Ancient Biblical manuscript sells for $38 million

On May 18, 2023

FILE - Sotheby's unveils the Codex Sassoon for auction, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, in the Manhattan borough of New York. The 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the oldest surviving biblical manuscripts sold for $38.1 million, which includes the auction house's fee, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – One of the world’s oldest surviving biblical manuscripts has sold for $38 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York.

The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume containing a nearly complete Hebrew Bible, was bought on behalf of the American Friends of the ANU museum in TelAviv where it will be displayed.

ANU is the Hebrew word for we.

The Associated Press reports that the manuscript dates from between 880-960 CE and was once owned by an Iraqi Jewish business magnate, David Solomon Sassoon, hence its name.

A Sotheby’s spokesperson said it would make a grand and permanent return to Israel, displayed for the world to see.