RABBINIC BIBLES, or MIKRAOTH GEDO LOTH (t161) 11)0.1M)=Great Bibles, as they are called in Hebrew. This name is given to the fol lowing seven editions of the Hebrew Scriptures, because they contain the commentaries of sundry Jewish rabbins.
i. The Hebrew Bible rnpc), with Jewish commentaries, published by Bomberg, and carried through the _press by Felix Pratensis, Venice, Kislev 27, 278 (riro=1516-17, fol. This is pro perly the first edition of the Rabbinic Bible. It consists of four parts, with a separate title-page to each part, and its contents are given in the article PRATENSIS. Comp. also Wolf, Bibliotheca He bran, ii. 336 ; Bibliotheca Sacra, i. 96-99, who erro neously dates this edition 1518 ; Steinschneider, Catalogus Libr. !Abr. irz Bibliotheca Bodleiana, col. 6.
ii. The Bible which is entitled trim Porta Del Sancta, was also published by Bomberg, Venice, Kislev 25, 285 (ilti), Tishri 24, 286 (In) = 1524-25, four vols. fol. This, though properly the second edition of the Rabbinic Bible, is the first edition carried through the press by the celebrated Jacob b. Chajim, who corrected the numerous errors in the text of the foregoing edi tion, published for the first time the entire Masso retic apparatus, and made sundry other additions detailed in the article JACOB B. CHAJIM. The celebrated Introduction of Jacob b. Chajim, writ ten for this edition, which gives an account of the different views about the origin of the various readings, has recently been published separately in Hebrew, with an English translation and notes by Ginsburg, Longman, 1865. Comp. also Masch, Ibid., i. 100-102 ; who erroneously dates this edi tion 1526 ; Steinschneider, Ibid., col. I I.
iii. The Rabbinic Bible, which is Bomberg's third edition, Venice, Kislev 25, 307 (MA—Tishri 4, WC)) = 1546-48, four vols. fol., and Jacob b. Chajim's second edition. This edition contains as follows :— The first volume, embracing the Pentateuch (mein), begins with the elaborate Introduction of Jacob b. Chajim ; an Index of the sections of the whole O. T. according to the Massorah, and Ibn Ezra's preface to the Pentateuch. Then follow the five books of Moses in Hebrew, with the Chal dee paraphrase, the commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Jacob b. Asher.
The second volume, comprising the earlier pro phets (D'31C.121 WW1:), with the Chaldee para phrase, the commentaries of Rashi, David Kimchi, and Levi b. Gershon, as well as the comments of Isaiah di Trani on Judges and Samuel.
The third volume embraces the later prophets tritt+13), with the Chaldee paraphrase and the commentaries of Rashi and Kimchi.
The fourth volume comprises the Hagiographa (D'1111) with the Chaldee paraphrase, the com mentaries of Rashi on the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Five Megilloth, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles ; of Ibn Ezra on the Psalms, Job, the Five Megilloth, Daniel ; of Moses Kimchi on Proverbs, Ezra, and Nehemiah, falsely ascribed to Ibn Ezra [Ktmcm, MosEs] ; of David Kimchi on Chronicles ; of Levi b. Gershon on Proverbs and Job ; of Saadia (spu rious) on Daniel ; the Massorah finalis ; the treatise on the points and accents by Moses the Punctuator, the variations of Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali, and the variations between the Western and Eastern Codices. On comparing this edition with the editio princeps of Jacob b. Chajim, as described in the article Jacob b. Chajim, it will be seen that in this second edition, which is undoubtedly the best, are omitted Ibn Ezra's commentaries on Isaiah and the Minor Prophets, some portions of the Massorah, etc., etc. ; whilst Jacob b. Asher's com mentary on the Pentateuch, and Isaiah di Trani's commentary on Judges and Samuel are inserted. Comp. Masch, Ibid., i. 102, io3, who erroneously dates this edition 1549 ; Steinscheider, Ibid., col. iv. Bomberg's fourth Rabbinic Bible, by Di Gora, carried through the press and corrected by Isaac b. Joseph D5D, and Isaac b. Gershon Treves, Venice, Elul 17, 328 '568, four vols. fol. The correctors remark, at the end, that they have re-inserted in this edition the portion of the Mas sorah which was omitted in the edition of 1546-48. Appended to this volume is the so-called Jerusalem Targum on the Pentateuch. The assertion that Ibn Ezra's commentaries on Isaiah and the Minor Pro phets, which were also omitted in the previous edition, are given in this is incorrect. Wolf (Biblio theca Hebra'a, ii. 372), says : In catalogo quodam MSto Codicum Hebr. Bibl. Bodlej. observatum vidi, quad editio opera Genebrardi passim sit castrata in iis, gum contra rem Christianum et prR cipue contra Romanos dicuntur.' Masch (Biblio theca Sacra, i. to3) repeats it, and characterises this edition as castrated by Genebrard. No less an authority, however, than Steinschneider, posi tively states, sed. expl. tale in Bodl. non exstal' (Catalogus Libr. Hebr. in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, col. 37).