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The Church Fathers · c. 235–245; survives in fragments

The Hexapla

Origen of Alexandria · c. 185–c. 253

What it is

The Old Testament laid out in six parallel columns — Hebrew, Hebrew in Greek letters, and four Greek versions — with marks showing where the Septuagint added to or omitted from the Hebrew.

Why it lasted

The first work of textual criticism in Christian history, and a scholarly undertaking on a scale not attempted again for a thousand years.

Where to read it

This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.

These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.

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