' Of. iTTiyn, used ot prophetical testimony or injunction. In Is gi«.».
t BA f mStnii rSt iimOium ; om. fit )is$iiai|t, F* (babet Fi "^) j /Mtprvpitu In m^ et sup ras A^t.
726 TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
XVII. xi. 4 ; Wars, II. vi. 3). At the same time, since their father had himself received the same title without geographical significance from Antony (Jos. Ant. XIV. xiii. 1 ; iVars, I. xii. 5), and as Antipas is styled king (Mt 14', Mk 6''"') almost as often as tetrarch, it is not unlikely that the latter title was applied to him without any designed allusion to its strict meaning. In a similar sense Lysanias [which see] is called tetrarch of Abilene in Lk 3', the district of Abila in the Lebanon having been severed from the Iturjean kingdom subse- quently to the death of Lysanias I. and placed under the rule of a younger man of the same name. In support of St. Luke s accuracy may be cited two inscriptions in CIG, Nos. 4521, 4.")23. See, for further details and for the literature of the sub- ject, Schiirer, HJP I. IL 7 f. R. W. Moss.
TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT A history
of the text of the OT, in the proper sense of the word ' history,' it is not possible to write, even if one were content to start from the period in which the OT was closed. For in the first place we do not know the date when, or the way in which, this closing was effected. Further, we have no MSS of the Heb. OT from the first eight centuries of the Christian era, at least none whose date is certain. Unfortunately, moreover, we are as yet without critical editions either of the most im- portant early Versions (LXX, Pesh., Targg.), or of the ancient Jewish literary works (Talmuds, Midrashim) in which a great number of Bible pas- sages are cited and explained. And, finally, the history of the text is much older than the close of the Canon. Even during the period when the writings which are now gathered into one in the OT had still a more or less separate circulation, the text underwent a variety of changes, due partly to the carelessness of copyists, and partly to intention, what was considered objectionable being dropped out, and additions being made. The proper course of procedure, then, appears to us to be to work backwards from a fixed point, viz. the printed text. We will discuss —
i. The printed editions.
ii. The manuscripta.
iii. The work of the Mas(s)orete8 (and the punctuation), iv. Earlier traces of the Heb. text of the OT.
V. The importance of the ancient Versions. vi. Observations on the history of the growth of the OT.
i. Printed Editions of the Heb. OT. — A. FiFTEESTB Century.— T\\s first portion of the Heb. Bible ever printed was the Psalter, 1477 (small folio, prob. Bologna), ^vith D. Kimhi's commentary. Only the first psalms have the vowel points, in a very rude form (Ginshurg, Introd. 780-794). II The first ed. of the Pent, appeared in 1482 (Bologna folio, pointed), with Targ. Onk. and Rashi. II Ed. princcjosof the Prophets, 14S5(Soncino, folio, 2 vols, [the 2nd has no date]), with D. ^im^i's com., neither vowel points nor accents. || Ed. princeps of the Hagiographa, 1487, 86 (Naples, folio, 3 parts). The vowel points are most un- reliable, the printers having done their work very carelessly. There are no accents. The accom- panying comm. are ^^imhi on the Psalter, and Imuianuel on Proverbs. || The first ed. of the whole OT appeared at Sonoino in 1488, folio ; it had vowel points and accents, like almost all the following editions; || 2nd ed., Naples, c. 1491-93 [neither date nor place is given] ; || 3rded., Brescia, 1494. Luther used this ed. in translating the OT into German ; || I'esaro, 1494 (?, see Wolf, Biblio- tlieca Heb. ii. 364, iv. 109; B. Rig<'enbach, Das Chronikondes Konrad Pellikan, Basel, 1877, p. 20).
B. Sl.XTEBSTU CENTUnr.—lleh. OT, Pesaro, 1511-1517, folio, 2 vols. || The Complutensian Poly- glot, Alcala, 1514-1517, Vetus testametUii multi-
plici linqua nfic primo impressum, folio, 4 vols, (Heb., LXX, Vulg., Targ. Onk.). No accents; the vowel points cannot be relied ujion. The editors used, for tlie compilation of their Heb. text, the Lisbon Pent. (1491), the Naples OT (1491-1493), and the MS of the OT in the Madrid University Library No. 1. The consonantal text is, according to Ginshurg (p. 917), remarkably accurate and of great import.ance. || First Kabbinical Bible, folio, 4 vols., Venice, 1516-1517. The editor, Felix Pratensis, was the first to indicate, in a purely Hebrew Bible, the Christian chapters * on the margin of the Heb. OT, and to divide Samuel, Kings, Ezra, and Chronicles each into two books. He was likewise the first to give, though not con- sistently, the consonants of the A'^rcin the margin. II The first Venice quarto Bible (1516-1517) is only a re-issue of the folio, without the Targuras and the commentaries. || The second Rabbinical Bible, folio, 4 vols., Venice, 1524-1525, with the Mas(s)ora collected and arranged by Jacob ben Chayim ibn Adonijah. ' No textual redactor,' says Ginshurg (p. 964), ' of modem days, who professes to edit the Heb. text according to the Mas(s)ora, can deviate from it without giving conclusive justification for so doing.' II Third Rabbinical Bible, 1547-1548; fourth, 1568, Venice, folio, 4 vols. ; || Biblia Sacra, Hehraice, Greece et Latine, Antwerp, 1569-1572, folio [OT vols, i.-iv.] ; printed at the expense of Philip II. (hence sumamed Biblia Rcrjia), ed. Arias Montanus. || Of the great number of other editions we will mention here but two : " npo Hebraica Biblia Latina planeque nova S. Munsteri tralatione . . . adiectis insuper d Rabinorum comentarijs an- notationibus, Basel, 1534-1535, folio, 2 vols. [2nd ed. 1546] ; and vipn yn Biblia Sacra eleganti et majuscula characterum forma, gtM . . . literce radicalcs [plents et niqrce] <fc serviles, deficientes ds quiescentss tbc. [vacuce] situ et colore discemuntur. Authore Elia Huttero, Hamburg, 1587, folio.