RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bible Text
Masorah, which the editor first revised, and contains the entire Masoretic and Rabbinio apparatus. It is more or less reproduced in prints published during the sixteenth and in the beginning of the seventeenth centuries. Besides these original recensions, editions were published having a mixed text; the Hebrew text of the Antwerp Polyglot (1569-72), which is followed by the small editions of Plantin, the Paris and London Polyglots, and the editions of Reineccius, is based upon that of the Complutensian and Bomberg. Another recension is represented in the editions of Elias Hutter (1587), Buxtorf, and Joseph Athias with preface by J. Leusden (1661 sqq.), for which some very ancient manuscripts were collated. Athias's edition became also the basis of later editions like that of Jablonski (1699), Van der Hooght (1705), Opitz (1709), J. H. Michaelis (1720), Hahn (1832), and Theile (1849).
None of these editions presents the Masoretic text in its original form. The large collections of variants by B. Kennicott, Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum cum variis lectionibus (2 vols., Oxford, 1776-80), more especially by De Rossi, Varice lectiones Veteris Testamenti (4 vols., Parma, 1784- 88) and Supplementa ad varias sacri textus lectiones £1798), are valuable for some Extramasoretic readings which they offer, but they are less valuable for critical purposes. More important for textcritical purposes are (besides the work of Me'ir ha- Levi, ut sup.) the " Light of the Law " of Menahem de Lonzano (Venice, 1618) and 4. Critical particularly the critical commentary
Commend°n the 01d Testament by Solomon taries " Minorzi (Mantua, 1742-44; Vienna, 1813), the works of Wolf ben Samson Heidenheim, and especially the thorough work on the Masorah by S. Frensdorff (Massora magna, part I, Hanover, 1876, and Oklah we-Oklah, 1864). Of great service were the publication of the works of the oldest Jewish grammarians and lexicographers and the discovery of fragments and publication of codices like that on the prophets of the year 916 (published by Strack, Prophetarum posteriorum codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus, St. Petersburg, 1876). The fruits of these preliminary works are contained in the correct editions of the Masoretic text by Baer and Ginsburg. Baer, who was assisted by Delitzsch, published the Old Testament with the exception of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy [both editors died without completing their work]. Ginsburg's edition is entitled The New M assoretico-Critical Text of the Hebrew Bible [2 vols., London, 1894. It should be studied with the same author's indispensable Introduction to the Massoretico-critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible (London, 1897)].
Valuable as such correct editions of the Masoretic text are, they represent only a single recension, whose source is the textus receptus mentioned above, which was fixed in the first Christian centuries. With this recension the text-critical and exegetical treatment of the Old Testament can not be satisfied. Before the received text was made canonical there existed different forms of the text, which in many cases stood nearer to the original than that
sanctioned by the Jews. The main witness here is the Septuagint, a correct edition of which is an absolutely necessary though extremely difficult task. But Old Testament textual criticism can not be satisfied with a comparison even with this older form of the text. In many cases the corruption of the text is so old that only a criticism both cautious and bold can approximate to the genuine text. In modern times some very important contributions have been made, such as J. Olshausen, Emendationen zum Alten Testament (Kiel, 1826); idem, Beitrage zur Kritik des uberlieferten Textes im Buche Genesis (1870); J. Wellhausen, Text der Bilcher Samuelis (Gottingen, 1871); F. Baethgen, Zu den Psalmen, in JPT (1882); C. H. Cornill, Das Buch des Propheten Ezechiel (Leipsic, 1886); S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel (London, 1890); A. Klostermann, Die Biicher Samuelis undder Konige (Munich, 1887), idem, Deutero-J esaia (Munich, 1893); G. Beer, Der Text des Buches Hiob (part i, Marburg, 1895); the Sacred Books of the Old Testament (the so-called Polychrome or Rainbow Bible), ed. P. Haupt (Baltimore, London,, and Leipsic, 1894 sqq.); and Kettel's edition, Leipsic, 1905-06. (F. Buhl.) Bibliography: Besides the introductions to the Old Testament (especially of J. G. Eichhorn, 4th ed., Gottingen^ 1823-25; W. M. L. de Wette, 8th ed. by E. Schrader, pp. 111-156, Berlin, 1869; C. H. Cornil). §§ 49-53, Freiburg, 1905; F. E. Konig, §§ 3-30, 92, Bonn, 1893; C. H. H. Wright, London, 1891, and W H. Bennett, ib. 1900) and the works mentioned in the text consult: J. Morinus, Exercitationum biblicarum de Hebrcei Grozcique textus sinceritate libri duo, Paris, 1669; L. Capellus, Critica sacra, Paris, 1650, new edition with notes by Vogel and Scharfenberg, Halle, 1775-86; H. Hody, De bibliorum textibus originalibus, Oxford, 1705; H. Hupfeld, in TSK, 1830,. 1837; A. Geiger, Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel, Breslau, 1857; L. Loew, Beitrage zur jiidischen Alterthums— kunde, Leipsic, 1870 (deals with materials and products of writing); H. L. Strack, Prolegomena critica in Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum, Leipsic, 1873 (very full upon extant and lost MSS., and on the testimony of the Talmud to the text); A. Kuenen, Les Origines du texte masoretique- (from the Dutch), Paris, 1875; Palcsographical Society, Oriental Series, Facsimiles of MSS. and Inscriptions, London, 1875-83 (deals with many important codices of the O. T.); A. Harkavy, N euaufgefundene hebrdische Bibelhandschriften, St. Petersburg, 1884 (characterizes fifty-one Hebrew MSS. and fragments); V. Ryssel, Untersuchungen iiber die Textgestalt und die Echtheit des Buches Micha, Leipsic, 1S87 (198 pages concern the text); G. C. Workman, The Text of Jeremiah, a Critical Investigation of the Greek and Hebrew, Edinburgh, 1889; T. K. Abbott, Essays chiefly on the Original Texts of the Old and New Testaments, London, 1891 (on Masoretic and Premasoretic text); F. Buhl, Kanon und Text des Alten Testaments, Leipsic, 1891,. Eng. transl., Edinburgh, 1892 (useful for beginners); A. Loisy, Histoire critique du texte et des versions de la Bible, 2 vols., Paris, 1892-95; F. G. Kenyon, Our Bible and the- Ancient MSS., Being a History of the Text and its Translations, London, 1896; W. A. Copinger, The Bible and its. Transmission, . View of the Hebrew and Greek Texts, London, 1897; E. Kautzsch, Abriss der Geschichte des alttestamentlichen Schrifttums, in appendix to his edition of Die heilige Schrift, Freiburg, 1896, Eng. transl. as a. separate work, New York, 1899; T. H. Weir, A Short History of the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, London. 1899; R. Kittel, Ueber die Notwendigkeit und Moglichkeit einer neuen Ausgabe der hebraischen Bibel, Leipsic, 1902," P. Kahle, Der masoretische Text des alten Testaments nach der Ueberlieferung der babylonischen Juden, Leipsic, 1902; T. K. Cheyne, Critica biblica, parts 1-5, London, 1903- 1 905 ; F. W. Mozley, Psalter of the Church; Septuagint Psalms Compared vnth the Hebrew, ib. 1905. On the ancient Hebrew and square writing consult: D. von Muralt, Bei-
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