The first list of the Old Testament manuscripts in Hebrew, made by Benjamin Kennicott (1776–1780) and published by Oxford, listed 615 manuscripts from libraries in
Tag: Old Testament Textual Criticism
OTTC GENESIS 30:11: Is the Kethib (Hebrew text) Correct or the Qere (Marginal Reading) Correct?
Each instance, some 1,300 of these depending on the manuscript, must be evaluated on its own merits. Many times, the kethib (text) is correct and is a good reading or an even better reading than the qere (margin).
WHAT IS OLD TESTAMENT TEXTUAL CRITICISM AND WHY DO WE NEED IT?
We begin by offering you what textual criticism is. It is the study of all the manuscript evidence and internal evidence (e.g., style of the
OTTC GENESIS 47:21: Did Moses write of Joseph, saying that “he removed them to the cities” or was it “he enslaved them as slaves”?
DIFFICULTY: For some scholars, this is a difficulty, as they feel “he removed them [i.e., the people] to the cities,” does not make a lot of sense in this context. They feel that “he made slaves of them” makes more sense in this context. What is the case?
OTTC GENESIS 46:26-27: WAS IT “TWO SOULS” OR WAS IT “NINE SOULS”? WAS THE TOTAL “SEVENTY SOULS” OR WAS IT “SEVENTY-FIVE SOULS”?
First, a quick reminder about textual issues. Simply put, having no perfect solution does not mean that there is no perfect solution, it merely eludes us at this time. For this textual difficulty, many have offered different explanations.
OTTC ISAIAH 34:14: WAS IT “LILITH” OR WAS IT “LILIOTH”?
The Hebrew word has been variously translated as “screech owl” (KJ), “night-monster” (AS, NASB), “nightjar” (NEB, UASV), and “night hag” (RS), “night birds ” (CSB), “vampire” (Moffatt), while the Jerusalem Bible and the Lexham English Bible prefer simply to transliterate the name as “Lilith.”
