Jonah in the Ethiopic Biblical Tradition

Jeremy R. Brown offers a comprehensive analysis of 105 manuscripts of Ethiopic Jonah, spanning a transmission history from the 14th to the 20th century. He addresses two central questions: What is the earliest recoverable form of Ethiopic Jonah, and how did the text develop over time? The findings lead to the reconstruction of five distinct text types: Earliest Attested 1, Earliest Attested 2, Standardized, Textus Receptus, and Latin Vorlage. The first four types originate from a Greek Vorlage and can be understood as successive revisions. Their history reveals selective adaptations influenced by liturgical practice, other biblical passages, and an Arabic rendering of the Syriac Peshitta.
The fifth type, the Latin Vorlage, stands apart. Closely aligned with the Latin Vulgate, it results from an independent translation process rather than revision within the established Ethiopic tradition.
Jeremy R. Brown provides critical editions of all five text types, with exhaustive listings of distinctive readings and commentary. These editions highlight both the variation across text types and the internal uniformity of each tradition. By systematically mapping textual development, he offers new insights into the dynamics of translation, revision, and transmission in the Ethiopic biblical corpus, and establishes an indispensable foundation for further philological and theological research.

Chapter 1: The Ethiopic Minor Prophets
1.1. History of Scholarship
1.2. Availability of Manuscripts
1.3. Vorlage of the Ethiopic Translation of the Books of the Hebrew Bible
1.4. Textual Development of Ethiopic Jonah
1.4.1. The Aksumite Bible
1.4.2. The Earliest Attested 1 Text Type
1.4.3. The Earliest Attested 2 Text Type
1.4.4. The Standardized Text Type
1.4.5. The Modern Textus Receptus Text Type
1.4.6. The Latin Vorlage Text Type
1.4.7. Commentary Manuscripts
1.5. Stemmatization of the Text Types
1.6. Establishment of the Text
1.7. Digital Analysis
1.8. Witnesses to the Ethiopic Minor Prophets
1.9. List of Witnesses in this Study (Sorted by Witness Number)

Chapter 2: The Earliest Attested 1 Text Type
2.1. Earliest Attested 1 Witnesses
2.2. Outlying Witnesses to Earliest Attested 1
2.3. Distinctive Readings
2.4. Outlying Witnesses
2.4.1. Witness 31, EMIP 975, nineteenth century
2.4.2. Witness 45, EMML 9045, twentieth century, and Witness 81, EMML 8433, seventeenth century
2.4.3. Witness 67, BnF d'Abbadie 195, 1649
2.4.4. Witness 70, EMDA 106, nineteenth century
2.4.5. Witness 83, BnS Éthiopien 7, eighteenth century
2.4.6. Witness 101, BL Or. 11601, late eighteenth/early nineteenth century
2.5. Text-Critical Commentary
2.6. Critical Edition of Earliest Attested 1

Chapter 3: The Earliest Attested 2 Text Type
3.1. Earliest Attested 2 Witnesses
3.2. Distinctive Readings
3.3. Cluster 2
3.4. Cluster 3
3.5. Cluster 4
3.6. Cluster 5
3.7. Cluster 6
3.8. Cluster 7
3.9. Cluster 8
3.9. Text-Critical Commentary
3.10. Critical Edition of Earliest Attested 2

Chapter 4: The Standardized Text Type
4.1. Standardized Witnesses
4.2. Development of the Standardized
4.3. Distinctive Readings
4.3.1. The Standardized Departs from Earliest Attested 2 due to Cross-Pollination
4.3.2. Standardized Departs from Earliest Attested 2 without an Identified Cross-Pollination
4.4. Cluster 9
4.5. Cluster 10
4.6. Cluster 11
4.7. Cluster 13
4.8. Cluster 14
4.9. Text-Critical Commentary for the Edition of the Standardized Text Type
4.10. Critical Edition of the Standardized

Chapter 5: The Textus Receptus Text Type
5.1. Textus Receptus Witnesses
5.2. Distinctive Readings
5.2.1. Readings in which the Textus Receptus follows the Standardized
5.2.2. Readings in which the Textus Receptus follows Earliest Attested 2
5.2.3. Readings in which the Textus Receptus blends and conflates earlier readings
5.2.4. Readings that demonstrate cross-pollination with the Seventh Biblical Canticle
5.2.5. Expansions of the text arising in the twentieth-century witnesses
5.2.6. Use of the call-and-compliance-report literary technique
5.2.7. Linguistic variation
5.2.8. Possible revision towards external sources
5.3. Unique Readings of the Textus Receptus against the Standardized
5.4. Unique Readings of the Twentieth-Century Witnesses to the Textus Receptus
5.5. Text-Critical Commentary for the Edition of the Textus Receptus Text Type
5.6. Critical Edition of the Textus Receptus

Chapter 6: The Latin Vorlage Translation
6.1. Latin Vorlage Witnesses
6.2. Vorlage of the Text Type
6.3. Stemmatization of the Witnesses
6.4. Text-Critical Commentary
6.5. Critical Edition of the Latin Vorlage with an English Translation
6.6. Critical Edition of the Latin Vorlage with the Latin Text

Chapter 7: The Seventh Biblical Canticle
7.1. Seventh Biblical Canticle Witnesses
7.2. The Transmission History of the Seventh Biblical Canticle
7.3. The Seventh Biblical Canticle and the Biblical Manuscripts
7.4. Text-Critical Commentary
7.5. Critical Edition of the Seventh Biblical Canticle