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MASORAH

(Heb. māsôrâ)

In its broadest sense, the traditions and rules, oral or written, regulating all aspects of the copying and use of Bible manuscripts. However, the term is normally understood in its narrow sense, referring only to the Masoretic notes which are transmitted with the text. These notes are in Hebrew or Aramaic and are usually numbers or abbreviations.

There are different kinds of Masoretic notes. The Masorah Parva (Mp) consists of the notes in the side margins of manuscripts or editions (see BHS). These are matched with words or phrases in the text by a small circle raised over the textual item. Mp notes primarily, but not exclusively, give the number of occurrences for the textual item. For example, in BHS, wĕlôṭ (“and Lot”) in Gen. 13:1 is matched with the Mp note d (daleth), the letter representing the number four. This note indicates that wĕlôṭ occurs four times.

The Masorah Magna (Mm) consists of notes in the upper and lower margins of the manuscripts (but in BHS they are in the supplementary volume, Massorah Gedolah). The Mm notes give a list of verses containing the occurrences enumerated by the Mp notes. Each verse is cited by a short identifying excerpt.

The Masorah Finalis (Mf) refers to the material collected at the end of a particular book, section (e.g., Writings), or manuscript. In manuscripts the Mf consists of summary lists (such as the number of verses) or other data for which there was no room in the margins of a manuscript. The term Mf also refers to the edited lists collected by Jacob Ben Chayyim which are found at the end of the Second Rabbinic Bible (1524-25).

The Masorah is not a unified body of material transmitted uniformly with all manuscripts. The content varies from manuscript to manuscript, although much of it is overlapping in manuscripts from the standard Tiberian tradition. The purpose of the Masorah was to safeguard the text precisely, so that nothing would be added to or deleted from the text. To this end, the notes give specific instructions regarding words and phrases where an error in writing might occur. The Masorah was an effective means of quality control by which the text was preserved without significant change.

Bibliography. A. Dotan, “Masorah,” EncJud 16 (Jerusalem, 1971): 1401-82; C. D. Ginsburg, Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible (1899, repr. New York, 1966); P. H. Kelley, D. S. Mynatt, and T. G. Crawford, The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Grand Rapids, 1998); G. E. Weil, Massorah Gedolah 1 (Rome, 1971); I. Yeivin, Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah. SBLMasS 5 (Missoula, 1980).

Daniel S. Mynatt

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MASORAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)