The ''Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition'', formerly known as the ''Oxford Hebrew Bible'', is an in-progress
critical
Critical or Critically may refer to:
*Critical, or critical but stable, medical states
**Critical, or intensive care medicine
* Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences.
*Critical Software, a company specializing i ...
edition of the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" . '' Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.
Edition
The chief editor is Ronald Hendel of the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
, with editors from all over the world. Unlike the older ''
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 ...
'', ''
Biblia Hebraica Quinta
The ''Biblia Hebraica Quinta Editione'', abbreviated as BHQ or rarely BH5, is the fifth edition of the '' Biblia Hebraica''. When completed, it will supersede the fourth edition, the '' Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia'' (BHS/ BH4).
BHQ Edition P ...
and Hebrew University Bible'', all of which represent diplomatic editions, the ''Oxford Hebrew Bible'' represents an eclectic text. The edition also includes introductory material describing textual issues, and thorough commentary. Each book of the Hebrew Bible is treated individually, only with consistency in presentation between books, on the belief that the Hebrew Scriptures do not have unity in origin nor transmission.
Hendel says the production of an eclectic text, which is sought as the "earliest inferable text", will offer to readers similar benefits that such texts have given to readers of the New Testament, as in the ''
Novum Testamentum Graece
(''The New Testament in Greek'') is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek published by ''Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft'' (German Bible Society), forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical crit ...
'' and ''
Editio Critica Maior
The ''Editio Critica Maior'' (shortened to ECM) is a critical edition of the Greek New Testament being produced by the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung (Eng. "Institute for New Testament Textual Research") in collaboration with other ...
'', or of the Septuagint, as in Alfred Rahlfs' manual edition and '' The Göttingen Septuagint''. Others have criticised the project, on grounds including that the Hebrew Scriptures are sufficiently different from others such that an eclectic text is inappropriate. Hendel has sought to respond to criticisms.
The first volume of this series, ''Proverbs: An Eclectic Edition with Introduction and Textual Commentary'' by
Michael V. Fox
Michael V. Fox (1940–2025) was an American-Israeli biblical scholar. He was the Halls-Bascom Professor Emeritus in the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Fox was described as a "highly re ...
was published in April 2015 by the
Society of Biblical Literature
The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), founded in 1880 as the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, is an American-based learned society dedicated to the academic study of the Bible and related ancient literature. Its current stated mis ...
.
In addition, samples from
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament.
Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...
Jeremiah
Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...
, and
Ezekiel
Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (; ; ), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him.
The Abrahamic religions acknowledge Ezekiel as a prophet. According to the narrative, Ezekiel prophesied ...
Hebrew University Bible Project The Hebrew University Bible Project (HUBP) is a project at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to create the first edition of the Hebrew Bible that reproduces the text of the Aleppo Codex and includes a thorough critical apparatus.
It was begun in 1 ...
References
Footnotes
Sources
* Fox, M. V., "Editing Proverbs: The Challenge of the Oxford Hebrew Bible", ''Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages, vol. 32'', no. 1 (2006), pp. 1–22.
* Hendel, R., "The Oxford Hebrew Bible: Prologue to a New Critical Edition", ''
Vetus Testamentum
''Vetus Testamentum'' is a quarterly academic journal covering various aspects of the Old Testament. It is published by Brill Publishers
Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international academic publisher of books, academic journals, and ...
, vol. 58'', no. 3 (2008). pp. 324–51.
*Hendel, R., "The Oxford Hebrew Bible: Its Aims and a Response to Criticisms." Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel, vol. 2'', no. 1 (forthcoming, 2013). Preprint a'' {{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020160428/http://ohb.berkeley.edu/Aims%20and%20Response.pdf , date=20 October 2016 .
* Tigchelaar, E., "Editing the Hebrew Bible: An Overview of Some Problems" in Kloppenborg & Newman (eds.), ''Editing the Bible: Assessing the Task Past and Present'' (Atlanta: SBL, 2012).
* Emanuel Tov, Tov, E., ''Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (3rd edition)'' (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012).
* Williamson, H. G. M., "Do We Need a New Bible? Reflections on the Proposed Oxford Hebrew Bible", ''Biblica vol. 90'', no. 2 (2009), pp. 164–167.