Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

From Textus Receptus

The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, or bhs, 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 published by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (German Bible Society) in Stuttgart.

Authority

bhs is widely regarded (by Christians and Jews alike) as an accurate edition of the Hebrew scriptures, and a useful text-critical tool. It is the most widely used edition among biblical scholars.

For masoretic details, however, Israeli and Jewish scholars have shown a marked preference for alternative editions based upon the Aleppo Codex.

Publishing history

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

In the margin 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. Some of the notes are marked Sub loco, meaning that there seems 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.

One should not be fooled to think that the Sub loco notes explain interesting text variants; they are in the vast majority only notes on wrong word countings/frequencies. See Mynatt, Daniel S: The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Bibal Press, 1994

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

Work is now under way to produce a revision, to be known as the Biblia Hebraica Quinta or Fifth Hebrew Bible, being a revision of the existing fourth edition of bhs.

Book Order

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 Megilloth are in the order Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and Esther. The only difference is with Chronicles.

The Torah:

1. Genesis [בראשית / Breishit]

2. Exodus [שמות / Shmot]

3. Leviticus [ויקרא / Vayikra]

4. Numbers [במדבר / Bamidbar]

5. Deuteronomy [דברים / D'varim]

The Nevi'im:

6. Joshua [יהושע / Y'hoshua]

7. Judges [שופטים / Shophtim]

8. Samuel (I & II) [שמואל / Sh'muel]

9. Kings (I & II) [מלכים / M'lakhim]

10. Isaiah [ישעיה / Y'shayahu]

11. Jeremiah [ירמיה / Yir'mi'yahu]

12. Ezekiel [יחזקאל / Y'khezqel]

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 /Havakuk]

i. Zephaniah [צפניה / Ts'phanyah]

j. Haggai [חגי / Khagai]

k. Zechariah [זכריה / Z'kharyah]

l. Malachi [מלאכי / Mal'akhi]

The Ketuvim

The "Sifrei Emet," "Books of Truth":

14. Psalms [תהלים / Tehilim]

15. Job [איוב / Iyov]

16. Proverbs [משלי / Mishlei]

The "Five Megilot" or "Five Scrolls":

17. Ruth [רות / Rut]

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

19. Ecclesiastes [קהלת / Kohelet]

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'Nekhemia]

24. Chronicles (I & II) [דברי הימים / Divrei Hayamim]

Literature

bhs editions

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Standard Edition, ISBN 978-3-438-05218-6
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Pocket Book Edition, ISBN 978-3-438-05219-3
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Study Edition (paperback), ISBN 978-3-438-05222-3
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Wide-Margin Edition, ISBN 978-3-438-05224-7
Biblia Sacra Utriusque Testamenti Editio Hebraica et Graeca (with Novum Testamentum Graece), ISBN 978-3-438-05250-6

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

The King James Version 2023 Edition New Testament is now complete and in print format here.

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Why We Should Not Passover Easter 1, 2, & 3

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