The "Eighteen Emendations" of the
Sopherim. This Is Appendix 33
From The Companion Bible.
The Massorah (Appendix 30) that
is to say, the small writing in the margins of the standard Hebrew
codices, as shown in the plate at the bottom of Appendix 30,
consists of a concordance of words and phrases, etc., safeguarding the
Sacred Text. A note in the Massorah
against several passages in the manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible states:
"This is one of the Eighteen Emendations of the Sopherim,"
or words of that effect. Complete lists of these
emendations are found in the Massorah of most of the model
or standard codices of the Hebrew Bible, and these are not always
identical; so that the total number exceeds eighteen: from which it would
appear that these examples are simply typical. The
Siphri 1 adduces seven
passages; the Yalkut,2 ten; the
Mechiltha,3 eleven; the
Tanchuma,4 seventeen; while
the St. Petersburg Codex gives two passages not included in any other list
(Malachi 1:12; 3:9; see below).
These emendations were made at a period long before
Christ, before the Hebrew text had obtained its present settled form, and
these emendations affect the Figure called Anthropopatheia.
See Appendix 6.
The following is a list of the eighteen
"Emendations," together with eight others not included in
the official lists. Particulars will be found on consulting the notes on
the respective passages. Genesis 18:22. Numbers
11:15. 12:12. 1Samuel
3:13. 2Samuel
12:14. 16:12. 1Kings
12:16. 21:10. 21:13. 2Chronicles
10:16. Job
1:5. 1:11. 2:5. 2:9. 7:20. Psalm
10:3. 106:20. Ecclesiastes
3:21. Jeremiah
2:11. Lamentations
3:20. Ezekiel
8:17. Hosea
4:7. Habakkuk
1:12. Zechariah
2:8 (12). Malachi
1:13. 3:9.
NOTES
1 An ancient
commentary on Leviticus (circa A.D. 219-47).
2 A
catena of the whole Hebrew Scriptures, composed in the
eleventh century, from ancient sources by Rabbi Simeon.
3 An ancient
commentary on Exodus, compiled about A.D. 90 by Rabbi
Ishmael ben Elisa. 4 A commentary on
the Pentateuch, compiled from ancient sources by Rabbi Tanchuma ben Abba,
about A.D. 380
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