The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, abbreviated as BHS or rarely BH⁴, is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes. It is the fourth edition in the Biblia Hebraica series started by Rudolf Kittel and is published by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (German Bible Society) in Stuttgart.

Jul 14, 2011  Most people would be shocked to learn the theological positions of Kittel. He despised Jews, denied that salvation is through Jesus Christ, denied the atonement, rejected the inspiration of scripture, contradicted the words of Jesus, and then put all these views into writing, so as to be sure and leave a written record of his personal hostility to Jesus Christ, Christianity, the Reformation. Greek Bible text is displayed with unicode fonts that are installed on your system. If the text isn't displayed correctly, we'll recommend you to install the special SBL-Greek font. Biblia Hebraica is a Latin phrase meaning Hebrew Bible, traditionally used as a title for printed editions of the Tanakh. Less commonly, Biblia Hebraica may also refer to subsequent editions in the Biblia Hebraica series which build on the work of Kittel's editions.

Publishing history[edit]

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bhs is a revision of the third edition of the Biblia Hebraica, edited by Paul Kahle, the first printed Bible based on the Leningrad Codex. The footnotes are completely revised. It originally appeared in installments, from 1968 to 1976, with the first one-volume edition in 1977; it has been reprinted many times since.

The fifth reprint of the bhs was revised and redistributed in 1997. Work is currently under way at the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft to produce a completely reworked and expanded edition in 20 volumes, known as the Biblia Hebraica Quinta or Fifth Hebrew Bible, which also includes references to and comparisons with recently released material from Qumran texts. Initial volumes of the Bible Hebraica Quinta have been available for sale since 2004. Completion of the project is intended by 2020.

BHS Fascicles and Editors[edit]

The work has been published in 15 fascicles from 1968 to 1976 according to this release schedule taken from the Latin prolegomena in the book.

The processing and development of the Masoretic annotations and notes within all editions of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia was the privilege of Gérard E. Weil. He also released the book Massorah Gedolah iuxta codicem Leningradensem B 19a at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in 1971, which is the very first Edition of the Masora Magna, what gives an idea of his unique expertise in relation to the Masora.

A print edition of the Leningrad Codex[edit]

The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is meant to be an exact copy of the Masoretic Text as recorded in the Leningrad Codex. According to the introductory prolegomena of the book, the editors have 'accordingly refrained from removing obvious scribal errors'^[1] (these have then been noted in the critical apparatus). Diacritics like the Silluq and Meteg which were missing in the Leningrad Codex also have not been added.

The only exception to that is the Rafe diacritic which has been consistently omitted in the BHS due to 'almost insuperable technical difficulties' with its implementation in the typeface. This is not untypical, since almost every Hebrew Bible print edition, starting with Jacob ben Chayyim's Bombergiana omits the diacritic (because of its minor importance; it serves as a pronunciation help and is partially redundant due to the Dagesh diacritic, the 'opposite of the Rafe').

Like its predecessor the Biblia Hebraica Kittel the BHS adds the letters samekh 'ס' (for סתומה, setumah: 'closed portion') and 'פ' (for פתוחה, petuchah: 'open portion') into the text to indicate blank spaces in the Leningrad Codex, which divide the text into sections.

One more difference to the Leningrad Codex is the book order, the Books of Chronicles have been moved to the end as it appears in common Hebrew bibles, even though it precedes Psalms in the codex.

Contents[edit]

The BHS is composed of the three traditional divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures: the Torah (תורה 'instruction'), Neviim (נבאים 'prophets'), and the Ketuvim (כתבים 'writings').

In the margins are Masoretic notes. These are based on the codex, but have been heavily edited to make them more consistent and easier to understand. Even so, whole books have been written to explain these notes themselves. Some of the notes are marked sub loco ('in this place'), meaning that there appears to be some problem, often that they contradict the text. The editors never published any explanation of what the problems were, or how they might be resolved.

The sub loco notes do not necessarily explain interesting text variants; they are, in the vast majority, only notes on inaccurate word countings/frequencies. See Daniel S. Mynatt, The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Bibal, 1994); Christopher Dost, The Sub-Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Gorgias, 2016).

Footnotes record possible corrections to the Hebrew text. Many are based on the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Dead Sea Scrolls and on early Bible translations ('versions') such as the Septuagint, Vulgate and Peshitta. Others are conjectural emendations.

Book order[edit]

The order of the biblical books generally follows the codex, even for the Ketuvim, where that order differs from most common printed Hebrew bibles. Thus the Book of Job comes after Psalms and before Proverbs, and the Megillot are in the order Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and Esther. The only difference is with Chronicles.

The Torah:

1. Genesis [בראשית / B^ere’shit] (English rendering: 'In beginning')

2. Exodus [שמות / Sh^emot] (English rendering: 'Names')

3. Leviticus [ויקרא / Vayik^era’] (English rendering: 'And he called')

4. Numbers [במדבר / Bamid^ebar] (English rendering: 'In the wilderness')

5. Deuteronomy [דברים / D^evarim] (English rendering: 'The words')

The Nevi'im:

6. Joshua [יהושע / Y^ehoshua‛]

7. Judges [שופטים / Shoph^etim]

8. Samuel (I & II) [שמואל / Sh^emuel]

9. Kings (I & II) [מלכים / M^elakhim]

10. Isaiah [ישעיה / Y^esha‛yahu]

11. Jeremiah [ירמיה / Yir^emiyahu]

12. Ezekiel [יחזקאל / Y^ekhezq’el]

13. The Twelve Prophets [תרי עשר]

a. Hosea [הושע / Hoshea‛]

b. Joel [יואל / Yo’el]

c. Amos [עמוס / Amos]

d. Obadiah [עובדיה / ‛Ovadyah]

e. Jonah [יונה / Yonah]

f. Micah [מיכה / Mikhah]

g. Nahum [נחום / Nakhum]

h. Habakkuk [חבקוק /Havaquq]

i. Zephaniah [צפניה / Ts^ephanyah]

j. Haggai [חגי / Khagai]

k. Zechariah [זכריה / Z^ekharyah]

l. Malachi [מלאכי / Mal’akhi]

The Ketuvim

The Sifrei Emet, the poetic books:

14. Psalms [תהלים / Tehilim]

15. Job [איוב / ’Iyov]

16. Proverbs [משלי / Mishlei]

The Five Megillot or 'Five Scrolls':

17. Ruth [רות / Ruth]

18. Song of Songs [שיר השירים / Shir Hashirim]

19. Ecclesiastes [קהלת / Qoheleth]

20. Lamentations [איכה / Eikhah]

21. Esther [אסתר / Esther]

The rest of the 'Writings':

22. Daniel [דניאל / Dani’el]

23. Ezra-Nehemiah [עזרא ונחמיה / ‛Ezra’ v^eNekhemiah]

24. Chronicles (I & II) [דברי הימים / Div^erei Hayamim]

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader's Edition[edit]

In September 2014 an edition of the BHS called Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader's Edition (abbreviated as the BHS Reader) was published by the German Bible Society and Hendrickson Publishers. This edition features the same Hebrew text as the regular BHS, but without the Masora on the side margins and with a 'Lexical and Grammatical Apparatus' on the bottom of the page replacing the critical apparatus of the BHS.

It was done as a six-year project by Donald R. Vance (Oral Roberts University), George Athas (Moore Theological College) and Yael Avrahami (Oranim Academic College).

The edition defines an English translation to every word in the text: words that occur 70 times or more are listed in a glossary in the back of the book, and words that occur fewer than 70 times are listed in the apparatus. The translations were mostly taken out of the Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, but also from DCH^[a] and the Brown–Driver–Briggs.

Alongside with the translations it features a grammatical parsing of the words encoded in a system of abbreviations (e.g. an introductory example in the book states that the word 'והקריבו' from Lev 1:15 has the note 'Hr10s0 קרב' in the apparatus which means that the word is a 'Hiphil suffix conjugation third masculine singular verb with a wāv retentive and a third masculine singular pronominal suffix of the root קרב').^[2] It also has a 50-page appendix listing paradigm-tables for strong and weak verbal roots and noun suffixes.

The BHS Reader follows a tradition of 'reader's editions' of Bibles in the original languages. In March 2008 Zondervan published a similar edition done by A. Philip Brown II and Bryan W. Smith from Bob Jones University called A Reader's Hebrew Bible which is based on Westminster Leningrad Codex 4.10, virtually identical to the BHS. Their translations in the apparatus are based on the same dictionaries (with a threshold of 100 occurrences for glossary or apparatus translations instead of 70 in the BHS Reader) and a simpler parsing system.

Criticism[edit]

The bible scholar Emanuel Tov has criticised BHS somewhat for having errors.^[3]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^DCH: Dictionary of Classical Hebrew by David J. A. Clines

References[edit]

1. ^Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 1997, page xii
2. ^Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader's Edition, 2014, page xiii
3. ^He states: 'The edition of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) originally appeared in fascicles which were corrected in the final printing, which carried the date 1967-1977. It was corrected again in the 1984 printing, yet even this printing contains mistakes'. Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Emanuel Tov, page 3. at Google books

Literature[edit]

bhs editions

• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Standard Edition, ISBN978-3-438-05218-6
• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Pocket Book Edition, ISBN978-3-438-05219-3
• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Study Edition (paperback), ISBN978-3-438-05222-3
• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Wide-Margin Edition, ISBN978-3-438-05224-7
• Biblia Sacra Utriusque Testamenti Editio Hebraica et Graeca (with Novum Testamentum Graece), ISBN978-3-438-05250-6

About the bhs

• Kelley, Page H, Mynatt, Daniel S and Crawford, Timothy G: The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Eerdmans, 1998
• Mynatt, Daniel S: The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Bibal Press, 1994
• Wonneberger, R: Understanding bhs: Biblical Institute Press, 1984
• Würthwein, Ernst: The Text of the Old Testament, an Introduction to the Biblia Hebraica (2nd edition): SCM Press, 1995
• Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible by C.D. Ginsburg

Biblia Hebraica refers primarily to the three editions of the Hebrew Bible edited by Rudolf Kittel. When referenced, Kittel's Biblia Hebraica is usually abbreviated BH, or BHK (K for Kittel). When specific editions are referred to, BH1, BH2 and BH3 are used. Biblia Hebraica is a Latin phrase meaning Hebrew Bible, traditionally used as a title for printed editions of the Tanakh. Less commonly, Biblia Hebraica may also refer to subsequent editions in the Biblia Hebraica series which build on the work of Kittel's editions.

First and second editions[edit]

The Old Testament scholar Rudolf Kittel from Leipzig started to develop a critical edition of the Hebrew Bible in 1901, which would later become the first of its kind. His first edition Biblia Hebraica edidit Rudolf Kittel was published as a two-volume work in 1906 under the publisher J. C. Hinrichs in Leipzig.^[1]

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Pdf Free

As a textual basis for his edition he reproduced the Hebrew text found in the Mikraot Gedolot (also cited as Bombergiana or '${\displaystyle \mathfrak{B}}$'), the rabbinic Bible from Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah printed by Daniel Bomberg in Venice in 1524/1525 which had been generally accepted as the representative Hebrew text for centuries up to that point. Kittel printed the text with the Hebrew consonants, vowels (Niqqud) and Cantillation marks as found in the Bomberg Bible, although his editions did not include Masoretic notes, whereas the Bomberg edition did.

In the bottom part of the page he added his critical apparatus where he listed textual variants from other ancient manuscripts (especially the Septuagint; but also from the Samaritan Pentateuch and early Bible translations such as the Latin Vulgate and Syriac Peshitta) and conjectural emendations.

The second edition of Kittel's Biblia Hebraica appeared in 1913; the differences between it and the first one are slight, apart from a list of errors in the second. It was reprinted several times.

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Pdf

Third edition[edit]

In 1921 the Bible Society Württemberg (Württembergische Bibelanstalt) bought the rights for Kittel's Biblia Hebraica from J. C. Hinrichs and alongside further reprints of the existing edition, approaches for a third edition were planned from 1925 onwards. The third edition had a slightly different Hebrew text and completely revised footnotes. For the first time, a Bible reproduced the text of the Leningrad Codex from the year 1008, since it was (and still is) the oldest existing manuscript of the entire Hebrew Bible. The idea to use that Codex is credited to Paul Kahle, who discovered its importance. The BH³ reproduces the Masoretic Text in the Codex exactly, without any editing.

The critical apparatus was separated into two different categories, 'mere variants and less important notifications' (in German: bloße Varianten und minder wichtige Mitteilungen) and 'the actual textual changes and otherwise more considerable things' (in German: die wirklichen Textänderungen und das sonst Bedeutsamere) to inform the reader of the emphasis in the list of variants.

In its approach to reproduce the Leningrad Codex it also featured for the first time the Masoretic notes found on the left and right margins of the Codex, the so-called Masora Parva, although without any explanations to it. These marginal notes were of great importance to the editors of the subsequent editions (the BHS began to redact the Masora Parva and also to implement references to the notes on the top and bottom of the page, the so-called Masora Magna).

BH³ appeared in installments, from 1929 to 1937, with the first one-volume edition in 1937; it was reprinted many times, with later editions recording variants in the Book of Isaiah and Habakkuk from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Some of the references in the textual apparatus reference manuscripts that no longer exist due to the bombing of Leipzig during World War II.^[2]

Subsequent editions[edit]

The third edition was superseded by the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. The current project in this tradition is the Biblia Hebraica Quinta.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'The Biblia Hebraica Kittel Origin Story'. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart.
2. ^'BHK'. academic-bible.com.

External links[edit]

Biblia Hebraica Kittel

• Biblia Hebraica (1st ed.) on archive.orgIII

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia