Textual Criticism of the Old Testament: Amendments
Examples of Mistakes
According to the Masoretic text, it says in 2 Samuel 6:4
“They brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which is on a hill.”
These words also occur in verse 3, and therefore it is likely that the person who copied the text made a mistake.
In the Good News Translation this mistake has been rectified. The words can only be found in verse 3.
Example of an Intentional Change
According to the Masoretic text, Judges 18:30
“son of Manasse”
Originally, this probably said “son of Moses”. Adding a letter in Hebrew produced a different name. This is no accident. Judges 18 is about a shrine with an idol. The scribe probably did not want the text to say that a son of Moses was the priest there.
In the Good News Translation, Judges 18:30 says, “Jonathan, the son of Gershom and grandson of Moses”.
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