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Testament of Isaac (Ethiopic version)

ገድለ፡ ይስሐቅ፡ (Gadla Yǝsḥaq) · Anonymous (attributed to Athanasius in the Coptic-Arabic-Ethiopic tradition) · composition date unknown; the Ethiopic is a daughter version of the Coptic/Arabic traditi… · apocryphon · LIT1517GadlaY

Ethiopic · domain: apocrypha · researched 2026-11-13

no English translation located. No published English translation of this text was located in the catalogues and series checked. Where only a non-English rendering or a translation of a daughter version exists, it is recorded below and does not close the gap. Treat this as a gap candidate, not as proof that no translation exists; the evidence names every source checked.

Why this is in the register

The standard English collection translates a different version: Sparks, The Apocryphal Old Testament (1984) states 'The Sahidic text in the Pierpont Morgan MS has been chosen as the basis for the translation of the Testament of Isaac', and its translation list gives only English renderings of the Sahidic (Kuhn 1967), Bohairic (Gaselee 1927, in Box) and Arabic extracts (Barnes 1892), with Chaîne's rendering of the ETHIOPIC appearing only in French (in Delcor 1973, pp. 224-233): full text of Sparks checked at https://archive.org/download/TheApocryphalOldTestamentSPARKS/The-Apocryphal-Old-Testament_SPARKS_djvu.txt. The only edition/translation of the Ethiopic versions is German: Martin Heide, Die Testamente Isaaks und Jakobs: Edition und Übersetzung der arabischen und äthiopischen Versionen (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2000), https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Heide%20Testamente%20Isaaks%20und%20Jakobs&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 No English translation of the Ethiopic Testament of Isaac was located in HOLLIS.

Transmitted together with the Testaments of Abraham and Jacob as the 'Testaments of the Three Patriarchs' (Beta Masaheft LIT6866Testaments). The Ethiopic text has never been Englished; the 1984 Oxford collection that most readers use is Coptic-based.

Existing translations recorded

Edition / series
Le Testament d'Abraham (includes Chaîne's French rendering of the Ethiopic Testament of Isaac, pp. 224-233) · M. Chaîne (Ethiopic), revised by A. Caquot · 1973
Die Testamente Isaaks und Jakobs: Edition und Übersetzung der arabischen und äthiopischen Versionen · Aethiopistische Forschungen 56 · Martin Heide (German) · 2000

Electronic text

Source and licence
Beta Masaheft · TEI XML · CC-BY-SA 4.0
LIT1517GadlaY

Scanned witnesses

Scan search: not checked. Not searched in the scan pass: this dossier was outside the 121-work scan target set.

Harvard Hollis

Hollis query: "Testament of Isaac" — 9 record(s); match basis author_title.

RecordCitation
That part of the last will and testament of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq; which relates to the publick : with his strange and wonderful prophecies, to be fulfilled in the years 1738, & 9. To which is added, an important meditation on a staff, A Fragment. Published in pursuance of the said will, by Gabriel Bickerstaff, Esq; His Nephew, and Executor
Bickerstaff, Isaac · MDCCXXKVIII. MDCCXXKVIII 1738 · eng
Bickerstaff, Isaac. "That part of the last will and testament of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq; which relates to the publick : with his strange and wonderful prophecies, to be fulfilled in the years 1738, & 9. To which is added, an important meditation on a staff, A Fragment. Published in pursuance of the said will, by Gabri…
In the matter of the probate of the last will and testament of Isaac M. Singer, deceased: argument of Reuben W. Van Pelt, Esq., of counsel for Mary Ann Foster, upon her claim to intervene as the widow of the testator, delivered December 28th and 29th, 18
Van Pelt, Reuben W · 1876 · eng
Van Pelt, Reuben W. "In the matter of the probate of the last will and testament of Isaac M. Singer, deceased: argument of Reuben W. Van Pelt, Esq., of counsel for Mary Ann Foster, upon her claim to intervene as the widow of the testator, delivered December 28th and 29th, 18." New York : H.W. Turner, 1876. https://hol…
That part of the last will and testament of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq; which relates to the publick : with his strange and wonderful prophecies, to be fulfilled in the years 1738, & 9. To which is added, an important meditation on a staff, A Fragment. Published in pursuance of the said will, by Gabriel Bickerstaff, Esq; His Nephew, and Executor
Bickerstaff, Isaac · MDCCXXKVIII. MDCCXXKVIII 1738 · eng
Bickerstaff, Isaac. "That part of the last will and testament of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq; which relates to the publick : with his strange and wonderful prophecies, to be fulfilled in the years 1738, & 9. To which is added, an important meditation on a staff, A Fragment. Published in pursuance of the said will, by Gabri…
In the matter of the probate of the last will and testament of Isaac M. Singer, deceased : argument of Reuben W. Van Pelt, Esq., of counsel for Mary Ann Foster, upon her claim to intervene as the widow of the testator, delivered December 28th and 29th, 1875
Van Pelt, Reuben W · 1876 · eng
Van Pelt, Reuben W. "In the matter of the probate of the last will and testament of Isaac M. Singer, deceased : argument of Reuben W. Van Pelt, Esq., of counsel for Mary Ann Foster, upon her claim to intervene as the widow of the testator, delivered December 28th and 29th, 1875." New York : H.W. Turner, 1876. https://…
Die Testamente Isaaks und Jakobs : Edition und Übersetzung der arabischen und äthiopischen Versionen
Heide, Martin · 2000 · ger
Heide, Martin. "Die Testamente Isaaks und Jakobs : Edition und Übersetzung der arabischen und äthiopischen Versionen." Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 2000. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/990085604650203941

Sources checked

Cite: Tergwame, “Testament of Isaac (Ethiopic version)” (ethiopic gap dossier), 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/ethiopic-anonymous-testament-isaac