Melchizedek in the MT, LXX, and the NT

The sacred text of the written Word of God, almost from the time that it was first consigned to writing, underwent various modes of reading and relecture. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods the reading of the OT continued in various ways. As an example we have chosen the figure of Melchizedek, who appears in two contexts of the OT and the understanding of him and his role developed in significant ways in these periods¹.

; Melchizedek is mentioned in the Hebrew text of the OT only in Gen 14,18-20 and in Ps 110,4. The first of these passages occurs as part of the pericope, Gen 14,17-24, which tells of Abram’s return from the defeat of the kings, Chedorlaomer and his associates. Verses 18-20 run as follows:

¹⁸And Melchizedek, the king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of the Most High God, ¹⁹and he blessed him, saying, ‘Blessed be Abram by the Most High God, creator of heaven and earth! ²⁰And blessed be the Most High God, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’ And he gave him a tenth of everything².

; The second mention of Melchizedek (Ps 110,4) is found in a royal psalm, in which an unnamed king of the Davidic dynasty is addressed; some victory or conquest is celebrated, and he is said to be a ‘priest forever’ and is associated with the past as a successor of Melchizedek. The text is usually translated: ‘YHWH has sworn and will not go back on His word: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."’ Whatever the exact meaning of Hebrew qdc-klm ytrbd-l( is³, there is little doubt that the Psalm alludes to the king Melchizedek, who is called Nwyl( l)l Nhk in Gen 14,18⁴.

; Before I analyze details about Melchizedek in the three verses of Gen 14, I must say something about the character of them as a unit. As is generally recognized today, Gen 14 is not derived from any of the usual pentateuchal sources⁵. This chapter is not part of J, E, or P. Moreover, even vv. 18-20 may not have been an original part of the story in that chapter, because they interrupt the account of the meeting of Abram with the king of Sodom. They are not, however, necessarily a ‘later addition’, as some have tried to argue⁶, but may be part of an independent ancient poetic saga, as old as the rest of Gen 14. Verses 18-20 seem, however, to have been incorporated secondarily into the account of the meeting of Abram with the king of Sodom⁷, because they interrupt the continuity of vv. 17 and 21. This gives these verses an isolated and rootless character, which explains some of the details in them, but it also shows why Melchizedek appears for a brief moment here and has little connection with the rest of the story in Gen 14.

; The three verses tell of the cooperation of Melchizedek, an allied king, who went forth to refresh Abram and his troops on their return from battle⁸ with the invading kings, but who also blessed Abram and gave him a tithe of everything.

; Although the Epistle to the Hebrews interprets the name Malki-s[edeq as meaning basileu_j dikaiosu/nhj, ‘the king of righteousness’ (7,2), and does so along with both Philo and Josephus⁹, the name must have originally meant ‘[the god] S[edeq is my king’, or less likely, ‘My king is righteous(ness)’. The first element, Malki, is found in other names like l)yklm (‘El is my king’, Gen 46,17) or hyklm (‘Yah[weh] is my king’, Ezra 10,31). For the explanation of s[dq as the name of a god, one can appeal to qdc-ynd)) (‘S[edeq is my lord’, Josh 10,1.3)¹⁰ and Philo Byblius’s testimony about a Phoenician god named Sudu/k or Sude/k¹¹. This, too, would explain why Josephus calls Melchizedek Xananai/wn duna/sthj, ‘a chief of the Canaanites’¹². For the less likely explanation, ‘My king is righteous(ness)’, one can compare qdcwhy (Hag 1,1) or qdcwy (Ezra 3,2.8), ‘YHWH is righteousness’.

; Gen 14,18 identifies Melchizedek as Ml# Klm, ‘king of Salem’. The tradition reflected in Ps 76,2 shows that ‘Salem’ was another, perhaps older, name for the city of Jerusalem (‘In Salem is His abode; His dwelling is in Zion’)¹³. It would follow, then, that Melchizedek was a king of pre-Israelite Salem/Jerusalem, and this is almost certainly the sense in which the title was understood by the Jewish redactor(s) of Gen 14.

; If, however, the three verses are indeed an inserted unit, which originally narrated something about Melchizedek, a Canaanite chief, then Ml# Klm may well have had a different sense. W.F. Albright once proposed that the phrase was originally hml# Klm and that the final he was lost by haplography (before )ycwh). He translated the phrase, ‘And Melchizedek, a king allied to him [lit. of his peace], brought out bread and wine’¹⁴. Albright compared, yml# #y) ‘my ally’ (Ps 41,10); Kml# y#n), ‘those allied to you’ (Obad 7).

; Melchizedek ‘brought out bread and wine’ (14,18), i.e. food and drink to refresh the warriors in the Valley of the King (also mentioned in 2 Sam 18,18), at the confluence of the Kidron and Hinnom valleys south of Jerusalem.

; Melchizedek is likewise identified in v. 18 as Nwyl( l)l Nhk, which is usually translated as ‘priest of God Most High’. As these verses now stand in Gen 14, this is the correct meaning of the phrase, for the Jewish redactor(s) of the chapter would have understood Nwyl( l) as a title for YHWH, as it is used in v. 22 (Nwyl( l) hwhy). It has, however, long been suspected that hwhy in v. 22 is a late gloss, since it has no counterpart in the LXX, the Vetus Latina, or the Peshitta¹⁵. In the saga, to which these verses originally belonged, Nwyl( l) may have been the name of the Canaanite god whom Melchizedek served )El is the name of a well-known Canaanite deity of the second millennium B.C.¹⁶. Moreover, l) and Nwyl( appear on an eighth-century Aramaic inscription from Sefire in northern Syria as the names of a pair of Canaanite gods, )El and (Elyan, in the pantheon invoked there¹⁷. When these verses were taken over by Jewish redactor(s), )E"l (Elyon became an epithet for YHWH, as it is sometimes used elsewhere¹⁸.

; The same phrase Nwyl( l)l Nhk also gave rise to another problem, which is reflected in the Epistle to the Hebrews: How could Melchizedek be called ko4he4n, ‘a priest’, and a ‘priest of the Most High God’, when there was no record of his genealogy in the OT? Because these verses undoubtedly represent a unit inserted into the Abram story in Gen 14, there is no mention of Melchizedek’s origins or destiny. This silence of Genesis about Melchizedek the priest gave rise to Jewish speculation, because a priestly family normally depended on its genealogy or its ability to trace its descent from Levi via Aaron and Zadok. For instance, Aaron’s ancestry is given in the OT; he was descended from Levi, the son of Jacob the patriarch, via Kohath and Amram (Exod 6,16-20); his birth is mentioned explicitly in Exod 6,20, and his death is recorded in Num 20,24-28. Hence Aaron was scarcely a)pa/twr a)mh/twr a)genealo/ghtoj, ‘without father or mother or genealogy’, nor could he be said to be mh/te zwh=j te/loj e!xwn, ‘without an end to his life’ (Heb 7,3). Yet nothing like that can be found in the OT for Melchizedek, who nevertheless has been given the title Nhk¹⁹. Yet the Epistle to the Hebrews regards him as a)pa/twr a)mh/twr a)genealo/ghtoj, ‘without father or mother or genealogy’.

; A blessing of Abram is uttered by Melchizedek in his quality as ‘priest of the Most High God’. As such, he not only blesses Abram, but also praises God for having delivered Abram’s enemies into his hand.

; Immediately thereafter the Hebrew text of Gen 14,20c continues, ‘and he gave him a tithe of everything’. It is unclear, however, who gave the tithes to whom²⁰. No subject of the verb Ntyw is expressed, and the subject of the preceding verb is Melchizedek (14,19a). Did Melchizedek give tithes to Abram, or did Abram give tithes to Melchizedek? The lack of clarity in the text has been known at least since the time of Jerome (Epist. 73.6)²¹. Again, the isolated and rootless character of these verses supplies the explanation. In the original saga Melchizedek, as an allied king, probably paid tithes to Abram, as a sign of tribute to him, but then, when the verses were incorporated into the story of Abram in Genesis, the statement about tithes came to be understood the other way round. As such, it is interpreted in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the fact that Abram paid tithes to Melchizedek is made to show the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood over that of Levi, for ‘[Levi] was still in the loins of his father [Abram], when Melchizedek met him’ (Heb 7,10).

; The passage as a whole (Gen 14,17-24) in its final form shows how the priesthood of the Most High God was considered to have been operative in Jerusalem, not just from the time of David or Solomon, but even before Abram arrived in the Promised Land. It shows that the king of Salem was such a priest and that Abram, having defeated Chedorlaomer, the overlord of the whole area, became heir to his territory and paid tithes to the priest-king Melchizedek. Thus despite the rootless character of the vv. 18-20, they became indeed the kernel of the whole chapter in its final Jewish form.

; Such details about the enigmatic figure Melchizedek in the Book of Genesis became in the Hellenistic and Roman periods the objects of further interpretation and speculation. That is why Melchizedek provides a good example of how the Bible was read in these later periods. This mode of reading is detected in the Greek translation of the OT, commonly called the Septuagint (LXX), in Josephus’s writings, in the Latin versions of the Vetus Latina and the Vulgate, and also in the Syriac Peshitta.

; The form of the Melchizedek story in Genesis of the LXX follows in general the tradition of the MT, but there are six notable differences: (1) Nyyw Mxl becomes a!rtouj (in the plural) kai_ oi]non, ‘loaves and wine’; (2) the king of Sodom says to Abram in v. 21: Do/j moi tou_j a!ndraj, th_n de_ i#ppon labe_ seautw=|, ‘Give me the men, but take the horse for yourself’, and Hebrew #krh was rendered th_n i#ppon²²; (3) the divine name in v. 22, as already mentioned, is simply to_n qeo_n u#yiston, instead of the Hebrew Nwyl( l) hwhy; (4) the king of Sodom asks Abram to give him tou_j a!ndraj, ‘the men’, instead of #pnh; (5) the ambiguous wxqy in v. 24, which I have translated as a jussive, is understood as a future (lh/myontai); and (6) the peculiar phrase in Ps 110,4 qdc-klm ytrbd-l( is translated as kata_ th_n ta/cin Melxise/dek, ‘according to the order of Melchizedek’²³.

Flavius Josephus recounts the meeting of Abram and Melchizedek in his own manner: (1) He not only interprets Melchizedek’s name to mean basileu_j di/kaioj, ‘righteous king’, but adds, ‘such he was by common consent’. (2) Josephus calls him o( th=j Soluma= basileu/j, ‘the king of Solyma’, and explains, ‘Solyma indeed they later called Hierosolyma’ (= Jerusalem). (3) He further adds that ‘this Melchizedek hospitably welcomed the army of Abram and liberally supplied for their needs; and during the feasting he began to praise Abram and to bless God for having delivered his enemies into his hands’. ‘God’ in Josephus’s understanding, however, means the God of the Jews, and there are no modifiers of to_n qeo/n²⁴. (4) Josephus also clarifies that Abram offered Melchizedek ‘a tenth of the booty’, which he accepted. (5) Josephus explains that the king of Sodom urged Abram to keep the booty and sought only to recover ‘the men, his domestic servants, whom Abram had rescued from the Assyrians’. (6) Josephus makes Abram say that he would not do this and that no further advantage would be his from that booty save what had been already the sustenance of his own servants and the portion for friends who had fought with him, whom Josephus calls Eschon, Enneros, and Mambres²⁵.

; Again, the Melchizedek story in the Vetus Latina follows the MT, but is influenced by the LXX in v. 21, da mihi homines, equos autem sume tibi, ‘give me the men, but take the horses for yourself’, and in v. 22 Abram raises his hand to Deum altissimum, with nothing corresponding to hwhy. In Psalm 110, the VL reads: secundum ordinem Melchisedec²⁶.

; The Vulgate curtails v. 20 and reads: benedictus Deus excelsus quo protegente hostes in manibus tuis sunt; and the king of Sodom begs, da mihi animas, cetera tolle tibi, which is closer to the MT, despite the plural animas.

; In the Peshitta the story shows only minor variations from the MT: (1) the king of Salem is named Mlkyzdq, which obscures the real etymology of the name²⁷; but he is called kwmr) d)lh) mrym), ‘priest of God exalted’, which uses for ‘priest’ the term often used of a pagan priest; it thus denies him the Aramaic title )nhk (v. 18) and eliminates the problem of his genealogy; (3) the king of Sodom asks Abram, hb ly nps\t) wqnyn) sb lk, ‘give me the souls and take the acquired property for yourself’; (4) in v. 22 Abram raises his hand to )lh) mrym), with no mention of an equivalent of hwhy, as already noted; (5) in Ps 110,4 the Peshitta renders the last part of the verse, )nt hw kwmr) l)lm bdmwth dmlkyzdq, ‘you are a priest forever in the likeness of Melchizedek’, which seems to be influenced by the interpretation of the peculiar phrase that is given in Heb 7,15, kata_ th_n o(moio/thta Melxise/dek ²⁸.

; In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Melchizedek becomes the type of Christ, who is designated there as a ‘priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’ (5,6; 6,20); he is thus the antitype of Melchizedek, depicted as in Ps 110,4. The main passage about Melchizedek in that Epistle (7,1-3) runs thus:

¹ Now this ‘Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him’; ² to him Abraham allotted ‘a tenth of everything’. First of all, by the meaning of his name he is a king of righteousness; then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. ³ He is without father or mother or genealogy and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues as a priest forever (Heb 7,1-3).

; I have already commented on the phrase ‘without father or mother or genealogy’, but one should not fail to note how the name of Melchizedek and his city Salem are here allegorized. For his resemblance to the Son of God, we must await the Qumran material to explain it and the rest of v. 3.

SUMMARY

; Melchizedek is mentioned in the Hebrew Old Testament only in Gen 14,18-20 and Psalm 110,4. The details about this (originally Canaanite) priest-king in these passages were further read and understood in the Hellenistic and Roman periods of Jewish, and later Christian, history. This is seen in the translation or interpretation of the passages in the Septuagint, the writings of Flavius Josephus, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and in the Peshitta, where a process of allegorization was at work.

NOTES

¹ See F. MANZI, "La figura de Melchisedek: Saggio di bibliografia aggiornata", EL 109 (1995) 331-349.

² See further M.C. ASTOUR, "Melchizedek (Person)", ABD IV, 684-686; F. BINDELLA, Melchisedek alla luce della rivelazione del Nome divino. Sacerdozio – Regalitа – Profezia all’origine (Praesidium Assisiense 2; Assisi 1994); M. BODINGER, "L’Enigme de Melkisйdeq", RHR 211 (1994) 297-333; L.R. FISHER, "Abraham and His Priest-King", JBL 81 (1962) 264-270; J.G. GAMMIE, "Loci of the Melchizedek Tradition of Genesis 14:18-20", JBL 90 (1971) 385-396; F.L. HORTON, The Melchizedek Tradition (SNTSMS 30; Cambridge 1976); I. HUNT, "Recent Melchizedek Study", The Bible in Current Catholic Thought (ed. J. L. MCKENZIE) (Saint Mary’s Theology Studies 1; New York 1962) 21-33; H.E. DEL MEDICO, "Melchisйdech", ZAW 69 (1957) 160-170; J.J. PETUCHOWSKI, "The Controversial Figure of Melchizedek", HUCA 28 (1957) 127-136; W. SCHATZ, Genesis 14: Eine Untersuchung (EHS.T 23/2; Bern – Frankfurt 1972) 70-73, 158-167, 269-275; J.-L. SKA, "Melchisйdech", Dictionnaire de spiritualitй ascйtique et mystique. Doctrine et histoire (Paris 1980), X, 967-972; R.H. SMITH, "Abram and Melchizedek (Gen 14,18-20)", ZAW 77 (1965) 129-153.

³ The phrase is an alternative, perhaps older, form of the construct trbd-l(, which is found elsewhere in the OT (Qoh 3,18; 7,14; 8,2), but it hardly has in Genesis the same causal meaning, ‘for the sake of’, even though this meaning has been preferred by some modern scholars (L. Koehler – W. Baumgarten, S. Mowinckel, V. Hamp, J.M.P. Smith, G. Gerleman). Others (H.-J. Kraus, W. Gesenius – F. Buhl, M. Astour) follow the ancient versions of the OT and interpret it in a modal sense: kata_ ta/cin Melxise/dek_; secundum ordinem Melchisedech), which I have used above. A. CAQUOT, "Remarques sur le Psaume CX", Semitica 6 (1956) 33-52, esp. 44, has understood it of an oath, ‘а propos de Melkisedeq’. Whatever its meaning, it hardly connotes a hereditary succession of Melchizedek, but rather considers Melchizedek either as ‘the ideal ancestor of the dynasty or hierarchy of Jerusalem’ (J. SKINNER, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis [ICC; Edinburgh ²1930] 268), or better, as ‘the prototype and precursor of the Davidic dynasty’ (G. VON RAD, Genesis. A Commentary [London 1963] 175).

⁴ See further J. DORЙ, "L’Evocation de Melchisйdech et le problиme de l’origine du Psaume 110", Transeuphratиne 15 (1998) 19-53; G.R. DRIVER, "Psalm CX: Its Form, Meaning and Purpose", Studies in the Bible. Presented to Professor M. H. Segal by his colleagues and students (ed. J. M GRINTZ – J. LIVER) (Publications of the Israel Society for Biblical Research 17, Jerusalem 1964) 17*-31*; G. GERLEMAN, "Psalm CX", VT 31 (1981) 1-19; M. GILBERT – S. PISANO, "Psalm 110 (109), 5-7", Biblica 61 (1980) 343-356; H.-J. KRAUS, Psalmen (BKAT 15; Neukirchen, 1959) 752-764; W. VAN DER MEER, "Psalm 110: A Psalm of Rehabilitation?" The Structural Analysis of Biblical and Canaanite Poetry (ed. W. VAN DER MEER –J. C. DE MOOR) (JSOTSS 74; Sheffield 1988) 207-234; P.J. NEL, "Psalm 110 and the Melchizedek Tradition", JNSL 22 (1996) 1-14; S. SCHREINER, "Psalm CX und die Investitur des Hohenpriesters", VT 27 (1977) 216-222; R.J. TOURNAY, "Le Psaume CX", RB 67 (1960) 5-41; "Les relectures du Psaume 110 (109) et l’allusion а Gйdйon", RB 105 (1998) 321-331.

⁵ See F. CORNELIUS, "Genesis XIV", ZAW 72 (1960) 1-7; E.A. SPEISER, Genesis. Introduction, translation, and notes (AB 1; Garden City 1964) 105; VON RAD, Genesis, 170, 174; M. NOTH, A History of Pentateuchal Traditions (Englewood Cliffs 1972) 28, n. 84. Compare G. J. WENHAM, Genesis 1–15 (WBC 1; Waco 1987) 307, who tries to maintain (unconvincingly) that chap. 14 is ‘a substantial unity, part of the larger Abram – Lot cycle, with a number of glosses that may be ascribed to a J-editor’.

⁶ See F.M.T. BЦHL, "Die Kцnige von Genesis 14", ZAW 36 (1916) 65-73, esp. 72-73; H. GUNKEL, Genesis. Ьbersetzt und erklдrt (HKAT 1/1; Gцttingen 1922) 284-285.

⁷ See O. PROCKSCH, Die Genesis. Ьbersetzt und erklдrt (KAT 1; Leipzig 1924) 501; V.P. HAMILTON, The Book of Genesis. Chapters 1-17 (NICOT; Grand Rapids 1990) 408-411.

⁸ Compare Deut 23,4.

⁹ Philo, Leg. all. 3.79; Josephus, Ant. 1.180; Bell. iud. 6.438. Both write basileu_j di/kaioj.

¹⁰ Compare the similar Ugaritic names, adn Жdq (see C.F.A. SCHAEFFER, Le Palais Royal d’Ugarit [Paris 1957] 2.140:8); bЖl Жdq (2.46:6); il Жdq (2.37:4; 2.131:9).

¹¹ See Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica 1.10.13-14,25 (Eusebius Werke. VIII. Die Praeparatio evangelica [Hrsg. K. MRAS] [GCS 43/1; Berlin 1954] 46, 48; J. SIRINELLI – Й. DES PLACES, Eusиbe de Cйsarйe, La prйparation йvangйlique. Livre I. Introduction, texte grec, traduction et commentaire [SC 206; Paris 1954] 192). Cf. W.F. ALBRIGHT, "The Jordan Valley in the Bronze Age", AASOR 6 (1926) 13-74, esp. 63-64, n. 172; R. A. ROSENBERG, "The God 6edeq", HUCA 36 (1965) 161-177; M. DELCOR, "Melchizedek from Genesis to the Qumran Texts and the Epistle to the Hebrews", JSJ 2 (1971) 115-135, esp. 115-116.

¹² Josephus, Bell. iud. 6.438; Ant. 1.181.

¹³ Josephus, Ant. 1.180, calls Melchizedek ‘the king of Solyma’ (o( th=j Soluma= basileu/j) and explains the area’s name as an earlier form of ФIeroso/luma. The end of the name of Jerusalem (Ml#) and Salem (Ml#) may both be related to the Hebrew word for ‘peace’ (Mwl#); this may have been a reason for identifying them as names of the same city. This may be the reason why Philo calls Melchizedek ‘king of peace’ (basile/a te th=j ei)rh/nhj) in Leg. all. 3.79. For another explanation, see J. LEWY, "The Sulman Temple in Jerusalem", JBL 59 (1940) 519-522.

¹⁴ See W.F. ALBRIGHT, "Abram the Hebrew. A New Archaeological Interpretation", BASOR 163 (1961) 36-54, esp. 52.

¹⁵ But the Vg has ad Dominum Deum excelsum, which follows the MT.

¹⁶ See G. LEVI DELLA VIDA, "El ‘Elyon in Genesis 14 18-20", JBL 63 (1944) 1-9.

¹⁷ Sf I A 11. See A. DUPONT-SOMMER – J. STARCKY, "Les inscriptions aramйennes de Sfirй (Stиles I et II)", Mйmoires prйsentйs а l’Acadйmie des inscriptions et belles-lettres 15 (1958) 193-351 (with pls. I-XXIX), esp. 213; cf. J. A. FITZMYER, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire. Revised Edition (BibOr 19A; Rome 1995) 41, 75.

¹⁸ See Ps 78,35; cf. 78,56 and R. LACK, "Les origines de Elyon, le Trиs-Haut, dans la tradition cultuelle d’Israel", CBQ 24 (1962) 44-64.

¹⁹ This problem gets a solution in the targums of Genesis in the later Jewish tradition, when Melchizedek is called ‘Shem, the son of Noah’ (so in Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Neof. Gen 14,18).

²⁰ See M. PETER, "Wer sprach den Segen nach Genesis xiv 19 ьber Abraham aus?" VT 29 (1979) 114-120.

²¹ Sancti Hieronymi Epistulae. Pars II: Epistulae LXXI–CXX (ed. I. Hilberg) (CSEL 55, Vienna ²1996) 20.

²² Lit. it means ‘the mare’, but the feminine was used also as a collective singular for ‘cavalry’. The Hebrew noun #kr or #wkr, ‘possession, acquisition’, was understood by the LXX translators as related to #kr, ‘steeds’, as in 1 Kgs 5,8 (English 4,28), where it is used along with Mysws.

²³ For the LXX text of Gen 14,18-20 see J. W. WEVERS, Genesis (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum 1; Gцttingen 1974) 164-166; for the text of Ps 110,4 see A. RAHLFS, Psalmi cum Odis (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum 10; Gцttingen 1931) 277.

²⁴ In Bell. iud. 6.438, Josephus even says of Melchizedek that ‘he was the first to serve as priest of God and, being the first to build the Temple, gave the city previously called Solyma the name Hierosolyma’.

²⁵ For the Greek text of Josephus, Ant. 1.180-182, see Josephus. With an English Translation by H. St. J. Thackeray. [Edition] in Nine Volumes. IV: Jewish Antiquities, Books I–IV (LCL; London – Cambridge, MA 1967) 88-90.

²⁶ The full text of the VL reads: 17 exivit autem rex Sodomorum in obviam Abr[ah]ae postquan regressus est ab [...] illo Codorlamor rege et regum qui fuerunt cum eo in Caldad Siud [...] in campo regum. 18 et Melchisedec rex Salem protulit panem et vinum; fuit autem sacerdos Dei summi. 19 et benedixit Abra[ha]m dicens, Benedictus Abram Deo summo qui creavit caelum et terram, 20 et benedictus Deus excelsus qui tradidit inimicos tuos sub manus tuas, et dedit ei decimas ab omnibus suis. 21 et dixit [...] Da mihi homines, equos autem sume tibi. 22 et dixit Abram ad regem Sodomorum, extendo manum meam ad Deum altissimum [a few MSS: Dominum summum] qui fecit caelum et terram, 23 si a sparto usque ad corrigiam calciamenti accipiam ab omnibus tuis ne dicas quia ego divitem feci eum. 24 [...] iuvenes [...]. See B. FISCHER, Genesis (VL 2; Freiburg im B. 1951/54) 167-170; for Psalm 110, see P. SABATIER, Bibliorum sacrorum latinae versiones antiquae seu Vetus Italica [...] (Rheims 1743; repr., Turnhout 1981).

²⁷ See F. C. BURKITT, The Syriac Forms of New Testament Proper Names (PBA 5; London 1914) 28.

²⁸ See Vetus Testamentum Syriace iuxta simplicem syrorum versionem. Ex auctoritate societatis ad studia librorum veteris testamenti provehenda edidit institutum peshittonianum leidense (Leiden 1977), I/1, 25; II/3, 135.