Editing Masoretic Text (section)

== Critical study ==
[[Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah]], having collated a vast number of manuscripts, systematized his material and arranged the Masorah in the second [[Daniel Bomberg|Bomberg]] edition of the Bible ([[Venice]], 1524–1525). Besides introducing the Masorah into the margin, he compiled at the close of his Bible a concordance of the Masoretic glosses for which he could not find room in a marginal form, and added an elaborate introduction – the first treatise on the Masorah ever produced. Due to its wide distribution, and in spite of its many errors, this work is frequently considered as the ''[[Textus Receptus#Other uses|textus receptus]]{{Broken anchor|date=2024-07-21|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Textus Receptus#Other uses|reason= The anchor (Other uses) [[Special:Diff/1098990043|has been deleted]].}}'' of the Masorah.<ref name="Jewish"/> It was also used for the English translation of the [[Old Testament]] for the [[King James Version]] (though not always followed).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Combs |first1=William W. |title=Errors in the King James Version? |journal=Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal |date=Fall 1999 |page=155 |url=http://www.dbts.edu/journals/1999/Combs.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829115011/http://www.dbts.edu/journals/1999/Combs.pdf |archive-date=2017-08-29 }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=February 2021|Reason=I'm adding this source to replace a citation needed, but am unsure as to the reliability of this Journal. It does seem to be from an accredited university, but I'm not sure if that's enough.}}

Next to Ibn Adoniyah, the critical study of the Masorah has been most advanced by [[Elia Levita]], who published his famous "Massoret ha-Massoret" in 1538. The ''Tiberias'' of the elder [[Johannes Buxtorf]] (1620) made Levita's researches more accessible to a Christian audience. The eighth [[Introduction (writing)|introduction]] to Walton's [[Polyglot (book)|Polyglot]] Bible is largely a reworking of the ''Tiberias''. Levita compiled likewise a vast Masoretic concordance, ''Sefer ha-Zikronot'', which still lies in the National Library at Paris unpublished. The study is indebted also to R. Meïr b. Todros ha-Levi (RaMaH), who, as early as the 13th century, wrote his ''Sefer Massoret Seyag la-Torah'' (correct ed. Florence, 1750); to [[Menahem Lonzano]], who composed a treatise on the Masorah of the Pentateuch entitled "Or Torah"; and in particular to [[Jedidiah Norzi]], whose "Minḥat Shai" contains valuable Masoretic notes based on a careful study of manuscripts.<ref name="Jewish"/>

The Dead Sea Scrolls have shed new light on the history of the Masoretic Text. Many texts found there, especially those from [[Masada]], are quite similar to the Masoretic Text, suggesting that an ancestor of the Masoretic Text was indeed extant as early as the 2nd&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE. However, other texts, including many of those from [[Qumran]], differ substantially, indicating that the Masoretic Text was but one of a diverse set of biblical writings.<ref>Mansoor, Menahem. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Grand Rapids, Michigan</ref><ref>Driver, G. R, The Judaean Scrolls. Great Britain: Oxford, 1965.</ref>

In a recent finding, a scroll fragment was found to be identical to the Masoretic Text. The approximately 1,700-year-old [[En-Gedi Scroll]] was found in 1970 but had not had its contents reconstructed until 2016. Researchers were able to recover 35 complete and partial lines of text from the [[Book of Leviticus]] and the text they deciphered is completely identical with the consonantal framework of the Masoretic Text.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Brent |first=William |title=From damage to discovery via virtual unwrapping: Reading the scroll from En-Gedi &#124; Science Advances |journal=Science Advances |volume=2 |issue=9 |pages=e1601247 |publisher=Advances.sciencemag.org |date=2016-09-21 |df=dmy-all |doi=10.1126/sciadv.1601247 |pmid=27679821 |pmc=5031465 }}</ref> The En-Gedi scroll is the first biblical scroll to have been discovered in the holy ark of an ancient synagogue, where it would have been stored for prayers, and not in desert caves like the Dead Sea Scrolls.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/60785bb2031a478cb71ce9278782c320/scanning-software-deciphers-ancient-biblical-scroll |title=Scanning software deciphers ancient biblical scroll |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>