Chronological timeline of texts tagged with Masoretic Deletions
About This Tag
The Masoretic Text, the standard Hebrew Bible, is missing some passages that appear in older Hebrew copies, including the source behind the Greek Septuagint translation, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Samaritan Pentateuch. These gaps can come from copying mistakes, from later scribes softening a difficult reading, or from rearranging the text over time. In such cases the Septuagint is not adding new material, but preserving an older Hebrew reading that the standard Hebrew text later lost.
Note: Dates shown in this timeline are approximate and based on scholarly estimates.
Back to TagGenesis 4:8 / LXX Genesis 4:8
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 4:8
Hebrew Bible
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? 7 Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.” 8 Cain spoke to his brother Abel.21 While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” 10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Genesis 4:8
Septuagint
6 And the Lord God said to Kain, “Why have you become deeply grieved, and why has your countenance collapsed? 7 If you offer correctly but do not divide correctly, have you not sinned? Be still; his recourse is to you, and you will rule over him.” 8 And Kain said to his brother Habel, “Let us go through into the plain.” And it came about when they were in the plain, that then Kain rose up against his brother Habel and killed him. 9 And God said to Kain, “Where is your brother Habel?” And he said, “I do not know; surely I am not my brother’s keeper?” 10 And God said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the earth!
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Joshua 6:26
Hebrew Bible
24 But they burned the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 Yet Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho. 26 At that time Joshua made this solemn declaration: “The man who attempts to rebuild this city of Jericho will stand condemned before the Lord. He will lose his firstborn son when he lays its foundations and his youngest son when he erects its gates!” 27 The Lord was with Joshua, and he became famous throughout the land.
2nd Century B.C.E.
LXX Joshua 6:26
Septuagint
24 And the city was set on fire, burning, with everything in it. Only the silver and gold and copper and iron did they set aside to be brought to the treasury of the Lord. 25 And Rahab the prostitute and all her father’s house Joshua spared. And her family has dwelled in Israel until this day. For she hid the spies whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 26 And Joshua swore on that day before the Lord, saying, “Greatly cursed is the person who will build that city. By his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and by his youngest he will rebuild its gates.” And in this way Ozan from Bethel did: by Abiram his firstborn, he laid its foundation, and by his youngest, though he escaped, he rebuilt its gates. 27 And the Lord was with Joshua, and his name was known throughout all the land.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Joshua 24:30
Hebrew Bible
27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against us, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness against you if you deny your God.” 28 When Joshua dismissed the people, they went to their allotted portions of land. 29 After all this Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of 110. 30 They buried him in his allotted territory in Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 31 Israel worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men who outlived him remained alive. These men had experienced firsthand everything the Lord had done for Israel.
2nd Century B.C.E.
LXX Joshua 24:31
Septuagint
28 And Joshua sent the people away, and they went, each to his home. 29 And it happened after that and Joshua son of Nun, servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and twelve years. 30 And they buried him at the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah in Mount Ephraim from the north of the mount of Gilead. There they put with him as a memorial, at the place that they buried him there, the flint swords by which he circumcised the sons of Israel at Gilgal when he brought them out from Egypt just as the Lord directed them. And there they remain until this very day. 31 And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders as many as had experienced the time with Joshua and as many as had seen all the deeds of the Lord, as many as he did for Israel. 32 And the bones of Joseph the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt. And they buried them in Shechem in the part of the field that Jacob had acquired from the Amorites who lived by Shechem for one hundred lambs.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Samuel 16:4
Hebrew Bible
3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you should do. You will anoint for me the one I point out to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord told him. When he arrived in Bethlehem, the elders of the city were afraid to meet him. They said, “Do you come in peace?” 5 He replied, “Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” So he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX 1 Samuel 16:4
Septuagint
3 And you should invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. And you must anoint whomever I tell you.” 4 So Samuel did everything that the Lord told him. And so he went to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city expressed surprise because of his coming and said, “Is your coming peaceful, seer?” 5 And he said, “It is peaceful. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. You should consecrate yourselves and celebrate with me today.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Samuel 24:16
Hebrew Bible
15 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel from the morning until the completion of the appointed time, and 70,000 people died from Dan to Beer Sheba. 16 When the angel extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!” (Now the angel of the Lord was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.) 17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep—what have they done? Attack me and my family.”
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX 2 Samuel 24:16
Septuagint
15 So David chose for himself the death. And it was the days of the harvest of wheat and the Lord allowed death in Israel from early morning until lunch time and the slaughter began among the people. And they died from Dan to Beer-sheba, a total seventy thousand men. 16 And the angel of God reached his hand into Jerusalem to destroy it and the Lord relented from the wickedness and said to the angel who was destroying, “Among the people it is enough now. Release your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was before the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 And David spoke to Lord, when he saw the angel beating down the people, and said, “Look, it is I! I have done wrong and these, they are the sheep! What have they done? Let your hand now be against me and against my father’s house.”
6th Century B.C.E.
Hosea 13:4
Hebrew Bible
3 Therefore they will disappear like the morning mist, like early morning dew that evaporates, like chaff that is blown away from a threshing floor, like smoke that disappears through an open window. 4 But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me. Except for me there is no Savior. 5 I cared for you in the wilderness, in the dry desert where no water was. 6 When they were fed, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; as a result, they forgot me!
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX Hosea 13:4
Septuagint
3 Because of this they will be like a vapor in the early morning, and like transient early morning dew, like chaff blown away from a threshing floor, and like a cloud of tears. 4 But I am the Lord, your God, establisher of heaven and creator of earth, whose hands created all the host of the heavens, and I did not unveil them to you so that you might go after them. And I led you up from the land of Egypt, so you will know no god but me, and there is no one who saves except me. 5 I was guiding you in the wilderness, in an uninhabited land, 6 like their pastures. And they were filled to satisfaction, and their hearts were lifted. Because of this they forgot me.
6th Century B.C.E.
Amos 1:3
Hebrew Bible
2 Amos said: “The Lord comes roaring out of Zion; from Jerusalem he comes bellowing! The shepherds’ pastures wilt; the summit of Carmel withers.” 3 This is what the Lord says: “Because Damascus has committed three crimes—make that four!—I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They ripped through Gilead like threshing sledges with iron teeth. 4 So I will set Hazael’s house on fire; fire will consume Ben Hadad’s fortresses.
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX Amos 1:3
Septuagint
2 And he said, “The Lord gave an utterance from Zion and gave his voice from Jerusalem, and the pastures of the shepherds mourned, and the peak of Carmel dried up.” 3 And the Lord said, “For three impious acts of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away from him, because they sawed with saws made of iron the pregnant women of those in Gilead. 4 And I will send fire to the house of Hazael, and it will devour the foundations of the son of Hadad.