Johannes (I, senior [1564–1629]) was the most celebrated. A scholar of vast learning in Hebrew and Jewish studies, he was instructed in Hebrew and Talmudic literature by learned Jews and obtained the chair in 1590. Along with various other Protestants of his time, he maintained that the vowel points in the Hebrew text and the square script were of primitive origin.
Works: *Synagoga iudaica* (Basel 1603 in German; Hanau 1604 in Latin), an exposition of Jewish religion, customs, and ceremonies; *Praecoptiones grammaticae hebraicae* (ibid. 1605), later expanded into the *Epitome gramm. hebr.*, which reached 16 editions; *Epitome radicum hebr. et chald.* (ibid. 1607), later expanded into the *Lexikon hebraicum et chaldaicum*; *De abbreviaturis hebraicis* (ibid. 1613); *Biblia hebraica* (ibid. 1618–1619); *Tiberias, seu commentarius masorethicus* (ibid. 1620); *Lexicon chaldaicum talmudicum*, edited by his son (ibid. 1639); *Concordantiae Bibliorum hebraicae* (ibid. 1632).
Johannes (II, iunior [1569–1664]), son of the preceding, defended his father’s theses in polemics with the Protestant Louis (II) Cappel, who argued, to the contrary, that the vowel points postdated the Talmud and that the square script had been preceded by the Samaritan script, which was primitive.
Works: *Lexicon chald. et syr.* (Basel 1622); *De litterarum hebr. genuina antiquitate* (ibid. 1643); *De linguae hebr. origine et antiquitate* (ibid. 1644); various *Dissertationes philol.-theol.* (ibid. 1645 ff.); *Tractatus de punctorum, vocaliarum et accentuum in libris V. T. hebr. origine* (ibid. 1648); *Anticritica, seu Vindiciae veritatis hebr. adv. Lud. Cappelli criticam* (ibid. 1653). He translated into Latin from Hebrew Môreh Nébhûkhîm (*Doctor perplexorum*, ibid. 1629) by Moses Maimonides, and Közdrî (*Liber Corri*, ibid. 1660) by Judah Halevi.
Johannes Jakob (1645–1704), son of the preceding, prepared new editions of his grandfather’s two works, *Tiberias* (Basel 1665) and *Synagoga iudaica* (ibid. 1680). After his death the rich collection of Hebrew works belonging to the Buxtorf family passed to the library of the University of Basel.
Johannes III (1661–1732), of whom the preceding was uncle, wrote: *Catalecta philol.-theol. cum mantissa epistolar. viror. claror. ad Iohannem Buxtorffium patrem et filium scriptarum* (Basel 1707); *Specimen phraseologiae V. T. hebr.* (Frankfurt am Main 1717).