23 ; Job xxxviii, 1 ; xl, 6 ; Psa. x, 10 ; Iv, 16 ; cxxiii, 4; Isa. iii, 15 ; Jer. vi, 29 ; xviii, 3 ; Ezek. viii, 6).
8. Exegetical Kerls or marginal readings which sub- stitute euphemisms for tlie cacophonous terms used in tlie text, in accordance with the injunction of the an- cient sages, that *'all the verses wherein indecent ex- pressions occur are to be replaced by decent words (e. g. njp^w^'i by n233C'' [of which the Keri exhibits four instances, viz. Deut. xxviii, 30 ; Isa. xiii, 10 ; Jer. iii, 2 ; Zech. xiv, 2] ; D^blS" by D'^lin:^ [of which the Keri exhibits six instances, viz. Deut. xxviii, 27 ; 1 Sam. v, 0, 9 ; vi, 4, 5, 17 ; omitting, however, 1 Sam. v, 12] ; D'i3'li"in by D*^3Ti31 [of which the Keri exhibits one instance, viz. 2 Kings vi, 25]; Cnimn by nrj<i:i [of which the Keri exhibits two instances, 2 Kings xviii, 27; Isa.xxxvi, 12]; Cn^ra i72-i-2 by Cnib:"! i-^i^a [of which the Keri exhibits two instances, 2 Kings xviii, 27; Isa. xxxvi, 12] ; TlXinrb by niXri-l-^b [of which there is one instance, 2 Kings x, 27, comp. Me- ffilki, 25 b])."
The manner in which this general class of various readings is indicated is as follows : The variations speci- fied under 1 and 2, not affecting the vowel points, are simply indicated by a small circle or asterisk placed over the word in the text (li'^T-), which directs to the marginal reading ("^Ip), where the emendation is giv- en, as, for instance, the Kethib in Exod. xxi, 8 is X'?, in 1 Sam. xx, 24 hb, and in Prov. xxi, 29 "pr^^ and the marginal gloss remarks IP p, PX p, "("^ni p, the p being an abbreviation for "'"ip. In the variations specified under 3 and 4, where the different letters of the Kethib and the Keri require different vowel points, the abnormal textual reading, or the Kethib, has not only the small circle or asterisk, but also takes the vowel points which belong to the normal marginal reading, or the Keri, e. g. the appropriate pointing of the textual reading, or the Kethib, in 2 Kings xvii, 21, is X'n|^^, but it is pointed X'^]^^, because these vowel signs belong to the marginal reading, or the Keri, UT^"], which it is in- tended should accompany the vowel points in the text. The same is the case with the textual reading in 2 Sam. xiv, 30, which, according to the marginal reading, ex- hibits a transposition of letters, and which can hardly be pronounced with its textual points nT.'^SJIill, be- cause these vowel signs belong to the Keri, iTir":itT!. Finally, in the variations specified under 5, C, 7, and 8, which involve an addition or diminution of letters, and which have therefore either more or fewer letters than are required by the vowel points of the Keri, a vowel sign is sometimes given without any letter at all, or tv/o vowel signs have to be attached to one letter, and some- times a letter lias to be without any vowel sign ; the variation itself being either indicated in the margin by the exhibition of the entire word which constitutes the different reading, or by the simple remark that such and such a letter is wanting or is redundant. For instance, in Lam. v, 7, which, according to the Jlasorah, exhibits two of the twelve instances where the 1 con- junctive has boen dropped from the beginning of words (comp. also 2 Kings iv, 7; Job ii, 7; Prov. xxiii, 24; xxvii, 24; Isa. Iv, 13; Lam. ii, 2; iv, 10; v, 3, 5; Dan. ii, 43), the textual reading, or Kethib, is C)3'iX° ^3nDX*, and the marginal reading, or Keri, is D3"iX1, liniXI^ the vowel sign of the conjunction from the margin being inserted in the text under tlie little circle, which, con- sequently, has no. letter at all; in Jer. xlii, 0, again, where the textual reading is i:X, and the marginal reading linjX, yet the Kethib, which has only three letters, takes the vowel signs of the Keri, which has five letters, and is pointed -13 X, with two different vow-
KERI AND KETHIB
51
KERI AND KETHIB
el points attached to the one "1 ; whilst in 2 Kuigs vii, 15, where the reverse is the case, the marginal read- ing having fewer letters, and hence fewer vowels than the textual reading, which takes the vowel signs of the former, the Kethib is pointed CTSriiia, and the H has no vowel sign at all. There is a peculiarity connected with the marginal indication of those words the varia- tions of which consist in the diminution or addition of a single letter. When a letter is dropped from a word in tlie text, the whole word is given in the marginal read- ing with the letter in question, and the remark "Read so ;" as, for instance, 1 Sam. xiv, 32 ; Prov. xxiii, 24, where the tl, according to the JNIasorah, is dropped from ^Vijn, and 1 from lbl"'1, as indicated by ??(i^_ and ^^^'' ; the marginal glosses are b^'l'tl p? ^h^^^ p; but when the reverse is the case, if a letter has crept into a word, the whole word is not given in the mar- ginal gloss, but it is simply remarked that such and such a letter is redundant ("I'^n"'), or is not to be read ("lip xb), as, for instance, in Eccles. x, 20 ; Neh. ix, 17, where the n, according to the Masorah, has crept in before d'^S33, and 1 before ^DH, the marginal gloss simply remarks n "l^ni, ^ ^in"^. Upon this point, however, the greatest inconsistency is manifested in the Masoretic glosses ; compare, for instance, the Kethib 1^31:7 and ""^Pi"! in Eccles. iv, 8, 17, both of which, ac- cording to the Keri, have a redundant "i, and are sin- gular nouns, yet the Masoretic note upon the former is 13^" p exhibiting the whole word, whilst on the latter it simply remarks "^ Tin"!.