Masoretic Text

The Masoretic Text is the standardized Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible preserved by medieval Jewish scribes. It includes vowel signs, accents, and marginal notes that record how the consonantal text should be read and transmitted.

Hebrew Bible: The collection of sacred writings recognized as scripture in Judaism, also known as the Tanakh. The Masoretic Text is the principal traditional Hebrew textual form of this collection.
Ketiv and Qere: A textual notation distinguishing what is written from what is traditionally read aloud. It records cases where the Masoretic reading differs from the written consonants.
Tiberian Masoretes: Medieval Jewish scholars of Tiberias who developed and transmitted a detailed system for preserving the Hebrew Bible. Their tradition became the most influential form of the Masoretic Text.
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A critical edition of the Hebrew Bible based primarily on the Leningrad Codex. It is a widely used modern presentation of the Masoretic Text with scholarly notes.
Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible: The study of manuscript evidence and variants to reconstruct the history of the Hebrew Bible’s text. It compares the Masoretic Text with other witnesses rather than treating one form as the whole history.
Hebrew alphabet: The writing system used for Hebrew, consisting primarily of consonant letters. Its consonants form the base text to which Masoretes added reading signs.
Cantillation: The system of melodic and syntactic marks used in the public chanting of biblical Hebrew. Its signs guide both the chanting and the phrasing of the text.
Aaron ben Moses ben Asher: A tenth-century Tiberian Masorete whose vocalized Bible tradition became a standard reference. His work is closely associated with the textual tradition followed by later authorities.
Hebrew Bible translations: Translations of the Hebrew Bible into languages other than Hebrew. Many translations use the Masoretic Text as their primary textual base.
Proto-Masoretic text: An ancient textual form of biblical books that closely resembles the later Masoretic consonantal text. It shows that the tradition’s consonantal base predates medieval vocalization.

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