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Part of 3 Joshua - 3.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThree Hebrew manuscripts of the book of Joshua survive from antiquity. 4QJosha and 4QJoshb were found at Qumran, while XJosh comes most likely from one of the sites connected with the Second Jewish War. Of these three Joshua manuscripts, the text of 4QJosha is non-aligned, while the text of 4QJoshb can be characterized as semi-Masoretic and the text of XJosh as proto-Masoretic. For 4Qpaleo paraJosh, it remains uncertain whether it attests to a variant literary edition of the book of Joshua or, more likely, to a rewriting of that book.1 3.2.1.1 4QJos…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.1 Introduction - 1.1.2 Canonical History of the Hebrew BibleThis article discusses how the Christian canon of the Old Testament developed until, in his letter to Bishop Exsupersius of Toulouse, Pope Innocent i authorized a specific canon list in the year 405 c.e. (1.1.2.2.6.6). Innocent’s decision marks an important turning point in the canonical history of the Christian Old Testament because for the first time a canonical list was backed by papal authority. Nevertheless, the structure and book repertoire of …

Manuscript finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Genizah manuscripts, the discoveries at Nag Hammadi, and many more have radically changed our knowledge of the textual history of the Jewish and Christian Bibles. These new insights have led to several noticeable paradigm shifts in the field of textual criticism. Textual witnesses are no longer regarded as quarries for textual variants but are studied as texts and traditions in their own right. For instance, the study of the Septuagint is …

Part of 2 Pentateuch - 2.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsIn this article1 only the Pentateuch manuscripts from the Dead Sea as well as late ancient and early medieval Pentateuch manuscripts are discussed. Other textual evidence from antiquity, such as the Silver Scrolls from Ketef Hinnom, ancient tefillin and mezuzot, the Nash Papyrus, the Severus Scroll Variant List, and Rabbi Meir’s Tora are addressed in 2.2.5. A total of 106 manuscripts from the various sites around the Dead Sea that attest to the text of the Pentateuch have been published. Of thes…

Concept and HistoryManuscript finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Genizah manuscripts, the discoveries at Nag Hammadi, and many more have radically changed our knowledge of the textual history of the Jewish and Christian Bibles. These new insights have led to several noticeable paradigm shifts in the field of textual criticism. Textual witnesses are no longer regarded as quarries for textual variants but are studied as texts and traditions in their own right. For instance, the study of t…

Manuscript finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Genizah manuscripts, the discoveries at Nag Hammadi, and many more have radically changed our knowledge of the textual history of the Jewish and Christian Bibles. These new insights have led to several noticeable paradigm shifts in the field of textual criticism. Textual witnesses are no longer regarded as quarries for textual variants but are studied as texts and traditions in their own right. For instance, the study of the Septuagint is …

Part of 17 Esther - 17.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThere are no surviving manuscripts of the book of Esther from antiquity. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars have stated that no copy of Esther was found at the various sites around the Dead Sea.1 Although this is certainly true, several Essene texts from the Qumran library allude to the book of Esther.2 Esth 2:9, 17 1QS (1Q28) ii:4 Esth 3:7 4QDb (4Q267) 9 i 1 Esth 3:7 4QMen of People Who Err (4Q306) 1 2 Esth 3:14 1QSa (1Q28a) i:26–27 Esth 9:22 4QpHosa (4Q166) ii:16–17 These allusions leave little doubt that the Essenes knew the…

Part of 16 Lamentations - 16.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThe only four ancient Hebrew manuscripts of Lamentations that are extant were all found in the Qumran caves.1 16.2.1.1 3QLam (3Q3)Only two small fragments of 3QLam are extant attesting to nine complete or partial words from Lam 1:10–12 and 3:53–62. The manuscript was executed in a Herodian formal hand.2 The tetragrammaton is written in the paleo-Hebrew alphabet (3QLam 1 2 = Lam 1:11). Baillet’s reconstruction of the text points to a stichometric arrangement of the two preserved acrostics, in which ea…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.7 The Biblical Text in Light of Its Quotations and AllusionsThe study of the ancient, late ancient, and early medieval textual history of the Hebrew Bible suffers from a distinct lack of manuscript evidence. In the case of the Hebrew Bible, quotations from and allusions to biblical books are a mostly untapped resource that preserves not only individual variant readings from these epochs but also provides information about the dispersion of possible group affiliations of the vario…

Part of 15 Qohelet - 15.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThe only complete Hebrew text of Qohelet is mt-Qoh. It is also the only textual witness to the (proto-)Masoretic text of Qohelet. The two Qumran manuscripts 4QQoha and 4QQohb attest only to small portions of the book and are non-aligned in character (15.2.1; 15.2.3). Because mt-Qoh and the known textual sources of the book – especially the early primary translations of Qohelet – are close to one another, there is general agreement that the Hebrew text of Qohelet did not suffer much during its transmiss…

Part of 11 Job - 11.2 Ancient and Late Ancient Hebrew TextsIn addition to two manuscripts attesting to Aramaic translations of Job (11.3.3.2; 4QtgJob and 11QtgJob), four Hebrew Job manuscripts from Qumran survive from antiquity. While insufficient text is extant of 2QJob, 4QJobb, 4QpaleoJobc, and 4QJobd for text-typological classification, 4QJoba attests to a non-aligned text of Job. Job is among the few texts for which also a late ancient manuscript might be preserved, i.e., Antinoopolis 49–50. Its text is proto-Masoretic in character but its…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.2 The Textual Histories of the Deuterocanonical TextsThis article deals only with Jewish Aramaic textual versions of deuterocanonical texts. I will therefore address neither Christian Palestinian Aramaic texts (1.2.13) nor any Syriac versions (1.2.5) – Syriac being a dialect of Aramaic. For the Jewish Aramaic textual versions of the deuterocanonical books, the same general considerations apply as for their Hebrew ones. The reader is therefore referred to the principal deliberations at 1.2.2.1.Most Aramaic versions of deuterocanonical book…

Part of 8 Ezekiel - 8.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsUnlike the case with many other biblical books, no Hebrew Ezekiel manuscripts that attest to a text unrelated to the Masoretic textual tradition have survived from the Second Temple period. All ancient Ezekiel manuscripts of which sufficient text is preserved for textual qualification (4QEzeka8.2.1.4; 4QEzekb8.2.1.4; 11QEzek 8.2.1.6; MasEzek 8.2.1.7) align with mt-Ezek. This raises the question whether any other Hebrew texts of Ezekiel existed in the Second Temple period. In drawing on non-Masoretic texts for their translations,1og-Ez…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.1 The Canonical Histories of the Deuterocanonical Texts1.1.1.1 IntroductionThe questions of which books are included in a given Bible and of which sequence they follow mark, without a doubt, the most extensive macro variants in the textual histories of the Jewish and Christian Bibles.1 It is therefore more than appropriate that the first (I.1.1.2.1; I.1.1.2.2) and second volumes of THB (1.1) interact not only with the textual but also the canonical histories of the Jewish Bible and the Christian Old Testament in its various versions. In THB 1, I have des…

Part of 10 Psalms - 10.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsBetween fourteen and thirty-six manuscripts from antiquity of various psalms collections as well as four excerpted psalms scrolls from the different sites around the Dead Sea have been published. The way in which I understand the evidence of these manuscripts has been influenced significantly by the work of Flint, who developed his views following the publication of his PhD thesis1 in many articles and other publications on the Psalms.2Unlike many other biblical books, the main textual difference between the ancient Psalms ma…

Part of 15 Qohelet - 15.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThe only complete witness to the Hebrew text of Qohelet from antiquity is the consonantal text of mt-Qoh (15.2.2; for the most important medieval Qohelet manuscripts, see 15.2.2.2). Two ancient fragmentary Qohelet manuscripts were found in the Qumran library, i.e. 4QQoha and 4QQohb.1 15.2.1.1 4QQoha (4Q109)The seven extant fragments of 4QQoha (4Q109) can be attributed to three columns of the original scroll and preserve sections of Qoh 5:13–17; 6:1?, 3–8, 12; 7:1–10, 19–20. 4QQoha is among the earliest manuscripts from Qumran. It…

Part of 19 Ezra–Nehemiah - 19.2 Ancient Hebrew-Aramaic TextsTwo manuscripts of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah from the Dead Sea Scrolls are published, one coming from the Qumran library and the other being of unknown origin and in private ownership (XNeh). A further fragment with remnants of Neh 2:13–16 is part of the Green collection (dss F.Neh1).1 19.2.1.1 4QEzra (4Q117)Of 4QEzra, three small and extensively damaged fragments were found at Qumran attesting to remnants of Ezra 4:2–6, 9–11; 5:17–6:5. Although no section of Nehemiah is preserved in 4QEzra, i…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.2 Ancient Hebrew-Aramaic TextsThere is no comprehensive history of research on the textual criticism and textual history of the Hebrew biblical text in existence. The need for such a comprehensive history of research is an ever more pressing desideratum in textual criticism. Since the discoveries of the Firkovich collections, the Cairo Genizah, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, a wealth of data exists for the ancient and medieval transmission of the Hebrew biblical text. At the sa…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.1 Introduction - 1.1.2 Canonical History of the Hebrew BibleThe Jewish canon is known today as a collection of twenty-four holy books structured in three parts: Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Minor Prophets), and Writings (Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Canticles, Qohelet, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra–Nehemiah, 1–2 Chronicles). Its contents and structure developed over many centuries if not more than a millennium. 1.1.2.1.1 Terminol…

Part of 14 Canticles - 14.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsOf the four ancient Hebrew Canticles manuscripts found at Qumran (14.2.1) only two do not align with mt-Cant (4QCanta and 4QCantb; 14.2.2). 4QCantb developed out of mt-Cant, while 4QCanta is an abbreviated version of a forerunner of mt-Cant. 4QCantc and 6QCant are too badly damaged for text-typological and textual characterization. 14.2.3.1 Text of 4QCanta (4Q106)The text of 4QCanta (14.2.1.1) is difficult to characterize. Most if not all of the manuscript’s secondary readings represent intentional changes intro…