Editing Samaritan Pentateuch (section)

===Masoretic Text===
[[File:Samaritan Pentateuch (detail).jpg|Detail of Samaritan Pentateuch|thumb|left]]

Manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch are written in a different script than the one used in the Masoretic Pentateuch. The Samaritan text is written with the Samaritan alphabet, derived from the [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet]] used by the Israelite community prior to the [[Babylonian captivity]]. During the exile in Babylon, Jews adopted the [[Ktav Ashuri|Ashuri script]], based on the Babylonians' [[Aramaic alphabet]], which was developed into the modern [[Hebrew alphabet]]. Originally, all manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch consisted of unvocalized text written using only the letters of the Samaritan alphabet. Beginning in the 12th century, some manuscripts show a partial vocalization resembling the Jewish [[Tiberian vocalization]] used in Masoretic manuscripts.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=93_Dc4SC5ngC&pg=PA65 Brotzman 1994, pp. 64–65].</ref> More recently, manuscripts have been produced with full vocalization.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=U1UfMyO-RiEC&pg=PA81 Tov 2001, p. 81]. "Only in recent generations have the Samaritans written a few manuscripts&nbsp;– only for use outside their community&nbsp;– with full vocalization."</ref> The Samaritan Pentateuchal text is divided into 904 paragraphs. Divisions between sections of text are marked with various combinations of lines, dots or an asterisk; a dot is used to indicate the separation between words.<ref name = "Fallows"/>

The [[Polyglot (book)#London Polyglot|''London Polyglot'']] lists 6,000 instances where the Samaritan Pentateuch differs from the Masoretic text.<ref name="Hjelm77">[https://books.google.com/books?id=1oZu6GjRg_IC&pg=PA77 Hjelm 2000, p. 77].</ref> As different printed editions of the Samaritan Pentateuch are based upon different sets of manuscripts, the precise number varies significantly from one edition to another.<ref name="Purvis">Purvis, J.D. "Samaritan Pentateuch," pp. 772–775 in ''Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Supplementary Volume''. Keith Crim, gen. ed. Nashville: Abingdon, 1976.  {{ISBN|9780687192694}}</ref> Only a minority of such differences are significant. Most are simply spelling differences, usually concerning Hebrew letters of similar appearance;<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029099864#page/n303/mode/1up Thomson 1919, pp. 289–296.]</ref> the use of more ''[[Mater lectionis|matres lectionis]]'' (symbols indicating vowels) in the Samaritan Pentateuch, compared with the Masoretic;<ref name="Purvis" /> different placement of words in a sentence;<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029099864#page/n312/mode/1up Thomson 1919, pp. 296–301.]</ref> and the replacement of some verbal constructions with equivalent ones.<ref name="Vanderkam93">[https://books.google.com/books?id=SBMXnB4CRpUC&pg=PA93 Vanderkam 2002, p. 93].</ref> A comparison between both versions shows a preference in the Samaritan version for the Hebrew [[Preposition and postposition|preposition]] {{transliteration|hbo|al}} where the Masoretic text has {{transliteration|hbo|el}}.<ref name="Purvis" />

The most notable substantial differences between both texts are those related to Mount Gerizim, the Samaritans' place of worship. The Samaritan version of the Ten Commandments includes the command that an altar be built on Mount Gerizim on which all sacrifices should be offered.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.meson.org/religion/torahcompare.php |title=Overview of the Differences Between the Jewish and Samaritan Versions of the Pentateuch |publisher=Web.meson.org |access-date=2011-12-05}}</ref><ref name="Soggin">{{cite book |last=Soggin |first=J. Alberto |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontool00sogg_1 |title=Introduction to the Old Testament: From Its Origins to the Closing of the Alexandrian Canon |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780664221560 |page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontool00sogg_1/page/26 26] |url-access=registration}} "But there is at least one case, Deut.27.4–7, in which the reading 'Gerizim' in the Samaritan Pentateuch, confirmed by Σ and by the Old Latin, seems to be preferable to that of the Massoretic text, which has Ebal, the other mountain standing above Nablus."</ref> The Samaritan Pentateuch contains the following paragraph, which is absent from the Jewish version:

{{quote|And when it so happens that {{LORD}} God brings you to the land of Canaan, which you are coming to possess, you shall set up there for you great stones and plaster them with plaster and you write on the stones all words of this law. And it becomes for you that across the Jordan you shall raise these stones, which I command you today, in mountain Gerizim. And you build there the altar to the {{LORD}} God of you. Altar of stones. Not you shall wave on them iron. With whole stones you shall build the altar to {{LORD}} God of you. And you bring on it ascend offerings to {{LORD}} God of you, and you sacrifice peace offerings, and you eat there and you rejoice before the face of the {{LORD}} God of you. The mountain this is across the Jordan behind the way of the rising of the sun, in the land of Canaan who is dwelling in the desert before the [[Gilgal|Galgal]], beside Alvin-Mara, before [[Shechem|Sechem]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/interlinearpentateuch/online-samaritan-pentateuch-in-english/deuteronomy |title=Deuteronomy – Interlinear Pentateuch |access-date=2014-01-05 |archive-date=2016-08-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820215020/https://sites.google.com/site/interlinearpentateuch/online-samaritan-pentateuch-in-english/deuteronomy |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

Another important difference is in Deuteronomy 27:4.<ref>{{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|27:4|HE}}</ref> According to the Jewish text, the Israelites were told to enter the [[Promised Land]] and build an altar on [[Mount Ebal]], while the Samaritan text says that such altar, the first built by the Israelites in the Promised Land, should be built on Mount Gerizim.<ref name="Purvis" /> A few verses afterwards, both the Jewish and the Samaritan texts contain instructions for the Israelites to perform two ceremonies upon entering the Promised Land: one of blessings, to be held on Mount Gerizim, and one of cursings, to take place on Mount Ebal. In 1946, the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] were discovered, which include the oldest known versions of the [[Torah]]. In Deuteronomy 27:4–7,<ref>{{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|27:4–7|HE}}</ref> the Dead Sea scroll fragments bring "Gerizim" instead of "Ebal", indicating that the Samaritan version was likely the original reading.<ref name="Soggin" /><ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Charlesworth |first=James H. |title=The Discovery of an Unknown Dead Sea Scroll: The Original Text of Deuteronomy 27? |url=http://blogs.owu.edu/magazine/the-discovery-of-an-unknown-dead-sea-scroll-the-original-text-of-deuteronomy-27/ |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126051707/http://blogs.owu.edu/magazine/the-discovery-of-an-unknown-dead-sea-scroll-the-original-text-of-deuteronomy-27/ |archive-date=26 November 2015 |access-date=11 October 2017 |publisher=Ohio Wesleyan Magazine}} A newly published Dead Sea Scroll fragment of Deuteronomy has "Gerizim" instead of "Ebal" in Deuteronomy 27:4.</ref>

Other differences between the Samaritan and the Masoretic (Jewish) texts include:

* In Numbers 12:1,<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|12:1|HE}}</ref> the Samaritan Pentateuch refers to [[Moses]]' wife as {{transliteration|hbo|kaashet}}, which translates as 'the beautiful woman', while the Jewish version and the Jewish commentaries suggest that the word used was {{transliteration|hbo|Kushi}}, meaning 'black woman' or '[[Cushitic languages|Cushite]] woman'. For the Samaritans, therefore, Moses had only one wife, [[Zipporah]], throughout his whole life, while Jewish sources generally understand that Moses had two wives, Zipporah and a second, unnamed Cushite woman.<ref>Tsedaka, Benyamim, and Sharon Sullivan, eds. ''The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah: First English Translation Compared with the Masoretic Version.'' Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0802865199}}</ref>

* The Samaritan Pentateuch uses less [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] language in descriptions of God, with intermediaries performing actions that the Jewish version attributes directly to God. Where the Jewish text describes [[Yahweh]] as a "man of war" (Exodus 15:3),<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|15:3|HE}}</ref> the Samaritan has "hero of war", a phrase applied to spiritual beings. 
* In Numbers 23:4,<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|23:4|HE}}</ref> the Samaritan text reads "The [[Angel of the Lord|Angel of God]] found [[Balaam]]", in contrast with the Jewish text, which reads "And God met Balaam."<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029099864#page/n326/mode/1up Thomson 1919, p. 312.]</ref>

* In Genesis 50:23,<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|50:23|HE}}</ref> the Jewish text says that [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]]'s grandchildren were born "upon the knees of Joseph", while the Samaritan text says they were born "in the days of Joseph".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SBMXnB4CRpUC&pg=PA94 Vanderkam 2002, p. 94].</ref>

* In about 34 instances, the Samaritan Pentateuch has repetitions in one section of text that was also found in other parts of the Pentateuch.<ref name="Purvis" /> Such repetitions are also implied or presupposed in the Jewish text, but not explicitly recorded in it. For example, the Samaritan text in the [[Book of Exodus]] on multiple occasions records Moses repeating to [[Pharaoh]] exactly what God had previously instructed Moses to tell him, which makes the text look repetitious, in comparison with the Jewish text.<ref name="Purvis" /> In other occasions, the Samaritan Pentateuch has subjects, prepositions, particles, appositives, including the repetition of words and phrases within a single passage, that are absent from the Jewish text.<ref name="Purvis" />