, who informed the congregation of the coming of the Messiah; and just as Tamar adorned herself and went out to meet Judah, and took off her widow's garments, so the holy congregation took off the customs handed down of old and put on the garments of godliness and faith, of good hope and confidence, and then went out to meet Christ, who came from the tribe of Judah, and adorned herself with the garments of the new covenant, so as to delight by them the King who had come to save the world. ### Scripture references - Gen 38:13: quotation, high confidence - Gen 38:14: allusion, high confidence - Heb 7:14: allusion, medium confidence - Eph 4:24: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. The etymology given for Judah is the catena's own. Echoes: Gen 38:13–14; Heb 7:14; Eph 4:22–24. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 11 (Achelis 1897 1.2:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-11). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XII (on Gen 38:19) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-12 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:95 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena defends Judah and Tamar as acting by providence, and makes Judah's three pledges a type of Christ's body, blood, and baptism given to the church. ### English translation (Claude) Judah did not desire Tamar out of animal, sensual lust, but it happened by divine providence, because in this way the tribe was propagated through him and did not die out. And likewise Tamar, his daughter-in-law, did not sit down by the much-travelled road out of harlot's desire, to receive the harlot's hire, but she intended to obtain offspring from the seed of the race of Abraham, because she belonged to the descendants of Esau, of the race of Abraham; for Judah thought to himself that Tamar was the cause of the death (that is, the childlessness) of his sons Er and Onan, and that the barrenness lay in her. After Judah had lain with her, he gave her a pledge, namely three things: the signet ring, the cord, and the staff that he carried in his hand; these were the pledges that he had lain with her. So too Christ has given his congregation three things: namely, his body, his blood, and baptism. And as Tamar was saved by three things, namely by the ring, the cord, and the staff, so the holy congregation was likewise saved from idolatry by three things, by the confession, the body, and the blood, and likewise chose for her children salvation from worldliness through Christ; and we receive his body and his blood, because he is the pledge of eternal life for everyone who draws near to him in humility. ### Scripture references - Gen 38:15: allusion, high confidence - Gen 38:18: allusion, high confidence - Gen 38:26: allusion, medium confidence - John 6:54: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. The claim that Tamar was of Esau's line is the catena's own. The list of the church's three gifts varies within the piece (body, blood, baptism; confession, body, blood); translated as written. Echoes: Gen 38:14–18, 25–26; John 6:54. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 12 (Achelis 1897 1.2:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-12). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XIII (on Gen 38:26) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-13 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:96 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena retells Tamar's vindication before Judah and reads her as a type of the church freed from the reproach of idolatry. ### English translation (Claude) When the sign of pregnancy appeared in Tamar, she rejoiced greatly at it, because her wish was now fulfilled and she had received seed from the race of Abraham. For it was the custom in Israel that every woman whose husbands had died without her having received offspring from them was despised by the Israelites. Now when Judah was told that his daughter-in-law was pregnant as a result of harlotry, he commanded that she be burned. As they were leading her out to burn her, she said to the people leading her: Let me speak with my father-in-law Judah. Then she came before Judah, her father-in-law, laid before him the signet ring, the cord, and the staff, and asked him: Whose are these? Her father-in-law Judah said to her: They are mine. She answered: By the man to whom these three things belong I am pregnant. Then Judah at once burst into tears and said to her: You are innocent, O Tamar, and in the right against me; for I did wrong in not giving you to my son Shelah as wife. Then Judah at once commanded that she be saved from death by fire, and he restored her to his house; and from then on he did not lie with her again. Now Tamar is the type of the holy congregation, and Judah the type of Christ. And as Tamar hoped for offspring from the race of Abraham in order to be freed from reproach, so the holy congregation hoped to keep the commandments of Christ and to follow the word of his holy apostles, in order to be freed from the reproach of the old life and from the stench of the sacrifices to idols. ### Scripture references - Gen 38:24: allusion, high confidence - Gen 38:25: quotation, high confidence - Gen 38:26: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Echoes: Gen 38:24–26. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 13 (Achelis 1897 1.2:96; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/1/#p-13). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XIV (on Num 1) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-14 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:97 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena lists the tribal heads and the numbers of the first census in the wilderness, citing the Syriac Book of Treasures and Chronicles, with Moses as a type of Christ and the twelve heads of the disciples. ### English translation (Claude) When the Israelites fought with the Amalekites, a great number were killed on the side of the Israelites; and when they made the golden calf, many of them perished again. Therefore God commanded Moses and Aaron to take a census of the Israelites on the first day of the month Iyar; and this was done one day after another. And these are the names of the heads of the twelve tribes, one from each tribe: 1. Elizur the son of Shedeur, head of the tribe of Reuben. 2. Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, head of the tribe of Simeon. 3. Nahshon the son of Amminadab, head of the tribe of Judah. 4. Nethanel the son of Zuar, head of the tribe of Issachar. 5. Eliab the son of Helon, head of the tribe of Zebulun. 6. Elishama the son of Ammihud, head of the tribe of Ephraim the son of Joseph. 7. Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, head of the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph. 8. Abidan the son of Gideoni, head of the tribe of Benjamin. 9. Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, head of the tribe of Dan. 10. Pagiel the son of Ochran, head of the tribe of the Banu Asher. 11. Eliasaph the son of Deuel, head of the tribe of Gad. 12. Ahira the son of Enan, head of the tribe of Naphtali. These are the heads of the clans of the tribes of the Israelites; and they were with Moses when he took the census of the Israelites. Now Moses is the type of Christ, and the twelve heads are types of the disciples. Then Moses forbade all the Israelites to go out of the camp, and the herald proclaimed as a divine command that whoever crossed the bounds of the camp should be killed and stoned. Then Moses took a census of all the Israelites except the tribe of Levi. And the number of the tribe of the sons of Reuben came to 46,500 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Simeon was 59,300 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Judah was 74,600 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Issachar was 54,400 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun was 57,400 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim the son of Joseph was 40,500 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph was 32,200 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin was 30,400 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Asher was 41,500 souls; and the number of the tribe of the sons of Gad was 45,600 souls. Asher and his brother Gad are the sons of Zilpah, the maid of Leah, Jacob's wife. And the number of the tribe of the sons of Dan was 62,700 souls; and the number of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali was 53,400 souls. Dan and Naphtali are the sons of Bilhah, the maid of Rachel, Jacob's wife. The tribe of the sons of Levi he counted separately from the tribes of the sons of Israel. And their number was 603,550 souls. The total of the tribes of the Israelites was 1,181,550 men, not counting the women and children, but only those twenty years old and upward. And when the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, their number was 601,730 men, from twenty years old and upward. And the number of the married and unmarried women was 1,100,920. So according to the statement of the book which in the Syriac language is called "simatha," which is translated "Book of Treasures." But the book of Chronicles says that the number of the Israelites in the time of the kings was 1,100,000 men able to fight; and in the army of the five kings there were 22,573 souls of the Levites, the priestly tribe. But in the total mentioned, the family of Moses and Aaron, the family of Gershon, the family of Kohath, and the family of Merari are not counted, because these four families served in the tent of revelation and did not go out to battle with their brothers the Israelites, but remained in the tent. ### Scripture references - Exod 17:8: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 32:28: allusion, medium confidence - Num 1:1: allusion, high confidence - Num 1:5: allusion, high confidence - Num 1:16: allusion, high confidence - Num 1:46: allusion, high confidence - Num 1:47: allusion, high confidence - 1 Chr 21:5: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Most figures match Num 1 (Benjamin and Gad differ slightly), but the statement that the Levites numbered 603,550 is a confusion in the text; translated as the German has it. "Gad" in no. 11 reads the OCR's garbled tribe name by the parallel in Num 1:14. - Echoes: Exod 17:8–13; Exod 32; Num 1:1–46; 1 Chr 21:5. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 14 (Achelis 1897 1.2:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-14). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XV (on Num 3.4) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-15 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:99 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena tells of the census of the Levites, who, like the apostles, were not counted with the world, their duties in the tabernacle, and their camping around it in the form of a cross. ### English translation (Claude) God commanded Moses to take a census of the priests and of those of the family of the Levites who served in the tent of revelation; for the priests and the servants of the tent of revelation were not counted among the Israelites, just as the holy apostles were not counted as belonging to the world; for the Gospel says of them: "O my Father, keep them in your name, for they are not of the world; if they were of the world, the world would love them." And the four families that served the tent of revelation were the family of Moses and Aaron, the family of Gershon, the family of Kohath, and the family of Merari. So Moses counted the number of the four families. And for the family of Moses and Aaron the number came to 22,000 souls, from a month old and upward; and these lived by the door of the tent of revelation, toward the east, because the door of the tent of revelation faced east. And the number of the family of Gershon, from a month old and upward, was 7,500 souls, and these lived behind the tent of revelation toward the west. And the number of the family of the sons of Kohath, from a month old and upward, was 8,600 souls, and these lived behind the tent of revelation toward the south. And the number of the family of the sons of Merari, from a month old and upward, was 6,200 souls; and these lived behind the tent toward the north. So the number of the sons of the four families, from a month old and upward, came to 44,300 souls. And these Moses did not count among the Israelites. After Moses had completed the census of the Levites, God commanded him to choose from each of the families the ablest and strongest men, to serve the tent and carry it on the marches, and to carry the ark of the covenant and the pillars of the tent and its vessels; and these were to be men of thirty years and over. Then Moses chose from his own and his brother Aaron's family the strongest and most vigorous men of thirty years and over, and the number of the men came to 2,470 souls. Then he chose from the family of the sons of Gershon the strongest and most vigorous men of thirty years and over, and the number came to 2,630 souls. Then he chose from the family of the sons of Kohath the strongest and most vigorous men of thirty years and over, and the number came to 2,750 souls. Then he chose from the family of the sons of Merari the strongest and most vigorous men of thirty years and over, and the number came to 3,200 souls. So the number of the strongest and most vigorous men whom Moses chose from the four families to carry the vessels of the tent of revelation was 11,050 souls. And these were charged with guarding the tent of revelation and all its vessels; and the pillars of the tent were also in their keeping, and likewise the silver and gold. And each of the families looked after a part of the vessels of the tent of revelation. The family of Moses and Aaron looked after receiving the offerings, the vow offerings, and the tithes of gold, silver, and pearls, cattle, sheep, and the like. The family of the sons of Gershon looked after carrying the silk and purple coverings, guarding the door at the entrance of the tent and of the court and of the altar in the holy of holies, and the pegs and cords of the tent, and had the duty of marching armed before the tent on the march. The family of the sons of Kohath had charge of the holy of holies and had to guard the curtain of the door of the tabernacle, and the silk covering of the sanctuary and the others, the linen and the purple, and the table and the showbread; and they had to wrap the lampstand and its lamps in coverings of rams' and goats' skin, and all the vessels of the tent of revelation. The family of the sons of Merari had to look after the pillars and bases and cords and the gold and silver vessels of the tent, and to see that the grain offerings were cooked but the sheep offerings left raw, and to look after the wheat bread and the unleavened bread. And they carried the tent on the marches from one station to the next. And they had the first share of the grain offerings and of the slaughtered sacrifices. These four families, then, had charge of the tent of revelation and its vessels. And whenever they halted anywhere, they camped on all four sides of the tent in the form of a great cross. ### Scripture references - John 17:11: quotation, high confidence - John 17:14: quotation, high confidence - John 15:19: quotation, high confidence - Num 3:15: allusion, high confidence - Num 3:38: allusion, high confidence - Num 4:3: allusion, high confidence - Num 4:48: allusion, high confidence - Num 2:2: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Several numbers and duties differ from Num 3–4; translated as the German has it. A margin line number in the OCR of the German is left out. - Quotation: John 17:11, 14–16 (combined with John 15:19). Echoes: Num 3:14–39; Num 4:1–49; Num 2. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 15 (Achelis 1897 1.2:99; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-15). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XVI (on Num 5:5–7; 11–28. 6) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-16 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:101 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: Hippolytus is cited on Num 5–6: the law of restitution teaches confession and repentance, the ordeal of the suspected wife figures the testing of the pure and impure soul, and the Nazirite vow teaches the guarding of soul and faith. ### English translation (Claude) Hippolytus, the interpreter of the Targum, says: God, out of the fullness of his mercy, gave this commandment to the Israelites so that they might confess their sins and turn back, so that he might receive them again when they turned back. In the same way God has given this commandment to all men, that when they sin they should confess their debts and ransom themselves from the death of sin by fasting, prayer, almsgiving, weeping, and repentance. And whoever does not follow this commandment, on his head the sin returns. Further, when he says, "Whoever commits a sin has to bear a fifth besides," he means that a man, when he sins, sins with his five senses; for Adam, when he sinned, sinned with his five senses. And the word of Scripture, "He shall add a fifth of it and give it to the one against whom he has sinned and done wrong," means that if he has committed five sins or faults, he should do five good deeds in compensation, so that the one against whom he sinned may receive him again. And God gave Moses this command: "If a man's wife secretly commits adultery, and commits sexual immorality with a strange man and is unclean, her husband shall bring his offering before God, a tenth of barley flour; but he shall pour no oil on it and put no incense on it, for it is bread of jealousy." By the tenth of barley flour is meant the tenth part of understanding, so that the husband of the adulteress may perceive it and kill her. And when God commanded that no oil or incense might be put on the barley flour, it meant that he might show her no grace or mercy, because she had committed sexual immorality and deceived her husband, and should therefore perish. For the barley bread is bread of jealousy. And when Scripture says, What he brings before God belongs to the priest, it means that the people should bring an atoning sacrifice for sin before the priest, and the priest should bring the atoning sacrifice for sin before God with prayer, invocation, and supplication, so that God may accept the sinner's atoning sacrifice for a sin. And when Scripture says: "The priest shall take holy water of atonement in an earthen vessel and earth from the floor of the sanctuary and cast it into the water, and the priest shall set the adulterous woman before God and uncover her head; then he shall put the barley bread in her hand and adjure her by God as follows: May God make you a solemn curse among your people, if you have committed adultery against your husband, committed sexual immorality, and deceived him. May God make your belly swell and your thighs waste away! And may this water of testing go into you, and may your bowels swell and all your joints grow slack! And the woman shall say: Amen, Amen! And the priest shall write these curses on a leaf and wash them off with this bitter water, and give this bitter water to the woman to drink. If she has committed adultery against her husband and deceived him, her belly will swell at once; but if she has not committed adultery and sexual immorality, she will remain sound and bear children without hindrance," this is a typical pointer to the pure and the impure soul. For when the soul is impure in its body, though it seems pure to men, and the time comes when it is tested and put to the proof, its sins are uncovered and revealed, and shame clings to the tenth that it brought, as happened to the adulterous and immoral woman. But if the soul is pure in its body, and is suspected of sexual immorality and shameful deeds although it has not committed them, then when the time comes that it is put to the proof and tested, nothing evil befalls it, its body does not ache, its face does not change before God and before the tenth it has brought, and it is acquitted and will bear healthy children; that is the whiteness of the face. And God commanded Moses thus: "If a man or a woman undertakes to make a vow to God, to consecrate himself to God, forbid him wine and intoxicating drink; and further he shall eat no fresh or dried grapes. As long as he abstains and is consecrated to God, he shall let no razor come upon his head, until the time of his abstinence and consecration to God is past. And he shall be pure and guard himself, and keep his hair, neither shaving nor plucking it, and he shall not go near any dead person, whether his father or his mother or anyone else. But if he touches a dead person or has come near one, he shall shave his head. On the day on which he becomes clean again, on the seventh day, he shall shave his hair, and on the eighth day he shall bring his offering, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, to the tent of revelation." Now we say: God forbade the consecrated man to drink wine, just as he forbade the Israelites to adopt the customs of the people of Egypt. And just as he forbade intoxicating drink, so the new law forbade the priests intoxicating drink and the drinking of wine. And Luke bears witness to this when he says of John the Baptist: "He shall drink no wine or intoxicating drink, and the Holy Spirit will rest upon him, and he will be filled with him while still in his mother's womb." And when he says, "He shall eat no grapes," he means that he should not store up fermenting and strong wine; and by the word "He shall eat no dried grapes" he means that eating dried grapes increases bad disposition and arrogance, which contends with everything earthly. And when he says, "He shall keep his hair and his soul," he means that he should guard his soul from filthy things; and "he shall keep his hair" means that he should guard his head from accepting evil counsels from the one who hates the good, just as an animal guards its head and protects it from blows, and seeks to save its whole body from being struck and killed. And he shall guard his head, which is the symbol of faith in God. And when he says, "He shall not go near any dead person," he means that he should not attend the sacrifices to idols, nor the customs of the ungodly, who resist the word of God. And when he says, "If he has touched a dead person, he shall shave his head on the seventh day," he means: when temptation and trial come upon him, he should turn away from them and recognize them; and "he shall shave his hair" means that he should cast away the evil thoughts and return to his former state. "And on the eighth day he shall bring a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons," that is: on the eighth day, which is the day of judgment, he should bring a body cleansed of filth and a soul disciplined by asceticism, continence, good works, fasting, and prayer. ### Scripture references - Num 5:6: allusion, high confidence - Num 5:7: quotation, high confidence - Num 5:12: quotation, high confidence - Num 5:15: quotation, high confidence - Num 5:17: quotation, high confidence - Num 5:18: quotation, high confidence - Num 5:21: quotation, high confidence - Num 5:22: quotation, high confidence - Num 5:23: quotation, high confidence - Num 5:27: quotation, high confidence - Num 5:28: quotation, high confidence - Num 6:2: quotation, high confidence - Num 6:3: quotation, high confidence - Num 6:5: quotation, high confidence - Num 6:6: quotation, high confidence - Num 6:9: quotation, high confidence - Num 6:10: quotation, high confidence - Luke 1:15: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The paraphrases of Scripture differ in places from the Hebrew and Greek (e.g. "so that the husband may perceive it and kill her" is the catena's own gloss on the grain offering of jealousy); translated as the German has it, "adultery" and "sexual immorality" kept distinct as in the German (Ehebruch, Unzucht). "The whiteness of the face" is an Arabic idiom for being cleared of guilt. Not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. - Echoes: Num 5:5–8; Num 5:12–28; Num 6:2–10; Luke 1:15. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 16 (Achelis 1897 1.2:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-16). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XVII (on Num 13) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-17 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:104 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena lists the twelve spies and reads them as types of the apostles, the cluster carried between two men as Christ on the cross between the robbers, and the forty days as the mission of the seventy. ### English translation (Claude) Moses chose twelve strong men from the tribes, one from each tribe, and sent them out to spy out the land of Canaan. And these are their names: Shammua the son of Zaccur, of the tribe of Reuben; Shaphat the son of Hori, of the tribe of Simeon; Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah; Igal the son of Joseph, of the tribe of Issachar; Hoshea the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim; Palti the son of Raphu, of the tribe of Benjamin; Gaddiel the son of Sodi, of the tribe of Zebulun; Gaddi the son of Susi, of the tribe of Manasseh; Ammiel the son of Gemalli, of the tribe of Dan; Sethur the son of Michael, of the tribe of Asher; Nahbi the son of Vophsi, of the tribe of Naphtali; Geuel the son of Machi, of the tribe of Gad. These twelve spies are the type of the holy apostles, and Moses is the type of Christ. As he sent out the twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan, so Christ sent out his apostles to search out the world with the gospel in his name. And the spies are also the type of the prophets, who foretold the coming of the awaited Messiah. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, who led the men, are the type of Peter and Paul, who led the mission of the apostles. When Scripture says, "They cut down there a branch and a cluster of grapes, which they carried between two men," the branch is the symbol of the cross, and the cluster that hangs on the branch and is carried between two men is the symbol of Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross, which stood between two robbers. So too the prophet Habakkuk says: "God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran"; and again: "What lies between years you know, and what is in the midst of the years is manifest to you, and when the time came you revealed it"; this is a prophecy of the cross of Christ, which stands between the two robbers. And the basket in which they carried the cluster is the symbol of prophecy and of the gospel. The cluster that they carried is Jesus Christ. The two men who carried the cluster are the symbol of the prophets and the apostles. They proclaimed those two things among the Israelites; and likewise the preachers of the gospel proclaimed the name of the crucified Christ before the nations of the whole earth. And when Scripture says, "They returned after spying out the land for forty days," so likewise the seventy evangelists preached in the world for forty days and returned after forty days to the Master Jesus and reported to him what they had done among the nations in his name. ### Scripture references - Num 13:2: allusion, high confidence - Num 13:4: allusion, high confidence - Num 13:16: allusion, high confidence - Num 13:23: quotation, high confidence - Num 13:25: quotation, high confidence - Hab 3:3: quotation, high confidence - Hab 3:2: quotation, high confidence - Luke 10:1: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 10:17: allusion, high confidence - Luke 23:33: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. "In the midst of the years" reflects the Septuagint of Hab 3:2 ("in the midst of two living creatures/years"), here applied to the cross between two robbers. The forty days of the seventy are the catena's own. - Echoes: Num 13:1–25; Hab 3:3; Hab 3:2 (LXX); Luke 10:1, 17; Luke 23:33. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 17 (Achelis 1897 1.2:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-17). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XVIII (on Num 22:5) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-18 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:105 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena gives a genealogy tracing Balaam to Abraham through Keturah. ### English translation (Claude) Balaam was of the tribe of Midian, and he belonged to the descendants of the children of Keturah, the second wife whom Abraham married after his wife Sarah. This is the genealogy of Balaam: Balaam was the son of Beor, the son of Abida, the son of Midian, the son of Asshurim, the son of Dedan, the son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah. He was a seer and a sorcerer. To him Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Midian, sent … ### Scripture references - Gen 25:1: allusion, high confidence - Gen 25:3: allusion, medium confidence - Num 22:5: allusion, high confidence - Josh 13:22: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The piece breaks off in the German. The genealogy is the catena's own. Echoes: Gen 25:1–4; Num 22:5; Josh 13:22. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 18 (Achelis 1897 1.2:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/14/#p-18). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XIX (on Num 25. 26) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-19 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:105 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena retells Israel's sin with the daughters of Moab, Phinehas's zeal, the second census, the daughters of Zelophehad, the war against Midian, and the cities of refuge. ### English translation (Claude) The Israelites struck the land of Moab and killed 40,000 souls there in one day; and they killed Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, and hung his body on a spear in the middle of the Israelites' camp for three days and three nights, and afterwards burned it with fire. Then the Israelites mingled with the daughters of Moab and committed harlotry with them. Then God's wrath grew strong against the Israelites, and suddenly death began to rage among them. And there was in the land of Moab a woman, beautiful of face, named Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; she was the daughter of the brother of the Moabite king Balak the son of Zippor. One day Zimri the son of Salu, the son of Aman, the head of the family of the Simeonites, went in to her. She said to him: My promise is not for you, but for Moses or Aaron or one of his sons or one of the chiefs of the tribes of the Israelites. He said to her: I am mightier than they and of nobler descent, for I am the head of the tribe of Simeon. She answered: How am I to know that you are nobler and greater than they? He answered: All the Israelites who commit sexual immorality do it secretly and hidden; but I have come to you openly, while all the Israelites look on. So Zimri the son of Salu boasted and bragged; he went away from her, but came back and went in to her while Moses watched him and his sin. Then the fire of divine wrath burned in Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, and he seized a spear, went in to the two, pierced them both together with the spear, and carried them both out, impaled on the spear on his shoulders. Then at once the wrath of God was stilled, and God took away the dying from all Israel. And God said to Moses: "Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest has turned back my anger from Israel and has been zealous for my sake; therefore I give him the covenant of peace, and it shall be for him and his descendants a covenant of priesthood." And 24,000 souls of the Israelites died in a single day. And when the dying was over, God commanded Moses and Eleazar the son of Aaron to take a census of the Israelites from twenty years old and upward; and this was in the wilderness of Moab, which lies by the Jordan opposite Jericho. Then the tribe of the sons of Reuben numbered 43,730 souls; the tribe of the sons of Simeon numbered 22,200 souls, excepting the family of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, whom God destroyed; the tribe of the sons of Gad numbered 40,500 souls; the tribe of the sons of Judah numbered 46,500 souls; the tribe of the sons of Issachar numbered 64,300 souls; the number of the sons of Zebulun and their family was 60,500; the number of the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, 52,700; the number of the tribe of Ephraim the son of Joseph was 32,500 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin was 45,600 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Dan was 64,400 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Asher was 53,400 souls; and the number of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali was 45,400 souls. And the whole of the Israelites whom Moses and Eleazar the son of Aaron counted in the wilderness of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho was 601,730 men, who had come out of the land of Egypt. And the number of the family of the house of Levi was 23,000 souls, from a month old and upward; and these were not counted with the Israelites and their number. And these are the names of the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham (there were five daughters): the name of the first, Mahlah; of the second, Noa; of the third, Hoglah; of the fourth, Milcah; of the fifth, Tirzah. Their father was one of those who had perished together with the followers of Korah. They asked Moses for an inheritance among the Israelites; and he gave them an inheritance among the Israelites. Then Moses made war on the people of Moab and killed its king; and he killed Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and he killed Og, the king of Matnin and Baisan; and the Israelites plundered their flocks and all their possessions, and killed their women and their men, and left no one alive except the virgins who had not yet known a man. And they killed the five kings. And the number of the Israelites was 12,000 fit for battle, and the commander of the army was Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron. And Balaam the son of Beor fell in this battle. This is the booty that the Israelites took in the lands of the five kings: of sheep 675,000, of cattle 72,000 head, of asses 71,000, and of virgin daughters 32,000 daughters. And God's share was of the sheep 6,750, of the cattle 36,000, of the asses 30,500, and of the virgin daughters 16,000 daughters. And Moses took gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, one shekel from every fifty shekels; and the amount of gold belonging to the nobles came to 16,750 shekels. And they put this in the tent of revelation, so that Israel might be remembered before God. And God said to Moses: Say to the children of Israel: When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, choose for yourselves six cities, so that everyone who has killed someone may flee into them, and so that every manslayer may remain there until the death of the high priest and be saved. Three of the cities shall be east of the Jordan in enemy territory, the other three in the land of Canaan. These are the commandments and ordinances that God gave the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho. Praised be God for all eternity. Amen. ### Scripture references - Num 25:1: allusion, high confidence - Num 25:6: allusion, high confidence - Num 25:8: allusion, high confidence - Num 25:9: allusion, high confidence - Num 25:11: quotation, high confidence - Num 25:13: quotation, high confidence - Num 25:15: allusion, high confidence - Num 26:2: allusion, high confidence - Num 26:51: allusion, high confidence - Num 26:62: allusion, high confidence - Num 27:1: allusion, high confidence - Num 21:24: allusion, medium confidence - Num 21:35: allusion, medium confidence - Num 31:8: allusion, high confidence - Num 31:18: allusion, high confidence - Num 31:32: allusion, high confidence - Num 31:52: allusion, high confidence - Num 31:54: allusion, high confidence - Num 35:11: allusion, high confidence - Num 35:14: allusion, high confidence - Num 36:13: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Many details differ from Numbers (e.g. Balak killed and hung on a spear; Og "king of Matnin and Baisan"; Cozbi made Balak's niece; several numbers, and "God's share" larger than the Bible's); translated as the German has it, including the German's own "(so!)" figures. Margin numbers and a misread tribe name ("Reuben") in the OCR are read by sense. - Echoes: Num 25:1–15; Num 26:1–65; Num 27:1–7; Num 31:1–54; Num 21:21–35; Num 35:9–15. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 19 (Achelis 1897 1.2:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-19). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XX - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-20 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:108 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena explains Deuteronomy as the repetition of the law broken at the golden calf, and reads the eleven days' journey and five places of Deut 1:1–2 as the hours of the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. ### English translation (Claude) The Israelites resisted the first commandment that God had given them in the second book, and made the calf and served idols. Therefore he repeated this commandment to them a second time, and this is the fifth book, and in it he said again everything that stood in the second book. And the word of Scripture, "Eleven days' journey," is a pointer to Christ, who for eleven hours went out to seek nations and peoples and to save them from the hand of the devils, the adversaries of the gospel. For his sake Scripture mentions five well-known places: Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, Dizahab. These five places lie in the Sinai peninsula opposite the wilderness of Homs and toward Hamath. These five places are the symbol of the five bodily senses. They correspond to the labourer (so!) who went out to hire labourers for the vineyard of his father's house. He went out early in the morning, and he went out at the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours. These five hours are, as it were, the symbol of the five places mentioned: early in the morning he hired the company of the prophets; at the third hour he hired the company of the twelve disciples; at the sixth hour he hired the company of the witnesses; at the ninth hour he hired all wanderers and strangers, and made it an hour of salvation for those who stand alone; and at the eleventh hour he hired the company of sinners and urged them in it to repentance. And the one who went out to hire is Christ, who in the evening gave a denarius to all alike; "in the evening" means at the end of the world. Now he cites the holy Gospel mentioned, saying: "And he who was hired in the morning shall receive the same as he who was hired at the eleventh hour; and many of the first will be last, and the last first." That the second book was repeated to the Israelites in the fifth book is a pointer to the new covenant and the chief commandment that Jesus Christ himself brought us. And as Moses did signs and wonders in the second book and recalled them to the Israelites' memory in the fifth book, so Christ, the teacher of Moses, did signs and wonders before the Jews, so that they might remember what was written in the Torah of signs and wonders, and understand that it was he who had freed them from the bondage of Pharaoh through his servant Moses. But they understood nothing of it, and the prophecy of the prophet David was fulfilled in them, who says: "They have eyes but shall not see, and ears but shall not hear, and they do not understand"; and they became wholly like their own deeds. ### Scripture references - Exod 32:4: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 1:1: allusion, high confidence - Deut 1:2: quotation, high confidence - Matt 20:1: allusion, high confidence - Matt 20:6: allusion, high confidence - Matt 20:9: allusion, high confidence - Matt 20:16: quotation, high confidence - Ps 115:5 (113:13 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 115:8 (113:16 LXX): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. The geography ("the wilderness of Homs and toward Hamath") is the catena's own. The polemical last sentence on the Jews is translated as written. - Echoes: Exod 32; Deut 1:1–2; Matt 20:1–16; Ps 115:5–6 and Ps 135:16–18 (113:13–14 LXX, 134:16–18 LXX). ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 20 (Achelis 1897 1.2:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-20). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XXI - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-21 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:109 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena reads the three cities of refuge as a figure of the Holy Trinity, and recounts legends of how the land east of the Jordan passed from people to people until Israel took it from Sihon. ### English translation (Claude) The wickedness and injustice of the Israelites had increased, and their hands were bent on killing, and little by little they were killing twenty or more every day. Then God commanded Moses to choose these three cities, so that the manslayer could flee into them and stay alive. This is a pointer to the Holy Trinity; and as the manslayer fled into these three cities and stayed alive, so everyone who has sinned and wishes to flee from the sin that kills should take refuge in the Holy Trinity; then he lives in repentance all his life, just as the manslayer saved himself when he fled. And God said to the Israelites: I give you the land of Ammon and its territories; and this land lies on the border of the land of el-Ghor. We say: God took this land of old from the giants and gave it to the descendants of Lot as an inheritance; and when the descendants of Lot sinned, God took it from them and gave it to the descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother, as an inheritance; and this is the land of the territory of Shinar. And when the descendants of Esau sinned, he took it from them by force and gave one half of it to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and the other half God gave to the Ammonites. And when these sinned, God took it from them and gave it to the Israelites, and they killed Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and destroyed the Ammonites and took their land as an inheritance. And this is what the Israelites took possession of from the kingdom of Sihon: they took from him a great number of cattle and sheep; from his treasury they took 195 talents of gold and 643 talents of silver, and of pearls they took more than a talent. But of bronze, iron, and cloth the sum cannot be stated at all. And they took three cities from him, namely es-Salt, el-Karak, and esh-Shaubak; and they took two fortresses from him on the seashore, first the fortress of Gaza, and second that of el-Ashir and es-Saka. This is the story of Sihon; and all this the Israelites took possession of under the leadership of Joshua the son of Nun. ### Scripture references - Deut 4:41: allusion, high confidence - Deut 4:42: allusion, high confidence - Deut 2:19: allusion, high confidence - Deut 2:21: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 2:22: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 2:33: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. The place names (el-Ghor, es-Salt, el-Karak, esh-Shaubak) and the plunder figures are the catena's own and show its late Arabic setting. - Echoes: Deut 4:41–43; Deut 19:2–3; Deut 2:9–22, 19, 24–36. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 21 (Achelis 1897 1.2:109; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-21). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XXII (on Deut 5) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-22 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:110 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena recounts the repetition of the ten commandments, the promised land, and legends about Og and his iron coffin. ### English translation (Claude) Moses repeated the ten commandments to the Israelites; then he commanded them to keep the commandments of God, to serve him and live according to his good pleasure, and to keep away from transgressing his commandments and his laws. And God promised the Israelites that he would give them the land flowing with milk and honey. This land of promise lies east and west of the river Jordan, toward the territories of the regions of Palestine. This land was the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan and Matnin. And the five kings of the Amorites were vassals of King Og and used to pay him tribute. And Og made himself a coffin of iron, whose length, reckoned in cubits, was nine cubits, a cubit of eight spans; and the breadth of the coffin was four such cubits, and the height of the coffin four such cubits. And he had subjugated many kings, Persian kings and others. ### Scripture references - Deut 5:6: allusion, high confidence - Deut 6:3: allusion, high confidence - Deut 3:11: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Echoes: Deut 5:6–21; Deut 6:3; Deut 3:1–11 (Og's iron bed, here a coffin). ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 22 (Achelis 1897 1.2:110; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-22). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XXIII - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-23 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:111 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena summarizes laws of Deuteronomy on tithes, the seventh year, release of slaves and debts, firstborn, food, feasts, judges, sacrifices, and idolatry. ### English translation (Claude) God commanded the Israelites to give a tithe of their possessions every year. And he commanded them to gather in all the produce of their land for six years, but in the seventh year to give their crop to the poor. He further commanded them to keep a male or female slave in service for seven years, but in the eighth year to give them their freedom, and not to keep them in service longer than seven years; anyone who transgressed this commandment was to be killed, and his blood would be upon him. Likewise God commanded them that if anyone had a debt outstanding in gold or silver or wheat or barley, and it concerned a debtor unable to pay, he might press him as he pleased, but in the seventh year, the year of the Passover and of release, he should let the insolvent debtor go with all his debts and obligations, and no longer demand from him the remainder that still burdened him. The Israelites used to keep the Passover feast, that is, the feast of release, in the following way: they all fasted for one day and uncovered their heads in the evening. And they went barefoot to the gate of the tent of revelation, and each took with him a male and a female slave who had served them for seven years, and gave them their freedom before God at the gate of the tent of revelation, and brought the offerings for them. But every male or female slave who did not wish to be freed and to leave the house of their masters, they pierced the ear and left them in the house of their masters, and this as permanently free, not as slaves. And he further commanded them to redeem every male of mankind that opens the womb, as well as of the clean cattle and sheep. And he forbade them the birds and wild animals that eat bones, carcasses, and carrion, and of the cattle every animal that does not chew the cud and has no cloven hoof. And he forbade them blood and dead bodies, and what wild beasts had seized and carried off. And he commanded them to sacrifice the Passover in the evening, at sunset, and to keep the feast of tabernacles for seven days. And he commanded them to appoint for themselves judges, men of knowledge, scribes, and experts, who should judge among them justly and impartially, who should not waver, nor show partiality, nor take gifts in judging. And he commanded them that they might not offer a sheep that had a defect, nor a defective ox, nor any offering with a blemish. Further, God commanded them to put to death anyone who practised idolatry or sacrificed to idols or worshipped sun and moon; every such person was to be killed and blotted out from his people and tribe; and to hold an inquiry on the testimony of two or three; and he forbade them false witness and the driving out of strangers from their midst. And he commanded them not to appoint judges or arbiters from a foreign people or from the sorcerers, or such as would take a gift in judging. ### Scripture references - Deut 14:22: allusion, high confidence - Exod 23:11: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 15:12: allusion, high confidence - Deut 15:2: allusion, high confidence - Deut 15:17: allusion, high confidence - Deut 15:19: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 14:6: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 16:6: allusion, high confidence - Deut 16:13: allusion, high confidence - Deut 16:18: allusion, high confidence - Deut 16:19: allusion, high confidence - Deut 17:1: allusion, high confidence - Deut 17:3: allusion, high confidence - Deut 17:6: allusion, high confidence - Deut 19:15: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. Several statements differ from the Bible (e.g. the seventh year called "the year of the Passover", the freed slave with pierced ear said to remain "permanently free"); translated as the German has it. - Echoes: Deut 14:22; Exod 23:10–11; Deut 15:1–18; Exod 21:6; Deut 15:19; Deut 14:3–21; Deut 16:1–17; Deut 16:18–20; Deut 17:1–7; Deut 19:15. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 23 (Achelis 1897 1.2:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-23). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XXIV (on Deut 19–23) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-24 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:113 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena summarizes laws of Deuteronomy given because of Israel's corruption: retaliation, war, the unsolved murder, the captive wife, the rebellious son, the hanged man, the bird's nest, the parapet, the violated virgin, the runaway slave, interest, and vows. ### English translation (Claude) When the Israelites became wealthy and their prosperity increased, they gave themselves up to harlotry and ungodliness, and their hypocrisy and wickedness grew ever greater. Then God commanded that these ordinances be laid upon them, and whoever transgressed this law should be killed and stoned. And these are the ordinances that God appointed for them. He said to them: "Life for life, and eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, and hand for hand, and foot for foot"; and vengeance was to be taken for the injured. Further he said to them: if they besieged a city and took it, they should kill with the sword every male in it, and they might never lie with the women. And if they found a slain man lying in the field or in the wilderness whose murderer was unknown, they should make a careful search for his murderer; but if the murderer could not be discovered, the town lying nearest to him should take a heifer that had never been harnessed and had not yet come under the yoke, and slaughter the heifer in an empty waste place; and the inhabitants of the town nearest the slain man should swear that the murderer was unknown to them; and so they would be acquitted of this blood-guilt. Further he said to them: If one of them gains a woman from the booty and the captives of war, and he finds her beautiful, he shall shave the hair of her head and cut her nails, and afterwards he may take her as his wife. But if she does not please him, he shall give her her freedom, and from then on she shall never again be his slave. Further he said to them: If a man has a disobedient and stubborn son who does not listen to father and mother, they shall discipline him; if he still does not leave off his conduct, the whole congregation shall stone him to death. And everyone who has committed a crime that requires the death penalty shall be hanged on the wood; but his body shall not remain on the wood overnight, but he shall be buried the same day; for he is one cursed by God. And if you pass by a road, a tree, or anywhere else and find a bird's nest in which there are young or eggs, and the mother is sitting on the eggs or on the young, you shall not take the mother with her young, but take the young and leave the eggs with the mother. And God lays this upon you so that you may live long. And when you build a new house, make a solid railing around it, so that no one may fall from it. And if a man comes upon an unmarried virgin and comes to love her, and she has no betrothed, and he violates her and deflowers her, this man shall pay her father fifty silver shekels as compensation for the uncovering of her face; then she shall be his wife, and he may not put her away all his life. And no man who commits sexual immorality may enter the house of God, for he is unclean. And he said to them: If you come upon a slave who has fled from his master, you shall not give him up nor put his master on his track; but let him live among you in whatever town he wishes, and demand nothing from him for it. Remove harlotry from your midst, and let no harlot's hire and no dog's price come into the house of God, for it is unclean. Take no interest on gold, silver, wheat, and barley; but from strangers you may take it. And when you have made a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling and paying it, for God will require it of you. And if you have given anyone a promise and cannot keep it, undo it with those to whom you gave it, and set the promise right. ### Scripture references - Deut 19:21: quotation, high confidence - Exod 21:24: quotation, high confidence - Deut 20:13: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:1: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:3: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:7: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:11: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:12: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:14: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:18: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:21: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:22: allusion, high confidence - Deut 21:23: quotation, high confidence - Deut 22:6: allusion, high confidence - Deut 22:7: allusion, high confidence - Deut 22:8: allusion, high confidence - Deut 22:28: allusion, high confidence - Deut 22:29: allusion, high confidence - Deut 23:15: allusion, high confidence - Deut 23:18: allusion, high confidence - Deut 23:19: allusion, high confidence - Deut 23:20: allusion, high confidence - Deut 23:21: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. The summaries differ from the Hebrew in places (e.g. "they might never lie with the women" of a captured city, "cut her nails" for Deut 21:12, death by being hanged on wood); translated as the German has it. In the law of the violated virgin (Deut 22:28–29) the man "may not put her away all his life"; "harlotry" and "sexual immorality" render Hurerei and Unzucht. - Echoes: Exod 21:23–25 and Deut 19:21; Deut 20:13–14; Deut 21:1–9, 10–14, 18–21, 22–23; Deut 22:6–8, 28–29; Deut 23:15–20, 21–23. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 24 (Achelis 1897 1.2:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-24). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XXV (on Deut 24–26) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-25 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:115 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena summarizes further laws of Deuteronomy: leprosy, pledges, wages, individual responsibility, gleaning, lawsuits, the ox, levirate marriage, just weights, and tithes. ### English translation (Claude) The Israelites were a stubborn people, who neither feared God nor were ashamed before men, and full of deceit. So he imposed these ordinances and commandments on them, so that they would submit to them in the land of promise when they had entered it, and would not mix with the foreign nations and adopt their way of life and walk in their footsteps and worship the idols. So he commanded them that whoever transgressed those commandments should be punished with death and be cursed for ever. And he commanded them to guard against the plague of leprosy, and to remove whoever among them was leprous and keep him far from the camp until he was clean again and brought his offering to God. And he commanded them that if anyone had made a loan to another, he should not go into the debtor's house, but take a pledge; and whoever had taken a poor man's garment in pledge should give it back to him in the evening, so that he could put it on. And none of them should withhold his wages from a needy or poor hired labourer, but give them to him day by day. And he commanded them that the father should not be punished with the blood of his children, nor the child with the blood of his father; rather each soul was to be punished according to its desert. And they should take no pledge from a widow. And he commanded them not to forbid the poor and beggars, the orphans and widows, to enter their fields, vineyards, and gardens. And he commanded them to bring their lawsuits before the elders and the judges; and anyone who transgressed the sentences of the judges they should punish with forty strokes. And they should not muzzle the ox on the threshing floor. And if a man died without leaving children, his wife should not leave the house; rather a brother of the dead man should take her and raise up descendants for his brother. And he said to them: If two men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one of them comes up and seizes the man who is fighting with her husband by his private parts, both her hands shall be cut off without mercy. And he commanded them that none of them should have two scales in his house, nor two measures of capacity, nor two weights, a large and a small. And: You shall give God the tithe of your possessions and the tithe of the produce of your land and of your sheep, and give alms to the poor and beggars, orphans and widows, so that God may bless you. ### Scripture references - Deut 24:8: allusion, high confidence - Deut 24:10: allusion, high confidence - Deut 24:13: allusion, high confidence - Deut 24:15: allusion, high confidence - Deut 24:16: allusion, high confidence - Deut 24:17: allusion, high confidence - Deut 24:19: allusion, high confidence - Deut 25:1: allusion, high confidence - Deut 25:3: allusion, high confidence - Deut 25:4: allusion, high confidence - Deut 25:5: allusion, high confidence - Deut 25:11: allusion, high confidence - Deut 25:12: allusion, high confidence - Deut 25:13: allusion, high confidence - Deut 26:12: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. "Both her hands shall be cut off" (the Hebrew of Deut 25:12 has "her hand") is translated as the German has it. - Echoes: Deut 24:8; Deut 24:10–13, 14–15, 16, 17, 19–21; Deut 25:1–3, 4, 5–10, 11–12, 13–16; Deut 26:12. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 25 (Achelis 1897 1.2:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/19/#p-25). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XXVI (on Deut 27) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/26/#p-26 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:116 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena retells the blessings and curses on Gerizim and Ebal, with notes on Shechem (Nablus), the Samaritans, and events of Genesis and John that took place there. ### English translation (Claude) God revealed to the Israelites twelve blessings and twelve curses. And Moses gave this law to Joshua the son of Nun before his death in the wilderness, for God revealed these blessings and curses while Moses was still alive. And God said to Moses: When you have crossed the Jordan and entered the land of Canaan, follow this law and read out these blessings and curses before the Israelites on Mount Gerizim and on Mount Ebal. Now when death approached Moses the prophet, he called Joshua the son of Nun, his servant, and commanded him to fulfil this law on these two mountains, that is, on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. We say: these two mountains lie near Shechem, that is, the city of Nablus; Mount Gerizim lies to the right of the city and Mount Ebal to the left. The two are joined to each other, and the city lies in the middle between the two mountains. And we say: after Joshua the son of Nun had brought the Israelites into the land of promise, he led them to the city of Shechem, that is, Nablus. And God commanded him to do what Moses had commanded him in the wilderness. So Joshua chose one man from each tribe and set six men on the one of these mountains: he chose one from the tribe of Simeon, one from the tribe of Levi, one from the tribe of Judah, one from the tribe of Issachar, one from the tribe of Joseph, one from the tribe of Benjamin; and these six men he set on Mount Gerizim. Further he chose one each from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, the tribe of Asher, the tribe of Zebulun, the tribe of Dan, and the tribe of Naphtali, and set these on Mount Ebal. And the Israelites were stationed between the two mountains in the plain of the valley. Then the members of the tribes who stood on Mount Gerizim read out the blessings over the people, and those who stood on Mount Ebal said: "So be it"; and the whole people said with them, with raised voice: "So be it." And when those who stood on Mount Gerizim had finished reading the blessings, those who stood on Mount Ebal began to read the curses over the people, and the whole people accompanied them with "So be it." And God commanded Moses to keep this law, and Moses commanded Joshua the son of Nun to keep it; and Joshua fulfilled it in the land of Shechem. We say: the community of the Samaritans has taken Mount Gerizim for itself. And it is said that the mountain is a house of God to this day, and that on it they offer their sacrifices and pray to God; it lies to the right of the city of Shechem, that is, Nablus, toward the west. On this mountain, further, Jacob buried the idols that Rachel had stolen from the house of her father Laban under her skirt. And in this city also Shechem the son of Hamor violated Dinah the daughter of Jacob, after which Simeon and Levi broke in and killed everyone who was in the city. In this city, finally, Christ had his conversation with the Samaritan woman; and she said to him: "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." ### Scripture references - Deut 11:29: allusion, high confidence - Deut 27:12: allusion, high confidence - Deut 27:13: allusion, high confidence - Deut 27:15: allusion, high confidence - Josh 8:33: allusion, high confidence - Gen 35:4: allusion, high confidence - Gen 31:34: allusion, high confidence - Gen 34:2: allusion, high confidence - Gen 34:25: allusion, high confidence - John 4:20: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Not ascribed to Hippolytus by name in the excerpt; not in ANF 5; re-read against the German. The German's "(!)" after "toward the west" marks a geographical error in the text. - Echoes: Deut 11:29; Deut 27:11–26; Josh 8:30–35; Gen 35:4; Gen 31:19, 34; Gen 34:1–29; John 4:20. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 26 (Achelis 1897 1.2:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/26/#p-26). ## Arabic Pentateuch fragment XXVII - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/26/#p-27 - Source: Achelis 1897 1.2:117 - Translation: Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown Summary: The catena tells how Moses viewed the promised land from Nebo, charged Joshua, gave the law to the Levites to be read at the feast of tabernacles, and died and was buried by the angels. ### English translation (Claude) After Moses had delivered this prophecy and blessed all Israel, each tribe, and had prayed and pleaded for them, God said to Moses in a revelation: Go up Mount Nebo, that is, the mountain of the Hebrews, which lies in the land of Moab opposite Jericho. And he said to him: Look at the land of Canaan, which I will give to the children of Israel as an inheritance. You yourself will never enter it; but at least look at it from afar. And when Moses looked at it and surveyed it, he found it a fruitful land, rich in trees. Then Moses was distressed and wept. And Moses went down from Mount Nebo; then he called Joshua the son of Nun and said to him before the children of Israel: Be courageous and strong, for you shall lead the children of Israel into the land which God swore to their fathers that he would give them as an inheritance. Do not fear the tribes, and do not shrink back before the nations, for God is with you! And Moses wrote down this law and handed it to the priests, the sons of Levi, and commanded them thus: For seven years keep this law hidden, and do not make it public. After the seven years have passed, at the feast of tabernacles, the priests, the tribe of Levi, shall read this Torah before the people of Israel, and all the people, men, women, and children, shall hear the speech of God and his commandments, and they shall keep the word of God that is in this Torah; and whoever transgresses a single one of the commandments, let him be cursed! After Moses had finished writing the Torah and had handed it to Joshua the son of Nun and commanded him to deliver it to the sons of Levi, the priests, Moses commanded and charged them to lay the book of the law beside the ark of the covenant of God; there it should serve as a testimony for ever. Then, when Moses had completed his commandments, God commanded him to go up Mount Nebo, which lies opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land of promise on all four sides, from the wilderness to the sea and from sea to sea; and God said to him: Now you have seen it with your eyes, but you will not enter it. And there Moses, the servant of God, died at God's command, and the angels buried him on Mount Nebo, opposite Beth-peor. And no one knows his grave to this day, for God hid his grave. ### Scripture references - Deut 32:49: allusion, high confidence - Deut 32:52: allusion, high confidence - Deut 31:7: allusion, high confidence - Deut 31:8: allusion, high confidence - Deut 31:9: allusion, high confidence - Deut 31:10: allusion, high confidence - Deut 31:26: allusion, high confidence - Deut 34:1: allusion, high confidence - Deut 34:4: allusion, high confidence - Deut 34:5: allusion, high confidence - Deut 34:6: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Compared afterwards with ANF 5 ("Doubtful Fragments on the Pentateuch", section on Deut 33–34), which follows the same text more briefly; ANF reads "within the ark" where the German has "beside the ark" (as Deut 31:26). The burial of Moses by the angels is a Jewish and Christian legend added to Deut 34:6. - Echoes: Deut 32:49–52; Deut 33:1; Deut 31:7–8, 9–13, 24–26; Deut 34:1–6. ### Citation (SBL) Hippolytus, Frag. Pent. (arab.) 27 (Achelis 1897 1.2:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of H. Achelis, 1897, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-fragmenta-orientalia-2/26/#p-27).