QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Question about blank Parenthesis in electronic texts of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS)

If you have ever used a digital version of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (link) in Bible Software you may have run across words in parenthesis. In general the words you find in Parenthesis are what are known as the קרי(Qere / read). The Qere are suggested scribal corrections of typos or errors found in Hebrew manuscripts and in the case of the BHS those found in the Leningrad Codex (link) now housed at the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg . The Qere is the corrected text that is to be read while the כתיב (K’tiv /writen) is what is actually written in the text before you. The Masoretes were afraid of editing the ancient manuscript so instead they added footnotes and margin notes with corrections. In general when using a digital Hebrew text you will find these ancient correction in Parenthesis. Now, Sometimes you may come across black Parenthesis and in the case of Accordance Bible Software(link) these may be labeled/tagged as קק qq [qere blank]. You will find on these in Ruth chapter 3 verse 12.

Well, what does this mean…

This means that there is no קרי(Qere / read) for the word אִם there is only the כתיב (K’tiv /writen) for אִם and furthermore other Hebrew manuscripts of Ruth from the Middle Ages also do not have a קרי(Qere) at verse 12. If you have the BHS in print turn to page 1323 look at verse 12 of Ruth chapter 3 and notice the מסורה קטנה (Masorah Katana or Parva) written on the right hand margin here by the בַּעֲלֵי הַמָּסוֹרָה (Masoretes) you will notice that they tells us that this one of 8 times were a word is to be written and not read.

Here is a picture of the Masorah Parva / Masorah Katana of the BHS on page 1323

And it reads thus….

אִם חד מן ח̇ כת̇ ולא קר̇ “The word אִם is one of 8 words which are to be written but not to be read”. Naturally, you might want to know where the other occurrences are, right. Well, you are in luck! The beautiful Accordance Masorah Thesaurus module(link) lists all 8 times of the occurrence of the ‘write not read’ phenomenon:

The electronic version of Weil, Gérard. E’s Massorah Gedolah: Manuscrit B. 19a de Léningrad. Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 2001 from Logos also list all 8 occurrences. Although in a different order see:

At first sight Logos’ Massorah Gedolah might look more helpful since there are some English verse references on the side, However, Accordance’s Masorah Thesaurus module has much more … so much more. For example If you enter Ruth 3:12 you will get three different list on the verse. But, that’s not all! The Masorah Thesaurus is not based only on one manuscript, rather the creators of it looked at multiple manuscripts and Masorah, on the other hand the Massorah Gedolah is based only on the Leningrad Codex and it is also a high edited version of the Leningrad codex’s Masorah. BUT, Okay, it is good, helpful and fun to have both!

Today’s post is a slightly edited version of an answer I wrote earlier this year on a thread in the Accordance Forums see: https://forums.accordancebible.com/topic/35879-qere-blank-in-hebrew/

Thanks for reading!

Which Bible?

Not, all people of faith are in agreement of what books make up ‘the Bible’ nor what books are a part of the greater canon of scripture (here are but a few of the different canons):

(1) Samaritan canon: Pentateuch (5 books)

(2) The Jewish Canon: Tanakh (Hebrew Bible 24books)
also of great importance the Mishna, Talmuds, Mishneh Torah, and the Shulchan Aruch

(3) Orthodox: OT (51 books) and NT (27 books usually some have more books)

(4) Roman Catholic Canon: OT (46 books) and NT (27 books)

(5) Protestant Canon: OT (39 books) and NT (27 books)
Some traditional Protestant groups have a canon that includes the deuterocanonicals.

(6) Church of Latter Day Saints Canon: Protestant 66 book canon, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

(7) The Assyrian Church of the East as well as the Chaldean Syrian Church have a canon similar to that of the Orthodox but with more books.

Today, most biblical compilations comply with either the standards set forth by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1825 which corresponds to the so-called Protestant Bible, or with one that includes the deuterocanonical books prescribed for so-called Catholic Bibles and the anagignoskomena for so-called Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bibles. (link)

Also, check out charts or tables found at the following links:
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon
(2) http://biblestudymagazine.com/interactive/canon/

Ye shall spoil the Egyptians?

Question: In Exodus chapter 3 What does borrowing from one’s neighbor have to do with spoiling or plundering of the Egyptians?

But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians (Exodus 3:22).
KJV (public domain in the U.S.A)

The KJV curiously translates וְשָׁאֲלָ֨ה אִשָּׁ֤ה as ” but every woman shall borrow” yet the verb שׁאל means to ask or to make a request of someone and in this case of ‘her neighbor’. I suppose “borrow” and “ask are close enough if the KJV is producing a ‘dynamic equivalent’ translation and that may very well be the case if the KJV is actually presenting an original translation. But, now who is this “neighbor”? From the context, it seems that this neighbor is not another Hebrew, but is rather the Egyptians who appear immediately before in this pericope in verse 21 who are by providence now favorably disposed toward the Hebrews. This makes it highly unlikely or at least odd that Hebrew women are now plundering the particular Egyptians who are willingly helping them. And, interestingly נָצַל (natzal) the lexeme that KJV translates here as ‘spoil’ elsewhere means to deliver or to save( for example see Exodus 6:6, 18:4, 18:8, Numbers 35:25, Joshua 2:13, 9:26, and 24:19). Concerning the meaning of נָצַל Dr. J. H. Hertz comments that:

its direct object is never the person or the thing from whom the saving or the rescuing or snatching has taken place, but always the person or thing being rescued… “ye shall spoil the Egyptians,” is, therefore, unwarranted, for two reasons. it takes the persons from whom things are snatched as the direct object; and furthermore, it necessitates an entire reversal of the meaning נָצַל from save into despoil!
Hertz, J.H., 2nd ed.The Pentateuch and Haftorahs. London: Soncino press, 1981

Okay, so why did the KJV translators render Exodus 3:22 the way they did? Was it an original translation or was it something else? Since the KJV was hardly the first English translation available a number of other translations had already started a tradition. In 1384 John Wycliffe’s translation read “nakid” amd later number of Bible translations like Matthew Bible (1537), The Great Bible (1539), The Bishops Bible (1568) agree at the following reading “and shall robbe the Egyptians”. At first sight, this might appear to be where the KJV is getting its translation from however if you check the coverdale bible 1535, Geneva Bible of 1560, Douay Rheims Bible (1582) you will find that it reads thus:

“and shall spoyle the Egyptians/Egypt.” which is the same as the modernized spelling KJV (1611) ‘s ‘spoil’ .

So, back to the question In Exodus chapter 3 What does borrowing from one’s neighbor have to do with spoiling or plundering of the Egyptians?

Answer: nothing at all, the KJV mistranslation is borrowed from older English Bible translations most notably the Coverdale translation of the OT that was based much more on the latin Vulgate and German translations than on the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible.

Exodus 24:10 (saw or feared)?

This week’s question: Does וראו in Exodus 24:10 mean ‘saw’ or ‘feared’?

It is basically accepted that the original Hebrew text of the Torah/Pentateuch was written only in consonants. Vowels and cantillation were supplied orally by the experienced reader. Early texts such as those found in the dead sea scrolls are absent of any diacriticals, cantillation/accent marks, and vowels. Even today Sefer Torah (Torah Scrolls) used in Synaguoge are written without vowel marks and cantillation marks as is the vast majority of modern Hebrew literature. So, if we assume that the original text of Exodus 24:10 was written without vowel points and cantillation marks both ‘saw’ and ‘feared’ become possible readings. Why are such different readings possible? Here is why… Cantillation/accent marks and vowels can radically change the meaning of a Hebrew text. The word(phrase) וראו in Exodus 24:10 can be read as either וַיִּֽרְא֣וּ (and they feared ) or as וַיִּרְא֕וּ (and they saw).

Notice, both these words are letter for letter identical as far as the consonants are concerned and in this case, they even have basically the same vowels(blue) the only difference is the accent mark(red) under the Aleph (א) which in the word feared would probably take either a Munach or a Tiphcha accent. However, as mentioned before both accents and vowels are absent in Torah scrolls, On the other hand, all the Masoretic diacriticals are present in Masoretic codices containing books of the Hebrew Bible and in printed editions of the Hebrew Bible/Tanakh. And, the Masoretic scribes, in general, preserve the reading וַיִּרְא֕וּ (and they saw) as well as printed editions of the Hebrew Bible. But either reading and both readings at the same time are possible if, of course, you are reading the Hebrew text.

For more interesting opinions of ideological nature on this verse check out: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/under-gods-feet/

POSTSCRIPT (2022/08/05) 18:30 JST: I just ran across a prolific blogger (and Accordance Bible Software user) Abram J-K over at the Words on the Word blog who also just happens to have covered a very similar issue last year in another book and passage of the Hebrew Bible/OT. I have linked the pertinent post below:

https://abramkj.com/2021/12/15/fear-no-evil-or-see-no-evil-one-way-to-preach-a-textu al-variant/