Masoretic Text

The Masoretic text is the standard Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Originally, words in this text were written only in consonants. Later, in the early Middle Ages, vowels were added to the text. This addition of vowel signs is called “vocalisation”.

The consonants-only Hebrew text was transcribed and handed down by Jewish scholars, century by century. These scholars were called the Masoretes, after the Hebrew word masar, which means “to transmit”. The text of the Hebrew Bible that was handed down by them is called the Masoretic text. The Masoretic text is thus a combination of centuries-old consonantal text and medieval additions. In the Middle Ages, not only vowel signs but also other diacritical marks were added. It was only in this period, furthermore, that the text was divided into verses.

From around 300 BC to AD 100, there were various different Hebrew texts of many books of the Old Testament. The texts were constantly rewritten. In some cases, the various texts were very similar, while sometimes they differed considerably. In the latter case, you could say that there were different versions of books of the Bible in circulation. From the second century AD, one single version became the most important. That became the standard text, later called the Masoretic text.

The Masoretic text dates to the Middle Ages, but from fragments of the Qumran and the Septuagint it is clear that the consonantal text of the Masoretic text is much older, from at least 300 BC.
The Masoretic text is the best text for the books of the Old Testament. But at the same time, it should be remembered that this text only became the standard text from the second century BC on. In the centuries before that, there were other text versions in circulation alongside this text.