Editing Masoretic Text (section)

== Fixing of the text ==
The earliest tasks of the Masoretes included a standard division of the text into books, sections, paragraphs, verses, and clauses; fixing of the orthography, pronunciation, and cantillation; introduction or final adoption of the square characters with the five [[final letters]]; some textual changes to guard against blasphemy (though these changes may pre-date the Masoretes – see ''Tikkune Soferim'' below); enumeration of letters, words, verses, etc., and the substitution of some words for others in public reading.<ref name="Jewish"/>

Since no additions were allowed to be made to the official text of the Bible, the early Masoretes adopted other methods: e.g., they marked the various divisions by spacing, and gave indications of halakic and haggadic teachings by full or defective spelling, abnormal forms of letters, dots, and other signs. Marginal notes were permitted only in private copies, and the first mention of such notes is found in the case of R. Meïr (c.&nbsp;100–150&nbsp;CE).<ref name="Jewish"/>

===Scribal emendations – ''Tikkune Soferim''===
{{main|Tiqqun soferim}}
Early rabbinic sources, from around 200&nbsp;CE, mention several passages of Scripture in which the conclusion is inevitable that the ancient reading must have differed from that of the present text. The explanation of this phenomenon is given in the expression "Scripture has used euphemistic language" ({{lang|he|כנה הכתוב}}), i.e. to avoid [[anthropomorphism]] and [[anthropopathism]].<ref name="Jewish"/>

Rabbi Simon ben Pazzi (3rd&nbsp;century) calls these readings "emendations of the Scribes" (''tikkune Soferim''; Midrash Genesis Rabbah xlix. 7), assuming that the Scribes actually made the changes. This view was adopted by the later Midrash and by the majority of Masoretes. In Masoretic works these changes are ascribed to [[Ezra]]; to Ezra and [[Nehemiah]]; to Ezra and the [[Soferim (Talmud)|Soferim]]; or to Ezra, Nehemiah, [[Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)|Zechariah]], [[Haggai]], and [[Book of Baruch|Baruch]]. All these ascriptions mean one and the same thing: that the changes were assumed to have been made by the Men of the [[Great Assembly]].<ref name="Jewish"/>

The term ''tikkun Soferim'' ({{lang|he|תקון סופרים}}) has been understood by different scholars in various ways. Some regard it as a correction of biblical language authorized by the Soferim for homiletical purposes. Others take it to mean a mental change made by the original writers or redactors of Scripture; i.e. the latter shrank from putting in writing a thought which some of the readers might expect them to express.<ref name="Jewish"/>

The assumed emendations are of four general types:
* Removal of unseemly expressions used in reference to God; e.g., the substitution of ("to bless") for ("to curse") in certain passages.
* Safeguarding of the [[Tetragrammaton]]; e.g. substitution of "[[Elohim]]" or "[[Adonai]]" for "[[Yahweh|YHWH]]" in some passages.
* Removal of application of the names of pagan gods, e.g. the change of the name "Ishbaal" to "[[Ish-bosheth]]".
* Safeguarding the unity of divine worship at [[Jerusalem]].<ref name="Jewish"/>

=== Mikra and ittur ===
Among the earliest technical terms used in connection with activities of the Scribes are the ''mikra Soferim'' and ''ittur Soferim''. In the geonic schools, the first term was taken to signify certain vowel-changes which were made in words in pause or after the article; the second, the cancellation in a few passages of the "vav" conjunctive, where it had been wrongly read by some. The objection to such an explanation is that the first changes would fall under the general head of fixation of pronunciation, and the second under the head of [[Qere and Ketiv|''Qere'' and ''Ketiv'']] (i.e. "What is read" and "What is written"). Various explanations have, therefore, been offered by ancient as well as modern scholars without, however, succeeding in furnishing a completely satisfactory solution.<ref name="Jewish"/>

=== Suspended letters and dotted words ===
There are four words having one of their letters suspended above the line. One of them, {{lang|he|מ<big><sup>נ</sup></big>שה}},<ref>{{bibleverse||Judges|18:30|HE}}</ref> is due to an alteration of the original משה out of reverence for [[Moses]]; rather than say that Moses's grandson became an idolatrous priest, a suspended letter nun&nbsp;(&nbsp;נ&nbsp;) was inserted to turn Mosheh into Menasheh ([[Manasseh (tribal patriarch)|Manasseh]]). The origin of the other three is doubtful.<ref>{{bibleverse||Psalms|80:14|HE}}; {{bibleverse||Job|38:13|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Job|38:15|HE}})</ref> According to some, they are due to mistaken majuscular letters; according to others, they are later insertions of originally omitted weak consonants.<ref name="Jewish"/>

In fifteen passages within the Bible, some words are stigmatized; i.e., dots appear above the letters.<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|16:5|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Genesis|18:9|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Genesis|19:33|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Genesis|33:4|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Genesis|37:12|HE}}, {{bibleverse||Numbers|3:39|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Numbers|9:10|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Numbers|21:30|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Numbers|29:15|HE}}, {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|29:28|HE}}, {{bibleverse|2|Samuel|19:20|HE}}, {{bibleverse||Isaiah|44:9|HE}}, {{bibleverse||Ezekiel|41:20|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Ezekiel|46:22|HE}}, {{bibleverse||Psalms|27:13|HE}})</ref> The significance of the dots is disputed. Some hold them to be marks of erasure; others believe them to indicate that in some collated manuscripts the stigmatized words were missing, hence that the reading is doubtful; still others contend that they are merely a mnemonic device to indicate homiletic explanations which the ancients had connected with those words; finally, some maintain that the dots were designed to guard against the omission by copyists of text-elements which, at first glance or after comparison with parallel passages, seemed to be superfluous. Instead of dots some manuscripts exhibit strokes, vertical or else horizontal. The first two explanations are unacceptable for the reason that such faulty readings would belong to Qere and Ketiv, which, in case of doubt, the majority of manuscripts would decide. The last two theories have equal probability.<ref name="Jewish"/>

=== Inverted letters ===
In nine passages of the Masoretic Text are found signs usually called [[inverted nun]]s, because they resemble the Hebrew letter [[Nun (letter)|nun]]&nbsp;(&nbsp;נ&nbsp;)<ref name="Jewish"/> written in some inverted fashion. The exact shape varies between different manuscripts and printed editions. In many manuscripts, a reversed nun is found referred to as a ''nun hafucha'' by the masoretes. In some earlier printed editions, they are shown as the standard nun upside down or rotated, because the printer did not want to bother to design a character to be used only nine times. The recent scholarly editions of the Masoretic Text show the reversed nun as described by the masoretes. In some manuscripts, however, other symbols are occasionally found instead. These are sometimes referred to in rabbinical literature as ''simaniyot'' (markers).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Marc |title=Sefer Binsoa |date=26 August 2010 |publisher=Kulmus Publishing |isbn=978-0-9810947-7-9 |pages=24–25 |quote=referencing Masechet Sofrim 6:1, Shabbat 115b (also Avot d'Rabi Natan 34:4) |edition=5th}}</ref>

The primary set of inverted nuns is found surrounding the text of Numbers 10:35–36. The Mishna notes that this text is 85&nbsp;letters long and dotted. This demarcation of this text leads to the later use of the inverted nun markings. [[Saul Lieberman]] demonstrated that similar markings can be found in ancient Greek texts where they are also used to denote 'short texts'. During the Medieval period, the inverted nuns were actually inserted into the text of the early Rabbinic Bibles published by Bomberg in the early 16th&nbsp;century. The talmud records that the markings surrounding Numbers 10:35-36<ref>{{bibleverse||Numbers|10:35–36|HE}}</ref> were thought to denote that this 85&nbsp;letter text was not in its proper place.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Marc |title=Sefer Binsoa |date=26 August 2010 |publisher=Kulmus Publishing |isbn=978-0-9810947-7-9 |pages=28-33 including references to Shabbat 115b and 116a (also Ba'al Haturim and Chizkuni) |edition=5th}}</ref>

[[Bar Kappara]] considered the Torah known to us as composed of seven volumes in the Gemara "The seven pillars with which Wisdom built her house (Prov. 9:1) are the seven Books of Moses". Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy as we know them but Numbers was really three separate volumes: Numbers 1:1–10:35 followed by Numbers 10:35–36 and the third text from there to the end of Numbers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Marc |title=Sefer Binsoa |date=26 August 2010 |publisher=Kulmus Publishing |isbn=978-0-9810947-7-9 |pages=33–35 |quote=including references to Shabbat 115b (also Sifre Bamidbar B'ha'alotcha Piska&nbsp;26 and Midrash Mishley) |edition=5th}}</ref>

The 85&nbsp;letter text is also said to be denoted because it is the model for the fewest letters which constitute a 'text' which one would be required to save from fire due to its holiness.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Marc |title=Sefer Binsoa |date=26 August 2010 |publisher=Kulmus Publishing|isbn=978-0-9810947-7-9 |page=34 |quote=referencing Yadayim 3:5 and Sifre Bamidbar B'ha'alotcha Piska&nbsp;26 |edition=5th}}</ref>