The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation.
Masoretic text, (from Hebrew masoreth, “tradition”), traditional Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible, meticulously assembled and codified, and supplied with diacritical marks to enable correct pronunciation. This monumental work was begun around the 6th century AD and completed in the 10th by scholars at Talmudic academies in Babylonia and Palestine, in an effort to reproduce, as far as possible, the original text of the Hebrew Old Testament. Their intention was not to interpret the meaning of the Scriptures but to transmit to future generations the authentic Word of God. To this end they gathered manuscripts and whatever oral traditions were available to them.
The Masoretic text that resulted from their work shows that every word and every letter was checked with care. In Hebrew or Aramaic, they called attention to strange spellings and unusual grammar and noted discrepancies in various texts. Since texts traditionally omitted vowels in writing, the Masoretes introduced vowel signs to guarantee correct pronunciation. Among the various systems of vocalization that were invented, the one fashioned in the city of Tiberias, Galilee, eventually gained ascendancy. In addition, signs for stress and pause were added to the text to facilitate public reading of the Scriptures in the synagogue.
When the final codification of each section was complete, the Masoretes not only counted and noted down the total number of verses, words, and letters in the text but further indicated which verse, which word, and which letter marked the centre of the text. In this way any future emendation could be detected. The rigorous care given the Masoretic text in its preparation is credited for the remarkable consistency found in Old Testament Hebrew texts since that time. The Masoretic work enjoyed an absolute monopoly for 600 years, and experts have been astonished at the fidelity of the earliest printed version (late 15th century) to the earliest surviving codices (late 9th century). The Masoretic text is universally accepted as the authentic Hebrew Bible.
The Masoretes undertook to pass on not only a definitive text of the Hebrew Scripture, but also the traditions regarding the way this text was to be copied and read. A masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible is, therefore, a text of the Bible that gives the letters of the Hebrew Bible—usually referred to as the ‘consonantal text,’ although some of the letters are in fact pronounced as vowels—along with at least one, and normally at least the first two, of the following:
Markings that indicate the punctuation of the text into clauses and sentences (often referred to as ‘biblical accents’).
Markings that indicate all the vowels that go with each consonant and the precise way in which that consonant is to be pronounced (often referred to as ‘pointing’).
Notes at the side of the text to indicate different ways of reading the text and unusual features in it (often referred to as masora parva – the lesser masora).
Notes at the top and bottom of the pages with references to other verses that have the unusual features noted in the masora parva (often referred to as the masora magnum – the greater masora).
A masoretic text is different from the texts of the scriptures read in synagogue worship. According to Jewish tradition, these must be written on leather scrolls, and only the letters of the text are written. Masoretic texts supplement these synagogue scrolls to ensure that the text of the scrolls has been accurately copied and is recited according to established tradition, and they are bound as books.
The system of masoretic symbols was developed by the Masoretes of Tiberias on the sea of Galilee around the 10th century CE. The Tiberian masoretic system superseded the Palestinian and Babylonian systems, which date to the 6th century CE and are less detailed.
Some fine examples
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There are thousands of Tiberian masoretic manuscripts held in the major library collections of the world. Most of them are written on parchment and many of these are works of great beauty as well as precision. A particular fine example of the Pentateuch is found in the British Library (B.L. Or. 4445) and is dated to the 10th century. The oldest complete manuscript of the entire Hebrew Bible is the Leningrad Codex (B19a in the Firkovitch collection of St Petersburg). In its colophon, the scribe Samuel ben Jacob says he finished writing it in 1005/1006 CE. A third very famous codex is the Aleppo Codex. The Aleppo Codex was the oldest complete text (probably written before 950 CE) but about a quarter of its pages were lost during the anti-Jewish riots of 1948.
