Authoritative text of the Tanakh in Rabbinic Judaism
Carpet page from the Leningrad Codex, the oldest complete manuscript of the Masoretic Text.
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The Masoretic Text[a] (MT or 𝕸; Hebrew: נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, romanized: Nūssāḥ hamMāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation known as the mas'sora. Referring to the Masoretic Text, masorah specifically means the diacritic markings of the text of the Jewish scriptures and the concise marginal notes 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 Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries of the Common Era (CE). The oldest known complete copy, the Leningrad Codex, dates from the early 11th century CE.[citation needed]
The differences attested to in the Dead Sea Scrolls indicate that multiple versions of the Hebrew scriptures already existed by the end of the Second Temple period.[1] Which is closest to a theoretical Urtext is disputed, as is whether such a singular text ever existed.[2] 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.[3][1] The Septuagint (a Koine Greek translation made in the third and second centuries BCE) and the Peshitta (a Syriac translation made in the second century CE) occasionally present notable differences from the Masoretic Text, as does the Samaritan Pentateuch, the text of the Torah preserved by the Samaritans in Samaritan Hebrew.[4] Fragments of an ancient manuscript of the Book of Leviticus found near an ancient synagogue's Torah ark in Ein Gedi have identical wording to the Masoretic Text.[5]
The Masoretic Text is the basis for most Protestant translations of the Old Testament such as the King James Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, and New International Version.[citation needed] After 1943, it has also been used for some Catholic Bibles, such as the New American Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible.[citation needed] Some Christian denominations instead prefer translations of the Septuagint as it matches quotations in the New Testament.[6]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^ abTov, Emanuel (1992). Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
^Shanks, Herschel (4 August 1992). Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls (1st ed.). Random House. p. 336. ISBN 978-0679414483.
^"Piece of coal deciphered as ancient biblical text". 5 October 2016.
^"Controversy lurks as scholars try to work out Bible's original text". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
^"Scanning software deciphers ancient biblical scroll". Associated Press. 21 September 2016.
^Pentiuc, Eugen J. (2006). Jesus the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible. Mahwah, NJ, US: Paulist Press. p. xvi.
The MasoreticText (MT or 𝕸; Hebrew: נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, romanized: Nūssāḥ hamMāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic...
Canon" are frequently confused with the MasoreticText; however, this is a medieval version and one of several texts considered authoritative by different...
pronunciation of pre-Masoretic Hebrew; many proper nouns are spelled with Greek vowels in the translation, but contemporary Hebrew texts lacked vowel pointing...
of lifespans, 'generations', and other means by which the Masoretic Hebrew Bible (the text of the Bible most commonly in use today) measures the passage...
Bible. The word Moloch (מולך) occurs eight times in the Masoretictext, the standard Hebrew text of the Bible. Five of these are in Leviticus, with one...
deuterocanonical books, while the MasoreticText excludes them. Since the Enlightenment, it was wrongly believed that the MasoreticText was the "original" Hebrew...
six thousand differences exist between the Samaritan and the Jewish MasoreticText. Most are minor variations in the spelling of words or grammatical constructions...
respectively. The oldest complete or nearly complete manuscripts of the MasoreticText with Tiberian vocalisation, such as the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad...
Unfortunately, the meanings of the Hebrew names for the minerals, given by the masoretictext, are not clear, and though the Greek names for them in the Septuagint...
1985, is a modern Jewish 'written from scratch' translation of the MasoreticText of the Hebrew Bible into English. It is based on revised editions of...
English Bibles and the vast majority of those in other languages. The MasoreticText of the Hebrew Bible notes several different kinds of subdivisions within...
family who had been involved in creating and maintaining the MasoreticText (authoritative text of the Hebrew scripture), for at least five generations. His...
the Masoretictext is reflected in the ESV's attempt, wherever possible, to translate difficult Hebrew passages as they stand in the Masoretictext rather...
source language(s) and, for incomplete translations, what portion of the text has been translated. Certain terms that occur in many entries are linked...
section called an apocrypha. Books and portions of books not found in the MasoreticText of Judaism were moved out of the body of the Old Testament to this section...
Greek Septuagint collection, but which are not present in the Hebrew MasoreticText collection. More specifically, the term can refer to a version or translation...
of these texts are known as MasoreticTexts (MT). The Masoretes also added vowel points (called niqqud) to the text, since the original text contained...
("Writings"). The MasoreticText is the medieval version of the Tanakh, in Hebrew and Aramaic, that is considered the authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible...
is an edition of the MasoreticText of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes. It is...
Eastern Orthodox canons and the Dead Sea Scrolls, but not in the Jewish Masoretictext; while Protestant tradition places it in the Apocrypha, with Anabaptists...
Jewish translations follow the MasoreticText, and are usually published in bilingual editions with the Hebrew text facing the English translation. The...
with the Leningrad Codex, it contains the Aaron ben Moses ben Asher MasoreticText tradition. The codex was kept for five centuries in the Central Synagogue...
Christological interpretations, adherence to the MasoreticText (at least in the main body of the text, as in the new Jewish Publication Society (JPS)...
directly taken from the MasoreticText, is used by Arabs to refer to roe deer The the'o; this term, directly taken from the MasoreticText, has traditionally...
of Jerusalem, Jewish scholarship compiled the MasoreticText in Hebrew, which remains the standard text used by Jews. Some books which were included in...
Scrolls, most of which follows the MasoreticText closely and with Mur XII reproducing a large portion of the text. As for the non-canonical writings...
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