Questions tagged [masoretic-text]
The fixed and textually authoritative written form of the Hebrew Scriptures. Also the basis of many Christian Old Testament translations.
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2 Kings 13:21 - וַיֵּלֶךְ - who went?
2 kings 13:21
וַיְהִי הֵם קֹבְרִים אִישׁ, וְהִנֵּה רָאוּ אֶת-הַגְּדוּד,
וַיַּשְׁלִיכוּ אֶת-הָאִישׁ, בְּקֶבֶר אֱלִישָׁע; וַיֵּלֶךְ וַיִּגַּע
הָאִישׁ, בְּעַצְמוֹת אֱלִישָׁע, וַיְחִי, וַיָּקָם עַל-...
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What system of checksums did the Masoretes use to preserve the Hebrew text?
God promised to preserve his word to all generations:
Psalms
12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
12:7 Thou shalt keep them,...
6
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Why does the 1 Samuel 10:27 paragraph found in 4QSamª not appear in other texts?
I was reading 1 Samuel 10 in the New Living Translation and found that in the verse 27, there is the following paragraph:
[Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the people ...
6
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1answer
60 views
Why does the KJV say “people perish” in Pr. 29:18?
Can anyone tell me why the KJV translates the Hebrew words yipara am as “people perish” in Pr. 29:18? (The Hebrew word am means people and yipara means unrestrained.) Other translations render yipara ...
3
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1answer
99 views
What is the 'me' in “masoretic text me” in the NIV note on Psalms 22:16?
What is the 'me' in "masoretic text me" in the NIV note on Psalms 22:16?
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+22%3A16&version=NIV
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2answers
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KJV 47 scribes reasoning for translating from the MT & Textus Receptus over other translations?
I hope this question is allowed (hermeneutical approaches?).
Is there any information regarding the reasoning of the scribes that translated the 1611 KJB why they chose one text over another?
They ...
5
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2answers
429 views
MT “will strike” & LXX “will watch carefully” (Gen 3:15)?
I haven't seen this question asked at all in the threads I've searched, so this shouldn't be a duplicate.
I've been looking for answers about God's curse over the serpent in Gen 3:15. The question I ...
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4answers
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Can a joint meaning of 'word of death' be derived for Isaiah 9:7 / 9:8 on account of the different words used in the Greek LXX and Hebrew Texts?
I would like to see some answers as to the discrepancy between the Hebrew and the LXX Greek Text concerning the subject matter of what is read in verse 8 of the KJV, but in other translations it can ...
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1answer
197 views
ConjPerf vs ConjImperf vs ConsecImperf parsing
My question regards the parsing of verbs on the Biblehub website's interlinear Hebrew Bible. What do the ConjPerf/ConjImperf/ConsecImperf labels mean?
Let me post an example of each, with the ...
5
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3answers
113 views
In partial sentence Numbers 16:1 what did Korach take?
Inspired by What does Cain say to Abel in Genesis 4:8?, at the beginning of Numbers 16, we have another incomplete sentence (all translations here):
וַיִּקַּ֣ח קֹ֔רַח בֶּן־יִצְהָ֥ר בֶּן־קְהָ֖ת בֶּן־...
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Why does the BHS suggest היום for האישׁ in Jeremiah 20:16?
The Masoretic text of Jeremiah 20:16 reads:
וְהָיָה הָאִישׁ הַהוּא כֶּֽעָרִים אֲשֶׁר־הָפַךְ יְהוָה וְלֹא נִחָם וְשָׁמַע זְעָקָה בַּבֹּקֶר וּתְרוּעָה בְּעֵת צָהֳרָֽיִם
Translated as (JSB):
Let ...
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Why does a segolate noun in Psalm 38:1[2] retain its segol with pronominal suffix?
The first column (right-to-left) is a list of segolate nouns.
The second column shows that, when a pronoun is added to segolate noun, the vowel under the first letter of the root reverts to whatever ...
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0answers
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The “Ten Commandments” enumeration compared to the Masoretic text [closed]
As noted in the popular modern Hebrew commentary on the Old Testament Da’at Miqra, which quotes one of the leading modern scholars of Old Testament textual criticism, Rabbi Mordechai Breuer, there is ...
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1answer
474 views
Were NT authors aware of differences between MT and LXX
Throughout the New Testament, authors often quoted or referenced the Septuagint (LXX) - a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, but there are several notable differences between the Hebrew text that ...
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1answer
808 views
Approximately how many manuscripts of the Old Testament are extant today?
When looking into this, the closest I got to an answer is that the Masoretes were great copyists, but that they also had a way of disposing of older manuscripts, through the process of burial, and ...
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2answers
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What manuscript(s) does BHS get Joshua 21:36-37 from?
Note- This is not a duplicate of Is Joshua 21:36-37 authentic or an addition? because I am asking what the source of the hebrew of those two verses is, and for the BHS specifically. So for example,...
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1answer
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Are there any published compendia of alleged distortions in the Masoretic Text?
From time to time the point is made that the Masoretes may have deliberately distorted some of their readings of the Hebrew in order to refute Christological interpretations of the Old Testament. A ...
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2answers
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Are any unvocalized versions of the Masoretic Text available, online or otherwise?
I have been looking for some time for a version of the Hebrew Old Testament text that removes the vocalizations that were added in the Masorah. I would think that such a text would be more ...
3
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1answer
161 views
Summary of textual variations and history of Judges 6:12-16?
In Judges 6:12,14,16 we have the angel of the LORD appear to Gideon, but then he is just referred to by LORD, that is, just the tetragrammaton.
12 And the angel of the LORD[?] appeared to him and ...
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1answer
190 views
Should Genesis 8:10 read “he waited” or “he waited anxiously”?
In Genesis 8:10 the first word in the MT is ויחל. The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) suggests emending to וייחל.
Everyone seems to accept the BHS and translate this as "waited" just as if the ...
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3answers
237 views
The correct translation of Isaiah 24:23
In Isaiah 24:23 we have
וְחָֽפְרָה הַלְּבָנָה וּבוֹשָׁ֖ה הַֽחַמָּ֑ה
The moon shall blush and the sun ashamed
where levanah = moon and chammah = sun. But the Septuagint gives
καὶ τακήσεται ἡ ...
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What's behind the difference between the Greek and Hebrew of Exodus 21?
In Exodus 21:22-25, the consequences for hitting a pregnant woman are discussed. But the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint seem to differ. The MT refers to harm to the child, while the LXX refers to ...
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3answers
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What is the meaning of the symbols that appear in the text of the Hebrew Bible?
What is the meaning/reason for the symbols at the end of various verses in the Hebrew Bible? For example, Song of Solomon 6:3:
אֲנִ֤י לְדוֹדִי֙ וְדוֹדִ֣י לִ֔י הָרֹעֶ֖ה בַּשׁוֹשַׁנִּֽים׃ ס ...
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Can anyone explain this apparent discrepancy between the Greek and Hebrew versions of Isaiah 30:20-21?
Isaiah 30:21, as translated from the Masoretic text (Hebrew), has been used times to say that God can show us where we need to go.
וְאָזְנֶ֙יךָ֙ תִּשְׁמַ֣עְנָה דָבָ֔ר מֵֽאַחֲרֶ֖יךָ לֵאמֹ֑ר זֶ֤ה ...
9
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1answer
231 views
When was the Hebrew Bible's exact text/spelling synchronized globally?
The Hebrew Bible is essentially identical in all Jewish communities, despite significant differences in spellings and wordings from the Septuagint or texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls, or even from quoted ...
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595 views
What did God put into the human heart according to the Hebrew text of Ecclesiastes 3:11?
The Masoretic Text of Ecclesiastes [= Qohelet/Kohelet] 3:11bα reads this way:
גַּ֤ם אֶת־הָעֹלָם֙ נָתַ֣ן בְּלִבָּ֔ם
gam ʾet-hāʿōlām nātan bəlibbāmᵃ
Also he has put העלם in their heart
ᵃ ...
6
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1answer
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Obadiah v. 7: ‘bread’ or ‘those who eat your bread’?
In Obadiah’s vision of the fall of Edom (v. 7), it is written:
All your allies have driven you to your border; those at peace with you have deceived you; they have prevailed against you; those who ...
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Why are there extra dots in Genesis 33:4?
I was reading Genesis 33 and noticed extra dots (i.e. not part of the niqqud that I understand) above the letters of “and he kissed him” in verse 4 (picture from archive.org's Biblia Hebraica):
and ...
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How many times does the Hebrew word הֵילֵל (heilel) occur in the Masoretic text?
In Isa. 14:12, the Hebrew text according to BHS states,
אֵ֛יךְ נָפַ֥לְתָּ מִשָּׁמַ֖יִם הֵילֵ֣ל בֶּן־שָׁ֑חַר נִגְדַּ֣עְתָּ לָאָ֔רֶץ חֹולֵ֖שׁ עַל־גֹּויִֽם
Does the Hebrew word הֵילֵל occur elsewhere ...
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435 views
How are the 3 types of OT quotes in the NT distributed?
In the New Testament, there are 3 types of Old Testament quotes: from the Hebrew, from the Septuagint (Greek), and "spontaneous" (ie, not directly from either). My question is, can anyone kindly ...
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Proverbs: differences between the LXX and the MT
What is the origin of the differences in the order of some verses in the book of Proverbs between the LXX and the MT?
Here are two examples:1 the verses 30:1—14 are after 24:22 and the verses 30:15—...
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What is the meaning of the “inverted nuns” (׆ … ׆) around Numbers 10:35-36?
Numbers 10:35-36 (ESV)
And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” And when it rested, he said, “Return,...
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How does the Septuagint differ from the Masoretic text for Isaiah 7:14? [duplicate]
The JPS (1917) reads:
Therefore the L-rd Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
But the ESV reads:
Therefore ...
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1answer
907 views
What does “Qr perpetuum” mean?
In the BDB entry for הוא http://biblehub.com/hebrew/1931.htm, the term "Qr perpetuum" appears, but I have no clue what it means. From logical deduction, I can conclude it means something like "from ...
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5answers
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Was Job short-changed in the end?
The LXX and Masoretic Text (MT) disagree concerning the number of oxen and donkeys which Job once owned; however, both the LXX and MT are mathematically consistent in that Job received double from the ...
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1answer
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What is the original text of Deuteronomy 32:8-9?
4QDeutj
"When Elyon gave the nations as an inheritance, when he separated the
sons of man, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the
number of the sons of God (bny 'l[hym]). For ...
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By what Name did God reveal Himself to Abraham?
God is on several accounts called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Even by Jesus himself and by his apostles he is called their God. e.g. Mk 12:26 /Acts 3:3
I quote from this answer (from ...
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Was nûn deleted from Psalm 145 in the Masoretic Text?
Psalm 145 is an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet, except that in most of the MT manuscripts verse 13b is missing along with therefore the letter nûn. The ESV renders it like this:
Your kingdom is an ...
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How reliable are the Dead Sea Scrolls as a base to compare against the Masoretic text and the LXX?
I often find people comparing other manuscripts (e.g., Masoretic text, LXX) against the Dead Sea Scrolls in order to determine their accuracy. For example, this thread asked how reliable the LXX was ...
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Based on recent manuscript discoveries, is the LXX more reliable than the MT?
Based on recent manuscript discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, is the text of the LXX more reliable than the MT?
