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{{Refimprove|date=December 2007}}The '''Masoretic Text''' ('''MT''') is the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] Hebre text of the Jewish Bible ([[Tanakh]]). It defines not just the [[Development of the Jewish Bible canon|books of the Jewish canon]], but also the precise letter-text of the biblical books in [[Judaism]], as well as their [[niqqud|vocalization]] and [[cantillation|accentuation]] for both public reading and private study. The MT is also widely used as the basis for translations of the [[Old Testament]] in Protestant [[Bible]]s, and in recent decades also for [[Roman Catholic|Catholic]] Bibles.

The MT was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the [[Masoretes]] between the seventh and tenth centuries AD. Though the consonants differ little from the text generally accepted in the early second century (and also differ little from some [[Qumran]] texts that are even older), it has numerous differences of both greater and lesser significance when compared to (extant 4th century) manuscripts of the [[Septuagint]], a Greek translation (made in the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC) of the Hebrew Scriptures that was in popular use in Egypt and Palestine and that is often quoted in the Christian New Testament.

The Hebrew word '''''{{lang|he-Latn|mesorah}}''''' ({{lang|he|Hebrew מסורה}}, alt. {{lang|he|מסורת}}) refers to the transmission of a tradition. In a very broad sense it can refer to the entire chain of Jewish tradition (see [[Oral law#Oral law in Judaism|Oral law]]), but in reference to the '''masoretic text''' the word ''mesorah'' has a very specific meaning: the diacritic markings of the text of the Hebrew Bible and concise marginal notes in manuscripts (and later printings) of the [[Hebrew Bible]] which note textual details, usually about the precise spelling of words.

The oldest extant fragments of the Masoretic Text date from approximately the ninth century AD,<ref>A seventh century fragment containing the Song of the Sea (Exodus 13:19-16:1) is one of the few surviving texts from the "silent era" of Hebrew bibilical texts between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the [[Aleppo Codex]]. See [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708654713&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull "Rare scroll fragment to be unveiled," Jerusalem Post, May 21, 2007].</ref> and the [[Aleppo Codex]] (the oldest copy of the Masoretic Text, but missing the [[Torah]]) dates from the tenth century.[[Image:2nd century Hebrew decalogue.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Nash Papyrus]] (2nd century BC) contains a portion of a pre-Masoretic Text, specifically the [[Ten Commandments]] and the [[Shema Yisrael]] prayer.]]

The [[Talmud]] (and also [[Karaite]] mss.) states that a standard copy of the Hebrew Bible was kept in the court of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]] for the benefit of copyists; there were paid correctors of Biblical books among the officers of the Temple (Talmud, tractate Ketubot 106a). This copy is mentioned in the [[Pseudo-Aristeas|Aristeas Letter]] (§ 30; comp. Blau, ''Studien zum Althebr. Buchwesen,'' p. 100); in the statements of [[Philo]] (preamble to his "Analysis of the Political Constitution of the Jews") and in [[Josephus]] (''Contra Ap.'' i. 8).

The discovery of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] at [[Qumran]], dating from c.150 BC–AD 75, shows however that in this period there was not always the scrupulous uniformity of text that was so stressed in later centuries. The scrolls show numerous small variations in orthography, both as against the later Masoretic text, and between each other. It is also evident from the notings of corrections and of variant alternatives that scribes felt free to choose according to their personal taste and discretion between different readings.<ref name="Cohen1979">Menachem Cohen, [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/CohenArt/ The Idea of the Sanctity of the Biblical Text and the Science of Textual Criticism] in ''HaMikrah V'anachnu'', ed. Uriel Simon, HaMachon L'Yahadut U'Machshava Bat-Z'mananu and Dvir, Tel-Aviv, 1979</ref> However, despite these variations, most of the Qumran fragments can be classified as being closer to the Masoretic text than to any other text group that has survived. According to Shiffman, 60% can be classed as being of proto-Masoretic type, and a further 20% Qumran style with bases in proto-Masoretic texts, compared to 5% proto-[[Samaritan Pentateuch|Samaritan]] type, 5% [[Septuagint]]al Septuagintal type, and 10% non-aligned.<ref>Shiffman, ''Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls''</ref> Furthermore, according to Haas, most of the texts which vary from the Masoretic type, including four of the Septuagint type manuscript fragments, were found in Cave 4. "This is the cave where the texts were not preserved carefully in jars. It is conjectured, that cave 4 was a [[geniza]] for the depositing of texts that were damaged or had textual errors." <ref>Gretchen Haas</ref>

An emphasis on minute details of words and spellings, already used among the [[PhariseesPharisee]] as bases for argumentation, reached its height with the example of Rabbi [[Akiva]] (d. AD 135). The idea of a perfect text sanctified in its consonantal base quickly spread throughout the Jewish communities via supportive statements in [[Halakha]], [[Aggada]], and Jewish thought;<ref name="Cohen1979" /> and with it increasingly forceful strictures leading ultimately to the statement in medieval times that a deviation in even a single letter would make a Torah scroll invalid.<ref>[[Rambam]], The Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzot, and Torah Scrolls, 1:2</ref> Very few manuscripts are said to have survived the destruction of Jerusalem in [[70 AD|AD 70]].<ref>Sir Godfrey Driver, [http://www.bible-researcher.com/driver1.html Introduction to the Old Testament of the New English Bible], 1970</ref> This both drastically reduced the number of variants in circulation, and gave a new urgency that the text must be preserved. New Greek translations were also made. Unlike the Septuagint, large-scale deviations in sense between the Greek of [[Aquila of Sinope|Aquila]] and [[Theodotion]] and what we now know as the Masoretic text are minimal. Detailed variations between different Hebrew texts in use still clearly existed though, as witnessed by differences between the present-day Masoretic text and versions mentioned in the [[Gemara]], and often even Halachic [[midrash]]im midrashim based on spelling versions which do not exist in the current Masoretic text.<ref name="Cohen1979" /> (Mostly, however, these variations are limited to whether particular words should be written [[plene]] or defectively - i.e. whether a [[mater lectionis]] consonant to represent a particular vowel sound should or should not be included in a particular word at a particular point).

The current received text finally achieved predominance through the reputation of the [[Masoretes]], schools of scribes and Torah scholars working between the 7th and 11th centuries, based primarily in [[Palestine]] in the cities of [[Tiberias]] and [[Jerusalem]], and in [[Babylonia]]. These schools developed such prestige for the accuracy and error-control of their copying techniques that their texts established an authority beyond all others.<ref name="Cohen1979" /> Differences remained, sometimes bolstered by systematic local differences in pronunciation and [[cantillation]]. Every locality, following the tradition of its school, had a standard codex embodying its readings. In Babylonia the school of [[Sura (city)|Sura]] differed from that of [[Nehardea]]; and similar differences existed in the schools of the Land of Israel as against that at Tiberias, which in later times increasingly became the chief seat of learning. In this period living tradition ceased, and the Masoretes in preparing their codices usually followed the one school or the other, examining, however, standard codices of other schools and noting their differences.

In the first half of the tenth century [[Aaron ben Moses ben Asher]] and [[Moshe ben Naphtali]] (often just called ben Asher and ben Naphtali) were the leading Masoretes in Tiberias. Their names have come to symbolise the variations among Masoretes, but the differences between ben Asher and ben Naphtali should not be exaggerated. There are hardly any differences between them regarding the consonants, though they differ more on vowelling and accents. Also, there were other authorities such as Rabbi Pinchas and Moshe Moheh, and ben Asher and ben Naphtali often agree against these others. Further, it is possible that all variations found among manuscripts eventually came to be regarded as disagreements between these figureheads. Ben Asher wrote a standard codex (the [[Aleppo Codex]]) embodying his opinions. Probably Ben Naphtali did too, but it has not survived.

Ben Asher was the last of a distinguished family of Masoretes extending back to the latter half of the eighth century. Despite the rivalry of Ben Naphtali and the opposition of [[Saadia Gaon]], the most eminent representative of the Babylonian school of criticism, Ben Asher's codex became recognized as the standard text of the Bible. See [[Aleppo Codex]], [[Codex Cairensis]].

The two rival authorities, Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali, practically brought the Masorah to a close. Very few additions were made by the later Masoretes, styled in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Naḳdanim, who revised the works of the copyists, added the vowels and accents (generally in fainter ink and with a finer pen) and frequently the Masorah. Many believe that the Ben Asher family were [[Karaites]]{{Fact|date=August 2008}}.

Considerable influence on the development and spread of Masoretic literature was exercised during the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries by the Franco-German school of Tosafists. R. Gershom, his brother Machir, [[Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils]] (Tob 'Elem) of Limoges, R. Tam ([[Jacob ben Meïr]]), [[Menahem ben Perez]] of Joigny, [[Perez ben Elijah]] of Corbeil, [[Judah of Paris]], [[Meïr Spira]], and R. [[Meïr of Rothenburg]] made Masoretic compilations, or additions to the subject, which are all more or less frequently referred to in the marginal glosses of Biblical codices and in the works of Hebrew grammarians.

[[Image:Aleppo Codex (Deut).jpg|thumb|A page from the [[Aleppo Codex]], showing the extensive marginal annotations.]]By long tradition, a ritual [[Sefer Torah|Torah scroll]] shall contain only the Hebrew consonantal text - nothing may be added, nothing taken away. However, perhaps because they were intended for personal study rather than ritual use, the Masoretic [[codex|codices]] provide extensive additional material, called ''masorah'', to show correct pronunciation and [[cantillation]], protect against scribal errors, and annotate possible variants. The manuscripts thus include [[niqqud|vowel points]], [[dagesh|pronunciation marks]] and [[cantillation|stress accents]] in the text, short annotations in the side margins, and longer more extensive notes in the upper and lower margins and collected at the end of each book.

The Hebrew word ''masorah'' is taken from [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] 20:37 and means originally "[[fetter]]". The fixation of the text was considered to be in the nature of a [[fetter]] upon its [[exposition]]. When, in the course of time, the Masorah had become a traditional discipline, the term became connected with the verb ( = "to hand down"), and acquired the general meaning of "tradition."

The language of the Masoretic notes is partly Hebrew and partly [[Aramaic]]. The Masoretic annotations are found in various forms: (a) in separate works, e.g., the ''[[Oklah we-Oklah]]''; (b) in the form of notes written in the margins and at the end of codices. In rare cases, the notes are written between the lines. The first word of each Biblical book is also as a rule surrounded by notes. The latter are called the Initial Masorah; the notes on the side margins or between the columns are called the Small or Inner Masorah; and those on the lower and upper margins, the Large or Outer Masorah. The name "Large Masorah" is applied sometimes to the lexically arranged notes at the end of the printed Bible, usually called the Final Masorah, or the Masoretic Concordance.

In classical antiquity, [[copyist]]s were paid for their work according to the number of stichs (lines of verse). As the prose books of the Bible were hardly ever written in stichs, the copyists, in order to estimate the amount of work, had to count the letters. For the Masoretic Text, such statistical information more importantly also ensured accuracy in the transmission of the text with the production of subsequent copies that were done by hand. Hence the Masoretes contributed the Numerical Masorah. These notes are traditionally categorized into two main groups: the marginal Masorah and the final Masorah.The category of marginal Masorah is further divided into the Masorah parva (small Masorah) in the outer side margins and the Masorah magna (large Masorah), traditionally located at the top and bottom margins of the text.

The Masorah magna, in measure, is an expanded Masorah parva. It is not printed in [[Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia|BHS]].

Thus ([[Leviticus]] 8:23) is the middle verse in the Pentateuch; all the names of Divinity mentioned in connection with Abraham are holy except ([[Genesis]] 18:3); ten passages in the Pentateuch are dotted; three times the Pentateuch has the spelling לא where the reading is לו. The collation of manuscripts and the noting of their differences furnished material for the Text-Critical Masorah. The close relation which existed in earlier times (from the [[Soferim (Talmud)|Soferim]] to the [[Amoraim]] inclusive) between the teacher of tradition and the Masorete, both frequently being united in one person, accounts for the Exegetical Masorah. Finally, the invention and introduction of a graphic system of vocalization and accentuation gave rise to the Grammatical Masorah.

The most important of the Masoretic notes are those that detail the [[Ketiv|Kethiv]]-[[Qere]] that are located in the Masorah parva in the outside margins of BHS. Given that the Masoretes would not alter the sacred consonantal text, the Kethiv-Qere notes were a way of "correcting" or commenting on the text for any number of reasons (grammatical, theological, aesthetic, etc.) deemed important by the copyist. [Reference: Pratico and Van Pelt, Basics of Biblical Hebrew, Zondervan. 2001. p406ff]

Early rabbinic sources, from around AD 200, mention several passages of Scripture in which the conclusion is inevitable that the ancient reading must have differed from that of the present text. The explanation of this phenomenon is given in the expression ("Scripture has used euphemistic language," i.e. to avoid [[anthropomorphism]] and [[anthropopathy]]).

Rabbi Simon ben Pazzi (third century) calls these readings "emendations of the Scribes" (''tikkune Soferim''; Midrash Genesis Rabbah xlix. 7), assuming that the Scribes actually made the changes. This view was adopted by the later Midrash and by the majority of Masoretes. In Masoretic works these changes are ascribed to [[Ezra]]; to Ezra and [[Nehemiah]]; to Ezra and the [[Soferim (Talmud)|Soferim]]; or to Ezra, Nehemiah, [[Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)|Zechariah]], [[Haggai]], and [[Book of Baruch|Baruch]]. All these ascriptions mean one and the same thing: that the changes were assumed to have been made by the Men of the Great Synagogue.

* Safeguarding the unity of divine worship at [[Jerusalem]].

The primary set of [[inverted nun]]s nuns is found surrounding the text of Numbers 10:35-36. The Mishna notes that this text is 85 letters long and dotted. This demarcation of this text leads to the later use of the inverted nun markings. Saul Liberman demonstrated that similar markings can be found in ancient Greek texts where they are also used to denote 'short texts'. During the Medieval period, the inverted nuns were actually inserted into the text of the early Rabbinic Bibles published by Bromberg in the early 16th century. The talmud records that the markings surrounding Numbers 10:35 - 36 were thought to denote that this 85 letter text was not in its proper place. One opinion goes so far as to say that it would appear in another location in a later edition of the Torah!

[[Bar Kappara]] is known to have considered our Torah as comprised of 7 volumes in the Gemorah "The seven pillars with which Wisdom built her house (Prov. 9:1) are the seven Books of Moses". Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy as we know them but Numbers was really 3 separate volumes Num 1:1 to Num 10:35 followed by Number 10:35-36 and the third text from there to the end of Numbers.

[[Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah]], having collated a vast number of manuscripts, systematized his material and arranged the Masorah in the second [[Daniel Bomberg|Bomberg]] edition of the Bible ([[Venice]], 1524-25). Besides introducing the Masorah into the margin, he compiled at the close of his Bible a concordance of the Masoretic glosses for which he could not find room in a marginal form, and added an elaborate introduction &ndash; the first treatise on the Masorah ever produced. In spite of its numerous errors, this work has been considered by some as the "textus receptus" of the Masorah (Würthwein 1995:39), and was used for the English translation of the Old Testament for the [[King James Version of the Bible]].

Next to Ibn Adonijah the critical study of the Masorah has been most advanced by [[Elijah Levita]], who published his famous "Massoret ha-Massoret" in 1538. The "Tiberias" of the elder [[Johannes Buxtorf|Buxtorf]] (1620) made Levita's researches more accessible to a Christian audience. The eighth prolegomenon to Walton's [[Polyglot Bible]] is largely a réchauffé of the "Tiberias". Levita compiled likewise a vast Masoretic concordance, "Sefer ha-Zikronot," which still lies in the National Library at Paris unpublished. The study is indebted also to R. Meïr b. Todros ha-Levi (RaMaH), who, as early as the thirteenth century, wrote his "Sefer Massoret Seyag la-Torah" (correct ed. Florence, 1750); to [[Menahem Lonzano]], who composed a treatise on the Masorah of the Pentateuch entitled "Or Torah"; and in particular to [[Jedidiah Norzi]], whose "Minḥat Shai" contains valuable Masoretic notes based on a careful study of manuscripts.

The [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] have shed new light on the history of the Masoretic Text. Many texts found there, especially those from [[Masada]], are quite similar to the Masoretic Text, suggesting that an ancestor of the Masoretic Text was indeed extant as early as the 2nd century BC. However, other texts, including many of those from [[Qumran]], differ substantially, indicating that the Masoretic Text was but one of a diverse set of Biblical writings (Lane Fox 1991:99-106; Tov 1992:115).

*[[Daniel Bomberg]], ed. [[Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah]], 1524-1525, [[Venice]]:The second [[Mikraot Gedolot|Rabbinic Bible]], which served as the base for all future editions.*[[Everard van der Hooght]], 1705, [[Amsterdam]]

*[[Benjamin Kennicott]], 1776, [[Oxford]]:As well as the van der Hooght text, this included the [[Samaritan Pentateuch]] and a huge collection of variants from manuscripts and early printed editions; while this collection has many errors, it is still of some value. The collection of variants was corrected and extended by [[Johann Bernard de Rossi]] (1784–8), but his publications gave only the variants without a complete text.*[[Meir Letteris]], 1852; 2nd edition, 1866

*[[Seligman Baer]] and [[Franz Delitzsch]], 1869–1895 ([[Exodus]] to [[Deuteronomy]] never appeared)*[[Christian David Ginsburg]], 1894; 2nd edition, 1908–1926:The first edition was very close to the second Bomberg edition, but with variants added from a number of manuscripts and all of the earliest printed editions, collated with far more care than the work of Kennicott; he did all the work himself. The second edition diverged slightly more from Bomberg, and collated more manuscripts; he did most of the work himself, but failing health forced him to rely partly on his wife and other assistants.<ref>"Introduction to the Ginsburg Edition of the Hebrew Old Testament", [[British and Foreign Bible Society]], 1928.</ref>*[[Biblia Hebraica]], first two editions, 1906, 1912; virtually identical to the second Bomberg edition but with variants from Hebrew sources and early translations in the footnotes*[[Biblia Hebraica]], third edition based on the [[Leningrad Codex]], 1937*[[Umberto Cassuto]], 1953 (based on Ginsburg 2nd edition but revised based on the [[Aleppo Codex]], [[Leningrad Codex]] and other early manuscipts)*[[Norman Snaith]], 1958

* [[Hebrew University Bible Project]], 1965-:Started by [[Moshe Goshen-Gottstein]], this follows the text of the [[Aleppo Codex]] where extant and otherwise the [[Leningrad Codex]]. It includes a wide variety of variants from the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], [[Septuagint]], early Rabbinic literature and selected early mediaeval manuscripts. So far, only Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel have been published.

*[[Aron Dotan]], based on the [[Leningrad Codex]], 1976*[[Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia]], revision of [[Biblia Hebraica]] (third edition), 1977*[[Mordechai Breuer]], based on the [[Aleppo Codex]], 1977–1982*[[Biblia Hebraica Quinta]], revision of [[Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia]]; only three volumes (Five Megilloth, Ezra and Nehemiah, Deuteronomy) have been published so far.