Until the discovery of the Judaean desert scrolls, the only premedieval fragment of the Hebrew Bible known to scholars was the Nash Papyrus (c. 150 bce) from Egypt containing the Decalogue and Deuteronomy. Now, however, fragments of about 180 different manuscripts of biblical books are available. Their dates vary between the 3rd century bce and the 2nd century ce, and all but 10 stem from the caves of Qumrān. All are written on either leather or papyrus in columns and on one side only.

The most important manuscripts from what is now identified as Cave 1 of Qumrān are a practically complete Isaiah scroll (1QIsa^a), dated about 100–75 bce, and another very fragmentary manuscript (1QIsa^b) of the same book. The first contains many variants from the Masoretic text in both orthography and text, and the second is very close to the Masoretic type and contains few genuine variants. The richest hoard, from Cave 4, includes fragments of 5 copies of Genesis, 8 of Exodus, 1 of Leviticus, 14 of Deuteronomy, 2 of Joshua, 3 of Samuel, 12 of Isaiah, 4 of Jeremiah, 8 of the Minor Prophets, 1 of Proverbs, and 3 of Daniel. Cave 11 yielded a Psalter containing the last third of the book in a form different from that of the Masoretic text, as well as a manuscript of Leviticus.

The importance of the Qumrān scrolls cannot be exaggerated. Their great antiquity brings them close to the Hebrew Bible period itself—from as early as 250–200 bce. For the first time, Hebrew variant texts are extant and all known major text types are present. Some are close to the Septuagint, others to the Samaritan. On the other hand, many of the scrolls are practically identical with the Masoretic text, which thus takes this recension back in history to pre-Christian times. Several texts in the paleo-Hebrew script show that this script continued to be used side by side with the Aramaic script for a long time.

Of quite a different order are scrolls from other areas of the Judaean desert. All of these are practically identical with the received text. This applies to fragments of Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Ezekiel, and Psalms discovered at Masada (the Jewish fortress destroyed by the Romans in 73 ce) as well as to the finds at Wadi Al-Murabbaʿat, the latest date of which is 135 ce. Here were found fragments of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Isaiah in addition to a substantially preserved Minor Prophets scroll. Variants from the Masoretic text are negligible. The same phenomenon characterizes the fragments of Numbers found at Naḥal Ḥever.

Masoretic texts

No biblical manuscripts have survived from the six centuries that separate the latest of the Judaean desert scrolls from the earliest of the Masoretic period. A “Codex Mugah,” frequently referred to as an authority in the early 10th century, and the “Codex Hilleli,” said to have been written circa 600 by Rabbi Hillel ben Moses ben Hillel, have both vanished.

The earliest extant Hebrew Bible codex is the Cairo Prophets written and punctuated by Moses ben Asher in Tiberias (in Palestine) in 895. Next in age is the Leningrad Codex of the Latter Prophets dated to 916, which was not originally the work of Ben Asher, but its Babylonian pointing—i.e., vowel signs used for pronunciation purposes—was brought into line with the Tiberian Masoretic system.

The outstanding event in the history of that system was the production of the model so-called Aleppo Codex, now in Jerusalem. Written by Solomon ben Buya’a, it was corrected, punctuated, and furnished with a Masoretic apparatus by Aaron ben Moses ben Asher about 930. Originally containing the entire Hebrew Bible in about 380 folios, of which 294 are extant, the Aleppo Codex remains the only known true representative of Aaron ben Asher’s text and the most important witness to that particular Masoretic tradition that achieved hegemony throughout Jewry.

Two other notable manuscripts based on Aaron’s system are the manuscript designated as BM or. 4445, which contains most of the Pentateuch and utilized a Masora (text tradition) circa 950, and the Leningrad complete Hebrew Bible designated MSB 19a of 1008. Codex Reuchliana of the Prophets, written in 1105 and now in Karlsruhe, Germany, represents the system of Moses ben David ben Naphtali, which was more faithful to that of Moses ben Asher.

Collations of the Masoretic materials

The earliest extant attempt at collating the differences between the Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali Masoretic traditions was made by Mishael ben Uzziel in his Kitāb al-Ḥulaf (before 1050). A vast amount of Masoretic information, drawn chiefly from Spanish manuscripts, is to be found in the text-critical commentary known as Minhath Shai, by Solomon Jedidiah Norzi, completed in 1626 and printed in the Mantua Bible of 1742. Benjamin Kennicott collected the variants of 615 manuscripts and 52 printed editions (2 vol., 1776–80, Oxford). Giovanni Bernado De Rossi published his additional collections of 731 manuscripts and 300 prints (4 vol., 1784–88, Parma), and C.D. Ginsburg did the same for 70 manuscripts, largely from the British Museum, and 17 early printed editions (3 vol. in 4, 1908–26, London).

Printed editions

Until 1488, only separate parts of the Hebrew Bible had been printed, all with rabbinic commentaries. The earliest was the Psalms (1477), followed by the Pentateuch (1482), the Prophets (1485/86), and the Hagiographa (1486/87), all printed in Italy.

The first edition of the entire Hebrew Bible was printed at Soncino (in Italy) in 1488 with punctuation and accents but without any commentary. The second complete Bible was printed in Naples in 1491/93 and the third in Brescia in 1494. All these editions were the work of Jews. The first Christian production was a magnificent Complutensian Polyglot (under the direction of Francisco Cardinal Jiménez of Spain) in six volumes, four of which contained the Hebrew Bible and Greek and Latin translations together with the Aramaic rendering (Targum) of the Pentateuch that has been ascribed to Onkelos. Printed at Alcalá de Henares (1514–17) and circulated about 1522, this Bible proved to be a turning point in the study of the Hebrew text in western Europe.

The first rabbinic Bible—i.e., the Hebrew text furnished with full vowel points and accents, accompanied by the Aramaic Targums and the major medieval Jewish commentaries—was edited by Felix Pratensis and published by Daniel Bomberg (Venice, 1516/17). The second edition, edited by Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah and issued by Bomberg in four volumes (Venice, 1524/25), became the prototype of future Hebrew Bibles down to the 20th century. It contained a vast text-critical apparatus of Masoretic notes never since equalled in any edition. Unfortunately, Ben Hayyim had made use of late manuscripts, and the text and notes are eclectic.

In London, Christian David Ginsburg, an immigrant Polish Jew and Christian convert, produced a critical edition of the complete Hebrew Bible (1894, 1908, 1926) revised according to the Masora and early prints with variant readings from manuscripts and ancient versions. It was soon displaced by the Biblica Hebraica (1906, 1912) by Rudolf Kittel and Paul Kahle, two German biblical scholars. The third edition of this work, completed by Albrecht Alt and Otto Eissfeldt (Stuttgart, 1937), finally abandoned Ben Hayyim’s text, substituting that of the Leningrad Codex (B 19a). It has a dual critical apparatus, with textual emendations separated from the manuscript and versional variants. Since 1957, variants from the so-called Judaean desert scrolls have been included. In progress at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the early 1970s was the preparation of a new text of the entire Hebrew Bible based on the Aleppo Codex, which was to include all its own Masoretic notes together with textual differences found in all pertinent sources. A sample edition of the Book of Isaiah appeared in 1965.