The Bible and the Masoretic Text
Published December 8, 2017
When using the words “Bible” or “Scripture,” we refer to the group of authoritative writings that was accepted by some or all Jews and Christians as authoritative, whether in the form of the Masoretic Text or non-Masoretic forms. Actually, many scholars prefer to speak about Scripture or Scriptures, which is less specific than Bible, because different religions understand different things when referring to the “Bible.”
Eclectic editions are modern Bible editions that reconstruct a scholar's vision of the original text of the Hebrew Bible, such as the series The Sacred Books of the Old Testament, A Critical Edition of the Hebrew Text, Printed in Colors, with Notes; ed. Paul Haupt (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrich, 1893–1904).
Editor’s note: For a brief description of the Masorah is it appears in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS), see the the BHS section in "Tools for Studying the Hebrew Bible." It should be noted that whereas in BHS the Masorah Magna appears only in abbreviated form, in the newer, not yet complete, BHQ (Biblia Hebraica Quinta), the Masorah Magna appears in its entirety and each volume even has a section with notes on the Masorah Magna.
