This electronic transcription is based on the 1883 edition of Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commetnary printed by Edward Dunigan and Brother, New York, New York. It is called an "expanded" version because many of the abbreviations used in the printed text have been expanded by the transcriber for this edition. See Transcriber's Notes section below for details about this and some of the other other changes made by the transcriber to the printed text for this electronic transciption.
Preface to the Bible,
Transcriber's Notes
Biblical citations
Douay-Rheims Bible Text. The biblical citations in the footnotes associated with the Douay-Rheims Bible text typically include the name of the Book (often abreviated), followed by the Chapter number (in lower-case Roman numerals), and the Verse number (in Arabic numerals). For example, Genesis 3:15. and Gen. 3:15. refer to the Book of Genesis, Chapter 3, Verse 15. --- Instead of repeating the name of the Book, Supra (Latin: above) or Infra (Latin: below) is used to denote the Chapter and Verse in the same Book, but preceding or following, respectively. For example, in Genesis, Supra 3:15. and Infra 3:15. refer to Genesis 3:15. Although Supra v. and Infra v. are usually used to denote Chapter 5 in the same Book and Supra ver. and Infra ver. are used to denote the Verse in the same Chapter, occasionally Supra v. and Infra v. are used in place of Supra ver. and Infra ver. to denote the Verse in the same Chapter.
Haydock Bible Commentary. Haydock's Bible Commentary uses the same (Book name, Chapter number, and Verse number) format described above but, instead of using Supra or Infra in biblical citations, it uses an abreviation for Chapter, such as Chap., chap., C., or c., in place of the name of the same Book and it uses an abreviation for Verse, such as Ver., ver., V., or v., in place of the same Book and same Chapter. For example, in the commentary on Genesis, unless another book has just been mentioned, C. 3:15. refers to Genesis 3:15. Similarly, in the commentary on Genesis 3., unless another book or chapter has just been mentioned, verse 15. refers to Genesis 3:15. --- When another Book in a series is cited or when the name of a Book has already been cited in the sentence, B. (for Book) is sometimes substituted for the name of the book. For example, the commentary on 1 Machabees 1:10. cites 2 B. Ii. 20., which refers to 2 Machabees 2:20. Similarly, Ep. or ep. (for Epistle) is sometimes substituted for the name of the Book in the biblical citation, especially when the name of the Book or the author of the Book is previously mentioned in the sentence. For example, the commentary on Psalm xxxiii. 13. reads in part, "S. Peter (1 ep. 3:10.) adopts this sense...," where 1 ep. 3:10. refers to 1 Peter 3:10.
Haydock's Bible Commentary features commentary on individual Verses, such as Ver. 3., on definite ranges of Verses, such as Ver. 2-5., and on indefinite ranges of Verses, such as Ver. 4. etc. (See Note, below.) These designations are not definitive and, for any given verse, it is a good idea to also review the commentary for the preceding verses in the chapter, as well as any available prefatory or concluding comments on that chapter.
he initial designation of these featured commentaries also serves as a hyperlink to the corresponding Verse in the Douay-Rheims Bible text. In the case of featured commentary on a range of Verses, the hyperlink is to the Verse in the Douay-Rheims Bible text that corresponds to the range's initial Verse. For example, the hyperlink for Ver. 2-5. goes to Verse 2 in the Douay-Rheims Bible text.
Note: etc. is the same as etc., an abbreviation of the Latin et cetera: and others, and the like, and the rest, and so forth.
Bible chronology
A.M. signifies Anno Monai, that is, in the Year of the World. --- A.C. signifes Ante Christum, that is, Year before Christ, as does B.C. --- A.D., Anno Domini, in the Year of our Lord. --- The Bible chronology proposed by Usher or a similar chronology, which places the Creation of the World (A.M. 1) at 4004 years before the Birth of Christ, is employed in the footnotes accompanying the Douay-Rheims Bible text and in Haydock's Bible Commentary to date various Biblical events. Though prominently featured in these works, the Catholic Church makes no dogmatic claim about the accuracy of this proposed Bible chronology and Catholics are free to reject this chronology for another, even one that reckons the Creation of the Universe at nearly 14,000,000,000 years before the Birth of Christ.
Changes made to the original douay-rheims bible text for this transcription
Footnotes. The original Douay-Rheims Bible text indicates footnotes with letters of the alphabet, in a smaller, superscript font. In the original text the first footnote on any given page is indicated with a, the second with b, the third with c, etc. Because the pagination of the original text is not preserved in this transcription, all the alphabetical footnote indicators in the original Bible text have been replaced by astericks. The first footnote indicator in any given verse is marked with one asterick, *, the second with two asterisks, **, the third with three astericks, ***, and the fourth with four astericks, ****. The asterisks in the Bible text also serve as hyperlinks to corresponding footnotes in the footnote section. In the footnote section, the reference verse number is given, followed by a colon, and then the footnote for that verse. If there are multiple footnotes in a verse, they are separated from one another by a long dash, ---, and identified with an appropriate number of leading astericks, * for the first footnote, ** for the second footnote, *** for the third, and **** for the fourth footnote. For example, the Bible text for Matthew1:7. indicates multiple footnotes: "7 *And Solomon begot Roboam. **And Roboam begot Abias. ***And Abias begot Asa." And, the footnote section for verse 7 accordingly reads: "7: * 3 Kings11:43. --- ** 3 Kings xiv. 31. --- *** 3 Kings xv. 8." Thus, the first footnote, *, in verse 7 cross-references the text, "And Solomon begot Roboam," to 3 Kings 11:43.; the second footnote, **, cross-references the text, "And Roboam begot Abias," to 3 Kings xiv. 31.; and, the third footnote, ***, cross-references the text, "And Abias begot Asa," to 3 Kings xv. 8. The reference verses in the footnote section also serves as hyperlinks back to the corresponding verses in the Bible text.
Beause the original spacing between the individual terms of a footnote containing multiple terms has not been preserved in this transcription, a semi-colon has been added to separate the terms from one another. For example, the original footnote for Matthew 1:21. contains two terms, "Luke 1:31." and "Acts 4:12.," separated one from the other by a double-space. In this transcription, having replaced the original double-space with a semicolon, the footnote reads, "21: Luke 1:31.; Acts 4:12."
Chapter titles. In the original Douay-Rheims Bible text, chapter titles of any given book appear as Chap. 1., Chap. 2., Chap. 3., etc. In an attempt to make it easier to further identify a particular chapter, chapter titles in this transcription feature the name of the book followed by the chapter number in lower case Roman numerals, similar to the biblical citations used throughout these works. For example, in this transcription the chapter titles in the book of Matthew appear as Matthew i., Matthew ii., Matthew iii., etc.
Changes made to the original haydock bible commentary text for this transcription
Greek letters. The original Haydock Commentary text sometimes includes Greek expressions spelled out in Greek letters. In this transcription, those expressions have been transliterated from Greek letters to English letters, italicized and underlined. The following substitution scheme has been used:
| Greek | Latin | Greek | Latin | Greek | Latin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | A | Beta | B | Gamma | G |
| Delta | D | Epsilon | E | Zeta | Z |
| Eta | E | Theta | Th | Iota | I |
| Kappa | K | Lamda | L | Mu | M |
| Nu | N | Xi | X | Omicron | O |
| Pi | P | Rho | R | Sigma | S |
| Tau | T | Upsilon | U | Phi | Ph |
| Chi | Ch | Psi | Ps | Omega | O |
For example, where the name, Jesus, is spelled out in the original text in Greek letters, Iota-eta-sigma-omicron-upsilon-sigma, it is transliterated in this transcription as, Iesous. Greek diacritical marks have not been represented in this transcription.
Footnotes. The original Haydock commentary text indicates footnotes with special characters, including the astrisk (*) and printers' marks, such as the dagger mark, the double dagger mark, the section mark, the parallels mark, and the paragraph mark. In this transcription all these special characters have been replaced by numbers in square brackets, such as [1], [2], [3], etc. The footnote indicators in the commentary text also serve as hyperlinks to the corresponding footnotes in the footnote section and vice versa.
Accent marks. The original text contains some English letters represented with accent marks. In this transcription, those letters have been rendered without their accent marks.
Horizontal lines. Solid horizontal lines of various lengths that appear in the original text have been represented as a series of consecutive hyphens of approximately the same length, such as ---.
Monetary sums. Monetary sums in the original text represented with a preceding British pound sterling symbol (a stylized L, transected by a short horizontal line) are represented in this transcription with a following pound symbol, L.