Christian David Ginsburg (, 25 December 1831 – 7 March 1914) was a Polish-born British

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

scholar and a student of the

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. ...

tradition in

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

. He was born to a Jewish family in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

but converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

at the age of 15. Coming to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

shortly after the completion of his education in the

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

nic College at Warsaw, Ginsburg continued his study of the

Hebrew Scriptures The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Megillot The Five Scrolls or The Five Megillot ( he, חמש מגילות , ''Hamesh Megillot'' or ''Chomeish Megillos'') are parts of the Ketuvim ("Writings"), the third major section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). The Five Scrolls are the Song of Songs, ...

''. The first result was a translation of the '' Song of Songs'', with a historical and critical commentary, published in 1857. A similar interpretation of '' Ecclesiastes'', followed by treatises on the Karaites, the

Essenes The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''Isiyim''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st ce ...

, and the ''Kabbala'', kept the author prominently before biblical students while he was preparing the first sections of his ''magnum opus'', the critical study of the ''Masorah''.

Magnum opus

Beginning in 1867 with the publication of

Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah 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 esc ...

's ''Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible, Hebrew and English, with notices'', and the ''Masoret haMasoret'' of

Elias Levita Elia Levita (13 February 146928 January 1549) ( he, אליהו בן אשר הלוי אשכנזי), also known as Elijah Levita, Elias Levita, Élie Lévita, Elia Levita Ashkenazi, Eliahu Levita, Eliyahu haBahur ("Elijah the Bachelor"), Elye Bok ...

, in

Hebrew 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 preserved ...

, with translation and commentary, Ginsburg took rank as an eminent Hebrew scholar. In 1870, he was appointed one of the first members of the committee for the revision of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

version of the Old Testament under contract with the

Trinitarian Bible Society The Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831 "to promote the Glory of God and the salvation of men by circulating, both at home and abroad, in dependence on the Divine blessing, the Holy Scriptures, which are given by inspiration of God and ...

. His life-work culminated in the publication of the ''Masorah'', in three volumes (1880–1886), followed by the ''Massoretico-critical edition of the Hebrew Bible'' (1894), and the elaborat
introduction
to it (1897).

Other works

Ginsburg had one predecessor in the field; the learned

Jacob ben Hayyim 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 esc ...

, who, in 1524–1525, had published the second ''Rabbinic Bible'' (Mikraot Gedolot), containing what has ever since been known as the ''Masorah''. Still, the materials were not available, and criticism was not sufficiently advanced for a complete edition. Ginsburg took up the subject almost where it was left off by those early pioneers, and he collected portions of the ''Masorah'' from the countless manuscripts scattered throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and the

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

. Ginsburg published ''Facsimiles of Manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible'' (1897 and 1898), and ''The Text of the Hebrew Bible in Abbreviations''(1903), in addition to a critical treatise ''on the relationship of the so-called Codex Babylonicus of A.D. 916 to the Eastern Recension of the Hebrew Text''(1899, for private circulation). In the last-mentioned work, he seeks to prove that the ''St. Petersburg Codex'', for so many years accepted as the original text of the Babylonian school, is, in reality, a Palestinian text that was carefully altered to render it conformable to the Babylonian recension. He subsequently undertook the preparation of a new edition of the Hebrew Bible for the British and Foreign Bible Society. He also contributed many articles to

John Kitto John Kitto (4 December 1804 – 25 November 1854) was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent. Biography Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of ...

's ''Encyclopaedia'', William Smith's "Dictionary of Christian Biography and the

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

(1877–1887).

References

Selected bibliography

*The Massorah; Compiled from Manuscripts; BAND I, London/Vienna, Brög, 1880;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, The Massorah Ia

Ginsburg, 1880: The Massorah Ib
*The Massorah; Compiled from Manuscripts; BAND II, London/Vienna, Brög, 1880;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1880: The Massorah IIa

Ginsburg, The Massorah IIb
*The Massorah; Compiled from Manuscripts; BAND III, London/Vienna, Brög, 1880;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1880: The Massorah III
*The Massorah; Translated into English; With a critical and exegetical commentary; BAND IV, London/Vienna, Brög, 1897–1905;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1905: The Massorah IV
*The Essenes: Their history and doctrines; Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1864. *Jacob Ben Chajim Ibn Adonijah's Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible, London, 1867;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1867: Jacob Ben Chajim Ibn Adonijah's Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible
*The Massoreth Ha-Massoreth of Elias Levita, being an exposition of the Massoretic notes on the Hebrew Bible, or the ancient critical apparatus of the Old Testament in Hebrew, with an English translation, and critical and explanatory notes, London, Longmans, 1867;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1867: The Massoreth Ha-Massoreth of Elias Levita

Ḥamishah Ḥumshe Torah
London 1908. * The Kabbalah: its doctrines, development, and literature; London, 1920.

External links

*
''Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible''
(1897) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ginsburg, Christian David 1831 births 1914 deaths 19th-century British people 19th-century British biblical scholars 19th-century Jewish biblical scholars 19th-century translators British people of Polish-Jewish descent Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom Converts to Protestantism from Judaism Jewish translators of the Bible Translators of the New Testament into Hebrew Writers from Warsaw