). "Mt" here denotes the Masoretic Text; "LXX", the original
Septuagint. The oldest manuscript fragments of the final Masoretic Text, including vocalications and the masorah, date from around the 9th century. The oldest-known complete copy, the
Leningrad Codex, dates from the early 11th century. The
Aleppo Codex, once the oldest-known complete copy but missing large sections since the
1947 Civil war in Palestine, dates from the 10th century. However, codification of the base consonants appears to have begun earlier, perhaps even in the
Second Temple period.
Second Temple period The discovery of the
Dead Sea Scrolls at
Qumran, dating from , shows that in this period there was no uniform text. According to
Menachem Cohen, the Dead Sea scrolls showed that "there was indeed a Hebrew text-type on which the Septuagint-translation was based and which differed substantially from the received MT [Masoretic Text]." The text of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Peshitta read somewhat in-between the Masoretic Text and the old Greek.
Joseph Fitzmyer noted the following regarding the findings at Qumran Cave 4 in particular: "Such ancient recensional forms of Old Testament books bear witness to an unsuspected textual diversity that once existed; these texts merit far greater study and attention than they have been accorded till now. Thus, the differences in the Septuagint are no longer considered the result of a poor or tendentious attempt to translate the Hebrew into the Greek; rather they testify to a different pre-Christian form of the Hebrew text". On the other hand, some of the fragments conforming most accurately to the Masoretic Text were found in Cave 4.
Tannaitic sources relate that a standard copy of the Hebrew Bible was kept in the court of the Second Temple for the benefit of copyists and that there were paid correctors of biblical books among the officers of the Temple. The
Letter of Aristeas claims that a model codex was sent to
Ptolemy by the
High Priest Eleazar, who asked that it be returned after the
Septuagint was completed.
Josephus describes the Romans taking a copy of the Law as spoil, and both he and
Philo claim no word of the text was ever changed from the time of Moses. In contrast, an
Amoraic narrative relates that three Torah scrolls were found in the Temple court, at variance with each other. The differences between the three were resolved by majority decision. This may describe a previous period, although
Solomon Zeitlin argues it is not historical.
Rabbinic period An emphasis on minute details of words and spellings, already used among the
Pharisees as basis for argumentation, reached its height with the example of
Rabbi Akiva (died 135 CE). The idea of a perfect text sanctified in its consonantal base quickly spread throughout the Jewish communities via supportive statements in
Halakha,
Aggadah, and Jewish thought; Very few manuscripts are said to have survived the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. This drastically reduced the number of variants in circulation and also gave a new urgency that the text must be preserved. Few manuscripts survive from this era, but a short
Leviticus fragment recovered from the ancient
En-Gedi Scroll, carbon-dated to the 3rd or 4th century CE, is completely identical to the consonantal Masoretic Text preserved today.
Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali The Masorah for the most part ended in the 10th century with
Aaron ben Moses ben Asher and
Ben Naphtali, who were the leading Masoretes of the time. Ben Asher wrote a standard codex (the
Aleppo Codex) embodying his opinions. Ben Naphtali likely did as well, though it has not survived. However, the differences between the two are found in more or less complete Masoretic lists and in quotations in David Ḳimḥi, Norzi, and other medieval writers. The differences between Ben Naphtali and Ben Asher number approximately 875, nine-tenths of which pertain to the placement of accents, while the rest concern vowels and consonantal spelling. The differences between the two Masoretes do not represent solely personal opinions; the two rivals represent different schools. Like the Ben Ashers there seem to have been several Ben Naftalis. The Masoretic lists often do not agree on the precise nature of the differences between the two rival authorities; it is, therefore, impossible to define with exactness their differences in every case; and it is probably due to this fact that the received text does not follow uniformly the system of either Ben Asher or Ben Naphtali.
The Middle Ages The two rival authorities, ben Asher and ben Naphtali, practically brought the Masorah to a close. Very few additions were made by the later Masoretes, styled in the 13th and 14th centuries
Naqdanim, who revised the works of the copyists, added the vowels and accents (generally in fainter ink and with a finer pen) and frequently the Masorah. During the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries the Franco-German school of
Tosafists influenced in the development and spread of Masoretic literature.
Gershom ben Judah, his brother
Machir ben Judah,
Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils (Tob 'Elem) of
Limoges,
Rabbeinu Tam (Jacob ben Meïr),
Menahem ben Perez of
Joigny,
Perez ben Elijah of
Corbeil,
Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon, Meïr Spira, and
Meir of Rothenburg made Masoretic compilations, or additions to the subject, which are all more or less frequently referred to in the marginal glosses of biblical codices and in the works of Hebrew grammarians. == Masorah ==