Accexts

Bibl. Ileb. non punctata . . accuranti- bus Joh. Leusdeno & Joh. Andr. Eisenmengero, Francofurti, 1694, 16°°. II Bibl. Heh. sine punctis, Amstela;darai et Ultrajecti, 1701, 16"°. || nsinn ]ipn iiiip.-n, Pent. ed. S. Haer, Roedelheim, 1866, and often. II Bibl. Sac. Heb. : Pent., Jos., Jud., Ham., Psalmi . . stTic punctis ediderunt R. Sinker et E. T. Leeke, Cambridge, 1870. || The Psalm.i in Heb., withuut points, Oxford [Clarendon Press]. G. S. BAKU'S EDD.

OP SEl'AHATE BOOKS (those issued do%vn to 1890 have prefaces by F. Delitzsch), Leipzig: Genesis, 1869; Jos., Jud., 1891; Sam., 1892; Kings, 1895; Isaiah, 1872; Jer., 1890; Ezekiel, 1884; Minor Proph., 1878; Psalms, 1880; Prov., 1880; Job, 1875; Megilloth, 1885; Dan., Ezr., Neh., 1882; Chron., 1888. Cf. H. Strack in Theol. Litztg. 1379, No. 8, and Ginsburg's criticisms in his Introduction. H. Critical EDITIOXS.—The Sacred Books of the or : a critical ed. of the Heb. text, printed in colours . .

under the editorial direction of Paul Ilaupt : Leipzig, Baltimore, and London, 4°. The following have aijpeared at the date of this article : Genesis by C. J. Ball, 1896 ; Leviticus by Driver and White, 1894; Numbers by J. A. Paterson, 1900; Joshua by W. H. Bennett, 1895; Judges by G. F. Moore, 1900; Samuel by Budde, 1894; Isaiah by Clieyne, 1899; Jeremiah by Cornill, 1895; Ezekiel by Toy, 1900 ; Ps.-ilms by J. Wellhausen, 1895 ; Proverbs by A. Miiller and E. Kautzsch, 1901; Job by C.

Siegfried, 1893; Daniel by A. Kamphausen, 1896 ; Ezra-Neheniiah by H. Guthe and L. W. Batten, 1901; Chronicles by R. Kittel, 1895. A critical edition of the Aramaic portions of the OT is given by the present writer in his Grammatik des Bibli-ich- Aramiiisrhen', Leipzig, 1901 (Dn 3u-»-»-M i^'-T also with supralinear punctuation). LiTiRATURi. — Joh. Chr. WoK, Bibtwtheca Bebrcea, Hambuts, U. (IVJl) pp. 30-1-385 (on whole Uible), 386-413 (on parts), Iv. (17:i:i) pp.

I(i*-123 (Bible), 123-164 (parts); II Jac. le iMag, Bildiollteca tacra . . continuata ab A. O. Masch, Halle, i. (1778) pp. 1-180; 1 J. B. de Rossi, AniuiUe iKbraa ■ typo- graphici sec. AT., Panna, 1795, Annates hebrceo-lypfgr. ab anno MI)I ad MDXL diOi-M, Panna, 1790, De ignotvt nonnullu antiquijm.mis hebraici UxttiK fdilionibits ac crilieo earutn turn, Krlanircn, 1782 ; B. W. I). Schulzc, VulUUindu/en Kritik iiber die yi-wvhnlichen Axugaben der heb. Uibel, tuhtt. . Xachricht Vim der Ueb.

liibel, wrlche der gel. D. Luther bey seiner i'ber- selzumj qebrnueht, Berlin, 1706; I M. Sk-inschncider, Cata- Iwftu tibrt/rum /lebraorum in bildiotheca Hfidteiana, Berlin, 1862(1., cols. 1-164 ; II B. Piclc, ' History ol the printed editions o( the OT' In Uebraica, \x. (1892-1803), pp. 47-110: II Ch. D. GinsbiirK, Introd. to the masnoretico-critical ed. oj the Ilfb. Bilile, London, 1897, pp. 779-970 (describes 84 early printed edd. of the whole OT or of parts of it).

On the Polyi,'lot Bibles : Wolf, ii. 832-304, Iv. OO-IOT ; lo I-ong- Moach, 1. 3:!l-408; Kd. Rcuss in PRE' xii. 96-103; Frani Delitzsch, Zur Enlttehungsfjesch. der Pohifjlotteubihel des Kar. dinals Ximmes, Leipii|{. 1871, 1878, 1880 (44, 38, and 60 pp.), 4. ii. The Manuscript.s.— A. Polls.— The oldest form of book is the roll (n^jp, volu7ncn).

Even at the present day the books which are read aloud in the principal |)art of the synagogue service are written in the roll form : namely, the Pentateuch (.Tj'iBn hep), from which a pardxha is read every Sabbath, and the five Megilloth (nuinque volumina), namely, tlie Song of Songs {read at the Passover), Ruth (at Feast of Weeks), Lamentations (on anniversary of Destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldajans), Ecclesiastes (at Feast of Tabernacles), Esther (at Feast of Purini).

The material of the rolls is usually parchment ; in the East, leather was also employed. At the beginning and the end there is a wooden roller (C'CO CJ! 'the tree of life'), and the columns that have been read are rolled up on the first of these. Neither vowel signs nor accents are present. In seven parchment rolls at Tzufutkale the present writer noticed a point at the end of each verse, in two of them two points.

The letters [■ j M d y r have generally -small ornamental strokes (I'Jn coro- nuUe). Between each book of the Torah four lines are left blank. The whole Pent, is divided into 669 sections (pardshas nvp-;-!), which are called, according to the character of the spaces which separate them, open {apertas nimn5, marked D) or closed (clauscB, niDin9, marked D).

The 54 Sabbath pcricopes are marked £33 and DDD respectively (with the exception of the 12th, Gn 47^, at whose commencement the intervening space is only that of one letter). Six words, whose initial letters are inr .t3 (Ps G8'), stand, particularly in Spanish (Sephardic) MSS, at the beginning of a column : nTKia Gn 1', mi.-i' Gn 49*, D'Ksn Ex 14»8, -jC Lv \&, nD Nu 24», and m-yxl Dt 31=» ; in others, par- ticularly the (Jerni.

an (Ashkcnazite) MSS, the a and D are represented by Dt 16'" d-dbb" (or 12-^ tdp) and 23^" NsiD. Instead of mi.T some MSS have tzve' of Gn 49" at the commencement of a column. Many copyists begin each column with a new verse, some begin each with the letter wati), D'"!i::j,'n ii. The poetical passages Ex 15 and Dt 32 are written (and even printed) in artistically constructed divisions. On these and other rules to be observed by the writers of rolls, see the Literature. Epigraphs are rare.

The rules that have to be observed by a modern copyist of a Torah roll may be learned very conveniently from S. Baer's ed. of the Penta- teuch, Nnip.Ti TsiD.T jipn, Rccdelheim, 1866 and often. B. MSS in book form. These may contain the whole Bible, or one or two of its four principal parts (Pent., PropheUe priores. Prophetic pos- teriores, Ilagiographa). The material is either parchment or paper (on the employment of the latter see Steinscnneider, Ilandschriftenkunde, p. 18 f., and cf. art.

WRITING). The size is very fre- quently quarto ; in ancient times folio is commoner tlian octavo. Almost all codices have vowels and accents. The omi.ssion of the double point soph pa^k at the end of the ver.se is rare (four codd. at Tzufutkale, and cod. Brit. Mus. Orient. 4445 ; see Ginsburg, Introd. p. 473) ; still rarer is the placing of only a single point (cod. Tzufut. 102). — Most MSS contain also mas(s)oi-a, i.e.

observations on the number of times that particular words and word-forms occur : mas(s)ora parva (I^irS and KUhibh ; the indication of the number of occur- rences of a word or word-form, e.g. b = twice, ^^^p = 134 times) on the side margins ; »H/j.s(.s)ora mngrui (detailed lists with citation of pa.s.sages) on the top and bottom nuirgins ; mns(s)ora finalis ; some MSS have Ma»(s)orclic material also at the begin- ning.

The extent of these observations was regu- lated by the s|)ace avaihiMe, the inclination of the copyist, and the remuneration oll'ered by the man who ordered the cojiy. Some copyists wrote part of the 7/i«.v(.v)oro maqna in figures (animaU, leaves, etc.) formed by elaborate flourishes, so that the reading is at times a matter of no little dilliculty.

Such embellishments have also proved not infre- quently detrimental to the accuracy of the copy- 728 TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Highly valuable, but unfortunately found only in a portion of the MSS, are the epigraplis, especially wnen these give the date, the country, and the name of the scribe. — The punctuation and the mas(s)ora are frequently not from tlie liand of tlie writer of the consonantal text, but liave been added by one or two other scribes.

The punctuator is called |^pj. C. A scientific examination and collating of all ancient or otherwise important MSS of the OT has not as yet been undertaken. Collections of vari- ous readings are given bj' Sal. Norzi, J. H. Michaelis, and B. Kennicott (see above, i. D), J. B. de Rossi (below, J), S. Baer (i. U), and Ch. T>. Ginsburg (i. £).

Some of the most important MSS are— (a) Codex of the Former and the Latter Pro- phets, written by Moses ben Aslier 8'J7 years after the destruction of the temple, i.e. A.D. 895, now in the Karaite synagogue at Cairo. See M. Weiss- mann in the Heb. weekly Uamaij'jid i. (1857), Nos. 47, 48, 50, ii. 16 ; Jacob Sappir, t2D pK, Lyck, 1866, fol. 14 ; on the other side Ad. Neubauer in Studia Biblica, iii. (Oxford, 1891) pp. 25-27.

— (b) Bible written by Kyx'n p naHa ; the vowel points, the accents, and the 7nas(s)ora are added, according to an epigraph, by Aaron ben Asher. It is now in the possession of the Jewish com- munity at Aleppo. See Sappir, fol. 12, 13, 17-20 ; Strack, Frolecjomena, pp. 44-46, and in Baer-Strack, Die Dikduke ha-t'nmim des Akron ben Moscheh ben Asclier, Leipzig, 1879, pp. ix-xiv. W. Wickes (Treatise on the accentuation of ike twenty- one so-called prose-boo/cs of the OT, Oxford, 1887, p.

Lx) contends that this epigraph ' is a fabrica- tion, merely introduced to enhance the value ' of the codex. The present writer is still doubtful whether Wickes is right. Ginsburg {Introd. p. 242) does not call in question the credibility of the epigraph. — (c) St. I'etersburg Bible written at Cairo m the year 1009 by Samuel ben Jacob, who declares that he copied the codex of Aaron ben Asher. See Harkavj'-Strack, Catalogue, pp. 263- 274. Wickes (I.e.)

says, indeed, that the codex ' is much younger,' but the present writer feels certain that he is wrong. Ginsburg, too, believes in the trustworthiness of the epigraphs. — (d) Pro- phetarum pofiteriurum codex Babijlonic n.i Petro- politanus [B3], edidit H. L. Strack, Leipzig, 1876 (449 and 37 pp.), fol. max., written A.D. 916. Re- farding the readings of this MS see Ginsburg, ntrod. pp. 215-230, 439-441, 475 f. D. The arje of many MSS is much controverted. Cod. Brit. Mus. Add.

4708 (Latter Propliets) was assigned by the late Dr. >L Margoliouth to the 6th cent. ; Mor. Heidenheim judged that it might have been written between the 6th and the Stli cent. ; B. Kennicott (cod. 126) ascribed it to the beginning of the 15th century. Ginsburg says: ' The writing is such as we meet with in the Sephardic codices of the 12th and 13th centuries,' and, so far as the present writer can judge without having examined the MS for himself, Ciinsburg is right.

II Tlie Bible Cambridge 12 bears the date ' 7 Adar, 616,' i.e. 18th Feb. 856 A.D. We wonder that so sagacious and learned a scholar as the late S. M. Schiller-Szinessy accepted this date as correct (see his Catnlor/ue, p. 13). Cf. L. Zunz, Zur Gesch. u. Literalur, Berlin, 1845, p. 214 f. ; Ad. Neubauer in Studia Biblica, iii. pp. 27-36. The number of unquestionably genuine ancient epigraplis in Bible MS is not largo.

At Tzufutkale the present writer in 1874 noted tlie following, which emanate from the writers of the MSS them- selves : 922 A.D. = 1234 Seleuc, cod. 34, Moses ben Naphtali, known as a contemporary of Aaron ben Asher; 930 A.D. = 1241 Seleuc, cod. 35/36, Balomo ben ki'k-id, mas(s)ora written by Ephraim ben NVfCU ; 943 A.D. = 4703 of the Creation, cod. 39, Lsaak ben Jochai ; 952 A.D. =4712 of tha Creation, cod. 40, Joseph ben Daniel ; 961 A.D. = 4721 of the Creation, cod. 4 ; 989 A.D.

= 1300 Seleuc, cod. 43, Joseph ben Jacob; 994 A.D. = 4754 of the Creation, cod. 44, Moses ben Hillel | 1051 A.D.=4811of the Creation, cod. 11, Moses(?) ben Anan. — Unfortunately, the Karaite Abraham Firkowitsch (both in hislirst collections and in tha latest just mentioned, which since 1875 has like- wise been in St. Petersburg) either himself wrote entirely a great many epigraphs, or falsified them by altering dates and names. For instance, in cod. Tzufut.

11 he changed 4811 of the Creation into 4411 = 651 A.D. Much fresh information is to be hoped for from the treasures of the Genizah of Old Cairo brought by S. Schechter to Cambridge ; see the description of the Genizah by E. N. Adler in the JQR, 1897, p. 669 if. E. Why is the number of ancient MSS of the Heb. OT so small ?

Why have we no MSS as old as those of the NT, the LXX, and the Peshitta T The reasons are : (1) Not a few Bible MSS, espe- cially Pentateuch rolls, were destroyed by fanatical Christians during the persecutions of the Jews in the Middle Ages, particularly in the time of the Crusades. (2) A much larger number, how- ever, of MSS were destroyed by the Jews them- selves by means of the genizah (ni'ia).

Already the Talmud (Megilla, 26i) tells of how a worm- eaten Pentateuch roll is buried beside the corpse of a sage ; cf . Shulhan 'A rukh, Joreh De'ah, 282, § 10. This custom was later extended to all Heb. MSS of Biblical and non-Biblical texts, frequently, indeed, with the modification that a room, generally a cellar, in the synagogue was devoted to their concealment.

To the dryness of the Egyptian climate we owe the abundance of the material which, as was mentioned above, has been found in the synagogue of Old Cairo. But it was not only such MSS as had been damaged by the tooth of time, by fire, by water, or by constant use, that were deposited in the genizah ; further, all Torah rolls that contained more than three mistakes in a column had to be concealed (see Talm. Menahoth, 296; Shulhan ' Arukh, Joreh Deah, 279).

This rule partly explains how the MSS that have come down to us represent in the main one and the same text. Codices which deviated from the text of the recognized nakddnlm and the mas(s)oretio principles were considered ' incorrect,' and were consigned to the genizah. A very notal)Ie instance of this is the codex of 916 A.D. found by Abr. Firkowitsch (cf. A. Firk., pnDi 'i^n, Wilna, 1872, p. 12, No. 29). Hence the present writer is unable to adopt the view of J. Olsliau.sen, P.

de Lagarde, and most moderns, that all Heb. JISS go back to a single standard copy (cf. also his discussion in G. A. Kohut'a Semitxc Studies, Berlin, 1897, pp. 56.3-571). F. LiTERATOM.— In preneml : Wolf, Bihlioth. Heb. U. 281-832, iv. 78-93 ; II O. G. T^xhsen, Tentanun de variis codicum Heb. iteneribtts, Rostock, 1772 ; Befreyctes Tentainen, 1774 ; II J. O. Eiclihorn, Einleit. in das AT*, ii. 468-684, Oottingen, 1823 ; I H. L. Strack, Prole'jotnena critica in VT llcb., Leipzig, 1873, pp.

9-58 [this book iiaa been lontr out of print ; the author hopea to write a new work on the sul)ject) ; ' Die bibliachen und die nias3oret. Ilandschriften zu Tscliuf ut, Kale in der Krim ' in Xlachr. f. luther. Theolonie, 187.5, pp. 687-624 ; || M. Stein- schneider, Vorlfsttn^en iiber die Kunde ftebraischer Hand- schri/ten, deren Samtiiliingen und Verzcichnisae, Leipzig, 1897 (110 pp.); I Ad.

Netibauer, 'The Introduction of the square characters in liiblical MSS, and an account of the earliesi llSSof the OT' in Sludia Biblica et Kecies. iii. (Oxford, 1S91) pp. 1-36. G. On rules for the writing of rolls destined for8.vnagogue UMI Joel Miiller, Masechet Sojerim [cnnc nr;:j], Der talmud. Traclal der Schreibcr, eine L'inteit. in das Studium der altheb. GrapUih, der Masora und der alt'iild. Liturijie^ Leipzig, 1878 ; f J. G. Chr.

Adler, Judceorum codicil mcri rits scribendi leges, Hamburg, 1779 (chs. L, T. o« 'lO DO] ; I Baph. Kuchbeim, TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAilENT TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 72S Septem tibri Tahnwlici parfi H Urosoti/mitani, Frankfurt ft. M., ISftl. pp. 1-11 '.Sepher torah ' ; Moses ^laiinonides. Hit- khoth UphiiUn umezuzah ux^yher torah (sep.inite impre»sion of ctis. viL-x. in Jac Uenr. van BashuyseD, Obicrvattoiics nacne, Frankfurt, 1708] ; I Leop.

Low, Graphiache licquisUen nnd Erzeugni»$e bei den Juden, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1870-71 ; :, Salomo Qanzfried, DiiU kethibath ^epher torah, etc., Unjr^-ar, 1800 ; || A. O. Waehncr, Antiquitates Ebrieorumt L, UcittiugeD, 1743, pp. 187-2U8. II. Catalogues of important coUectioni of MSS. — Berlin : M. Steinschneider, /)«* I'erzfichnisi der heb. Uand^chri/lrn, 1878 (149 pp.) and 1S'J7 (172 pp.), 4». I Cambridge: S. M.

Schiller- Szinefisy, Catahxjue o/ the Iteb, MSS preserceU in the Cnu-ertiUy Lilirarii, i. 1S70 (248 pp.) I Florence : A. M. BiBcioni, Ilil,iio- thecre Ebraicir Gr>rcie Ftarentina . . Cataiogus, 1757. I London, British .Museum : Oinsburg, Introduction, pp. Hj&- 726 (describes 49 M.SS collated for bis edition of the OT] ; U. Uoerning. Description and Collation of six Karaite iISS of portions of the Ileb. liihle in Arabic characters, London, 1S89 (68 pp. and 42 facsimiles). P Oxford : Ad.

Neubauer, Catalogue of tlie Ueb. iISS in ttte Bodleian Library, Oxford, 18SB (11C8 coU. and 40 facsimiles). An Appendix by Ad. Neubuuerand \. K. Cowley is in the press. II Paraia : J/55 codices hebraici biblioth, J. B. de Rossi, Parma, 1803, 3 vols. I St. Petersburg: A. Harkavy und H. L. Strack, Catalog der heb. Bibelhandsciiriften der kaiserL 6ffenU. Bibliotftek zu St, Petersburg/, Leipzig', 1876 (296 pp.) I Itome : Bibliotheca Apostoliciv Vaticanm codicum inanu scriptorum Catalogus . .

Steph. Evod, Assemanua et Jos. Sim. Assemanus . . receoBuerunt, vol. L, Kom, 17.'i6, foL (Ueb. and Sam. MSS). [| Turin : B. Peyron, Codices hebraici . , in Taurinensi Ath''n(ro, 18S0. I Vienna: A. Krafft und S. Deutsch, Die handichri/U. heb. Werke der K. E. Uofbibliothek tu Wien, 1847, 4». J. On the MS^ collated for Kennicott'a work (above, 1. D): Dissertatw generaiis in VT Heb. . auctore B. KcmiicotL Uecudi curavit et notas adiecit P. J. Bruns, Bnmswick, 1783 (.'>9« pp.) I J. B.

de Rossi, Variir lectiones Vet. Test., Parma, 1784-88, 4", and Scholia critica in VT libros, 1798, 4» (describes not only his own MSS, but all the codd. used by or for Ken- uicott which he ha^l been able to see for himself]. K. Facsimiles of Bible MSS : The Palajojrraphical Society's Fac- timiles of ancient Jf.S'5 (Orient, series), ed. W. Wright, London, ft. ill. plate 40: Brit. Mus, Harley 5720, Fonner and Latter ropliets, 2 K 1922.35 ('seems to be of the 12tli cent.

); plate 41 ; Cambridge Univ. 2.5, Hagiographa with Targum, Dn l'-, Jan. 1347 a.d.; pt. iv. (1879) plate S4 : Brit. Mus. Orient. 14«7, Pent, and Targ. Onk. with the supralinear vowel signs, Nu 221- 23'^ ('written in Babylonia or Persia, about the 12tli cent.') || Ad. Neubauer, Facsimiles of Heb. MSS in the Bodleian Lib- rar'j, Oxford, 1888, plate 1, cat. 64 : Dt 95-7, with supralinear vowel signs and accents ; plate 8, cat, 2322 : Gn li-*. Span. •quare character, 1476 i.u. ; plate 14, cat.

20: Ex 182»-19'-», German, 1340 A.D.; plate 21, cat. 1144 : beginning of the book of Jonah, followed by a Gr. tr., before 1203 A.b.; plate 31, cat. 2828: 2 S 22^", Yemen, 15C1 a.d.; plate 38, cat. 2484 : Pr 414-63, Yemen, with the simpliHed supralinear punctuation ; plate 30 ; Mai 1^213, unknown characters, from a MS in private posses- lion in Kertsch (oee A. Harkavy, Netiaufgefuixdene heb. Bibel- handschriften, St. Petersb. und Leipzig, 1884 (48 pp. and 6 focsim.]) u Ch. D. Oinsburg, .

4 «<fm»o/lt/'t«n/ac«Tni7*«/rom MS pages of the Ueb. Bible, vnth a tetterpress description, London, 1897, fol. max. [13 of these MSS are in the Brit. Mus., 1 is in the possession of the Earl of Leicester, 1 Is cod. Petropol. Bltl A.D.] I B. Sla<le (dVI) gives facsim. of : cod. Petropol. 910 A.D, ; cod. Karlsruhe 1 [Kennicott 164], Former and Latter Prophets with Targum, once in the possession of Ucuchlin, 1 S :iirai-3I» ; Erfurt Bible, now Beriin Orient, fol. 1213, Is 1' 2fl ; Hagiographa.

with the simplified supralinear punctuation, Yemen, Berlin Orient, Quarto 680, Pa 101*-10211. II W. Wickes {Accentuation of the Prose books) givea as frontispiece a photo- graph (reduced scale) of a page of the Aleppo codex, (in 203^ 2730. I Ad. Neubauer in Stuaia Biblica et tccles. iii. gives fac- simile of cod. Cairo a.d. 897 and cod. Cambridge 12 (see above, D). I On otber facsimiles (mostly from non-IJiblical MSS) see M. Steinschneider, ' Zur Literatur der heb.

Palajographio in Centralblatt fiir Bibliothekswesen, 1887, pp. 166-105. L. On A. Firkowitt'h : II. L. Strack, A. Firk. und seine Bnt- deckumen, Leipzig, 1876 (44 pp.); ZD.Md, 18S0, pp. 103 1U8; Lit. Centralbt. 1883, No. 26, cola. 878-8S0. II A. llarkavv, Altjiid. Dtnkindler aus dtr Krim, 8t PeU'rsburg, 1876 (288 PP). «•• iii. The Work of the Ma{s)souetes.— Whence comes the text of our extant M.SS? In all essen- tials, of course, from older MSS.

Hut there is no doubt that all copyists meant to work rnz~n •p-'?!;, i.e. according to the traditions which had been handed down to them as to the writing and read- ing of the sacred texts. A. First of all, as to the word moo. It is the custom now in many quarters to write n-pT (cf. n-is;, r-ii;), and to derive from the post-IJiblical verb 10D 'hand down.' The older form of writing it, however, is n-iny.

This word is taken from Ezk203' (where it siguiUes ' binding ', from the root ■ok), but in i>ost-BililicaI usage it assumed quite a diil'erent ■euse (as nvnix of Is 41^45" means in New Heb. not ' coming things ' but ' letters '). mcD in New Heb. means idimarily 'tradition,' e.g. Mishna, iihi-hiliiit, vi. 1 ; heuce the derivation from i;? (Aliuth, i. 1) might \>q per se admis.sible, and even the pronunciation /!•;;.•;, but the oldest witnesses, as has been said, are in favour of n-;:^.

In the next place, moo stands for the tradition relating to tlie interpretation of .Scripture. K. 'Al>iba s<iys {Abuth, iii. 13), ' Masoreth is a fence to 'I'urah,' i.e. the prescriptions of tlie oral Law make transgression of the written Law ditlicult. Further, however, the word Masoreth was applied to the tradition re- lating to the Bible text, and tho.se who busied themselves with this tradition were called '^1^3 mm, or Mal,s)sorctes. B.

The 24 books of the OT were considered, at all events as early as the l.st cent, of the Christian era, as holy (see Jos. c. Apiun. i. 8 [cf. PRE^ vii. 427 f. = ' ix. 7.51 f.]) It was an object to preserve the text of these books, in paiticular and above all that of the I'entateuch, and its traditional understiindin;; for coming generations. This was accomplished first Vy attention to the consonantal text.

(a) Conscientious care on the part of the copyists was ensured by numerous rules about the writing out of Bible codices, especially of synagogue rolls (cf. above, ii. G). (6) They counted the verses and the words of each of the 24 books and of many sections ; they reckoned which was the middle verse and the middle word of each book ; nay, they counted the letters both of particular .sections and even of whole books.

The Talmud, Kiddushin, 30a, says: ' The ancients were called Sopherim because they counted [-co ' to count '] all the letters in the Torah. They said : Waw in [inj Lv 11''^ is the middle letter in the Torah ; a-n a-n Lv 10" is the middle word ; nVjn.Ti Lv 13" is the middle verse ; Ayin in lyo Ps 80" is the middle letter in the Fsalms, and ni.h cim Ps 78* is the middle verse.' R. Joseph asked : 'To which side does waw in 'gah6n belong? Answer : Let us bring a Torah, and I will count.

Surely, Rabba bar bar I.Ianna has said that they did not go away until they liad brought a Torah and counted' (ci. Morinus, Excrcitationes biblicce, Paris, 1669, p. 442). They counted also the fre- quency of the occurrence of words, phra.se.s, or forms, both in the whole Bible and in parts of it. Slutlibitth, 496 : ' As the sages sat together, the question was raised. To what do the 3'j principal works that are forbiihlen on the Sabbath day correspond ? I,Iaiiina b.

I,Iama said : To the [39] works at the building of the tabernacle ; Jonathan b. Eleazar said in name of Simeon b. Jose : They corres])ond to the 39 occurrences of the word .idnVo in the Torah. Then IJab Jo.seph asked, Does Gn 39" belong to the number or not ? Abaji replied, Let him brini: a Lawbook and count.' (f) They coUectcil notabilia into groups, and thus not only helped the recollection or these, but also facilitated the control of the MSS.

I'"or instance, H words written with final waw are read with he (cod. 916 A.D., Jer 2^); 14 words written with linal Ae are read with waw (cod. 916 A.D., Ezk 37-"). There is a great fondness for anything alphabetical ; e.g. we have an ali>hiilietical list of words which occur only twice in tlie OT — once with and once without ivixv at the beginning : n^jK 1 S 1" and n)->}] Gn 27'" etc. (cod. 916 A.I>., Jer 10'-').

((/) The scriptio plena and ■<:cri/)lio dcfcctiva and other peculiarities of the trailitional text were very often noted in the Haggada (esp. in the Midrashim), and not seldom also in the llahikht'i. These notes serve on the one hand as a proof that the form of writing remarked on was actually received from tradition ; and on the other hanil they helped to ensure that this particular form was retained in 730 TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAJSIENT TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT the Bible codices.

For instance, in Gn 23" llie name Ephron is written the first time jn:» {plcnc) and the second time psy (defective). On tins the midrash Gen. rabha 58 remarks : ' Pr 2S, " He that hath an evil eye hasteth to be rich, and con- sidereth not that poverty shall come upon him " ; that i.s Epliron who wished to get possession of the riches of the just one, but afterwards he came into poverty.' In Hag 1* Kethibh lias nnrx, IferS n-\2-3K. Talmud, Yoma, 216 asks : ' Why is n not written ?

Answer : Because five [n as numerical sign = 5] things which were present in the first temple were wanting in the second, the ark of the covenant with kappureth and cherubim, the holy fire, the Divine gracious presence (Shekinah), the Holy Spirit, and the Urim and Thummim.' C.

By means of the invention of punctuation (vowel signs and accents) between the 6th and 8th cent, it was sought to ensure the preservation of the traditional pronunciation ; perhaps there was also the intention of lightening the task of learners of the language. Unfortunately, we are without precise details as to the history of this invention ; the only point that is practically certain is that Syriac influence must be assumed. (In Syr.

a point above the letter indicates the fuller, stronger pro- nunciation ; a point under it the finer, weaker vocalization or even the absence of a vowel). Attention to these signs involved a large addition to the studies of the later Ma(s)soretes. For instance, 18 words beginning with lamed occur twice — in the one instance with shewa (or hirek with follo>ving shewa), in the other with pathah (cod. 916 A.D., Is 8"') ; alphabet of words ending in 1} which occur once (cod. 916 A.D., Is 34'-). D.

Two systems of punctuation are completely known to us : (a) that employed in most MSS and in all printed editions, the so, called Tiberian, named from the city of Tiberias, where the study of the Ma(s)sora flourished for centuries. This system has special accents for the three books. Psalms, Proverbs, and Job.

— (b) the supralinear punctuation, so named because all the vowel signs are placed over the consonants ; it was in use, alongside of the Tiberian system, among a portion of the Jews of Babylonia (hence its usual designa- tion, ' Babylonian punctuation ') and Yemen (in Yemen till the 18th cent.) The signs for the prin- cipal vowels a, u, i are formed from the matres lectionis k, i, •; the disjunctive accents have mostly the form of the letter with which their name begins: e.g.

» = ']pi zakeph, D = Nmo tarha. The accentual system is certainly dependent upon the Tiberian ; the vowel system, too, gives the impres- sion, at least to the present writer, of less origin- ality. The most important MS in which this system is employed is cod. Proph. post. Bab.- Petropol. 916 A.D. — The simple supralinear punctuation system adopted in many later Yemen codices is derived from the complicated system of cod. Petropol. 916 A.D. (G.

Margoliouth, it is true, is of the opposite opinion). — (c) M. Friedlander describes ' A third system of symbols for the Heb. vowels and accents in JQR, 1895, pp. 504-567. (In two fragments of Bible text foun<l lately in Egypt and acquired by the Bodleian Library ; see Neubauer's Catalogue, No. 2604, xi., and 2608, i.) Cf. C. Levias in AJSL xv. 157-164, and P. Kahle in ZATIV xxi. (1901) pp. 273-317. E.

As the very name indicates, it Avas not the aim of the Ma(s)soretes to give anything new, but to preserve for future generations the Bible text exactly as it had come down to them, and this in regard not only to the consonantal text but also to its pronunciation. ' Tendency ' of any kind was foreign to them. Instead of S^'.i in Is 14" we should cerfciinly read byn, but the former pro- nvinciation is proved by Aquila and the Peshitta to have been in use before the punctuation.

Thf name of the well-known Canaanite god can hardly have been Molekk, but Melekh ; but already I.Xx Aq., Symm., Theod. have M6Xox = MT iijib. F. i'lie distinction between Ma(s)soretes and punctuators is no absolute one. The Ma(s)sora, as is shown by cod. 916 A.D., was complete before the end of the 9th century. Aaron b. Moses b Asher, 'the great teacher' ("^njn icSarr), whos* activity fell within the first third of the lOtb cent.

, enjoj'ed already in his lifetime a great repu- tation, and as early as the year 989 the Biblp codex supplied by him with punctuation and Ma(s)sora was regarded as the model codex and as authoritative. This is the judgment, too, of the writer of the St. Petersburg Bible MS B19of (1009 A.D.), Moses Maimonides, of David l;Cinihi and of the later Jews. Aaron ben Asher himself had a rival in Moses b. David b.

Naphtali, whose views were dillerent not only regarding many minutue of punctuation [daghesh, mctheg, accents), but even, at least in some passages, regarding the consonantal text (see Ginsburg, Introd. pp. 241- 286). In like manner there were not a few diH'er- ences amongst the older Ma(s)soretes. The tradition about the text was not a uniform one, and it must be acknowledged that there were ditierent schools of Ma(s)sorete3.

According to the readings of the codices employed as standards must have been the ditierent indications in the Mas(s)oretic rubrics; and S. Baer is not justified when, in the case of two statements that ditt'er, he simply as a rule pronounces one to be wrong and corrects it from the other. G. The content of the Mas(s)ora was collected into special books or reproduced in Bible MSS. Of those collections the best known is the book which is named from its opening words •■iS;i<i nj;x (ed.

Frensdorff, Hanover, 1864) ; cf. Ginsburg, Introd. p. 464. In the MSS the detailed statements of the Mas(s)ora magna, varying indeed greatly in extent, according to the inclination or the ability of the scribe, are found on the top and bottom margins, some at the end of a codex or a book, only a few at the beginning. For the fullest collection of such material we are indebted to Ch. D. Ginsburg. H. LiTBRATORB. — H. L. Sttack, art. 'Massom'in PRE^ix. pp. 388-394; II W.

Bacher, 'A contribution to the history of the t«rm Massomh' in JQR, 1891, pp. 785-790; 'Die Massora' in Winter und Wiinsche, Die jiid. Litteratur sett AbschliLSS de* Kanans, it (Trier, 1894) pp. 121-132 ; I Is. Harris, 'The rise and development of the Massora' in JQR, 1889, pp. 128-142, 223- 257; I Ginsburg, Introd.. (above, L J) passim, esp. p. 421 ff.; I EliM Levita, miDD.T miDD 1S3, Venite, 1638, 4<> ; Ch. D. Ginsburg, The Sfassoreth ha-inassnrtth of E. L., viih an Eng. tr. aiid . .

notes, London, 1807 ; J. Buxtorf, Tiberias sive com- mentarius inasorethicus triplex, Basel, 1605(l8ted. 1G20); (1 S. l-Veusdorff, Stassoretisches H orterbuch, Hannover, 1876 (20 and 387 pp.), 4«; II Ch. D. Ginsburg, T/ie Massorah compiled from 3ISS, alphabetically and texically arraivied, London, 1880-85, 8 vols. fol. (758, 838, and SS3 pp.) ; II S. Daor und II. L Strack, Die Dikdttke ha-tfamim des Ahron ben Moscheh ben Ascfter, mtui andere alte qramnuUisch.

inassorethischs Lehrstiicke, l^ipzig, 1879 (42 and 95 pp.) iv. Eaulier Traces of the Heb. Text of tub