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Masoretic Text

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The Masoretic Text<a href="#cite_note-1">[a]</a> (MT or 𝕸; <a href="Hebrew_language" title="Hebrew language">Hebrew</a>: נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, <a href="Romanization_of_Hebrew" title="Romanization of Hebrew">romanized</a>: Nussāḥ ham-Māsorā, <a href="Literal_translation" title="Literal translation">lit.</a> 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative <a href="Biblical_Hebrew" title="Biblical Hebrew">Hebrew</a> and <a href="Biblical_Aramaic" title="Biblical Aramaic">Aramaic</a> text of the 24 books of the <a href="Hebrew_Bible" title="Hebrew Bible">Hebrew Bible</a> (Tanakh) in <a href="Rabbinic_Judaism" title="Rabbinic Judaism">Rabbinic Judaism</a>. The Masoretic Text defines the <a href="Development_of_the_Hebrew_Bible_canon" title="Development of the Hebrew Bible canon">Jewish canon</a> and its precise letter-text, with its <a href="Niqqud" title="Niqqud">vocalization</a> and <a href="Hebrew_cantillation" title="Hebrew cantillation">accentuation</a> known as the masora. Referring to the Masoretic Text, masora specifically means the <a href="Hebrew_diacritics" title="Hebrew diacritics">diacritic markings</a> of the text of the Jewish scriptures and the concise <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Masorah" class="extiw external" title="wikt:Masorah">marginal notes</a> in manuscripts (and later printings) of the Tanakh which note textual details, usually about the precise spelling of words. It was primarily copied, edited, and distributed by a group of <a href="Jews" title="Jews">Jews</a> known as the <a href="Masoretes" title="Masoretes">Masoretes</a> between the 7th and 10th centuries of the <a href="Common_Era" title="Common Era">Common Era</a> (CE). The oldest known complete copy, the <a href="Leningrad_Codex" title="Leningrad Codex">Leningrad Codex</a>, dates to 1009 CE and is recognized as the most complete source of biblical books in the Ben Asher tradition. It has served as the base text for critical editions such as <a href="Biblia_Hebraica_Stuttgartensia" title="Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia">Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia</a> and Adi.<a href="#cite_note-2">[1]</a>

The differences attested to in the <a href="Dead_Sea_Scrolls" title="Dead Sea Scrolls">Dead Sea Scrolls</a> indicate that multiple versions of the Hebrew scriptures already existed by the end of the <a href="Second_Temple_period" title="Second Temple period">Second Temple period</a>.<a href="#cite_note-Tov-3">[2]</a> Which is closest to a theoretical <a href="Urtext_(biblical_studies)" title="Urtext (biblical studies)">Urtext</a> is disputed, as is whether such a singular text ever existed.<a href="#cite_note-understanding-4">[3]</a> The Dead Sea Scrolls, dating to as early as the 3rd century BCE, contain versions of the text which have some differences with today's Hebrew Bible.<a href="#cite_note-5">[4]</a><a href="#cite_note-Tov-3">[2]</a> The <a href="Septuagint" title="Septuagint">Septuagint</a> (a compilation of Koine Greek translations made in the third and second centuries BCE) and the <a href="Peshitta" title="Peshitta">Peshitta</a> (a <a href="Syriac_language" title="Syriac language">Syriac</a> translation made in the second century CE) occasionally present notable differences from the Masoretic Text, as does the <a href="Samaritan_Pentateuch" title="Samaritan Pentateuch">Samaritan Pentateuch</a>, the text of the Torah preserved by the <a href="Samaritans" title="Samaritans">Samaritans</a> in <a href="Samaritan_Hebrew" title="Samaritan Hebrew">Samaritan Hebrew</a>.<a href="#cite_note-6">[5]</a> Fragments of an <a href="En-Gedi_Scroll" title="En-Gedi Scroll">ancient 2nd–3rd-century manuscript</a> of the <a href="Book_of_Leviticus" title="Book of Leviticus">Book of Leviticus</a> found near an ancient synagogue's <a href="Torah_ark" title="Torah ark">Torah ark</a> in <a href="Ein_Gedi" class="mw-redirect" title="Ein Gedi">Ein Gedi</a> have identical wording to the Masoretic Text.<a href="#cite_note-Associated_Press-7">[6]</a><a href="#cite_note-8">[7]</a>

The Masoretic Text is the basis for most <a href="Protestant_Bible" title="Protestant Bible">Protestant translations</a> of the <a href="Old_Testament" title="Old Testament">Old Testament</a> such as the <a href="King_James_Version" title="King James Version">King James Version</a>, <a href="English_Standard_Version" title="English Standard Version">English Standard Version</a>,<a href="#cite_note-esv-ot-basis-9">[8]</a> <a href="New_American_Standard_Bible" title="New American Standard Bible">New American Standard Bible</a>,<a href="#cite_note-10">[9]</a> and <a href="New_International_Version" title="New International Version">New International Version</a>.<a href="#cite_note-niv-ot-basis-11">[10]</a> <a href="Divino_afflante_Spiritu" title="Divino afflante Spiritu">After 1943</a>, it has also been used for some <a href="Catholic_Bible" title="Catholic Bible">Catholic Bibles</a>, such as the <a href="New_American_Bible" title="New American Bible">New American Bible</a> and the <a href="New_Jerusalem_Bible" title="New Jerusalem Bible">New Jerusalem Bible</a>. Some Christian denominations instead prefer translations of the Septuagint as it matches quotations in the <a href="New_Testament" title="New Testament">New Testament</a>.<a href="#cite_note-Pentiuc2006-12">[11]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Origin_and_transmission">Origin and transmission</h2></div>

The oldest manuscript fragments of the final Masoretic Text, including vocalications and the masorah, date from around the 9th century.<a href="#cite_note-14">[b]</a> The oldest-known complete copy, the <a href="Leningrad_Codex" title="Leningrad Codex">Leningrad Codex</a>, dates from the early 11th century. The <a href="Aleppo_Codex" title="Aleppo Codex">Aleppo Codex</a>, once the oldest-known complete copy but missing large sections since the <a href="1947%E2%80%931948_civil_war_in_Mandatory_Palestine" title="1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine">1947 Civil war in Palestine</a>, dates from the 10th century. However, codification of the base consonants appears to have begun earlier, perhaps even in the <a href="Second_Temple_period" title="Second Temple period">Second Temple period</a>.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Second_Temple_period">Second Temple period</h3></div>

The discovery of the <a href="Dead_Sea_Scrolls" title="Dead Sea Scrolls">Dead Sea Scrolls</a> at <a href="Qumran" title="Qumran">Qumran</a>, dating from c. 150 BCE – 75 CE, shows that in this period there was no uniform text. According to <a href="Menachem_Cohen_(scholar)" title="Menachem Cohen (scholar)">Menachem Cohen</a>, the Dead Sea scrolls showed that "there was indeed a Hebrew text-type on which the Septuagint-translation was based and which differed substantially from the received MT."<a href="#cite_note-Cohen1979-15">[13]</a> The scrolls show numerous small variations in <a href="Orthography" title="Orthography">orthography</a>, both as against the later Masoretic Text, and between each other. It is also evident from the notings of corrections and of variant alternatives that scribes felt free to choose according to their personal taste and discretion between different readings.<a href="#cite_note-Cohen1979-15">[13]</a>

The text of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Peshitta read somewhat in-between the Masoretic Text and the old Greek.<a href="#cite_note-Tov-3">[2]</a> However, despite these variations, most of the Qumran fragments can be classified as being closer to the Masoretic Text than to any other text group that has survived. According to <a href="Lawrence_Schiffman" title="Lawrence Schiffman">Lawrence Schiffman</a>, 60% can be classed as being of proto-Masoretic type, and a further 20% Qumran style with a basis in proto-Masoretic texts, compared to 5% proto-<a href="Samaritan_Pentateuch" title="Samaritan Pentateuch">Samaritan</a> type, 5% <a href="Septuagint" title="Septuagint">Septuagintal</a> type, and 10% non-aligned.<a href="#cite_note-16">[14]</a> <a href="Joseph_Fitzmyer" title="Joseph Fitzmyer">Joseph Fitzmyer</a> noted the following regarding the findings at Qumran Cave 4 in particular: "Such ancient recensional forms of Old Testament books bear witness to an unsuspected textual diversity that once existed; these texts merit far greater study and attention than they have been accorded till now. Thus, the differences in the Septuagint are no longer considered the result of a poor or tendentious attempt to translate the Hebrew into the Greek; rather they testify to a different pre-Christian form of the Hebrew text".<a href="#cite_note-17">[15]</a> On the other hand, some of the fragments conforming most accurately to the Masoretic Text were found in Cave 4.<a href="#cite_note-18">[16]</a>

<a href="Tannaitic" class="mw-redirect" title="Tannaitic">Tannaitic</a> sources relate that a standard copy of the Hebrew Bible was kept in the court of the Second Temple for the benefit of copyists<a href="#cite_note-19">[17]</a> and that there were paid correctors of biblical books among the officers of the Temple.<a href="#cite_note-20">[18]</a> The <a href="Letter_of_Aristeas" title="Letter of Aristeas">Letter of Aristeas</a> claims that a model codex was sent to <a href="Ptolemy_II_Philadelphus" title="Ptolemy II Philadelphus">Ptolemy</a> by the <a href="Eleazar_(High_Priest)" title="Eleazar (High Priest)">High Priest Eleazar</a>, who asked that it be returned after the <a href="Septuagint" title="Septuagint">Septuagint</a> was completed.<a href="#cite_note-21">[19]</a> <a href="Josephus" title="Josephus">Josephus</a> describes the Romans taking a copy of the Law as spoil,<a href="#cite_note-22">[20]</a> and both he and <a href="Philo" title="Philo">Philo</a> claim no word of the text was ever changed from the time of Moses.<a href="#cite_note-23">[21]</a><a href="#cite_note-24">[22]</a>

In contrast, an <a href="Amoraim" title="Amoraim">Amoraic</a> narrative relates that three Torah scrolls were found in the Temple court, at variance with each other. The differences between the three were resolved by majority decision.<a href="#cite_note-25">[23]</a> This may describe a previous period, although <a href="Solomon_Zeitlin" title="Solomon Zeitlin">Solomon Zeitlin</a> argues it is not historical.<a href="#cite_note-26">[24]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Rabbinic_period">Rabbinic period</h3></div>

An emphasis on minute details of words and spellings, already used among the <a href="Pharisees" title="Pharisees">Pharisees</a> as basis for argumentation, reached its height with the example of <a href="Rabbi_Akiva" title="Rabbi Akiva">Rabbi Akiva</a> (died 135 CE). The idea of a perfect text sanctified in its consonantal base quickly spread throughout the Jewish communities via supportive statements in <a href="Halakha" title="Halakha">Halakha</a>, <a href="Aggadah" title="Aggadah">Aggadah</a>, and Jewish thought;<a href="#cite_note-Cohen1979-15">[13]</a> and with it increasingly forceful strictures that a deviation in even a single letter would make a Torah scroll invalid.<a href="#cite_note-27">[25]</a> Very few manuscripts are said to have survived the <a href="Siege_of_Jerusalem_(70_CE)" title="Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)">destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE</a>.<a href="#cite_note-28">[26]</a> This drastically reduced the number of variants in circulation and also gave a new urgency that the text must be preserved. Few manuscripts survive from this era, but a short <a href="Leviticus" class="mw-redirect" title="Leviticus">Leviticus</a> fragment recovered from the ancient <a href="En-Gedi_Scroll" title="En-Gedi Scroll">En-Gedi Scroll</a>, carbon-dated to the 3rd or 4th century CE, is completely identical to the consonantal Masoretic Text preserved today.<a href="#cite_note-Associated_Press-7">[6]</a>

New Greek translations were also made. Unlike the Septuagint, large-scale deviations in sense between the Greek of <a href="Aquila_of_Sinope" title="Aquila of Sinope">Aquila of Sinope</a> and <a href="Theodotion" title="Theodotion">Theodotion</a> and what we now know as the Masoretic Text are minimal. Relatively small variations between different Hebrew texts in use still clearly existed though, as witnessed by differences between the present-day Masoretic Text and versions mentioned in the <a href="Gemara" title="Gemara">Gemara</a>, and often even <a href="Halakha" title="Halakha">halachic</a> <a href="Midrash" title="Midrash">midrashim</a> based on spelling versions which do not exist in the current Masoretic Text.<a href="#cite_note-Cohen1979-15">[13]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Age_of_the_Masoretes">The Age of the Masoretes</h3></div>

The current received text finally achieved predominance through the reputation of the <a href="Masoretes" title="Masoretes">Masoretes</a>, schools of scribes and Torah scholars working between the 7th and 11th centuries in the <a href="Rashidun_Caliphate" title="Rashidun Caliphate">Rashidun</a>, <a href="Umayyad_Caliphate" title="Umayyad Caliphate">Umayyad</a>, and <a href="Abbasid_Caliphate" title="Abbasid Caliphate">Abbasid Caliphates</a>, based primarily in the cities of <a href="Tiberias" title="Tiberias">Tiberias</a> and <a href="Jerusalem" title="Jerusalem">Jerusalem</a> in <a href="Palestine_(region)" title="Palestine (region)">Palestine</a> and in <a href="Lower_Mesopotamia" title="Lower Mesopotamia">Lower Mesopotamia</a> (called "Babylonia"). According to Menachem Cohen, these schools developed such prestige for the accuracy and error control of their copying techniques that their texts established an authority beyond that of all others.<a href="#cite_note-Cohen1979-15">[13]</a> Differences remained, sometimes bolstered by systematic local differences in pronunciation and <a href="Hebrew_cantillation" title="Hebrew cantillation">cantillation</a>. Every locality, following the tradition of its school, had a standard codex embodying its readings. In the <a href="Talmudic_academies_in_Babylonia" title="Talmudic academies in Babylonia">talmudic academies in Babylonia</a>, the school of <a href="Sura_(city)" title="Sura (city)">Sura</a> differed from that of <a href="Nehardea" title="Nehardea">Nehardea</a>. Similar differences existed in <a href="Talmudic_academies_in_Syria_Palaestina" title="Talmudic academies in Syria Palaestina">those of Syria Palaestina</a>, such as the one at Tiberias, which in later times increasingly became the chief seat of learning. During this period, the living tradition ceased, and the Masoretes, in preparing their codices, usually followed one school or the other, while examining the standard codices of other schools and noting their differences.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Ben_Asher_and_Ben_Naphtali">Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali</h4></div>

The Masorah for the most part ended in the 10th century with <a href="Aaron_ben_Moses_ben_Asher" title="Aaron ben Moses ben Asher">Aaron ben Moses ben Asher</a> and <a href="Ben_Naphtali" title="Ben Naphtali">Ben Naphtali</a>, who were the leading Masoretes of the time. Ben Asher wrote a standard codex (the <a href="Aleppo_Codex" title="Aleppo Codex">Aleppo Codex</a>) embodying his opinions. Ben Naphtali likely did as well, though it has not survived. However, the differences between the two are found in more or less complete Masoretic lists and in quotations in David Ḳimḥi, Norzi, and other medieval writers.<a href="#cite_note-JEBA-30">[28]</a>

The differences between Ben Naphtali and Ben Asher number approximately 875, nine-tenths of which pertain to the placement of accents, while the rest concern vowels and consonantal spelling. The differences between the two Masoretes do not represent solely personal opinions; the two rivals represent different schools. Like the Ben Ashers there seem to have been several Ben Naftalis. The Masoretic lists often do not agree on the precise nature of the differences between the two rival authorities; it is, therefore, impossible to define with exactness their differences in every case; and it is probably due to this fact that the received text does not follow uniformly the system of either Ben Asher or Ben Naphtali.<a href="#cite_note-JEBA-30">[28]</a>

Ben Asher was the last of a distinguished family of Masoretes extending back to the latter half of the 8th century. Despite the rivalry of ben Naphtali and the opposition of <a href="Saadia_Gaon" title="Saadia Gaon">Saadia Gaon</a>, the most eminent representative of the Babylonian school of criticism, ben Asher's codex became recognized as the standard text of the Hebrew Bible. Notwithstanding all this, for reasons unknown neither the printed text nor any manuscript which has been preserved is based entirely on Ben Asher: they are all eclectic. Aside from Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali, the names of several other Masorites have come down; but, perhaps except for one—Pinehas, the head of the academy, who is supposed by modern scholars to have lived about 750—neither their time, their place, nor their connection with the various schools is known.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

Most scholars conclude <a href="Aaron_ben_Moses_ben_Asher#Was_ben_Asher_a_Karaite?" title="Aaron ben Moses ben Asher">Aaron ben Asher was a Karaite</a> rather than a Rabbanite. There is evidence to support the contrary view.<a href="#cite_note-31">[29]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Middle_Ages">The Middle Ages</h3></div>

The two rival authorities, ben Asher and ben Naphtali, practically brought the Masorah to a close. Very few additions were made by the later Masoretes, styled in the 13th and 14th centuries Naqdanim, who revised the works of the copyists, added the vowels and accents (generally in fainter ink and with a finer pen) and frequently the Masorah.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

During the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries the Franco-German school of <a href="Tosafot" title="Tosafot">Tosafists</a> influenced in the development and spread of Masoretic literature. <a href="Gershom_ben_Judah" title="Gershom ben Judah">Gershom ben Judah</a>, his brother <a href="Machir_ben_Judah" title="Machir ben Judah">Machir ben Judah</a>, <a href="Joseph_ben_Samuel_Bonfils" title="Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils">Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils</a> (Tob 'Elem) of <a href="Limoges" title="Limoges">Limoges</a>, <a href="Rabbeinu_Tam" title="Rabbeinu Tam">Rabbeinu Tam</a> (Jacob ben Meïr), Menahem ben Perez of <a href="Joigny" title="Joigny">Joigny</a>, <a href="Perez_ben_Elijah" class="mw-redirect" title="Perez ben Elijah">Perez ben Elijah</a> of <a href="Corbeil-Cerf" title="Corbeil-Cerf">Corbeil</a>, <a href="Judah_ben_Isaac_Messer_Leon" title="Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon">Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon</a>, Meïr Spira, and <a href="Meir_of_Rothenburg" title="Meir of Rothenburg">Meir of Rothenburg</a> made Masoretic compilations, or additions to the subject, which are all more or less frequently referred to in the marginal glosses of biblical codices and in the works of Hebrew grammarians.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Masorah">Masorah</h2></div>

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="Tiberian_vocalization" title="Tiberian vocalization">Tiberian vocalization</a></div>

Traditionally, a ritual <a href="Sefer_Torah" class="mw-redirect" title="Sefer Torah">Sefer Torah</a> (Torah scroll) could contain only the Hebrew <a href="Abjad" title="Abjad">consonantal</a> text – nothing added, nothing taken away. The Masoretic <a href="Codex" title="Codex">codices</a>, however, provide extensive additional material, called masorah, to show correct pronunciation and <a href="Hebrew_cantillation" title="Hebrew cantillation">cantillation</a>, protect against scribal errors, and annotate possible variants. The manuscripts thus include <a href="Niqqud" title="Niqqud">vowel points</a>, <a href="Dagesh" title="Dagesh">pronunciation marks</a> and <a href="Hebrew_cantillation" title="Hebrew cantillation">stress accents</a> in the text, short annotations in the side margins, and longer more extensive notes in the upper and lower margins and collected at the end of each book.

These notes were added because the Masoretes recognized the possibility of human error in copying the Hebrew Bible. The Masoretes were not working with the original Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible and corruptions had already crept into the versions they copied.<a href="#cite_note-32">[30]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Etymology">Etymology</h3></div>

From the Hebrew word masorah<a href="#cite_note-33">[c]</a> "tradition". Originally masoret,<a href="#cite_note-34">[d]</a> a word found in <a href="Book_of_Ezekiel" title="Book of Ezekiel">Book of Ezekiel</a> 20:37 (there from אסר "to bind" for "fetters").

According to the majority of scholars,<a href="#cite_note-:0-35">[31]</a> including <a href="Wilhelm_Bacher" title="Wilhelm Bacher">Wilhelm Bacher</a>, the form of the Ezekiel word masoret "fetters" was applied by the <a href="Masoretes" title="Masoretes">Masoretes</a> to the מסר root meaning "to transmit", for masoret "tradition." (See also <a href="Aggadah#Etymology" title="Aggadah">Aggadah § Etymology</a>.)

Later, the text was also called moseirah, by a direct conjugation of מסר "to transmit," and the synthesis of the two forms produced the modern word masorah.<a href="#cite_note-36">[32]</a>

According to a minority of scholars,<a href="#cite_note-:0-35">[31]</a> including <a href="Caspar_Levias" title="Caspar Levias">Caspar Levias</a>, the intent of the Masoretes was masoret "fetter [upon the <a href="Hermeneutics" title="Hermeneutics">exposition of the text</a>]", and the word was only later connected to מסר and translated as "tradition".<a href="#cite_note-37">[33]</a>

Other specific explanations are provided:

<a href="Samuel_David_Luzzatto" title="Samuel David Luzzatto">Samuel David Luzzatto</a> argued that masoret was a synonym for siman by extended meaning ("transmission[ of the sign]" became "transmitted sign") and referred to the symbols used in vocalizing and punctuating the text.<a href="#cite_note-:1-38">[34]</a>

<a href="Ze'ev_Ben-Haim" title="Ze'ev Ben-Haim">Ze'ev Ben-Haim</a> argued that masoret meant "counting" and was later conjugated as moseirah "thing which is counted", referring to the Masoretic counts of the letters, words, and verses in the Bible, discussed in <a href="Kiddushin_(Talmud)" title="Kiddushin (Talmud)">Qiddushin</a> 30a.<a href="#cite_note-:1-38">[34]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Language_and_form">Language and form</h3></div>

The language of the Masoretic notes is primarily <a href="Aramaic_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Aramaic language">Aramaic</a> but partly Hebrew. The Masoretic annotations are found in various forms: (a) in separate works, e.g., the <a href="Sefer_Oklah_we-Oklah" title="Sefer Oklah we-Oklah">Oklah we-Oklah</a>; (b) in the form of notes written in the margins and at the end of codices. In rare cases, the notes are written between the lines. The first word of each biblical book is also as a rule surrounded by notes. The latter are called the Initial Masorah; the notes on the side margins or between the columns are called the Small (Masora parva or Mp) or Inner Masorah (Masora marginalis); and those on the lower and upper margins, the Large or Outer Masorah (Masora magna or Mm[Mas.M]). The name "Large Masorah" is applied sometimes to the lexically arranged notes at the end of the printed Bible, usually called the Final Masorah, (Masora finalis), or the Masoretic Concordance.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

The Small Masorah consists of brief notes with reference to marginal readings, to statistics showing the number of times a particular form is found in Scripture, to full and defective spelling, and to abnormally written letters. The Large Masorah is more copious in its notes. The Final Masorah comprises all the longer rubrics for which space could not be found in the margin of the text, and is arranged alphabetically in the form of a concordance. The quantity of notes the marginal Masorah contains is conditioned by the amount of vacant space on each page. In the manuscripts it varies also with the rate at which the <a href="Copyist" title="Copyist">copyist</a> was paid and the fanciful shape he gave to his gloss.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

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</style><blockquote class="templatequote">There was accordingly an independent Babylonian Masora which differed from the Palestinian in terminology and to some extent in order. The Masora is concise in style with a profusion of abbreviations, requiring a considerable amount of knowledge for their full understanding. It was quite natural that a later generation of scribes would no longer understand the notes of the Masoretes and consider them unimportant; by the late medieval period they were reduced to mere ornamentation of the manuscripts. It was Jacob ben Chayyim who restored clarity and order to them.<a href="#cite_note-39">[35]</a></blockquote>

In most manuscripts, there are some discrepancies between the text and the masorah, suggesting that they were copied from different sources or that one of them has copying errors. The lack of such discrepancies in the Aleppo Codex is one of the reasons for its importance; the scribe who copied the notes, presumably <a href="Aaron_ben_Moses_ben_Asher" title="Aaron ben Moses ben Asher">Aaron ben Moses ben Asher</a>, probably wrote them originally.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Numerical_Masorah">Numerical Masorah</h3></div>

In classical antiquity, <a href="Copyist" title="Copyist">copyists</a> were paid for their work according to the number of <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stich" class="extiw external" title="wiktionary:stich">stichs</a> (lines of verse). As the prose books of the Bible were hardly ever written in stichs, the copyists, in order to estimate the amount of work, had to count the letters.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a> According to some this was (also) to ensure accuracy in the transmission of the text with the production of subsequent copies that were done by hand.<a href="#cite_note-40">[36]</a><a href="#cite_note-41">[37]</a>

Hence the Masoretes contributed the Numerical Masorah.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a> These notes are traditionally categorized into two main groups, the marginal Masorah and the final Masorah. The category of marginal Masorah is further divided into the Masorah parva (small Masorah) in the outer side margins and the Masorah magna (large Masorah), traditionally located at the top and bottom margins of the text. The Masorah parva is a set of statistics in the outer side margins of the text. Beyond simply counting the letters, the Masorah parva consists of word-use statistics, similar documentation for expressions or certain phraseology, observations on full or defective writing, references to the Kethiv-Qere readings and more. These observations are also the result of a passionate zeal to safeguard the accurate transmission of the sacred text.<a href="#cite_note-42">[38]</a><a href="#cite_note-43">[39]</a>

Even though often cited as very exact, the Masoretic "frequency notes" in the margin of Codex Leningradiensis contain several errors.<a href="#cite_note-44">[40]</a><a href="#cite_note-45">[41]</a><a href="#cite_note-46">[e]</a>

The Masorah magna, in measure, is an expanded Masorah parva. <a href="Biblia_Hebraica_Stuttgartensia" title="Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia">Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia</a> (BHS) includes an apparatus referring the reader to the large Masorah, which is printed separately.<a href="#cite_note-47">[42]</a>

The final Masorah is located at the end of biblical books or after certain sections of the text, such as at the end of the Torah. It contains information and statistics regarding the number of words in a book or section, etc. Thus, <a href="Book_of_Leviticus" title="Book of Leviticus">Book of Leviticus</a> 8:23 is the middle verse in the Pentateuch. The collation of manuscripts and the noting of their differences furnished material for the Text-Critical Masorah. The close relation which existed in earlier times (from the <a href="Soferim_(Talmud)" title="Soferim (Talmud)">Soferim</a> to the <a href="Amoraim" title="Amoraim">Amoraim</a> inclusive) between the teacher of tradition and the Masorete, both frequently being united in one person, accounts for the Exegetical Masorah. Finally, the invention and introduction of a graphic system of vocalization and accentuation gave rise to the Grammatical Masorah.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

The most important of the Masoretic notes are those that detail the <a href="Qere_and_Ketiv" title="Qere and Ketiv">Qere and Ketiv</a> that are located in the Masorah parva in the outside margins of BHS. Given that the Masoretes would not alter the sacred consonantal text, the Kethiv-Qere notes were a way of "correcting" or commenting on the text for any number of reasons (grammatical, theological, aesthetic, etc.) deemed important by the copyist.<a href="#cite_note-48">[43]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Fixing_of_the_text">Fixing of the text</h2></div>

The earliest tasks of the Masoretes included a standard division of the text into books, sections, paragraphs, verses, and clauses; fixing of the orthography, pronunciation, and cantillation; introduction or final adoption of the square characters with the five <a href="Final_letters" class="mw-redirect" title="Final letters">final letters</a>; some textual changes to guard against blasphemy (though these changes may pre-date the Masoretes – see Tikkune Soferim below); enumeration of letters, words, verses, etc., and the substitution of some words for others in public reading.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

Since no additions were allowed to be made to the official text of the Bible, the early Masoretes adopted other methods: e.g., they marked the various divisions by spacing, and gave indications of halakic and haggadic teachings by full or defective spelling, abnormal forms of letters, dots, and other signs. Marginal notes were permitted only in private copies, and the first mention of such notes is found in the case of R. Meïr (c. 100–150 CE).<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Scribal_emendations_–_Tikkune_Soferim">Scribal emendations – Tikkune Soferim</h3></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Tiqqun_soferim" title="Tiqqun soferim">Tiqqun soferim</a></div>

Early rabbinic sources, from around 200 CE, mention several passages of Scripture in which the conclusion is inevitable that the ancient reading must have differed from that of the present text. The explanation of this phenomenon is given in the expression "Scripture has used euphemistic language" (כנה הכתוב), i.e. to avoid <a href="Anthropomorphism" title="Anthropomorphism">anthropomorphism</a> and <a href="Anthropopathism" title="Anthropopathism">anthropopathism</a>.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

Rabbi Simon ben Pazzi (3rd century) calls these readings "emendations of the Scribes" (tikkune Soferim; Midrash Genesis Rabbah xlix. 7), assuming that the Scribes actually made the changes. This view was adopted by the later Midrash and by the majority of Masoretes. In Masoretic works these changes are ascribed to <a href="Ezra" title="Ezra">Ezra</a>; to Ezra and <a href="Nehemiah" title="Nehemiah">Nehemiah</a>; to Ezra and the <a href="Soferim_(Talmud)" title="Soferim (Talmud)">Soferim</a>; or to Ezra, Nehemiah, <a href="Zechariah_(Hebrew_prophet)" title="Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)">Zechariah</a>, <a href="Haggai" title="Haggai">Haggai</a>, and <a href="Book_of_Baruch" title="Book of Baruch">Baruch</a>. All these ascriptions mean one and the same thing: that the changes were assumed to have been made by the Men of the <a href="Great_Assembly" title="Great Assembly">Great Assembly</a>.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

The term tikkun Soferim (תקון סופרים) has been understood by different scholars in various ways. Some regard it as a correction of biblical language authorized by the Soferim for homiletical purposes. Others take it to mean a mental change made by the original writers or redactors of Scripture; i.e. the latter shrank from putting in writing a thought which some of the readers might expect them to express.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

The assumed emendations are of four general types:

<ul><li>Removal of unseemly expressions used in reference to God; e.g., the substitution of ("to bless") for ("to curse") in certain passages.</li>

<li>Safeguarding of the <a href="Tetragrammaton" title="Tetragrammaton">Tetragrammaton</a>; e.g. substitution of "<a href="Elohim" title="Elohim">Elohim</a>" or "<a href="Adonai" class="mw-redirect" title="Adonai">Adonai</a>" for "<a href="Yahweh" title="Yahweh">YHWH</a>" in some passages.</li>

<li>Removal of application of the names of pagan gods, e.g. the change of the name "Ishbaal" to "<a href="Ish-bosheth" title="Ish-bosheth">Ish-bosheth</a>".</li>

<li>Safeguarding the unity of divine worship at <a href="Jerusalem" title="Jerusalem">Jerusalem</a>.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Mikra_and_ittur">Mikra and ittur</h3></div>

Among the earliest technical terms used in connection with activities of the Scribes are the mikra Soferim and ittur Soferim. In the geonic schools, the first term was taken to signify certain vowel-changes which were made in words in pause or after the article; the second, the cancellation in a few passages of the "vav" conjunctive, where it had been wrongly read by some. The objection to such an explanation is that the first changes would fall under the general head of fixation of pronunciation, and the second under the head of <a href="Qere_and_Ketiv" title="Qere and Ketiv">Qere and Ketiv</a> (i.e. "What is read" and "What is written"). Various explanations have, therefore, been offered by ancient as well as modern scholars without, however, succeeding in furnishing a completely satisfactory solution.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Suspended_letters_and_dotted_words">Suspended letters and dotted words</h3></div>

There are four words having one of their letters suspended above the line. One of them, מ<big>נ</big>שה,<a href="#cite_note-49">[44]</a> is due to an alteration of the original משה out of reverence for <a href="Moses" title="Moses">Moses</a>; rather than say that Moses's grandson became an idolatrous priest, a suspended letter nun ( נ ) was inserted to turn Mosheh into Menasheh (<a href="Manasseh_(tribal_patriarch)" title="Manasseh (tribal patriarch)">Manasseh</a>). The origin of the other three is doubtful.<a href="#cite_note-50">[45]</a> According to some, they are due to mistaken majuscular letters; according to others, they are later insertions of originally omitted weak consonants.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

In fifteen passages within the Bible, some words are stigmatized; i.e., dots appear above the letters.<a href="#cite_note-51">[46]</a> The significance of the dots is disputed. Some hold them to be marks of erasure; others believe them to indicate that in some collated manuscripts the stigmatized words were missing, hence that the reading is doubtful; still others contend that they are merely a mnemonic device to indicate homiletic explanations which the ancients had connected with those words; finally, some maintain that the dots were designed to guard against the omission by copyists of text-elements which, at first glance or after comparison with parallel passages, seemed to be superfluous. Instead of dots some manuscripts exhibit strokes, vertical or else horizontal. The first two explanations are unacceptable for the reason that such faulty readings would belong to Qere and Ketiv, which, in case of doubt, the majority of manuscripts would decide. The last two theories have equal probability.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Inverted_letters">Inverted letters</h3></div>

In nine passages of the Masoretic Text are found signs usually called <a href="Inverted_nun" title="Inverted nun">inverted nuns</a>, because they resemble the Hebrew letter <a href="Nun_(letter)" title="Nun (letter)">nun</a> ( נ )<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a> written in some inverted fashion. The exact shape varies between different manuscripts and printed editions. In many manuscripts, a reversed nun is found referred to as a nun hafucha by the masoretes. In some earlier printed editions, they are shown as the standard nun upside down or rotated, because the printer did not want to bother to design a character to be used only nine times. The recent scholarly editions of the Masoretic Text show the reversed nun as described by the masoretes. In some manuscripts, however, other symbols are occasionally found instead. These are sometimes referred to in rabbinical literature as simaniyot (markers).<a href="#cite_note-52">[47]</a>

The primary set of inverted nuns is found surrounding the text of Numbers 10:35–36. The Mishna notes that this text is 85 letters long and dotted. This demarcation of this text leads to the later use of the inverted nun markings. <a href="Saul_Lieberman" title="Saul Lieberman">Saul Lieberman</a> demonstrated that similar markings can be found in ancient Greek texts where they are also used to denote 'short texts'. During the Medieval period, the inverted nuns were actually inserted into the text of the early Rabbinic Bibles published by Bomberg in the early 16th century. The talmud records that the markings surrounding Numbers 10:35-36<a href="#cite_note-53">[48]</a> were thought to denote that this 85 letter text was not in its proper place.<a href="#cite_note-54">[49]</a>

<a href="Bar_Kappara" title="Bar Kappara">Bar Kappara</a> considered the Torah known to us as composed of seven volumes in the Gemara "The seven pillars with which Wisdom built her house (Prov. 9:1) are the seven Books of Moses". Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy as we know them but Numbers was really three separate volumes: Numbers 1:1–10:35 followed by Numbers 10:35–36 and the third text from there to the end of Numbers.<a href="#cite_note-55">[50]</a>

The 85 letter text is also said to be denoted because it is the model for the fewest letters which constitute a 'text' which one would be required to save from fire due to its holiness.<a href="#cite_note-56">[51]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History_of_the_Masorah">History of the Masorah</h2></div>

The history of the Masorah may be divided into three periods: (1) creative period, from its beginning to the introduction of vowel-signs; (2) reproductive period, from the introduction of vowel-signs to the printing of the Masorah (1525); (3) critical period, from 1525 to the present time.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

The materials for the history of the first period are scattered remarks in Talmudic and Midrashic literature, in the post-Talmudical treatises Masseket Sefer Torah and Masseket Soferim, and in a Masoretic chain of tradition found in ben Asher's Diḳduḳe ha-Ṭe'amim, § 69 and elsewhere.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Critical_study">Critical study</h2></div>

<a href="Jacob_ben_Hayyim_ibn_Adonijah" title="Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah">Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah</a>, having collated a vast number of manuscripts, systematized his material and arranged the Masorah in the second <a href="Daniel_Bomberg" title="Daniel Bomberg">Bomberg</a> edition of the Bible (<a href="Venice" title="Venice">Venice</a>, 1524–1525). Besides introducing the Masorah into the margin, he compiled at the close of his Bible a concordance of the Masoretic glosses for which he could not find room in a marginal form, and added an elaborate introduction – the first treatise on the Masorah ever produced. Due to its wide distribution, and in spite of its many errors, this work is frequently considered as the <a href="Textus_Receptus#Other_uses" title="Textus Receptus">textus receptus</a> of the Masorah.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a> It was also used for the English translation of the <a href="Old_Testament" title="Old Testament">Old Testament</a> for the <a href="King_James_Version" title="King James Version">King James Version</a> (though not always followed).<a href="#cite_note-57">[52]</a>

Next to Ibn Adoniyah, the critical study of the Masorah has been most advanced by <a href="Elia_Levita" title="Elia Levita">Elia Levita</a>, who published his famous "Massoret ha-Massoret" in 1538. The Tiberias of the elder <a href="Johannes_Buxtorf" title="Johannes Buxtorf">Johannes Buxtorf</a> (1620) made Levita's researches more accessible to a Christian audience. The eighth <a href="Introduction_(writing)" title="Introduction (writing)">introduction</a> to Walton's <a href="Polyglot_(book)" title="Polyglot (book)">Polyglot</a> Bible is largely a reworking of the Tiberias. Levita compiled likewise a vast Masoretic concordance, Sefer ha-Zikronot, which still lies in the National Library at Paris unpublished. The study is indebted also to R. Meïr b. Todros ha-Levi (RaMaH), who, as early as the 13th century, wrote his Sefer Massoret Seyag la-Torah (correct ed. Florence, 1750); to <a href="Menahem_Lonzano" title="Menahem Lonzano">Menahem Lonzano</a>, who composed a treatise on the Masorah of the Pentateuch entitled "Or Torah"; and in particular to <a href="Jedidiah_Norzi" title="Jedidiah Norzi">Jedidiah Norzi</a>, whose "Minḥat Shai" contains valuable Masoretic notes based on a careful study of manuscripts.<a href="#cite_note-Jewish-29">[27]</a>

The Dead Sea Scrolls have shed new light on the history of the Masoretic Text. Many texts found there, especially those from <a href="Masada" title="Masada">Masada</a>, are quite similar to the Masoretic Text, suggesting that an ancestor of the Masoretic Text was indeed extant as early as the 2nd century BCE. However, other texts, including many of those from <a href="Qumran" title="Qumran">Qumran</a>, differ substantially, indicating that the Masoretic Text was but one of a diverse set of biblical writings.<a href="#cite_note-58">[53]</a><a href="#cite_note-59">[54]</a>

In a recent finding, a scroll fragment was found to be identical to the Masoretic Text. The approximately 1,700-year-old <a href="En-Gedi_Scroll" title="En-Gedi Scroll">En-Gedi Scroll</a> was found in 1970 but had not had its contents reconstructed until 2016. Researchers were able to recover 35 complete and partial lines of text from the <a href="Book_of_Leviticus" title="Book of Leviticus">Book of Leviticus</a> and the text they deciphered is completely identical with the consonantal framework of the Masoretic Text.<a href="#cite_note-60">[55]</a> The En-Gedi scroll is the first biblical scroll to have been discovered in the holy ark of an ancient synagogue, where it would have been stored for prayers, and not in desert caves like the Dead Sea Scrolls.<a href="#cite_note-61">[56]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Some_important_editions">Some important editions</h2></div>

There have been very many published editions of the Masoretic Text, some of the most important being:

<ul><li><a href="Daniel_Bomberg" title="Daniel Bomberg">Daniel Bomberg</a>, ed. <a href="Jacob_ben_Hayyim_ibn_Adonijah" title="Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah">Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah</a>, 1524–1525, <a href="Venice" title="Venice">Venice</a></li></ul>

<dl><dd>The second <a href="Mikraot_Gedolot" title="Mikraot Gedolot">Rabbinic Bible</a> served as the base for all future editions. This was the source text used by the translators of the <a href="King_James_Version" title="King James Version">King James Version</a> in 1611, the <a href="New_King_James_Version" title="New King James Version">New King James Version</a> in 1982, and the <a href="New_Cambridge_Paragraph_Bible" title="New Cambridge Paragraph Bible">New Cambridge Paragraph Bible</a> in 2005.<a href="#cite_note-price-62">[57]</a></dd></dl>

<ul><li>Everard van der Hooght, 1705, <a href="Amsterdam" title="Amsterdam">Amsterdam</a> and <a href="Utrecht_(city)" class="mw-redirect" title="Utrecht (city)">Utrecht</a></li></ul>

<dl><dd>This was practically a reprint of the <a href="Joseph_Athias" title="Joseph Athias">Athias</a>-<a href="Jean_de_Leusden" class="mw-redirect" title="Jean de Leusden">Leusden</a> edition of 1667; but at the end it has variants taken from a number of printed editions. It has been much prized because of its excellent and clear type; but no manuscripts were used in its preparation. Nearly all 18th and 19th century Hebrew Bibles were almost exact reprints of this edition.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Benjamin_Kennicott" title="Benjamin Kennicott">Benjamin Kennicott</a>, 1776, <a href="Oxford" title="Oxford">Oxford</a></li></ul>

<dl><dd>As well as the van der Hooght text, this included the <a href="Samaritan_Pentateuch" title="Samaritan Pentateuch">Samaritan Pentateuch</a> and a huge collection of variants from manuscripts and early printed editions; while this collection has many errors, it is still of some value. The collection of variants was corrected and extended by <a href="Giovanni_Bernardo_De_Rossi" title="Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi">Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi</a> (1784–1788), but his publications gave only the variants without a complete text.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Wolf_Heidenheim" title="Wolf Heidenheim">Wolf Heidenheim</a>, 1818, <a href="Frankfurt-am-Main" class="mw-redirect" title="Frankfurt-am-Main">Frankfurt-am-Main</a></li></ul>

<dl><dd>This edition (called Me'or Enayim) included the Five Books of Moses, Haftarot, and Megillot. It had many differences from earlier editions in vowels, notes and lay-out, based on a comparison with old manuscripts and a correction of misprints based on analysis of grammatical principles. There were extensive textual notes justifying all these alterations. Heidenheim also divided each weekly Sabbath reading into seven sections (seven people should be called up each Sabbath), as there had been considerable variation in practice about where to make the divisions, and his divisions are now accepted by nearly all Ashkenazi communities. <a href="Samson_Raphael_Hirsch" title="Samson Raphael Hirsch">Samson Raphael Hirsch</a> used this text (omitting the textual notes) in his own commentary, and it became the standard text in Germany. It was frequently reprinted there, again without the textual notes, up to <a href="World_War_II" title="World War II">World War II</a>, and the edition of Jack Mazin (London, 1950) is an exact copy.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Max_Letteris" title="Max Letteris">Max Letteris</a>, 1852; 2nd edition, 1866 (published <a href="British_and_Foreign_Bible_Society" title="British and Foreign Bible Society">British and Foreign Bible Society</a>)</li></ul>

<dl><dd>The 1852 edition was yet another copy of van der Hooght. The 1866 edition, however, was carefully checked against old manuscripts and early printed editions, and has a very legible typeface. It is probably the most widely reproduced text of the Hebrew Bible in history, with many dozens of authorised reprints and many more pirated and unacknowledged ones.<a href="#cite_note-63">[58]</a></dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Seligman_Baer" title="Seligman Baer">Seligman Baer</a> and <a href="Franz_Delitzsch" title="Franz Delitzsch">Franz Delitzsch</a>, 1869–1895</li></ul>

<dl><dd>Incomplete publication: Exodus to Deuteronomy never appeared.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Christian_David_Ginsburg" title="Christian David Ginsburg">Christian David Ginsburg</a>, 1894; 2nd edition, 1908–1926</li></ul>

<dl><dd>The <a href="Editio_princeps" title="Editio princeps">first edition</a> was very close to the second Bomberg edition, but with variants added from a number of manuscripts and all of the earliest printed editions, collated with far more care than the work of Kennicott; he did all the work himself. The second edition diverged slightly more from Bomberg, and collated more manuscripts; he did most of the work himself, but failing health forced him to rely partly on his wife and other assistants.<a href="#cite_note-64">[59]</a></dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Biblia_Hebraica_(Kittel)" title="Biblia Hebraica (Kittel)">Biblia Hebraica</a>, first two editions, 1906, 1912</li></ul>

<dl><dd>Virtually identical to the second Bomberg edition, but with variants from Hebrew sources and early translations in the footnotes</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Biblia_Hebraica_(Kittel)" title="Biblia Hebraica (Kittel)">Biblia Hebraica</a></li></ul>

<dl><dd>Third edition based on the <a href="Leningrad_Codex" title="Leningrad Codex">Leningrad Codex</a>, 1937; later reprints listed some variant readings from the Dead Sea Scrolls.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Umberto_Cassuto" title="Umberto Cassuto">Umberto Cassuto</a>, 1953</li></ul>

<dl><dd>Based on Ginsburg 2nd edition, but revised based on the <a href="Aleppo_Codex" title="Aleppo Codex">Aleppo Codex</a>, <a href="Leningrad_Codex" title="Leningrad Codex">Leningrad Codex</a>, and other early manuscripts.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Norman_Snaith" title="Norman Snaith">Norman Snaith</a>, 1958 (published <a href="British_and_Foreign_Bible_Society" title="British and Foreign Bible Society">British and Foreign Bible Society</a>)</li></ul>

<dl><dd>Snaith based it on Sephardi manuscripts such as British Museum Or. 2626-2628, and said that he had not relied on Letteris. However, it has been shown that he must have prepared his copy by amending a copy of Letteris, because while there are many differences, it has many of the same typographical errors as Letteris. Snaith's printer even went so far as to break printed vowels to match some accidentally broken characters in Letteris. Snaith combined the accent system of Letteris with the system found in Sephardi manuscripts, thereby creating accentuation patterns found nowhere else in any manuscript or printed edition.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Hebrew_University_Bible_Project" title="Hebrew University Bible Project">Hebrew University Bible Project</a>, 1965–</li></ul>

<dl><dd>Started by <a href="Moshe_Goshen-Gottstein" title="Moshe Goshen-Gottstein">Moshe Goshen-Gottstein</a>, this follows the text of the <a href="Aleppo_Codex" title="Aleppo Codex">Aleppo Codex</a> where extant and otherwise the <a href="Leningrad_Codex" title="Leningrad Codex">Leningrad Codex</a>. It includes a wide variety of variants from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, early Rabbinic literature and selected early medieval manuscripts. So far, only Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel have been published.</dd></dl>

<ul><li>The Koren Bible by <a href="Koren_Publishers_Jerusalem" title="Koren Publishers Jerusalem">Koren Publishers Jerusalem</a>, 1962</li></ul>

<dl><dd>The text was derived by comparing a number of printed Bibles, and following the majority when there were discrepancies. It was criticised by <a href="Moshe_Goshen-Gottstein" title="Moshe Goshen-Gottstein">Moshe Goshen-Gottstein</a>: "the publisher of the Koren Bible – who laid no claim to expertise in masoretic issues ... sought the help of three scholars, all of whom suffered from the same lack of Masoretic expertise ... Basically, the Koren edition is hardly an edition like that of Dotan, but another rehash of the material prepared by ben Hayim."<a href="#cite_note-65">[60]</a></dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Aron_Dotan" title="Aron Dotan">Aron Dotan</a>, based on the <a href="Leningrad_Codex" title="Leningrad Codex">Leningrad Codex</a> but correcting obvious errors, 1976</li>

<li><a href="Biblia_Hebraica_Stuttgartensia" title="Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia">Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia</a></li></ul>

<dl><dd>Revision of <a href="Biblia_Hebraica_(Kittel)" title="Biblia Hebraica (Kittel)">Biblia Hebraica</a> (third edition), 1977. The second edition of Stuttgartensia (published 1983) was the source text for the Old Testament portion of the <a href="English_Standard_Version" title="English Standard Version">English Standard Version</a>, published in 2001.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Mordechai_Breuer" title="Mordechai Breuer">Mordechai Breuer</a></li></ul>

<dl><dd>Based on the <a href="Aleppo_Codex" title="Aleppo Codex">Aleppo Codex</a>, 1977–1982</dd></dl>

<ul><li>The <a href="Jerusalem_Crown" title="Jerusalem Crown">Jerusalem Crown</a>, 2001</li></ul>

<dl><dd>This is a revised version of Breuer, and is the official version used in inaugurating the President of Israel.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Biblia_Hebraica_Quinta" title="Biblia Hebraica Quinta">Biblia Hebraica Quinta</a></li></ul>

<dl><dd>Revision of <a href="Biblia_Hebraica_Stuttgartensia" title="Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia">Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia</a>; fascicles published as of 2024 are: Genesis, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Judges, the Twelve Minor Prophets, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah.</dd></dl>

<ul><li><a href="Composition_of_the_Torah" title="Composition of the Torah">Composition of the Torah</a></li>

<li><a href="Masorah_(disambiguation)" class="mw-redirect mw-disambig" title="Masorah (disambiguation)">Masorah</a></li>

<li><a href="Micrography" title="Micrography">Micrography</a></li>

<li><a href="Parashah" title="Parashah">Parashah</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_Hebrew_Bible_manuscripts" title="List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts">List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts</a>

<ul><li><a href="Aleppo_Codex" title="Aleppo Codex">Aleppo Codex</a></li>

<li><a href="Leningrad_Codex" title="Leningrad Codex">Leningrad Codex</a></li>

<li><a href="Codex_Sassoon_1053" title="Codex Sassoon 1053">Codex Sassoon</a></li>

<li><a href="Codex_Cairensis" title="Codex Cairensis">Codex Cairensis</a></li>

<li><a href="Codex_Orientales_4445" title="Codex Orientales 4445">Codex Orientales</a></li>

<li><a href="Damascus_Pentateuch" title="Damascus Pentateuch">Damascus Pentateuch</a></li>

<li><a href="Dead_Sea_Scrolls" title="Dead Sea Scrolls">Dead Sea Scrolls</a></li></ul></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Explanatory_footnotes">Explanatory footnotes</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a> "Masoretic" pronounced /ˌmæsəˈrɛtɪk/.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a> A 7th century fragment containing the "Song of the Sea" (Exodus 13:19–16:1) is one of the few surviving texts from the "silent era" of Hebrew biblical texts between the <a href="Dead_Sea_Scrolls" title="Dead Sea Scrolls">Dead Sea Scrolls</a> and the <a href="Aleppo_Codex" title="Aleppo Codex">Aleppo Codex</a>.<a href="#cite_note-13">[12]</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-33"><a href="#cite_ref-33">^</a> Vocalization uncertain, also: moseirah, mesorah, mesarah, misrah, masarah.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-34"><a href="#cite_ref-34">^</a> Also: moseret.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-46"><a href="#cite_ref-46">^</a> See also the whole book "The Sub Loco notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia" by Daniel S. Mynatt, which describes about 150 frequency errors found in the Torah alone.

</li>

</ol></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Citations">Citations</h3></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFTov2001" class="citation book cs1">Tov, Emanuel (2001). Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (2nd Revised ed.). Fortress Press. p. 47. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780800634292</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Tov-3">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Tov_3-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Tov_3-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Tov_3-2">c</a> <cite id="CITEREFTov1992" class="citation book cs1">Tov, Emanuel (1992). Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-understanding-4"><a href="#cite_ref-understanding_4-0">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFShanks1992" class="citation book cs1">Shanks, Herschel (4 August 1992). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/understandingdea00shan">Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls</a> (1st ed.). Random House. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/understandingdea00shan/page/336">336</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0679414483</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.euronews.com/next/2016/10/05/piece-of-coal-deciphered-as-ancient-biblical-text">"Piece of coal deciphered as ancient biblical text"</a>. 5 October 2016.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a> <cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/controversy-lurks-as-scholars-suss-out-original-biblical-text/#ixzz31uFPqDC8">"Controversy lurks as scholars try to work out Bible's original text"</a>. The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 August 2015.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Associated_Press-7">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Associated_Press_7-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Associated_Press_7-1">b</a> <cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://apnews.com/60785bb2031a478cb71ce9278782c320/scanning-software-deciphers-ancient-biblical-scroll">"Scanning software deciphers ancient biblical scroll"</a>. Associated Press. 21 September 2016.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFSealesParkerSegalTov2016" class="citation journal cs1">Seales, W. B.; Parker, C. S.; Segal, M.; Tov, E.; Shor, P.; Porath, Y. (21 September 2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031465">"From damage to discovery via virtual unwrapping: Reading the scroll from En-Gedi"</a>. Science Advances. 2 (9): e1601247. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fsciadv.1601247">10.1126/sciadv.1601247</a>. <a href="PMC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMC (identifier)">PMC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031465">5031465</a>. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27679821">27679821</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-esv-ot-basis-9"><a href="#cite_ref-esv-ot-basis_9-0">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.esv.org/preface/">"Preface to the English Standard Version"</a>. ESV.org. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200526061435/https://www.esv.org/preface/">Archived</a> from the original on 26 May 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2024. <q>The ESV [Old Testament] is based on the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible as found in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (5th ed., 1997) ... The currently renewed respect among Old Testament scholars for the Masoretic text is reflected in the ESV's attempt, wherever possible, to translate difficult Hebrew passages as they stand in the Masoretic text rather than resorting to emendations or to finding an alternative reading in the ancient versions. In exceptional, difficult cases, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac Peshitta, the Latin Vulgate, and other sources were consulted to shed possible light on the text, or, if necessary, to support a divergence from the Masoretic text.</q></cite>

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<li id="cite_note-10"><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.lockman.org/nasb-bible-info/more-information-about-nasb-2020/">"More Information about NASB 2020"</a>. The Lockman Foundation. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210110073221/https://www.lockman.org/nasb-bible-info/more-information-about-nasb-2020/">Archived</a> from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2024. <q>For the Old Testament: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) and Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ) for the books available. Also the LXX, DSS, the Targums, and other ancient versions when pertinent.</q></cite>

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<li id="cite_note-niv-ot-basis-11"><a href="#cite_ref-niv-ot-basis_11-0">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://biblia.com/books/niv2011/offset/1179880">"Preface"</a>. Biblia. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210809062034/https://biblia.com/books/niv2011/offset/1179880">Archived</a> from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2024. <q>For the Old Testament the standard Hebrew text, the Masoretic Text as published in the latest edition of Biblia Hebraica, has been used throughout. ... The Dead Sea Scrolls contain biblical texts that represent an earlier stage of the transmission of the Hebrew text. They have been consulted, as have been the Samaritan Pentateuch and the ancient scribal traditions concerning deliberate textual changes. The translators also consulted the more important early versions—the Greek Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, the Aramaic Targums, and for the Psalms, the Juxta Hebraica of Jerome.</q></cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Pentiuc2006-12"><a href="#cite_ref-Pentiuc2006_12-0">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFPentiuc2006" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Eugen_J._Pentiuc" title="Eugen J. Pentiuc">Pentiuc, Eugen J.</a> (2006). Jesus the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible. Mahwah, NJ, US: Paulist Press. p. xvi.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-13"><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a> <cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Rare-scroll-fragment-to-be-unveiled">"Rare scroll fragment to be unveiled"</a>. Jerusalem Post. 21 May 2007.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Cohen1979-15">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Cohen1979_15-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Cohen1979_15-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Cohen1979_15-2">c</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Cohen1979_15-3">d</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Cohen1979_15-4">e</a> <cite id="CITEREFCohen1979" class="citation book cs1">Cohen, Menachem (1979). "The idea of the sanctity of the biblical text and the science of textual criticism". In Simon, Uriel (ed.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/CohenArt/">HaMikrah V'anachnu</a>. Tel-Aviv, Israel: HaMachon L'Yahadut U'Machshava Bat-Z'mananu and Dvir.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-16"><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFSchiffman2007" class="citation book cs1">Schiffman, L. (2007). Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (illustrated ed.). Yale University Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-300-14022-4</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-17"><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFFitzmyer" class="citation book cs1">Fitzmyer, Joseph. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: After Forty Years. p. 302.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-18"><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFUlrich,_E.Cross,_F._M.Davila,_J._R.Jastram,_N.1994" class="citation book cs1">Ulrich, E.; Cross, F. M.; Davila, J. R.; Jastram, N.; Sanderson, J. E.; Tov, E.; Strugnell, J. (1994). "Qumran Cave 4, VII, Genesis to Numbers". Discoveries in the Judaean Desert. Vol. 12. Clarendon Press, Oxford.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-19"><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a> Y. Sanh. 2:6, y. Shek. 4:3, m. MK 3:4, m. Kelim 15:6.

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<li id="cite_note-20"><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a> B. Ket. 106a, y. Shek. 4:3, y. Sanh. 2:6.

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<li id="cite_note-21"><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFBlau1902" class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Blau, Lajos (1902). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=0-4UAAAAYAAJ">Studien zum althebräischen Buchwesen und zur biblischen Litteraturgeschichte</a> (in German). E.K.J. Trübner. p. 100.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-22"><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://lexundria.com/j_bj/7.96-7.162/wst">"Flavius Josephus, Wars of the Jews 7.96-7.162"</a>. lexundria.com. Retrieved 2024-07-21.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-23"><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFEusebius_of_Caesarea1903" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Eusebius" title="Eusebius">Eusebius of Caesarea</a> (1903). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=nt_YAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP7">pars 1. Libri I-IX anglice redditi; pars 2. Libri X-XV anglice redditi</a>. Typographeo Academico. pp. 357a.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-24"><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/apion-1.html">"Josephus: Against Apion I"</a>. penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2024-07-21.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-25"><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a> Y. Taanit 4:2; Soferim 6:4; Sifrei Devarim 342.

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<li id="cite_note-26"><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a> For a discussion see: <cite id="CITEREFZeitlin,_S.1966" class="citation journal cs1">Zeitlin, S. (April 1966). "Were there three Torah-scrolls in the Azarah?". <a href="The_Jewish_Quarterly_Review" title="The Jewish Quarterly Review">The Jewish Quarterly Review</a>. New Series. 56 (4): 269–272. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1453840">10.2307/1453840</a>. <a href="JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1453840">1453840</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-27"><a href="#cite_ref-27">^</a> <a href="Maimonides" title="Maimonides">Maimonides</a>, The Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzot, and Torah Scrolls, 1:2

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<li id="cite_note-28"><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFDriver1970" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Godfrey_Rolles_Driver" title="Godfrey Rolles Driver">Driver, Godfrey Rolles</a> (1970). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bible-researcher.com/driver1.html">Introduction to the Old Testament of the New English Bible</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Jewish-29">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-2">c</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-3">d</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-4">e</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-5">f</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-6">g</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-7">h</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-8">i</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-9">j</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-10">k</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-11">l</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-12">m</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-13">n</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-14">o</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-15">p</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-16">q</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-17">r</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-18">s</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-19">t</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-20">u</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-21">v</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jewish_29-22">w</a> <cite class="citation encyclopaedia cs1">"Masorah". <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10465-masorah">Jewish Encyclopedia</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-JEBA-30">^ <a href="#cite_ref-JEBA_30-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-JEBA_30-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFGinzbergLevias" class="citation web cs1">Ginzberg, Louis; Levias, Caspar. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2884-ben-naphtali">"Ben Naphtali - JewishEncyclopedia"</a>. www.jewishencyclopedia.com.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-31"><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFBen-Hayyim,_Zeev2007" class="citation encyclopaedia cs1">Ben-Hayyim, Zeev (2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ben-asher-aaron-ben-moses">"Ben-Asher, Aaron ben Moses"</a>. In <a href="Michael_Berenbaum" title="Michael Berenbaum">Berenbaum, Michael</a>; <a href="Fred_Skolnik" title="Fred Skolnik">Skolnik, Fred</a> (eds.). <a href="Encyclopaedia_Judaica" title="Encyclopaedia Judaica">Encyclopaedia Judaica</a>. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. pp. 319–321. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-02-866097-4</bdi> – via Gale Virtual Reference Library.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-32"><a href="#cite_ref-32">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-versions-and-translations/errors-in-the-masoretes-original-hebrew-manuscripts-of-the-bible/">"Errors in the Masoretes' "original" Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible?"</a>. Biblical Archaeology Society. Retrieved 25 September 2015.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-:0-35">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:0_35-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_35-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFKelleyMynattCrawford1998" class="citation book cs1">Kelley, Page H.; Mynatt, Daniel S.; Crawford, Timothy G. (1998-04-09). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh6OHYcIZgkC&q=masorah+etymology">The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Introduction and Annotated Glossary</a>. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-8028-4363-0</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-36"><a href="#cite_ref-36">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFBacher1891" class="citation journal cs1">Bacher, W. (1891). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1450053">"A Contribution to the History of the Term "Massorah""</a>. The Jewish Quarterly Review. 3 (4): 785–790. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1450053">10.2307/1450053</a>. <a href="ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0021-6682">0021-6682</a>. <a href="JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1450053">1450053</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-37"><a href="#cite_ref-37">^</a> <cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001401736">Hebrew union college annual [1904] ...</a> Cincinnati, Ohio: Students of the Hebrew union college. 1904.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-:1-38">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:1_38-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_38-1">b</a> "Masorah, Vol. XVI. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jerusalem, NY: MacMillan Co., 1971.

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<li id="cite_note-39"><a href="#cite_ref-39">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFWürthwein,_Ernst1979" class="citation book cs1">Würthwein, Ernst (1979). The Text of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-40"><a href="#cite_ref-40">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFPraticoPelt2009" class="citation book cs1">Pratico, Gary D.; Pelt, Miles V. Van (2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=p3FIoT0s3yYC&pg=PT448">Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar: Second Edition</a>. Zondervan. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-310-55882-8</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-41"><a href="#cite_ref-41">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFMounce2007" class="citation book cs1">Mounce, William D. (2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AF-5ptJ0l2gC&pg=PA289">Greek for the Rest of Us: Using Greek Tools Without Mastering Biblical Languages</a>. Zondervan. p. 289. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-310-28289-1</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-42"><a href="#cite_ref-42">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFMounce2003" class="citation book cs1">Mounce, William D. (2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=oRsbGj4oMXMC&pg=PA288">Greek for the Rest of Us: Mastering Bible Study Without Mastering Biblical Languages</a>. Zondervan. p. 288. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-310-23485-2</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-43"><a href="#cite_ref-43">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFPraticoPelt2001" class="citation book cs1">Pratico, Gary Davis; Pelt, Miles V. Van (2001). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=vDyz8qIEDeIC&pg=PT447">Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar</a>. Zondervan. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-310-23760-0</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-44"><a href="#cite_ref-44">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130528122957/http://subhanallah.se/bibeln/gamla-testamentet/osakerheter/osakerheter-over-masoretiska-ordsummor/den-masoretiska-ordraknesumman-i-1-mos-1-12/">"Den masoretiska ordräknesumman i 1 Mos 1:12"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://subhanallah.se/bibeln/gamla-testamentet/osakerheter/osakerheter-over-masoretiska-ordsummor/den-masoretiska-ordraknesumman-i-1-mos-1-12/">the original</a> on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2012.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-45"><a href="#cite_ref-45">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130528124645/http://subhanallah.se/bibeln/gamla-testamentet/osakerheter/osakerheter-over-masoretiska-ordsummor/den-masoretiska-ordraknesumman-i-1-mos-2-18/">"Den masoretiska ordräknesumman i 1 Mos 2:18"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://subhanallah.se/bibeln/gamla-testamentet/osakerheter/osakerheter-over-masoretiska-ordsummor/den-masoretiska-ordraknesumman-i-1-mos-2-18/">the original</a> on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2012.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-47"><a href="#cite_ref-47">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ubs-translations.org/cat/biblical_texts/hebrew_scriptures_and_reference/hebrew_scriptures">"UBS Translations: Hebrew Scriptures"</a>. Retrieved 23 December 2018.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-48"><a href="#cite_ref-48">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFPraticoVan_Pelt2001" class="citation book cs1">Pratico; Van Pelt (2001). Basics of Biblical Hebrew. Zondervan. pp. 406 ff.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-49"><a href="#cite_ref-49">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0718.htm#30">Judges 18:30</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-50"><a href="#cite_ref-50">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2680.htm#14">Psalms 80:14</a>; <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2738.htm#13">Job 38:13</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2738.htm#15">38:15</a>)

</li>

<li id="cite_note-51"><a href="#cite_ref-51">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0116.htm#5">Genesis 16:5</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0118.htm#9">18:9</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0119.htm#33">19:33</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0133.htm#4">33:4</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0137.htm#12">37:12</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0403.htm#39">Numbers 3:39</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0409.htm#10">9:10</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0421.htm#30">21:30</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0429.htm#15">29:15</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0529.htm#28">Deuteronomy 29:28</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt08b19.htm#20">2 Samuel 19:20</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1044.htm#9">Isaiah 44:9</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1241.htm#20">Ezekiel 41:20</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1246.htm#22">46:22</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2627.htm#13">Psalms 27:13</a>)

</li>

<li id="cite_note-52"><a href="#cite_ref-52">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFMichaels2010" class="citation book cs1">Michaels, Marc (26 August 2010). Sefer Binsoa (5th ed.). Kulmus Publishing. pp. 24–25. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-9810947-7-9</bdi>. <q>referencing Masechet Sofrim 6:1, Shabbat 115b (also Avot d'Rabi Natan 34:4)</q></cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-53"><a href="#cite_ref-53">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0410.htm#35">Numbers 10:35–36</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-54"><a href="#cite_ref-54">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFMichaels2010" class="citation book cs1">Michaels, Marc (26 August 2010). Sefer Binsoa (5th ed.). Kulmus Publishing. pp. 28-33 including references to Shabbat 115b and 116a (also Ba'al Haturim and Chizkuni). <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-9810947-7-9</bdi>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-55"><a href="#cite_ref-55">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFMichaels2010" class="citation book cs1">Michaels, Marc (26 August 2010). Sefer Binsoa (5th ed.). Kulmus Publishing. pp. 33–35. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-9810947-7-9</bdi>. <q>including references to Shabbat 115b (also Sifre Bamidbar B'ha'alotcha Piska 26 and Midrash Mishley)</q></cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-56"><a href="#cite_ref-56">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFMichaels2010" class="citation book cs1">Michaels, Marc (26 August 2010). Sefer Binsoa (5th ed.). Kulmus Publishing. p. 34. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-9810947-7-9</bdi>. <q>referencing Yadayim 3:5 and Sifre Bamidbar B'ha'alotcha Piska 26</q></cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-57"><a href="#cite_ref-57">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFCombs1999" class="citation journal cs1">Combs, William W. (Fall 1999). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170829115011/http://www.dbts.edu/journals/1999/Combs.pdf">"Errors in the King James Version?"</a> (PDF). Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal: 155. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dbts.edu/journals/1999/Combs.pdf">the original</a> (PDF) on 2017-08-29.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-58"><a href="#cite_ref-58">^</a> Mansoor, Menahem. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Grand Rapids, Michigan

</li>

<li id="cite_note-59"><a href="#cite_ref-59">^</a> Driver, G. R, The Judaean Scrolls. Great Britain: Oxford, 1965.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-60"><a href="#cite_ref-60">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFBrent2016" class="citation journal cs1">Brent, William (21 September 2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031465">"From damage to discovery via virtual unwrapping: Reading the scroll from En-Gedi | Science Advances"</a>. Science Advances. 2 (9). Advances.sciencemag.org: e1601247. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fsciadv.1601247">10.1126/sciadv.1601247</a>. <a href="PMC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMC (identifier)">PMC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031465">5031465</a>. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27679821">27679821</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-61"><a href="#cite_ref-61">^</a> <cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/60785bb2031a478cb71ce9278782c320/scanning-software-deciphers-ancient-biblical-scroll">"Scanning software deciphers ancient biblical scroll"</a>. Associated Press.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-price-62"><a href="#cite_ref-price_62-0">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFPrice,_James_D.1994" class="citation web cs1">Price, James D. (14 February 1994). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jamesdprice.com/images/Ripplinger_February_15,_1994.doc">"(DOC) This file is a letter I wrote to Mrs. Ripplinger in 1994 in response to her book, New Age Bible Versions. It deals primarily with her criticism of the New King James Version"</a> (MS Word). James D. Price Publications. p. 4. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110713075128/http://www.jamesdprice.com/images/Ripplinger_February_15,_1994.doc">Archived</a> from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2010. <q>But regardless of these details, as former executive editor of the NKJV Old Testament, I can confidently assure you that the NKJV followed, as carefully as possible, the Bobmerg [<a href="Sic" title="Sic">sic</a> Bomberg] 1524–1525 Ben Chayyim edition that the KJV 1611 translators used — I personally made sure.</q></cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-63"><a href="#cite_ref-63">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFOrlinsky1966" class="citation book cs1">Orlinsky, Harry M. (1966) [1894]. "Prolegomenon to the 1966 reprint". In <a href="Christian_Ginsburg" class="mw-redirect" title="Christian Ginsburg">Ginsburg, Christian</a> (ed.). Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible (reprint ed.).</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-64"><a href="#cite_ref-64">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFGinsburg1928" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Christian_David_Ginsburg" title="Christian David Ginsburg">Ginsburg, Christian David</a>, ed. (1928). "Introduction to the Ginsburg Edition of the Hebrew Old Testament". The Hebrew Old Testament. <a href="British_and_Foreign_Bible_Society" title="British and Foreign Bible Society">British and Foreign Bible Society</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-65"><a href="#cite_ref-65">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFGoshen-Gottstein1992" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Moshe_Goshen-Gottstein" title="Moshe Goshen-Gottstein">Goshen-Gottstein, Moshe</a> (1992). "Editions of the Hebrew Bible – Past and Future". Sha'arei Talmon. Eisenbrauns. pp. 239–240.</cite>

</li>

</ol></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="General_and_cited_sources">General and cited sources</h3></div>

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<ul><li><cite id="CITEREFLane_Fox1991" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Robin_Lane_Fox" title="Robin Lane Fox">Lane Fox, Robin</a> (1991). The Unauthorized Version. <a href="Alfred_A._Knopf" title="Alfred A. Knopf">Alfred A. Knopf</a>. pp. 99–106. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-394-57398-6</bdi>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFTov1992" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Emanuel_Tov" title="Emanuel Tov">Tov, Emanuel</a> (1992). Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Fortress press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-8006-3429-2</bdi>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFWürthwein1995" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Ernst_W%C3%BCrthwein" title="Ernst Würthwein">Würthwein, Ernst</a> (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Fortress press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-8028-0788-7</bdi>.</cite></li></ul>

</div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

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<div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikiquote has quotations related to <a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Search/Masoretic_Text" class="extiw external" title="q:Special:Search/Masoretic Text">Masoretic Text</a>.</div></div>

</div>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10465-masorah">Jewish Encyclopedia (1906):</a> Masorah</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/masorah">Encyclopaedia Judaica (2007):</a> Masorah</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.originalbibles.com/masoretic-hebrew-bible-1894/">The Masoretic Critical Edition of 1894</a> – Ginsburg's full edition of over 1,800 pages (scanned PDF)</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.sefaria.org/texts/Tanakh?lang=bi">Masoretic Text (Hebrew-English)</a>, online full edition of the bilingual <a href="JPS_Tanakh" class="mw-redirect" title="JPS Tanakh">JPS Tanakh</a> (1985) on <a href="Sefaria" title="Sefaria">Sefaria</a></li>

<li><a href="Nahum_M._Sarna" title="Nahum M. Sarna">Nahum M. Sarna</a> and S. David Sperling (2006), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_02930.html#TEXT">Text</a>, in Bible, <a href="Encyclopaedia_Judaica" title="Encyclopaedia Judaica">Encyclopaedia Judaica</a> 2nd ed.; via the <a href="Jewish_Virtual_Library" title="Jewish Virtual Library">Jewish Virtual Library</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120701052822/http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/searching-for-better-text.asp">Searching for the Better Text: How errors crept into the Bible and what can be done to correct them</a> Biblical Archaeology Review</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_11363/">Hebrew Bible</a> and the Masora Magna from around 1300 CE</li>

<li><cite class="citation encyclopaedia cs1"><a class="external text external" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Masora">"Masora" </a>. <a href="New_International_Encyclopedia" class="mw-redirect" title="New International Encyclopedia">New International Encyclopedia</a>. 1905.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFSamet2016" class="citation journal cs1">Samet, Nili (2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.academia.edu/31747129">"The Validity of the Masoretic Text: Evidence from Masoretic Vocalisation"</a>. Journal for Semitics. 25 (2): 1064–1079. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.25159%2F1013-8471%2F2569">10.25159/1013-8471/2569</a>.</cite></li></ul>

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</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Books_of_the_Bible242" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><div id="Books_of_the_Bible242" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="Biblical_canon" title="Biblical canon">Books</a> of the <a href="Bible" title="Bible">Bible</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="Old_Testament" title="Old Testament">Old Testament</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="Hebrew_Bible" title="Hebrew Bible">Hebrew Bible</a> <a href="Protocanonical_books" title="Protocanonical books">(protocanon)</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Book_of_Genesis" title="Book of Genesis">Genesis</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Exodus" title="Book of Exodus">Exodus</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Leviticus" title="Book of Leviticus">Leviticus</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Numbers" title="Book of Numbers">Numbers</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Deuteronomy" title="Book of Deuteronomy">Deuteronomy</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Joshua" title="Book of Joshua">Joshua</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Judges" title="Book of Judges">Judges</a></li>

<li><a href="Books_of_Samuel" title="Books of Samuel">1–2 Samuel</a></li>

<li><a href="Books_of_Kings" title="Books of Kings">1–2 Kings</a></li>

<li><a href="Books_of_Chronicles" title="Books of Chronicles">1–2 Chronicles</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Nehemiah" title="Book of Nehemiah">Nehemiah</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Esther" title="Book of Esther">Esther</a></li>

<li><a href="Psalms" title="Psalms">Psalms</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Proverbs" title="Book of Proverbs">Proverbs</a></li>

<li><a href="Ecclesiastes" title="Ecclesiastes">Ecclesiastes</a></li>

<li><a href="Song_of_Songs" title="Song of Songs">Song of Songs</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Isaiah" title="Book of Isaiah">Isaiah</a></li>

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<li><a href="Book_of_Lamentations" title="Book of Lamentations">Lamentations</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Ezekiel" title="Book of Ezekiel">Ezekiel</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Daniel" title="Book of Daniel">Daniel</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Hosea" title="Book of Hosea">Hosea</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Obadiah" title="Book of Obadiah">Obadiah</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Jonah" title="Book of Jonah">Jonah</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Micah" title="Book of Micah">Micah</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Nahum" title="Book of Nahum">Nahum</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Habakkuk" title="Book of Habakkuk">Habakkuk</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Zephaniah" title="Book of Zephaniah">Zephaniah</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Haggai" title="Book of Haggai">Haggai</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Zechariah" title="Book of Zechariah">Zechariah</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Malachi" title="Book of Malachi">Malachi</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="Deuterocanonical_books" title="Deuterocanonical books">Deuterocanon</a> or <a href="Biblical_apocrypha" title="Biblical apocrypha">apocrypha</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;"><a href="Catholic_Bible" title="Catholic Bible">Catholic</a>, <a href="Eastern_Orthodox_Church" title="Eastern Orthodox Church">Eastern Orthodox</a> & others</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Book_of_Tobit" title="Book of Tobit">Tobit</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Judith" title="Book of Judith">Judith</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Esther#Additions_to_Esther" title="Book of Esther">Additions to Esther</a></li>

<li><a href="1_Maccabees" title="1 Maccabees">1 Maccabees</a></li>

<li><a href="2_Maccabees" title="2 Maccabees">2 Maccabees</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Wisdom" title="Book of Wisdom">Wisdom</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Sirach" title="Book of Sirach">Sirach</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Baruch" title="Book of Baruch">Baruch</a> / <a href="Letter_of_Jeremiah" title="Letter of Jeremiah">Letter of Jeremiah</a></li>

<li><a href="Additions_to_Daniel" title="Additions to Daniel">Additions to Daniel</a>

<ul><li><a href="Susanna_(Book_of_Daniel)" title="Susanna (Book of Daniel)">Susanna</a></li>

<li><a href="The_Prayer_of_Azariah_and_Song_of_the_Three_Holy_Children" class="mw-redirect" title="The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children">Song of the Three Children</a></li>

<li><a href="Bel_and_the_Dragon" title="Bel and the Dragon">Bel and the Dragon</a></li></ul></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;">Eastern Orthodox & others</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="1_Esdras" title="1 Esdras">1 Esdras</a></li>

<li><a href="2_Esdras" title="2 Esdras">2 Esdras</a></li>

<li><a href="Prayer_of_Manasseh" title="Prayer of Manasseh">Prayer of Manasseh</a></li>

<li><a href="Psalm_151" title="Psalm 151">Psalm 151</a></li>

<li><a href="3_Maccabees" title="3 Maccabees">3 Maccabees</a></li>

<li><a href="4_Maccabees" title="4 Maccabees">4 Maccabees</a></li>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;"><a href="Orthodox_Tewahedo" title="Orthodox Tewahedo">Orthodox Tewahedo</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Book_of_Enoch" title="Book of Enoch">Enoch</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Jubilees" title="Book of Jubilees">Jubilees</a></li>

<li><a href="Meqabyan" title="Meqabyan">1, 2, and 3 Meqabyan</a></li>

<li><a href="Rest_of_the_Words_of_Baruch" title="Rest of the Words of Baruch">Paralipomena of Baruch</a></li>

<li><a href="Orthodox_Tewahedo_biblical_canon#Broader_canon" title="Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon">Broader canon</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;">Syriac <a href="Peshitta" title="Peshitta">Peshitta</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Psalms_152%E2%80%93155" title="Psalms 152–155">Psalms 152–155</a></li>

<li><a href="2_Baruch" title="2 Baruch">2 Baruch</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;font-weight:normal;"><a href="Beta_Israel" title="Beta Israel">Beta Israel</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Testaments_of_the_Three_Patriarchs" title="Testaments of the Three Patriarchs">Testaments of the Three Patriarchs</a>

<ul><li><a href="Testament_of_Abraham" title="Testament of Abraham">Abraham</a></li>

<li><a href="Testament_of_Isaac" title="Testament of Isaac">Isaac</a></li>

<li><a href="Testament_of_Jacob" title="Testament of Jacob">Jacob</a></li></ul></li></ul>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="New_Testament" title="New Testament">New Testament</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="New_Testament_canon" class="mw-redirect" title="New Testament canon">Canon</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Gospel_of_Matthew" title="Gospel of Matthew">Matthew</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_to_the_Romans" title="Epistle to the Romans">Romans</a></li>

<li><a href="First_Epistle_to_the_Corinthians" title="First Epistle to the Corinthians">1 Corinthians</a></li>

<li><a href="Second_Epistle_to_the_Corinthians" title="Second Epistle to the Corinthians">2 Corinthians</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_to_the_Galatians" title="Epistle to the Galatians">Galatians</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_to_the_Ephesians" title="Epistle to the Ephesians">Ephesians</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_to_the_Philippians" title="Epistle to the Philippians">Philippians</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_to_the_Colossians" title="Epistle to the Colossians">Colossians</a></li>

<li><a href="First_Epistle_to_the_Thessalonians" title="First Epistle to the Thessalonians">1 Thessalonians</a></li>

<li><a href="Second_Epistle_to_the_Thessalonians" title="Second Epistle to the Thessalonians">2 Thessalonians</a></li>

<li><a href="First_Epistle_to_Timothy" title="First Epistle to Timothy">1 Timothy</a></li>

<li><a href="Second_Epistle_to_Timothy" title="Second Epistle to Timothy">2 Timothy</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_to_Titus" title="Epistle to Titus">Titus</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_to_Philemon" title="Epistle to Philemon">Philemon</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_to_the_Hebrews" title="Epistle to the Hebrews">Hebrews</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_of_James" title="Epistle of James">James</a></li>

<li><a href="First_Epistle_of_Peter" title="First Epistle of Peter">1 Peter</a></li>

<li><a href="Second_Epistle_of_Peter" title="Second Epistle of Peter">2 Peter</a></li>

<li><a href="Book_of_Revelation" title="Book of Revelation">Revelation</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="Antilegomena" title="Antilegomena">Antilegomena</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<li><a href="Apocalypse_of_Peter" title="Apocalypse of Peter">Apocalypse of Peter</a></li>

<li><a href="Didache" title="Didache">Didache</a></li>

<li><a href="Gospel_of_the_Hebrews" title="Gospel of the Hebrews">Gospel of the Hebrews</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistle_of_Barnabas" title="Epistle of Barnabas">Epistle of Barnabas</a></li>

<li><a href="First_Epistle_of_Clement" title="First Epistle of Clement">1 Clement</a></li>

<li><a href="Second_Epistle_of_Clement" title="Second Epistle of Clement">2 Clement</a></li>

<li><a href="Third_Epistle_to_the_Corinthians" title="Third Epistle to the Corinthians">3 Corinthians</a></li>

<li><a href="Shepherd_of_Hermas" class="mw-redirect" title="Shepherd of Hermas">Shepherd of Hermas</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Subdivisions</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible" title="Chapters and verses of the Bible">Chapters and verses</a></li>

<li><a href="Torah#Pentateuch" title="Torah">Pentateuch</a></li>

<li><a href="Historical_books" title="Historical books">Historical books</a></li>

<li><a href="Wisdom_literature#Sapiential_Books" title="Wisdom literature">Wisdom books</a> (<a href="Poetic_Books" title="Poetic Books">Poetic Books</a>)</li>

<li><a href="Prophetic_books" title="Prophetic books">Prophetic books</a>

<ul><li><a href="Major_prophet" title="Major prophet">Major prophets</a></li>

<li><a href="Twelve_Minor_Prophets" title="Twelve Minor Prophets">Minor prophets</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Gospel" title="Gospel">Gospels</a>

<li><a href="Synoptic_Gospels" title="Synoptic Gospels">Synoptic</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Epistle" title="Epistle">Epistles</a>

<ul><li><a href="Pauline_epistles" title="Pauline epistles">Pauline</a></li>

<li><a href="Johannine_epistles" title="Johannine epistles">Johannine</a></li>

<li><a href="Pastoral_epistles" title="Pastoral epistles">Pastoral</a></li>

<li><a href="Catholic_epistles" title="Catholic epistles">Catholic</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Apocalyptic_literature" title="Apocalyptic literature">Apocalyptic literature</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Development</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Authorship_of_the_Bible" title="Authorship of the Bible">Authorship</a></li>

<li><a href="Development_of_the_Hebrew_Bible_canon" title="Development of the Hebrew Bible canon">Jewish canon</a></li>

<li><a href="Intertestamental_period" title="Intertestamental period">Intertestamental period</a></li>

<li><a href="Development_of_the_Christian_biblical_canon" class="mw-redirect" title="Development of the Christian biblical canon">Christian canon</a></li>

<li><a href="Development_of_the_Old_Testament_canon" title="Development of the Old Testament canon">Old Testament canon</a></li>

<li><a href="Development_of_the_New_Testament_canon" title="Development of the New Testament canon">New Testament canon</a>

<ul><li><a href="Antilegomena" title="Antilegomena">Antilegomena</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Biblical_apocrypha" title="Biblical apocrypha">Apocrypha</a>

<ul><li><a href="Jewish_apocrypha" title="Jewish apocrypha">Jewish</a></li>

<li><a href="Biblical_apocrypha" title="Biblical apocrypha">Old Testament</a></li>

<li><a href="New_Testament_apocrypha" title="New Testament apocrypha">New Testament</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Pseudepigrapha" title="Pseudepigrapha">Pseudepigrapha</a>

<ul><li><a href="List_of_Old_Testament_pseudepigrapha" title="List of Old Testament pseudepigrapha">Old Testament</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Dating_the_Bible" title="Dating the Bible">Dating the Bible</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="Biblical_manuscript" title="Biblical manuscript">Manuscripts</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Dead_Sea_Scrolls" title="Dead Sea Scrolls">Dead Sea Scrolls</a></li>

<li><a href="Samaritan_Pentateuch" title="Samaritan Pentateuch">Samaritan Pentateuch</a></li>

<li><a href="Septuagint" title="Septuagint">Septuagint</a></li>

<li><a href="Targum" title="Targum">Targum</a></li>

<li><a href="Diatessaron" title="Diatessaron">Diatessaron</a></li>

<li><a href="Muratorian_fragment" title="Muratorian fragment">Muratorian fragment</a></li>

<li><a href="Peshitta" title="Peshitta">Peshitta</a></li>

<li><a href="Vetus_Latina" title="Vetus Latina">Vetus Latina</a></li>

<li><a href="Vulgate" title="Vulgate">Vulgate</a></li>

<li><a href="Categories_of_New_Testament_manuscripts" title="Categories of New Testament manuscripts">New Testament manuscript categories</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_New_Testament_papyri" title="List of New Testament papyri">New Testament papyri</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_New_Testament_uncials" title="List of New Testament uncials">New Testament uncials</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Bible_version_debate" title="Bible version debate">Bible version debate</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_English_Bible_translations" title="List of English Bible translations">English Bible translations</a></li>

<li><a href="Non-canonical_books_referenced_in_the_Bible" title="Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible">Other books referenced in the Bible</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_religious_texts#Christianity" title="List of religious texts">Additional Scriptures</a></li>

<li><a href="Biblical_studies" title="Biblical studies">Studies</a></li>

<li><a href="Biblical_and_Quranic_narratives" class="mw-redirect" title="Biblical and Quranic narratives">Biblical and Quranic narratives</a></li>

<li><a href="Synod_of_Hippo" title="Synod of Hippo">Synod of Hippo</a></li>

<li><a href="Textual_criticism" title="Textual criticism">Textual criticism</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2" style="font-weight:bold;"><div>

<ul><li>Category</li>

<li><a href="Portal%3ABible" title="Portal:Bible">Portal</a></li>

<li>WikiProject</li></ul>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

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