Ecclesiastes 3 in the Leningrad Codex

Ecclesiastes 3 in the Leningrad Codex

The images below are from a page of Ecclesiastes (Qohelet) from the Leningrad Codex, which was hand-written in Cairo in 1008 CE. This is the codex that modern versions of the English Old Testament use as a base (in the printed form known as the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia). It is amazing to me that I can pull this up and study it with a click. What a time to be alive. There is a time and a season for everything under the sun. This is our time.

Spacing of the “Time” Passage

In the section dealing with times under the heavens, the spacing of the layout codex is fascinating with “time” as the last word on a line and then the word which follows, space, time, new line and next word. The left is the Hebrew word for “time”: עת, and Hebrew is read from right to left, so the next phrase is on the right of this column.

(Click on images to see them full size.)

In English, the passage would have this layout:

…under the heavensa time
to give birthand a time
to diea time
to plantand a time
to uproot plantingsa time
to slayand a time
to heala time
to break-throughand a time
to builda time
to weepand a time
to laugha time
of mourningand a time
of dancinga time
to cast away stonesand a time
of gathering stonesa time
to embraceand a time
to be far from embracinga time
to seekand a time
to destroya time
to guardand a time
to cast awaya time
to rendand a time
to sewa time
to be silentand a time
to speaka time
to loveand a time
to hatea time
of warand a time
of peace

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