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Masora

Genesis 18:22 (phenomenon)

Not everything found in Codices of Hebrew Bible nor in the printed editions of the Hebrew Bible is translated in Christian editions of the OT.

There are numerous notes, lists, and pages left by the Masoretes that are rarely if ever translated into English or any other modern language.

Common examples of this include the Masorah Ketanah, Masorah Gedolah, keri uchetiv (Qere) readings, data list at the end of each book, mikra Soferim, ittur Soferim, and the Tiqqune Soferim.

In the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (page 25 print) Genesis 18:22 is notated with two lowercase ‘a’ one before (and Avraham) ‬וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם and one attached to יְהוָֽה (YHWH /usually translated as LORD)

a‬וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם עֹודֶ֥נּוּ עֹמֵ֖ד לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָֽהa‬

(a) but, Avraham still stood before YHWH (a) (Genesis 18:22)

the (a)s direct us to the apparatus or footnotes:

22 a–a Tiq soph, lect orig אברהם … ויהוה

‘Tiq soph’ tells us that we are encountering what is known as a Tiqqūn sōferīm

‘lect’ is short for ‘lectio’ (reading)

‘Orig’ is short for originalis (original)

What, the abbreviated notes from the BHS’ textual apparatus are telling us is that originally the text may have ‘theoretically’ read:”but, YHWH still stood before Avraham“. This text is one of the 18 tiqqūnēy sōferīm texts that were alleged (according to tradition) changed by the ancient scribes for theological reasons.

This begs the question: “what was the theological reason that the text was supposedly changed for”?

Some claim that this text put YHWH is less role by having YHWH stand before Avraham rather than the other around, but it, in my opinion, is more likely that the alleged Scribes were worried if read that way it would paint an anthropomorphic picture of YHWH by directly stating that YHWH was actually standing in front of Avraham. The Masoretes themselves did not make the Tiqquney Soferim changes but only noted changes they believed had happened.

However, If the Masoretes were Karaite Jews (as some claim) rather than Rabbinic Jews and they would have outright rejected the early Midrashic/oral interpretations that claimed that YHWH would either manifest himself personally as the Memra and or Metatron or that these were mediators or conduits with which to speak to mankind. I have no doubt that would not have not also have found the later text found in Christian canon John 8:56-58 problematic too none the less they wanted to make sure that any changes or textual phenomenon were noted.

Sources Cited:
(1) Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: SESB Version. electronic ed. Stuttgart: German Bible Society, 2003. Print.
(2) Weil, Gérard E., K. Elliger, and W. Rudolph, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. 5. Aufl., rev. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1997. Print.

Psalm chapter 23 verse 1: looking at the Masorah

Opening your Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) to page 1105 you notice Psalm 23:1 at the bottom of the page.

Scanning the first verse you notice the two raised circles in the verse. One above the phrase מִזְמ֥וֹר לְדָוִֽד (a Mizmor of David) and one above רֹעִ֗י (my Shepherd). The first circle alerts you to the Masorah Parva (the ancient abbreviated Masoretic reference notes on the side of the page in a codex now reproduced in the BHS). The note reads as follows ח̇ ר״פ . Recalling that Hebrew Letters can sometimes act as numbers you recognize that letter chet ח̇ is functioning as the number 8 and ר״פ abbreviation on side of it is shorthand for ראש פסוק (rosh Pasuk / head of verse). You quickly conclude that the ancient masoretes are trying to tell you that:

Psalm 23:1 contains one of 8 instances where מִזְמ֥וֹר לְדָוִֽד occurs as the first two words of a verse.

Naturally, this arouses your interest, unfortunately, the Masoretic notes that lead you to the other 8 verses are not to be found in the BHS. Fortunately, however Bible software and or concordances can speedily provide you with the answer. You find that the string מִזְמ֥וֹר לְדָוִֽד occurs 28 times in the Hebrew Bible then scanning through the 28 verse you discover that Masoretes were correct in indicating that מִזְמ֥וֹר לְדָוִֽד appears as the first two words of a verse 8 times in the Binle or as a heading.

are a Mizmor of David. (by the way during the Masoretes times there were not verse number systems so the Masoretes simply wrote either the most notable words of a verse or the first few words.)

Now you turn you attention to the second the raised circle found over the רֹעִ֗י (my Shepherd) and turning back to the margin and notice ה̇this time there is a ‘hey’ rather than a ‘chet’. The ‘hey’ being the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet is clearly acting as the number 5. This means that רֹעִ֗י rather something about רֹעִ֗י occurs five times. It is pretty clear that word shepherd must be found more than five times in scripture so what then are the Masoretes trying to communicate. In a real codex, both the Masorah Parva (short notes) and the Masorah magna (longer note) are present but in the BHS there is only room for the short notes so the longer notes were put in another volume. At the bottom of the page, you notice the register alerting you the MM (Masorah Magna) being found in the sperate volume under the index number 3232.

So, you head over to Gérard Emmanuel Weil‘s transcription of the
Masorah Magna found in the companion volume for the BHS (either in print or in faith life Logos Bible Software’s: digital edition as pictured below) :

Directly above the verse list, you see the note רֹעִ֗י ה̇ סימנהון telling you that these are the five times.

Now, you understand that although the lemma for Shepherd appears l67 times in 138 verses “My shepherd” in this morphological form is found only five times and thus these terms and verses are special in the scriptures. Of course a word looking the same as my shepherd but meaning my friend also occurs throughout scripture. In the pre-Masoretic text without the vowel points and accents, both ‘My friend’ and ‘My Shepherd’ would have been identical. This leads you to consider the possibility that the writer of Psalms my have had both meanings in mind.

There are a lot more layers of Masoretic notes but we only briefly look at two examples of one type of the notes. Keep in mind this excessive was only at the word level. Later one might also like to look at the semantic level, sentence level, passage level, and discourse level.

Video introduction on Biblia Hebraica’s apparatus

Here is an excellent intro to the BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia) by Dr. David Moster of the Institute of Biblical Culture.

Published by the Institute of Biblical Culture (link)

The Software used in the video presentation at 7:07 ~ 8:14 and 11:58 ~ 12:19, and 12:29 ~ 13:29 is Accordance Bible Software.

GENESIS 32:18

Not all printed or electronic Hebrew Bibles ( Mikra / Tanakh) are exactly the same in all details. For example the diacritical symbols used for vowels ( nekuddot) and cantillations marks (ta`amei ha-mikra) can sometimes vary from edition to edition. A good illustration of this is to be found in Genesis 32:18 see the picture below:

It should be noted that in the above example there is a slight change in vocalization and in maybe how the text is to be chanted but not in meaning. An interesting discussion on of this can be found in the archives of the Avodah Mailing List: http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol08/v08n090.shtml#03

Jeremiah 42:6 אֲנוּ VS אנו

The following widely used texts agree with having אֲנוּ
1)The Jerusalem Crown: Keter Yerushalayim (pg. 467)
(2) The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, (pg 867)
(3)Rabbi M. Breuer’s Tanakh( שנט or pg. 359 )
(3)Meïr Halevi (Letteris) Tanakh (pg. 812)
(4)Norman Henry Snaith’s Tanakh (Pg. 776)


These three popular versions leave אנו unpointed
(1) C.D. Ginsburg Tanakh (pg. 912)
(2) Koren Tanach (pg. 430)
(3) Adi (A. Dotan) Tanakh (pg. 712)
(4) The Stone Edition of the Tanach (pg. 1172)
(5)The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (pg. 1115)


TanakhML Project and the online Westminster Leningrad Codex 4.14 have אֲנַ֜חְנוּ in the text with אנו as a subscript. however, both also display other choices. If you click on אֲנַ֜חְנוּ in the TanakhML it will open another page with variants.

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