Not According to the Masorah

In their distinctive ways, BHQ and HBCE are seeking to move beyond and improve upon the text of the HB that appears in BHS. At the same time, both BHQ and HBCE show the continuing influence of BHS, and BHS itself continues to play a considerable, independent role as the only complete edition of the three. An often-overlooked aspect of this influence is how BHQ and HBCE address information conveyed by masoretic notes about which BHS raises no concerns (i.e., notes without comments like contra textum or sub loco). Some apparently unproblematic notes are associated with genuine difficulties. Yet neither BHQ nor HBCE comprehensively subjects L’s masorah to independent interrogation to unravel and apply what can be gleaned from these difficulties in ways fully consistent with these editions’ own stated approaches to the masorah. As a result, these editions show how they sometimes take for granted Gérard Weil’s comprehensiveness in noting challenges in BHS, as can be clearly illustrated from examples arising from the text of Deut 30 in BHS. Thus, readers of these editions must interrogate the masorah directly and cannot assume that the preparers of their editions have already mined and explained all the relevant masoretic data

Interrogation · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Historical and Linguistic Studies