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A Hebrew Bible manuscript is a handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserve ...
. (Some of the Biblical text and notations may be in
Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...
.) The oldest manuscripts were written in a form of scroll, the medieval manuscripts usually were written in a form of
codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
. The late manuscripts written after the 9th century use 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. ...
. The important manuscripts are associated with Aaron ben Asher (especially Codex Leningradensis). The earliest sources (whether oral or written) of the Hebrew Bible disappeared over time, because of the fragility of media, wars, (especially the destruction of the First and Second Temples), and other intentional destructions. As a result, the lapse of time between the original manuscripts and their surviving copies is much longer than in the case of the
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...
manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...
. The first list of the Old Testament manuscripts in Hebrew, made by
Benjamin Kennicott Benjamin Kennicott (4 April 171818 September 1783) was an English churchman and Hebrew scholar. Life Kennicott was born at Totnes, Devon where he attended Totnes Grammar School. He succeeded his father as master of a charity school, but the gene ...
(1718–1783) and published by Oxford in 2 volumes in 1776 and 1780, listed 615 manuscripts from libraries in England and on the Continent.
Giovanni Battista de Rossi Giovanni Battista (Carlo) de Rossi (23 February 1822 – 20 September 1894) was an Italian archaeologist, famous even outside his field for rediscovering early Christian catacombs. Life and works Born in Rome, he was the son of Commendatore Ca ...
(1822–1894) published a list of 731 manuscripts.Old Testament manuscripts
/ref> The main manuscript discoveries in modern times are those of the
Cairo Geniza The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the ''genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat or Old Cairo, ...
(c. 1890) and the Dead Sea Scrolls (1947). In the old synagogue in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...
were discovered 260,000 Hebrew manuscripts, 10,000 of which are biblical manuscripts. There are more than 200 biblical manuscripts among 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 ...
, some of them were written in the
Paleo-Hebrew alphabet The Paleo-Hebrew script ( he, הכתב העברי הקדום), also Palaeo-Hebrew, Proto-Hebrew or Old Hebrew, is the writing system found in Canaanite inscriptions from the region of biblical Israel and Judah. It is considered to be the script ...
. They were written before the year 70 CE. 14 scroll manuscripts were discovered in
Masada Masada ( he, מְצָדָה ', "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the D ...
in 1963–1965. The largest organized collection of Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts in the world is housed in the Russian National Library ("Second Firkovitch Collection") in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Codex Leningradensis is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew. Manuscripts earlier than the 13th century are very rare. The majority of the manuscripts have survived in a fragmentary condition. The oldest complete Torah scroll still in use has been carbon-dated to around 1250 and is owned by the Jewish community of the northern Italian town of
Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin a ...
.


Masorah manuscripts


Proto-Masoretic from Second Temple period (1st century)

*
Severus Scroll The Severus Scroll (or Codex Severi) was a lost scroll containing the Torah. A very few sentences of it have been preserved by Rabbinic literature. This scroll was allegedly taken to Rome by Emperor Titus as part of the booty after the Fall of J ...
(named for the Roman Emperor who restored this scroll, reportedly seized from the Temple in Jerusalem, to the Jewish community in 220), a lost manuscript of early 1st century CE, only a few sentences are preserved by
Rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic w ...
* Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus scroll


Proto-Masoretic from "Silent Period" (2nd-10th century)

* Codex Hilleli, a lost manuscript of circa 600 CE, destroyed in 1197 in Spain, only a few sentences are preserved by Rabbinic literature * Codex Muggeh (or Muga; ="corrected"), lost, cited as a source in
Masoretic 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. ...
notations.


Masoretic (7th–10th century)

* Ben Asher Manuscripts, including several of those listed here-below (see Kahle) * The
London Manuscript London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a maj ...
and the
Ashkar-Gilson Manuscript The Ashkar-Gilson Manuscript (circa 600-700CE) is a fragment of a Torah scroll containing a portion of Shemot (Book of Exodus). The section is a crucial text that displays the unique layout of Shirat HaYam ( The Song of the Sea). It was found in B ...
, the latter also known as the "Ashkar-Gilson Hebrew Manuscript #2", both from the same scroll, dated to the 7th or 8th century. The extant fragments cover Exodus 9:18–13:2 and 13:19–16:1. *
Codex Orientales 4445 The London Codex, or Codex Orientales 4445 is a Hebrew codex containing Masoretic text dating from the 9th or 10th century. The manuscript contains an incomplete copy of the Pentateuch. The manuscript is housed in the British Museum. Contents ...
, also known as "London Codex", containing Genesis-Deuteronomy 1:33 (less Numbers 7:47–73 and Numbers 9:12–10:18).Manuscript written by two different scribes, the older square script believed to be from the 10th century, whereas the newer Yemenite square script was written in the 16th century. See the British Library
Or. 4445
and dated by colophon to 920-950 CE. *
Codex Cairensis The Codex Cairensis (also: ''Codex Prophetarum Cairensis'', ''Cairo Codex of the Prophets'') is a Hebrew manuscript containing the complete text of the Hebrew Bible's Nevi'im (Prophets). It has traditionally been described as "the oldest dated He ...
(Prophets), pointed by
Moses Ben Asher Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...
, dated by a colophon 895 CE, contradicted by
radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...
, which indicated an 11th-century date. It is the oldest manuscript bearing the date of its writing; written in
Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...
, subsequently was in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...
, now deposited at
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
. *
Codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus Codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus (or The Petersburg Codex of the Prophets), designated by Vp, is an old Masoretic manuscript of Hebrew Bible, especially the Latter Prophets, using Babylonian vocalization. This codex contains the books of Isaiah, Je ...
(Latter Prophets), dated 916 CE, Russian National Library *
Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex ( he, כֶּתֶר אֲרָם צוֹבָא, romanized: , lit. 'Crown of Aleppo') is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the ...
, 930 CE, written in
Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...
, now deposited at
Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...
in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
(was complete, supposedly pointed by
Aaron ben Moses ben Asher Aaron ben Moses ben Asher (Hebrew: ; Tiberian Hebrew: ''ʾAhărōn ben Mōše ben ʾĀšēr''; 10th century, died c.960) was a Jewish scribe who lived in Tiberias in northern Israel and refined the Tiberian system of writing vowel sounds in Hebr ...
, partially missing since 1958); this manuscript is the basis of the ''
Jerusalem Crown The Jerusalem Crown ( Keter Yerushalayim) is a printed edition of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) printed in Jerusalem in 2001, and based on a manuscript commonly known as the Aleppo Crown). The printed text consists of 874 pages of the Hebrew ...
'' bible. * Codex Leningradensis (complete), copied from a Ben Asher manuscript, dated 1008 CE, written in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...
, now deposited at Russian National Library in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
; this manuscript is the basis of the ''
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, abbreviated as BHS or rarely BH4, is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes. It is the fourth edition in ...
'' and other editions and is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew. * Michigan Codex (Torah), 10th century * Damascus Pentateuch, 10th century * First Gaster Bible in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
, 10th century


Later (11th-17th century)

* Codex Yerushalmi, lost, reportedly used in Spain (circa 1010) by Jonah ibn Janah. * Codex Reuchlinanus (Prophets), dated 1105 CE. * Scroll 2, dated CE 1155-1255, University of Bologna Library * Ms. Eb. 448 of the
Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...
, with
Targum Onkelos Interlinear text of Hebrew Numbers 6.3–10 with British_Library.html"_;"title="Aramaic_Targum_Onkelos_from_the_British_Library">Aramaic_Targum_Onkelos_from_the_British_Library. Targum_Onkelos_(or_Onqelos;_Hebrew_language.html" "title="B ...
, dated 11–12 century * Second Gaster Bible in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
, 11th-12th centuries * Braginsky Collection Codex Hilleli copy, 1241 Toledo, Spain (housed at Jewish Theological Seminary, New York) * Damascus Crown, written in Spain in 1260. * Cloisters Hebrew Bible; 1300-1350 CE, before 1366; earliest owner named David ha-Kohen Coutinh on
Rosh Hashanah Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , ...
in 1366; owned by Zaradel Synagogue in Egypt. Acquired by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in 2018 under The Cloisters Collection. * Farhi Bible, written by Elisha Crescas in
Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
between 1366 and 1383. * Erfurt Codices (complete, Berlin), E1 circa 14th century, E2 possibly 13th century, E3 possibly 11th century * Codex Jericho (Pentateuch), lost, cited in the notes to a Massoretic manuscript written circa 1310. * Al-Ousta Codex, 14th-century. Now at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. * Codex Ezra, lost, C.D. Ginsburg owned a manuscript written in 1474 which purported to have been copied from this. * Lisbon Bible, created in 1483 in Lisbon, Portugal * Codex Sinai, mentioned in Massoretic notes and reportedly used by Elia Levita (circa 1540). * MS. de Rossi 782, copied in Toledo Spain in 1277. * Codex Sanbuki (named for Zambuqi, on the Tigris River), lost, frequently quoted in Massoretic annotations and apparently seen (circa 1600) by Menahem Lonzano. * Codex Great Mahzor, lost, mentioned in Massoretic notes (the title suggests that this codex contained only the Pentateuch and those selections from the Prophets that were read during the liturgical year)


Modern discoveries

* Ketef Hinnom scrolls, late 7th or early 6th century BCE, placing them in the First Temple period *
Nash Papyrus The Nash Papyrus is a collection of four papyrus fragments acquired in Egypt in 1902, inscribed with a Hebrew text which mainly contains the Ten Commandments and the first part of the Shema Yisrael prayer, in a form that differs substantially fro ...
, dated to the 2nd BCE – 1st CE *
Cairo Geniza The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the ''genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat or Old Cairo, ...
fragments contains portions of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew and Aramaic, discovered in Cairo synagogue, which date from about 4th century CE


Dead Sea Scrolls

Dated Between 250 BCE and 70 CE.Timothy Lim, ''The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2005, ''Dating the Scrolls''

/ref> *
Isaiah scroll The Isaiah Scroll, designated 1QIsaa and also known as the Great Isaiah Scroll, is one of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls that were first discovered by Bedouin shepherds in 1946 from Qumran Cave 1. The scroll is written in Hebrew and contains the en ...
, 1Qlsa, contains almost the complete text of the
Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century B ...
* 4QDeutn, contains the
Decalogue The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
. * 4Q106 * 4Q107 * 4Q108 * 4Q240 * 6Q6


Qumran Cave 1


Qumran Cave 2


Qumran Cave 3


Qumran Cave 4


Qumran Cave 5


Qumran Cave 6


Qumran Cave 7


Qumran Cave 8


Qumran Cave 11


See also

* Ancient literature *
Biblical manuscript A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. Biblical manuscripts vary in size from tiny scrolls containing individual verses of the Jewish scriptures (see ''Tefillin'') to huge polyglot codices (multi-li ...
s * List of the Dead Sea Scrolls *
Septuagint manuscripts The Septuagint (LXX), the ancient (first centuries BC) Alexandrian translation of Jewish scriptures into Koine Greek exists in various manuscript versions. List of Septuagint manuscripts There are currently over 2000 classified manuscripts ...


References


Bibliography

*


Further reading

* Würthwein Ernst (1988). ''Der Text des Alten Testaments'', Stuttgart:
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft The Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft ("German Bible Society") is a religious foundation regulated by public law. It is involved in publishing and in spreading the message of the Bible. The Society publishes the Bible in the original languages and in ...
1988, p. 40–47; English translatio
The text of the Old Testament: an introduction to the Biblia Hebraica
* Malcolm C. Davis, Ben Outhwaite
'' Hebrew Bible Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections: Taylor-Schechter additional series 32–255, with addenda to previous volumes''
Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...
2003 * Bernhard Pick, ''Lost Hebrew Manuscripts'', Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature

vol. 2, pages 122-127 (1882). * C. David Ginsburg, ''Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible'' (1897, London: Trinitarian Bible Society)

especially chapt. XII, History and Description of the Manuscripts, pages 469-778, and elsewhere in the volume for information on lost mss. *
Paul Kahle Paul Ernst Kahle (January 21, 1875 in Hohenstein, Prussia – September 24, 1964 in Düsseldorf) was a German orientalist and scholar. Biography Kahle studied orientalism and theology in Marburg and Halle. He attained his doctorate in 1898. ...
, ''The Hebrew Ben Asher Manuscripts'', Vetus Testamentum, vol. 1, pages 161-167 (July 1951); mentions the Leningrad Codex, the Aleppo Codex, the Cairo Prophets (Codex Cairensis), and British Museum Or. 4445. * mil G. Hirsch"Bible Manuscripts", ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' (190

volume 3, pages 178-181, includes information on lost mss. * Adolph Neubauer, ''The Introduction of the Square Characters in Biblical Manuscripts and an Account of the Earliest Manuscripts of the Old Testament'', Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastic

Oxford Univ.), vol. 3, pages 1–36 (1891).


External links


The London Codex (Or. 4445) and other MSS.
from the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
holdings
Dea Sea Scrolls Digital Library: Biblical compositions (218)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hebrew Bible manuscripts Hebrew Bible manuscripts, Old Testament-related lists Hebrew manuscripts Textual scholarship