Editing Masoretic Text (section)

=== Numerical Masorah ===
In classical antiquity, [[copyist]]s were paid for their work according to the number of [[Wiktionary:stich|stich]]s (lines of verse). As the prose books of the Bible were hardly ever written in stichs, the copyists, in order to estimate the amount of work, had to count the letters.<ref name="Jewish"/> According to some this was (also) to ensure accuracy in the transmission of the text with the production of subsequent copies that were done by hand.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pratico |first1=Gary D. |last2=Pelt |first2=Miles V. Van |title=Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar: Second Edition |date=2009 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=978-0-310-55882-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3FIoT0s3yYC&pg=PT448}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mounce |first1=William D. |title=Greek for the Rest of Us: Using Greek Tools Without Mastering Biblical Languages |date=2007 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=978-0-310-28289-1 |page=289 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AF-5ptJ0l2gC&pg=PA289}}</ref>

Hence the Masoretes contributed the Numerical Masorah.<ref name="Jewish"/> These notes are traditionally categorized into two main groups, the marginal Masorah and the final Masorah. The category of marginal Masorah is further divided into the ''Masorah parva'' (small Masorah) in the outer side margins and the ''Masorah magna'' (large Masorah), traditionally located at the top and bottom margins of the text. The ''Masorah parva'' is a set of statistics in the outer side margins of the text. Beyond simply counting the letters, the ''Masorah parva'' consists of word-use statistics, similar documentation for expressions or certain phraseology, observations on full or defective writing, references to the Kethiv-Qere readings and more. These observations are also the result of a passionate zeal to safeguard the accurate transmission of the sacred text.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mounce |first1=William D. |title=Greek for the Rest of Us: Mastering Bible Study Without Mastering Biblical Languages |date=2003 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=978-0-310-23485-2 |page=288 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oRsbGj4oMXMC&pg=PA288}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pratico |first1=Gary Davis |last2=Pelt |first2=Miles V. Van |title=Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar |date=2001 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=978-0-310-23760-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDyz8qIEDeIC&pg=PT447}}</ref>

Even though often cited as very exact, the Masoretic "frequency notes" in the margin of ''Codex Leningradiensis'' contain several errors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://subhanallah.se/bibeln/gamla-testamentet/osakerheter/osakerheter-over-masoretiska-ordsummor/den-masoretiska-ordraknesumman-i-1-mos-1-12/ |title=Den masoretiska ordräknesumman i 1 Mos 1:12 |access-date=2012-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528122957/http://subhanallah.se/bibeln/gamla-testamentet/osakerheter/osakerheter-over-masoretiska-ordsummor/den-masoretiska-ordraknesumman-i-1-mos-1-12/ |archive-date=2013-05-28 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://subhanallah.se/bibeln/gamla-testamentet/osakerheter/osakerheter-over-masoretiska-ordsummor/den-masoretiska-ordraknesumman-i-1-mos-2-18/ |title=Den masoretiska ordräknesumman i 1 Mos 2:18 |access-date=2012-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528124645/http://subhanallah.se/bibeln/gamla-testamentet/osakerheter/osakerheter-over-masoretiska-ordsummor/den-masoretiska-ordraknesumman-i-1-mos-2-18/ |archive-date=2013-05-28 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref>{{efn|See also the whole book "The Sub Loco notes in the Torah of ''Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia''" by Daniel S. Mynatt, which describes about 150&nbsp;frequency errors found in the Torah alone.}}

The ''Masorah magna'', in measure, is an expanded ''Masorah parva''. ''[[Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia]]'' (BHS) includes an apparatus referring the reader to the large Masorah, which is printed separately.<ref>{{cite web |title=UBS Translations: Hebrew Scriptures |url=http://www.ubs-translations.org/cat/biblical_texts/hebrew_scriptures_and_reference/hebrew_scriptures |access-date=2018-12-23 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The final Masorah is located at the end of biblical books or after certain sections of the text, such as at the end of the Torah. It contains information and statistics regarding the number of words in a book or section, etc. Thus, [[Book of Leviticus]] 8:23 is the middle verse in the Pentateuch. The collation of manuscripts and the noting of their differences furnished material for the Text-Critical Masorah. The close relation which existed in earlier times (from the [[Soferim (Talmud)|Soferim]] to the [[Amoraim]] inclusive) between the teacher of tradition and the Masorete, both frequently being united in one person, accounts for the Exegetical Masorah. Finally, the invention and introduction of a graphic system of vocalization and accentuation gave rise to the Grammatical Masorah.<ref name="Jewish" />

The most important of the Masoretic notes are those that detail the [[Qere and Ketiv]] that are located in the ''Masorah parva'' in the outside margins of BHS. Given that the Masoretes would not alter the sacred consonantal text, the Kethiv-Qere notes were a way of "correcting" or commenting on the text for any number of reasons (grammatical, theological, aesthetic, etc.) deemed important by the copyist.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Pratico |author2=Van Pelt |title=Basics of Biblical Hebrew |publisher=Zondervan |year=2001 |pages=406&nbsp;ff}}</ref>