700 YEAR OLD HEBREW BIBLE FROM CHRISTIAN SPAIN COULD FETCH $2.5 MILLION AT AUCTION
A rare 14th century handwritten Hebrew Bible from Spain will be auctioned at Sotheby's New York on December 17, 2025. The medieval work is a Tanakh containing the Five Books of Moses plus the Book of Prophets and Writings, estimated to fetch between $1.5 and $2.5 million.
Sharon Mintz, Sotheby's international senior specialist of Judaica, said beautifully scribed Hebrew Bibles from 700 years ago are really rare and very rarely come up for auction. The Spanish Bible is unique owing to micrographic designs in the margins featuring Masoretic text with accents, vowels and cantillation, plus explanations that indicate how Hebrew should be read.
The Bible hails from Toledo, Spain, an ancient city known for its significant Jewish community prior to the expulsion of Jews from the country in 1492. It was home to two famous Jewish scribes: Israel ben Isaac Ben Israel and Joseph ben Judah Ibn Merwas, who is possibly the author of this unsigned work. Merwas was especially known for his skilled star of David lettering, which he drew in signed micrographic copies of at least two other Bibles.
Mintz said the manuscript has all the markings of one of the great scribes of Toledo of the early 14th century. "The Jews in Spain were known for how carefully and how skillfully they wrote manuscripts of the biblical text. They went to a lot of effort and expense to make sure that their texts were as correct as possible", she said.
The manuscript is part of Sotheby's Important Judaica sale featuring 120 objects. Items will be on view and open to the public from December 11 through December 16 at Sotheby's New York, which recently relocated to the Breuer Building at 945 Madison Avenue.
In 2024, the Shem Tov Bible from Spain from the same period fetched $6.9 million. In 2023, Sotheby's sold the oldest and most complete copy of the Hebrew Bible, the Codex Sassoon, for $38.1 million, making it the most expensive book ever sold.
THE CRUSADER'S OPINION
This Bible comes from Toledo when Christian Spain still allowed Jews to live and work among them. The Jews of medieval Spain produced Scripture manuscripts of extraordinary beauty and precision. They cared deeply about preserving God's Word accurately. Then came 1492. Christian Spain expelled the Jews entirely. This Bible survived. It testifies to a time when Christians and Jews lived side by side in Spain, before religious conflict tore that world apart. The Hebrew Bible is the Christian Old Testament. These are our Scriptures too. This manuscript preserves the Word of God that points to Christ.
TAKE ACTION
View the manuscript in person: Visit Sotheby's New York at 945 Madison Avenue from December 11 to 16, 2025. Free and open to the public. See this piece of biblical history with your own eyes.
Learn about medieval Spanish Judaism: Research the Golden Age of Jewish scholarship in Christian Spain and how Jews contributed to preserving Scripture. Understand the shared biblical heritage between Christianity and Judaism.
Support biblical manuscript preservation: Donate to organizations that preserve ancient biblical texts. The Museum of the Bible in Washington DC works to protect Scripture manuscripts. Visit museumofthebible.org or call +1 866 430 6682.
Study the Old Testament: Read the Hebrew Scriptures that this manuscript contains. The Torah, Prophets and Writings all point forward to Jesus Christ. Every Christian should know the Old Testament deeply.
Pray for Jewish Christian relations: Pray for healing between Christians and Jews. Pray for Messianic Jews who recognize Jesus as the Messiah promised in these very Scriptures.
