ETHIOPIC VERSIONS

e-thi-op'-ik vur'-shuns:

Christianity was introduced into Abyssinia by Tyrian missionaries, who probably spoke Greek, about the time of Constantine the Great. The Bible was translated into Ethiopic, or, to use the native name, Ge`ez, the Old Testament being from the Septuagint, between the 4th and 5th centuries, by various hands, though the work was popularly ascribed to Frumentius, the first bishop. The fact of the Scriptures having been translated into Ethiopic was known to Chrysostom (Hom. II, in Joannem). The versions thus made were revised some time about the 14th century, and corrected by means of the Massoretic Text. The Ethiopic Scriptures contain the books found in the Alexandrine recension with the exception of the Books of Maccabees; but their importance lies in their pseudepigraphic writings, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees. The 1st edition of the New Testament appeared at Rome in 1545-49 (reprinted in Walton), but a critical edition has yet to be made; one issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1830 contains many errors. The Old Testament canonical books and Apocrypha have been edited by Dillmann (the Octoteuch and 1-4 Kings and Apocrypha), Bachmann (died 1894) (Isaiah, Lamentations, Obadiah and Malachi), and Ludolph (Pss). The Psalter has been often printed from 1513 on. The Book of Enoch was first translated by Richard Laurence and published at Oxford in 1821, but the standard editions are those of Dillmann (Leipzig, 1853) and R. H. Charles (Oxford, 1893). The importance of this work lies in the fact that "the influence of Enoch on the New Testament has been greater than that of all the other apocryphal and pseudepigraphal books taken together" (Charles, 41). Not only the phraseology and ideas, but the doctrines of the New Testament are greatly influenced by it. Of the canonical books and Apocrypha the manuscripts are too poor and too late to be of any value for the criticism of the Greek text.

Thomas Hunter Weir

Ancient Versions of the New Testament.
... authorities. III. EGYPTIAN AND ETHIOPIC VERSIONS. 9. Formerly but one version
was known to exist in the language of the ancient Egyptians. ...
/.../barrows/companion to the bible/chapter xxviii ancient versions of.htm

(Continued). Causes of Corruption Chiefly Intentional.
... the servant whole.' It does not improve the matter to find that Eusebius [349] ,
besides the Harkleian and the Ethiopic versions, recognize the same appendix. ...
/.../chapter xi continued causes of 2.htm

Causes of Corruption Chiefly Intentional.
... In the fifth century, Cyril [238] ,"Isidorus [239] ,"Theodoret [240] , "the
Armenian"and the Ethiopic versions. In the seventh century, Victor, Bp. ...
/.../chapter ix causes of corruption.htm

Causes of Corruption Chiefly Intentional.
... and Nonnus, besides the Latin and Bohairic, Jerusalem, Armenian, and Ethiopic versions,
besides four errant cursives so exhibit the place, this instead of ...
/.../chapter xii causes of corruption.htm

Ancient Versions Based Upon the Septuagint.
... that any early translations from the Old Testament into Ethiopic were based upon
the Septuagint, whether immediately or through the Coptic versions. ...
/.../chapter iv ancient versions based.htm

The Early Versions Examined, and Found to Yield Unfaltering ...
... may be as old as the v^th century; but like the Ethiopic [iv"vii ... The two last-named
versions, whatever their disadvantages may be, at least bear constant ...
/.../chapter iv the early versions.htm

The Early Versions Examined, and Found to Yield Unfaltering ...
... version may be as old as the vth century; but like the Ethiopic [iv-vii ... The two
last-named versions, whatever their disadvantages may be, at least bear constant ...
/.../chapter iv the early versions.htm

Causes of Corruption Chiefly Intentional.
... is found in the Old Latin, and in the Vulgate,"in the Peshitto, Curetonian, and
Harkleian Syriac,"besides in the Coptic, Armenian, and Ethiopic versions. ...
/.../chapter x causes of corruption.htm

Accidental Causes of Corruption.
... one; for it has crept into the Syriac, Bohairic, and Gothic versions, besides many ...
twelve other uncials, beside the body of the cursives, the Ethiopic and two ...
/.../chapter iii accidental causes of.htm

Appendix (A).
... iii^rd century; in nine of the iv^th; in three of the v^th;"added to the testimony
of the two Syriac, the Egyptian, the Ethiopic, and the Armenian versions. ...
/.../burgon/the last twelve verses of the gospel according to s mark/appendix a.htm