Samaritan Pentateuch

The Samaritans, a group related to Judaism, used the Samaritan Pentateuch. That is their own Hebrew version of the books of the Torah.

There is a number of differences between the Masoretic text of the Pentateuch and the Samaritan version. In these cases the Samaritan Pentateuch will usually have a secondary reading. That means the Masoretic text contains the oldest and most authentic text in those passages, and the Samaritan Pentateuch a later, divergent text.

Nowadays, it is believed that the text of the Samaritan Pentateuch dates from the first century BC.

An important explanation of the differences in the text is that the Samaritan Pentateuch is often regularised, that is to say the passages within the Pentateuch are adjusted to bring them in line with each other. For instance, in Exodus 20:8 and Deuteronomy 5:12, two different passages about celebrating the Sabbath, have been brought in line with one another.