COMPUTATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP · MULTI-WITNESS APPARATUS

The Living Digital Hexapla

In ca. 240 CE, Origen of Alexandria compiled the Hexapla—a 6-column manuscript comparing the Hebrew scriptures with Greek translations. In 1657, Brian Walton published the London Polyglot. Both projects sought what was physically impossible in print: universal, simultaneous collation across ancient traditions. This computational apparatus aligns named Hebrew or Greek editions with Brenton's English Septuagint, Douay-Rheims English, the hosted 1769 King James text, and the World English Bible, with word-level morphology and source notes.

Landmark Divergence Presets

10 Classical Textual Crossroads

Book:Chapter:

Collate Witnesses:

Critical Textual Divergence ApparatusGenesis 1:2

The opening creation account describes heaven and earth, darkness over the deep, and the ruach elohim moving over the waters.

Ruach can be rendered wind, breath, or spirit. Jewish and Christian interpreters, including several patristic writers, have differed over whether Genesis 1:2 denotes a wind, God's spirit, or the Holy Spirit in a later Trinitarian reading.

Masoretic Hebrew (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible)

ruach elohim merachefet (a wind/spirit of God hovering)

The same Hebrew root is used of an eagle hovering in Deuteronomy 32:11; that parallel informs, but does not determine, the image here.

Septuagint Greek (Rahlfs 1935 / lxx-morph)

πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος (a spirit/wind of God was moving over the water)

The Greek uses pneuma and a verb of movement; identifying the referent as the Holy Spirit is a reception-history judgment rather than a grammatical requirement.

Douay-Rheims English (Challoner revision; hosted 1899 edition)

the spirit of God moved over the waters

This is the hosted English translation in the Vulgate tradition, not the Latin text; later Trinitarian interpretation should be distinguished from the translation itself.

Genesis 1:1Explore Path in Graph →

Original-language edition (OSHB) — Click word to parse

Brenton Septuagint — English translation (1851)

In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.

Douay-Rheims — English Challoner text (hosted 1899 edition)

In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.

King James Version (1769 text)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

World English Bible (2020)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:2Explore Path in Graph →

Original-language edition (OSHB) — Click word to parse

Brenton Septuagint — English translation (1851)

But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water.

Douay-Rheims — English Challoner text (hosted 1899 edition)

And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters.

King James Version (1769 text)

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

World English Bible (2020)

The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Genesis 1:3Explore Path in Graph →

Original-language edition (OSHB) — Click word to parse

Brenton Septuagint — English translation (1851)

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

Douay-Rheims — English Challoner text (hosted 1899 edition)

And God said: Be light made. And light was made.

King James Version (1769 text)

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

World English Bible (2020)

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 1:4Explore Path in Graph →

Original-language edition (OSHB) — Click word to parse

Brenton Septuagint — English translation (1851)

And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness.

Douay-Rheims — English Challoner text (hosted 1899 edition)

And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness.

King James Version (1769 text)

And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

World English Bible (2020)

God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:5Explore Path in Graph →

Original-language edition (OSHB) — Click word to parse

Brenton Septuagint — English translation (1851)

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Douay-Rheims — English Challoner text (hosted 1899 edition)

And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning one day.

King James Version (1769 text)

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

World English Bible (2020)

God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

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