Transcripts
Access Hebrew Manuscripts of the New Testament.
Position Statement, Hebrew New Testament and Hebrew Original of Matthew
Position Statement
MRI is a 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to producing quality transcriptions for general, institutional and scholarly uses, at no cost. The below, a Reader’s (general-use) Transcription, is a downloadable PDF copy of our work.
At this stage of our work, we offer a simple transcription, though we are developing an Interlinear and simple translation for future release. MRI does not offer or further any theological perspectives or doctrines.
Coming soon, and based on interest, we will offer Diplomatic (exact replica) and Normalized (scholarly rewrite) transcriptions. If you are interested, contact info@manuscriptresearch.org.
Manuscript Research Institute is Currently Concentrating on the Hebrew New Testament.
You may access or download MRI’s Reader’s Transcriptions of Hebrew manuscripts of the New Testament as found in catalogs and libraries online.
These original sources are provided by The International Collection of Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts through the Ktiv Project (ktiv = “written word”), led by the National Library of Israel, an institution which provides an online catalog of high-resolution digital images of Hebrew manuscripts preserved in libraries worldwide.
MRI’s mission is to transcribe and freely provide accurate transcriptions of these online Hebrew New Testament manusctripts.
To achieve this goal, MRI is developing an online database of completed transcriptions, with a glossary of each book transcribed, allowing readers and scholars to examine manuscripts previously unexplored, or inaccessible in transcribed form.
We invite all who desire to investigate the origins of the New Testament to examine and appreciate the insights these Hebrew manuscripts contribute to the existing body of knowledge.
It is an honor to provide computer-downloadable Hebrew manuscript transcriptions free of charge, making materials previously unavailable to the average reader accessible for study.
Textual and Historic Evidence that point toward a Hebrew Original of Matthew
Early church fathers consistently reported that The Gospel According to Matthew was first written in the “Hebrew dialect.” Ancient writers such as Papias, Irenaeus, Origen, and Jerome all testify to Matthew’s Hebrew authorship.
Reference
- Papias (c. 60-130 CE) – “Matthew composed the sayings in the Hebrew dialect, and each one interpreted them as best he could.” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.39.16)
- Irenaeus (c. 180 CE) – “Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome.” (Against Heresies 3.1.1.)
- Origen (c. 184-253 CE) – The first Gospel written was that according to Matthew…who composed it in Hebrew for the Hebrews who had believed.” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6.25.4)
- Jerome (c. 347-420 CE) – “Matthew…composed a Gospel of Christ in Hebrew letters and words, for the benefit of those of the circumcision who believed…I myself was allowed to copy it from the library at Caesarea.” (Lives of Illustrious Men 3; also Commentary on Matthew 12)
The phrase “Hebrew dialect” may refer either to Classical or Biblical Hebrew, or to Aramaic, a related Semitic language often called “Hebrew” in that time period. While the earliest surviving manuscripts of Matthew are in Greek, the repeated testimony of the early church fathers provides strong historical support for a Hebrew-language origin or early Hebrew version of Matthew’s Gospel sometimes referred to as “The Gospel of the Hebrews.”
Eusebius’ references to a “Hebrew dialect” (likely Hebrew or Aramaic) for Matthew’s Gospel (Books 3.39.16, 6.25.4) and is directly relevant to MRI’s current mission.
These references suggest the possibility of early Semitic text. MRI may be able to link to later manuscripts such as Du Tillet, Shem Tov, Munster, Martini, or MRI’s current projects, Medieval Gaster and Travencore Hebrew Gospels. (see below third bullet)
The aforementioned statements strengthen the case for an investigation of Hebrew manuscripts of the New Testament and adds weight to the possibility that at least some portions of the B’rit Chadashah were first recorded in Hebrew.
Facts, clues and linguistic markers within available manuscripts can provide evidence for a Hebraic origin of a Proto-Hebrew of the New Testament, separate and incomparable to the Canonized Greek NT. MRI is interested in these discoveries.
MRI holds to the following considerations:
- Yeshua’s (Jesus’) disciples were witnesses to the teachings of Yeshua (Jesus) and the events of his ministry, as recorded in the B’rit Chadashah (New Testament). Their mindset was shaped by the Hebrew culture they inherited and the Jewish culture in which they lived.
- “The Hebrew language was one of several active languages during the period in which the B’rit Chadashah was taking shape. Whether transmission occurred through oral tradition, written texts, or both remains an open area of scholarly investigation.” (paraphrase from “The Search for The Language of the New Testament” by Al Garza)
- Hugh J. Schonfield in this book, “AN OLD HEBREW TEXT OF ST. MATTHEW’S GOSPEL, 1927,” suggests that Martini’s, Du Tillet, Shem Tov and Munster manuscripts come from the same Hebrew source as Jerome used in his work “The Vulgate.” He states, “There can be no doubt that Du Tillet MS. remains in undisputed possession of the field as the oldest and most complete Hebrew version of the New Testament at present known.”
- From the rebellion against Roman domination in 70 CE, which culminated in burning of the temple and the scrolls within, until the destruction of contrary religious manuscripts, books, artifacts, paintings and buildings with explosives and fire by ISIS, so much has been destroyed and lost to mankind. Recovering the story of the early origins is a “long-game strategy approach” looking through fragments and surviving text within texts.
Below are the publicly available Reader’s Transcriptions of Matthew and Mark, as prepared by MRI from the Manchester Gaster 1616 manuscript (link) of Manchester University Library, in compliance with Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).