Masoretica — Genesis 1:1 in the LC Hebr. Ms. 158 (Aramaic Targums of the Five Scrolls and Job)

MasoreticaBiblical Manuscript Explorer

CompareExod. 31:2 1 Sam. 1:5 Num. 36:13 Job 14:9 Isa. 51:3 Nah. 1:1 Ps. 42:2 Ps. 149:9 Zeph. 3:14 Zech. 1:1 Song 7:1

ManuscriptLC Hebr. Ms. 158 (Aramaic Targums of the Five Scrolls and Job)

Contents

Aramaic Targums of Song of Songs (fols. 1r–6r), Ecclesiastes (6r–11r), Lamentations (11r–13v and 15r), Ruth 2:13–4:22 (14r–v; correcting the catalogue's impossible endpoint 3:20), Targum Sheni to Esther (15r–29v), the Prayers of Mordecai and Esther (29v–30v), and Job (31r–41v). The scribe Menahem son of Peretz Trabot completed the codex in Governolo in 1512; separate dated colophons conclude Esther and Job

More info

Mapped biblical scope1,781 mapped verse locations · 2 mapped spans in canonical order

Script: The Aramaic is written in a clear Italian semi-cursive book hand. Larger opening words and more compact colophon hands distinguish textual divisions without changing the manuscript’s predominantly plain working format.
Vocalization: The Aramaic text is unpointed. Occasional dots and strokes mark divisions or scribal details rather than a systematic vowel notation.
Layout: The text normally occupies one broad long-line column. Headings, enlarged initial words, closing formulas, and the dated colophons create local exceptions within that single-column plan.
Manuscript order: The physical order is Targum Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, a surviving Ruth fragment, Targum Sheni to Esther, the Prayers of Mordecai and Esther, and Targum Job. Canonical lookup and the separate Esther-addition index preserve those textual identities while previous and next navigation follows all 90 photographed surfaces.
Additional material: Fols. 29v–30v preserve the Aramaic Prayers of Mordecai and Esther, corresponding to Greek Esther Addition C. This is related to, but textually distinct from, the Dream of Mordecai (Greek Addition A) copied after Esther in the Rösel Bible.
Colophon: The scribe Menahem son of Peretz Trabot names Governolo and 1512 in completion statements. A separate dated colophon closes Targum Sheni on fol. 30v, and another closes Job on fol. 41v.
Preservation: The digitization preserves 41 manuscript leaves. Ruth survives from 2:13 through its ending at 4:22; the catalogue's endpoint “3:20” is impossible because Ruth 3 has only 18 verses and is corrected here from the photographed text. The Lamentations sequence is physically interrupted before its final leaf; stains, edge wear, repairs, and local ink loss affect legibility without obscuring the overall order.
Physical extent: The Library of Congress object contains 90 images: four opening controls, 82 manuscript surfaces from fol. 1r through fol. 41v, and four closing controls. Every image is retained in physical order and receives a full-surface HTR asset.
Mapped images: Full-surface Kraken recognition covers all 90 images. Each Targum is aligned as an Aramaic text layer rather than being mislabelled as Hebrew; the Esther prayers use their own 24-verse Addition C index and do not borrow the Dream’s 18-verse Addition A sequence.

Review sources: Catalogue or project record · Library of Congress catalogue, images, and rights statement · Gavin McDowell, The Aramaic Dream of Mordechai as a Targum (2025) · Kennicott critical-edition manuscript key (no matching card)

Date

1512 CE

Origin

Governolo, Italy

Rights

Public domain or no known copyright restrictions; free to use and reuse

Catalogue record ↗

AvailabilityGenesis 1:1 is not included.

This supplemental work is not preserved or has not been indexed in this witness.

Passage unavailable

Genesis 1:1 is not included in LC Hebr. Ms. 158 (Aramaic Targums).

This manuscript includes: Aramaic Targums of Song of Songs (fols. 1r–6r), Ecclesiastes (6r–11r), Lamentations (11r–13v and 15r), Ruth 2:13–4:22 (14r–v; correcting the catalogue's impossible endpoint 3:20), Targum Sheni to Esther (15r–29v), the Prayers of Mordecai and Esther (29v–30v), and Job (31r–41v). The scribe Menahem son of Peretz Trabot completed the codex in Governolo in 1512; separate dated colophons conclude Esther and Job.

This supplemental work is not preserved or has not been indexed in this witness.

About Masoretica

Sources & method.

Manuscript images and metadata come from the holding institutions and digitisation projects listed below. Text and versification data come from UXLC, MAM, BIMA / Corpus Masoreticum, the Codex Sinaiticus Project, the DT-UCPH Samaritan Pentateuch, lxx-morph, and STEPBible. The viewer identifies the source used for each manuscript.

Page mapping and text recognition combine repository indexes, OCR, and transcriptions with kraken, Party, BiblIA, and other specialised HTR models. OpenAI Codex is used in developing the site and in running and reviewing this workflow.

Full source, credit, and licence links appear below.

Sources and licences

UXLC Leningrad index Leningrad scan Leningrad photography credit Aleppo page index Aleppo facsimile Codex Sassoon 1053 page index Sassoon scan Sassoon catalogue Rylands Samaritan scan Rylands Samaritan MS 2 scan Rylands Samaritan MS 4 scan Gaster Samaritan MS 1133 scan Gaster Trilingual Samaritan MS 814 scan Gaster Samaritan MS Add 1 scan Gaster Samaritan MS 1858 scan Bodley Or. 699 Samaritan scan Bodley Or. 23 Isaiah scan Kennicott 1 scan Kennicott 2 scan Kennicott 3 scan Kennicott 4 scan Kennicott 5 scan Kennicott 6 scan Kennicott 7 scan Kennicott 8 scan kraken OCR and HTR toolkit Party multilingual HTR model used for Alexandrinus BiblIA medieval Hebrew model Samaritan kraken model Greek minuscule kraken model Sinaiticus line-segmentation model Miqra according to the Masorah text BIMA / Corpus Masoreticum manuscript transcriptions · CC BY-SA 4.0 Samaritan Pentateuch reference text Alexandrinus facsimile Rahlfs 82 catalogue Rahlfs 82 digitization Vaticanus facsimile Sinaiticus edition Sinaiticus electronic transcription Septuagint reference text Greek–Hebrew verse-number crosswalk Keter Aram Tsova typeface

For scholarly use

How to cite.

If Masoretica has facilitated your research, I would be grateful for a citation.

Preferred citation

Dershowitz, Idan. “Masoretica: Manuscript Explorer.” Accessed 16 August 2026. https://www.masoretica.org/.

For a specific manuscript page, use its Cite button for the complete Masoretica and holding-institution citations. Pages using BIMA also include a BIMA citation, license link, and description of changes.