HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: Bible

Semester: 2nd Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Prof. Emanuel Tov

Coordinator Email: emanuel.tov@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: To be determined by mail

Teaching Staff:
Prof Emanuel Tov

Course/Module description:
In the course an attempt will be made to define the concept "The early text of the Bible," usually defined as the original text of the Bible In the past several complete reconstructions have been suggested, and the critical editions are replete with thousands of such reconstructions in small details. In the seminar all these topics as well as select texts will be discussed.

Course/Module aims:
The aim of the course is to develop understanding of the multi-valence of the biblical text and of the need to consult texts other than the Masoretic Text. Further we will develop a critical and independent approach to the text and to commentaries and editions in textual matters. It is not the purpose of the course to reconstruct the early text of the Bible due to the complexity of this issue.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
1.To develop an independent view concerning the text of the Bible.
2.To develop a critical view concerning commentary series and critical text editions
3.To be open to the possibility of a complex development of the biblical text.
4.To develop abstract thinking.
5.To analyze texts independently.

Attendance requirements(%):
80-90

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Lecture and Seminar

Course/Module Content:
1. Definition of the topic. The first stages of the biblical literature as analyzed at the literary and textual level.
2. How is the Bible defined according to the different traditions? MT is not the original text of the Bible. Status of MT among the textual witnesses.
3. MT and the other texts: brief introduction. Which version is closer to the biblical books in their “original” status?
4. Non-original elements in MT visible through an examination of inner-Masoretic parallel texts. Readings in the list of David’s heroes, 2 Sam 23:9–39 // 1 Chr 11:11–41. Which elements are likely to be primary and which not?
5. Item.
6. Item. Readings in 2 Sam 22 // Ps 18. Special attention to oral transmission.
7. Readings: Textual diversity and its implications for the original text. Different views expressed on the Canticles scrolls from Qumran.
8. Readings: Textual diversity and its implications for the original text. Different views expressed on the Jeremiah scrolls from Qumran. An early text or a series of early texts?
9. Item.
10. Unified textual tradition in all textual traditions (Ruth, Judges, Isaiah, Psalms, etc.). Does this tradition reflect the early text?
11. Analysis readings (by students) of select textual problems with the aim of determining original status.
12. Theoretical analysis: the early text of the Bible.
13. Complete or partial reconstructions of the original text. Readings in the critical editions of Cornill (Ezek 1:1–13; 7:1–14), Haupt (Jer 27 [Cornill]), Fox (Prov 16); the BH series (Gen 31, 36, 49; Deut 32).


Students will choose a text in one of the first sessions.

Required Reading:
עמנואל טוב, ביקורת נוסח המקרא, פרקי מבוא, מהדורה שנייה (ירושלים: מוסד ביאליק, תשע"ד)

צפורה טלשיר, "לתולדות נוסח המקרא", בתוך: מנחם קיסטר (עורך), מגילות קומראן, מבואות ומחקרים (ירושלים: יד יצחק בן צבי, 2009), 109–141

Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed., rev. and enl. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012)

Additional Reading Material:
Dominique Barthélemy et al., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, Vols. 1–5, 1st and 2nd eds. (New York: United Bible Societies, 1974, 1979–1980) &eq; HOTTP.

Dominique Barthélemy, Critique textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, 1. Josué–Esther, OBO 50/1 (Fribourg: Éditions Universitaires; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1982).

—, Studies in the Text of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2012).

Karl Budde, “Psalm 14 und 53,” JBL 47 (1928): 160–83.

David M. Carr, The Formation of the Hebrew Bible, A New Reconstruction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).

David J. A. Clines, “How Corrupt is the Text of the Hebrew Bible? An Empirical Approach from Ezra 2 || Nehemiah 7,”
https://www.academia.edu/14107910/How_Corrupt_is_the_Text_of_the_Hebrew_Bible_An_Empirical_Approach_from_Ezra_2_Nehemiah_7

—, “What Remains of the Hebrew Bible? The Accuracy of the Text of the Hebrew Bible in the Light of the Qumran Samuel (4QSama),” in Studies in the Text and Versions of the Hebrew Bible in Honour of Robert Gordon, ed. Geoffrey Khan and Diana Lipton (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 211–20.

Frank M. Cross, Jr. and David N. Freedman, “A Royal Song of Thanksgiving, II Samuel 22 &eq; Psalm 18,” JBL 72 (1953): 15–34.

Stephen C. Daley, The Textual Basis of English Translations of the Hebrew Bible. Supplements to the Textual History of the Hebrew Bible, Vol. 2 (Leiden: Brill, 2019).

Karin Finsterbusch, “Traditional Textual Criticism Reconsidered: MTL-–Ezek 35, LXX967-Ezek 35 and Its Hebrew Vorlage as Variant Editions and the Implications for the Search for the “Original” Text, HeBAI 9 (2020): 334–45.

Kemper Fullerton, “The Original Text of 2 K. 20:7–11 &eq; I.38:7,8,21ff.,” JBL 44 (1925): 44–62.

Moshe Greenberg, “The Use of the Ancient Versions for Interpreting the Hebrew Text: A Sampling from Ezechiel ii 1 – iii 11,” in Congress Volume Göttingen 1977, VTSup 29 (Leiden: Brill, 1978), 131–48.

Ronald S. Hendel, The Text of Genesis 1–11: Textual Studies and Critical Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
—, “The Idea of a Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible: A Genealogy,” HeBAI 3 (2014): 392–423.

—, Steps to a New Edition of the Hebrew Bible, Text-Critical Studies 10 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016).

Rudolf Kittel, Über die Notwendigkeit und Möglichkeit einer neuen Ausgabe der hebräischen Bibel: Studien und Erwägungen &eq; About the necessity and possibility of a new edition of the Hebrew Bible (Leipzig: Edelmann, 1901).

Paul A. de Lagarde, Anmerkungen zur griechischen Übersetzung der Proverbien (Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1863).

Armin Lange, “1.2.1. History of Research.” Pages 82–112 in Textual History of the Bible: The Hebrew Bible. Vol. 1A: Overview Articles, Edited by Armin Lange and Emanuel Tov (Leiden: Brill, 2016).

Bénédicte Lemmelijn, “What Are We Looking for in Doing Old Testament Text-Critical Research,” JNWSL 23 (1997): 69–80.

Albert T. Olmstead, “The Earliest Book of Kings,” AJSL 31 (1915): 169–214.

Harry M. Orlinsky, “The Kings-Isaiah Recension of the Hezekiah Story,” JQR 30 (1939–1940): 33–49.

Raymond F. Person, “II Kings 24,18–25, 30 and Jeremiah 52: A Text-Critical Case Study in the Redaction History of the Deuteronomistic History,” ZAW 105 (1993): 174–205.

—, The Kings–Isaiah and Kings–Jeremiah Recensions, BZAW 252 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1997).

—, and Philippe Hugo, “Textual History of Kings,” in THB, vol. 1B, 310–18.
Georg Schmuttermayr, Psalm 18 und 2 Samuel 22, Studien zu einem Doppeltext, SANT 25 (Munich: Kösel, 1971).

Shemaryahu Talmon, “The Old Testament Text,” in The Cambridge History of the Bible, ed. R. Peter Ackroyd and Craig F. Evans (Cambridge: University Press, 1970), I:159–99; repr. in Cross–Talmon, QHBT (1975), 1–41.

Charles C. Torrey, “The Archetype of Psalms 14 and 53,” JBL 46 (1927): 186–92

Emanuel Tov, “The Place of the Masoretic Text in Modern Text Editions of the Hebrew Bible: The Relevance of Canon.” in The Canon Debate, ed. Lee McDonald and James A. Sanders (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2002), 234–51.

—, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed., rev. and enl. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012)

—, “The Biblia Hebraica Quinta: An Important Step Forward,” in idem, Hebrew Bible, Greek Bible, and Qumran (2008), 189–98; https://huji.academia.edu/EmanuelTov

—, “Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Vol. 7, Judges (ed. Natalio Fernández Marcos),” in Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism … Collected Essays, Volume 3 (2015), 258–64
https://huji.academia.edu/EmanuelTov

—, “The Development of the Text of the Torah in Two Major Text Blocks,” Textus 26 (2016): 1–27. Revised version: Emanuel Tov, Textual Developments, Collected Essays, Volume 4 (2019), 237–56. https://huji.academia.edu/EmanuelTov

—, “‘Proto-Masoretic,’ ‘Pre-Masoretic,’ ‘Semi-Masoretic,’ and ‘Masoretic’: A Study in Terminology and Textual Theory,” in Emanuel Tov, Textual Developments, Collected Essays, Volume 4 (2021), 195–213. https://huji.academia.edu/EmanuelTov

—, “The Search for an Original Text Form of the Hebrew and/or Translated Bible: Theory and Praxis,” xxx, Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology (Leuven: Peeters, 2021), xxx forthcoming

Henk de Waard, Jeremiah 52 in the Context of the Book of Jeremiah, VTSup 183 (Leiden: Brill, 2020)

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 30 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 70 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information: