The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, abbreviated as BHS or rarely BH⁴, is an edition of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes. It is the fourth edition in the Biblia Hebraica series started by Rudolf Kittel and is published by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (German Bible Society) in Stuttgart.

Publishing history

BHS is a revision of the third edition of the ''Biblia Hebraica'', edited by Paul Kahle, the first printed Bible based on the Leningrad Codex. The footnotes are completely revised. It originally appeared in installments, from 1968 to 1976, with the first one-volume edition in 1977; it has been reprinted many times since. The fifth reprint of the BHS was revised and redistributed in 1997. Work is currently under way at the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft to produce a completely reworked and expanded edition in 20 volumes, known as the Biblia Hebraica Quinta or Fifth Hebrew Bible, which also includes references to and comparisons with recently released material from

Qumran Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israe ...

texts. Initial volumes of the Bible Hebraica Quinta have been available for sale since 2004. Completion of the project is intended by 2020.

BHS Fascicles and editors

The work has been published in 15 fascicles from 1968 to 1976 according to this release schedule taken from the Latin ''prolegomena'' in the book. The processing and development of the Masoretic annotations and notes within all editions of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia was the privilege of

Gérard E. Weil Gérard Emmanuel Weil (born 1926 in Strasbourg; died October 1986 in Lyon) was a French Hebraist and biblical criticism, biblical scholar. He was professor at Nancy 2 University, Université Nancy-II and later at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, Un ...

. He also released the book ''Massorah Gedolah iuxta codicem Leningradensem B 19a'' at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in 1971, which is the very first Edition of the Masora Magna, what gives an idea of his unique expertise in relation to the Masora.

A print edition of the ''Leningrad Codex''

The ''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'' is meant to be an exact copy of the

as recorded in the Leningrad Codex. According to the introductory ''prolegomena'' of the book, the editors have "accordingly refrained from removing obvious scribal errors" (these have then been noted in the critical apparatus). Diacritics like the

Silluq The ''sof passuk'' (Hebrew: , ''end of verse'', also spelled sof pasuq and other variant English spellings, and sometimes called סילוק silluq) is the cantillation mark that occurs on the last word of every verse, or '' passuk'', in the Tanak ...

and Meteg which were missing in the Leningrad Codex also have not been added. The only exception to that is the Rafe diacritic which has been consistently omitted in the ''BHS'' due to "almost insuperable technical difficulties" with its implementation in the typeface. This is not untypical, since almost every Hebrew Bible print edition, starting with

Jacob ben Chayyim Jacob ben Hayyim ben Isaac ibn Adonijah or Jacob ben Chayyim (c. 1470 – before 1538), was a scholar of the Masoretic textual notes on the Hebrew Bible, and printer. Born in Tunis (hence sometimes called Tunisi), he left his native country to esca ...

's ''Bombergiana'' omits the diacritic (because of its minor importance; it serves as a pronunciation help and is partially redundant due to the

Dagesh The dagesh () is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet. It was added to the Hebrew orthography at the same time as the Masoretic system of niqqud (vowel points). It takes the form of a dot placed inside a Hebrew letter and has the effect of m ...

diacritic, the "opposite of the Rafe"). Like its predecessor the Biblia Hebraica Kittel the ''BHS'' adds the letters ''samekh'' "ס" (for סתומה, setumah: "closed portion") and "פ" (for פתוחה, petuchah: "open portion") into the text to indicate blank spaces in the Leningrad Codex, which divide the text into sections. One more difference to the Leningrad Codex is the book order, the

Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...

have been moved to the end as it appears in common Hebrew bibles, even though it precedes

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

in the codex.

The BHS is composed of the three traditional divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures: the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

(תורה "instruction"), Neviim (נבאים "prophets"), and the Ketuvim (כתבים "writings"). In the margins are Masoretic notes. These are based on the codex, but have been heavily edited to make them more consistent and easier to understand. Even so, whole books have been written to explain these notes themselves. Some of the notes are marked ''sub loco'' ("in this place"), meaning that there appears to be some problem, often that they contradict the text. The editors never published any explanation of what the problems were, or how they might be resolved. The ''sub loco'' notes do not necessarily explain interesting text variants; they are, in the vast majority, only notes on inaccurate word countings/frequencies. See Daniel S. Mynatt, ''The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'' (Bibal, 1994); Christopher Dost, ''The Sub-Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'' (Gorgias, 2016). Footnotes record possible corrections to the Hebrew text. Many are based on the

Samaritan Pentateuch The Samaritan Torah (Samaritan Hebrew: , ''Tōrāʾ''), also called the Samaritan Pentateuch, is a text of the Torah written in the Samaritan script and used as sacred scripture by the Samaritans. It dates back to one of the ancient versions ...

, the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

and on early Bible translations ("versions") such as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus&nbs ...

and Peshitta. Others are conjectural emendations.

Book order

The order of the biblical books generally follows the codex, even for the Ketuvim, where that order differs from most common printed Hebrew bibles. Thus the

Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...

comes after Psalms and before Proverbs, and the Megillot are in the order Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and Esther. The only difference is with Chronicles. The

: : 1.

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

�ראשית / B^ere’shit(English rendering: "In beginning") : 2.

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Exo ...

�מות / Sh^emot(English rendering: "Names") : 3. Leviticus �יקרא / Vayik^era’(English rendering: "And he called") : 4. Numbers �מדבר / Bamid^ebar(English rendering: "In the wilderness") : 5. Deuteronomy �ברים / D^evarim(English rendering: "The words") The ''

Nevi'im Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the '' Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (w ...

'': : 6.

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. ' Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

�הושע / Y^ehoshua‛: 7. Judges �ופטים / Shoph^etim: 8. Samuel (I & II) �מואל / Sh^emuel: 9.

Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

(I & II) �לכים / M^elakhim: 10.

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "th ...

�שעיה / Y^esha‛yahu: 11. Jeremiah �רמיה / Yir^emiyahu: 12.

Ezekiel Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is ackn ...

�חזקאל / Y^ekhezq’el: 13. The Twelve Prophets �רי עשר:: a.

Hosea In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; he, הוֹשֵׁעַ – ''Hōšēaʿ'', 'Salvation'; gr, Ὡσηέ – ''Hōsēé''), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is t ...

�ושע / Hoshea‛:: b. Joel �ואל / Yo’el:: c. Amos �מוס / Amos:: d. Obadiah �ובדיה / ‛Ovadyah:: e.

Jonah Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or '; Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spo ...

�ונה / Yonah:: f. Micah �יכה / Mikhah:: g. Nahum �חום / Nakhum:: h.

Habakkuk Habakkuk, who was active around 612 BC, was a prophet whose oracles and prayer are recorded in the Book of Habakkuk, the eighth of the collected twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Almost a ...

�בקוק /Havaquq:: i. Zephaniah �פניה / Ts^ephanyah:: j. Haggai �גי / Khagai:: k.

Zechariah Zechariah most often refers to: * Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), author of the Book of Zechariah * Zechariah (New Testament figure), father of John the Baptist Zechariah or its many variant forms and spellings may also refer to: People *Zechariah ...

�כריה / Z^ekharyah:: l. Malachi �לאכי / Mal’akhi The '' Ketuvim'' : The ''

Sifrei Emet The Ketuvim (; hbo, , Modern: ''Kəṯūvīm'', Tiberian: ''Kăṯūḇīm'' "writings") is the third and final section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), after Torah (instruction) and Nevi'im (prophets). In English translations of the Hebrew Bi ...

'', the poetic books: :: 14.

�הלים / Tehilim:: 15. Job �יוב / ’Iyov:: 16. Proverbs �שלי / Mishlei: The Five Megillot or "Five Scrolls": :: 17. Ruth �ות / Ruth:: 18. Song of Songs �יר השירים / Shir Hashirim:: 19.

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly ...

�הלת / Qoheleth:: 20. Lamentations �יכה / Eikhah:: 21.

Esther Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chose ...

�סתר / Esther : The rest of the "Writings": :: 22.

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

�ניאל / Dani’el:: 23.

Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe ('' sofer'') and priest ('' kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρ� ...

Nehemiah Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. He was governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia (465–424 BC). The name is pronounced ...

�זרא ונחמיה / ‛Ezra’ v^eNekhemiah:: 24. Chronicles (I & II) �ברי הימים / Div^erei Hayamim

''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader's Edition''

In September 2014 an edition of the BHS called ''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader's Edition'' (abbreviated as the ''BHS Reader'') was published by the German Bible Society and Hendrickson Publishers. This edition features the same Hebrew text as the regular BHS, but without the Masora on the side margins and with a "Lexical and Grammatical Apparatus" on the bottom of the page replacing the critical apparatus of the BHS. It was done as a six-year project by

Donald R. Vance Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

( Oral Roberts University),

George Athas George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

( Moore Theological College) and

Yael Avrahami Jael or Yael ( he, יָעֵל ''Yāʿēl'') is the name of the heroine who delivered Israel from the army of King Jabin of Canaan in the Book of Judges of the Hebrew Bible. After Barak demurred at the behest of the prophetess Deborah, God turned ...

( Oranim Academic College). The edition defines an English translation to every word in the text: words that occur 70 times or more are listed in a glossary in the back of the book, and words that occur fewer than 70 times are listed in the apparatus. The translations were mostly taken out of the Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, but also from ''DCH'' and the Brown–Driver–Briggs. Alongside with the translations it features a grammatical parsing of the words encoded in a system of abbreviations (e.g. an introductory example in the book states that the word "והקריבו" from has the note ''"Hr10s0 קרב"'' in the apparatus which means that the word is a ''" Hiphil suffix conjugation third masculine singular verb with a wāv retentive and a third masculine singular pronominal suffix of the root קרב"''). It also has a 50-page appendix listing paradigm-tables for strong and weak verbal roots and noun suffixes. The ''BHS Reader'' follows a tradition of "reader's editions" of Bibles in the original languages. In March 2008 Zondervan published a similar edition done by

A. Philip Brown II A is the first letter of the Latin and English alphabet. A may also refer to: Science and technology Quantities and units * ''a'', a measure for the attraction between particles in the Van der Waals equation * ''A'' value, a measure of ...

and

Bryan W. Smith Bryan may refer to: Places United States * Bryan, Arkansas * Bryan, Kentucky * Bryan, Ohio * Bryan, Texas * Bryan, Wyoming, a ghost town in Sweetwater County in the U.S. state of Wyoming * Bryan Township (disambiguation) Facilities and structur ...

from

Bob Jones University , motto_lang = Latin , mottoeng = We seek, we trust , top_free_label = , top_free = , type = Private university , established = , closed = , f ...

called ''A Reader's Hebrew Bible'' which is based on Westminster Leningrad Codex 4.10, virtually identical to the BHS. Their translations in the apparatus are based on the same dictionaries (with a threshold of 100 occurrences for glossary or apparatus translations instead of 70 in the ''BHS Reader'') and a simpler parsing system.

Criticism

The bible scholar Emanuel Tov has criticised BHS somewhat for having errors, and for correcting errors in later editions without informing the reader.He states: "The edition of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) originally appeared in fascicles which were corrected in the final printing, which carried the date 1967-1977. It was corrected again in the 1984 printing, yet even this printing contains mistakes". ''Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible'', Emanuel Tov, page 3
at Google books
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Notes

References

Literature

BHS editions * ''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'', Standard Edition, * ''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'', Pocket Book Edition, * ''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'', Study Edition (paperback), * ''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'', Wide-Margin Edition, * ''Biblia Sacra Utriusque Testamenti Editio Hebraica et Graeca'' (with '' Novum Testamentum Graece''), About the BHS * Kelley, Page H, Mynatt, Daniel S and Crawford, Timothy G: The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Eerdmans, 1998 * Mynatt, Daniel S: The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Bibal Press, 1994 * Wonneberger, R: Understanding BHS: Biblical Institute Press, 1984 * Würthwein, Ernst: The Text of the Old Testament, an Introduction to the Biblia Hebraica (2nd edition): SCM Press, 1995 * Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible by C.D. Ginsburg

External links

Official ''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'' text on www.academic-bible.com"The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia" on www.academic-bible.com
{{Authority control 1977 non-fiction books Hebrew Bible versions and translations