Kethib
Encyclopedia
Qere and Ketiv, from the Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...

 qere or q're, ("[what is] read") and ketiv, or ketib, kethib, kethibh, kethiv, , also known as "keri uchesiv" or "keri uchetiv," ("[what is] written"), refer to a small number of differences between what is written in the consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...

, as preserved by scribal tradition, and what is read. In such situations, the Qere is the technical orthographic
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...

 device used to indicate the pronunciation of the words in the Masoretic text
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...

 of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

 (Tanakh), while the Ketiv indicates their written form, as inherited from tradition.

The Masoretic tradition

Torah scrolls for use in public reading in synagogues contain only the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 consonantal text, handed down by tradition (with no indication of vowels; use of matres lectionis is of very limited accuracy). However, in the Masoretic
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...

 codices
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...

 of the 9th–10th centuries, and most subsequent manuscripts and published editions of the Tanakh
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...

 intended for personal study, the pure consonantal text is annotated with vowel points, cantillation
Cantillation
Cantillation is the ritual chanting of readings from the Hebrew Bible in synagogue services. The chants are written and notated in accordance with the special signs or marks printed in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible to complement the letters and vowel points...

 marks and other diacritic symbols invented by the Masoretes
Masoretes
The Masoretes were groups of mostly Karaite scribes and scholars working between the 7th and 11th centuries, based primarily in present-day Israel in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem, as well as in Iraq...

 to indicate how it should be read and chanted, besides marginal notes serving various functions.

Though the basic consonantal text written in the Hebrew alphabet
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...

 was never altered, sometimes the Masoretes noted a different reading of a word than that found in the pre-Masoretic consonantal text. The Masoretic scribes used qere/ketiv to show, without changing the received consonantal text, that in their tradition a different reading of the text is to be used. That Masoretic reading or pronunciation is known as the Qere (Aramaic קרי "to be read"), while the pre-Masoretic consonantal spelling is known as the Ketiv (Aramaic כתיב "(what is) written").

In such Masoretic texts
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...

, the vowel diacritics of the qere (the Masoretic reading) would be placed in the main text, added around the consonantal letters of the ketiv (the written variant to be substituted — even if it contains a completely different number of letters), with a special sign indicating that there was a marginal note for this word. In the margins there would be a sign (for qere), followed by the consonants of the qere reading. In this way, the vowel points were removed from the qere and written instead on the ketiv. Despite this, the vowels and consonantal letters of the qere were still meant to be read together.

"Ordinary" qere

In an "ordinary" qere, there is only a difference in certain closely related letters, or letters that can be silent (as in Genesis
Genesis
The Book of Genesis , is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament....

 8:17). For example, the similarly shaped letters are often exchanged (euteronomy 34:7), as are (Esther 3:4) and the similar-sounding (Song of Songs
Song of songs
Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It may also refer to:In music:* Song of songs , the debut album by David and the Giants* A generic term for medleysPlays...

 4:9). Very often, one the letters are inserted (Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes
The Book of Ecclesiastes, called , is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The English name derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title.The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title Qoheleth , introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem." The work consists of personal...

 10:3) or removed from a word (Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...

 2:33). Many other similar cases exist. Other times, letters are reordered within the word (Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes
The Book of Ecclesiastes, called , is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The English name derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title.The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title Qoheleth , introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem." The work consists of personal...

 9:4).

Because the difference between the qere and ketiv is relatively large, a note is made in footnotes, sidenotes or brackets to indicate it (see "Typography" below).

"Vowel" qere

Sometimes, although the letters are unchanged, the vowel points differ between the qere and ketiv of the word (Genesis
Genesis
The Book of Genesis , is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament....

 12:8). The ketiv is typically omitted with no indication, leaving only the vowelization for the qere. Often the ketiv left in an unusual spelling, but other times, both qere and ketiv remain in standard spelling.

This type of qere is different from qere perpetuum, because here, the consonants do not change. In a qere perpetuum, the consonants actually do change.

"Omitted" qere

Occasionally, a word is not read at all (Judges
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its title describes its contents: it contains the history of Biblical judges, divinely inspired prophets whose direct knowledge of Yahweh allows them to act as decision-makers for the Israelites, as...

 20:14; Ruth
Book of Ruth
The Book of Ruth is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament. In the Jewish canon the Book of Ruth is included in the third division, or the Writings . In the Christian canon the Book of Ruth is placed between Judges and 1 Samuel...

 3:5,12), in which case the word is marked ketiv velo qere, meaning "written and not read."

"Euphemistic" qere

In rarer cases, the word is replaced entirely (Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...

 28:27, 30; Samuel
Samuel
Samuel is a leader of ancient Israel in the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. He is also known as a prophet and is mentioned in the Qur'an....

 I 5:6) for reasons of taharat halashon, "purity of language." This type of qere is noted in a printed Hebrew Bible.

"Split/Joined" qere

In such a case, a qere is one word while the ketiv is multiple words (Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...

 33:2) or vice-versa (Lamentations
Lamentations
Lamentations may refer to:*The Book of Lamentations*"Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet" and "Genre of the Lamentations", two articles on the music for Tenebrae*Laments by 16th-century Polish poet Jan Kochanowski...

 4:3).

Qere perpetuum

In a few cases a change may be marked solely by the adjustment of the vowels written on the consonants, without any notes in the margin, if it is common enough that this will suffice for the reader to recognize it. This is known as a Qere perpetuum ("perpetual" Qere). It differs from an "ordinary qere" in that there is no note marker and no accompanying marginal note — these are certain commonly occurring cases of qere/ketiv in which the reader is expected to understand that a qere exists merely from seeing the vowel points of the qere in the consonantal letters of the ketiv.
For example, in the Pentateuch, the third-person singular feminine pronoun is usually spelled the same as the third-person singular masculine pronoun . The Masoretes indicated this situation by adding a written diacritic symbol for the vowel [i] to the pre-Masoretic consonantal spelling h-w-' (see diagram). The resulting orthography would seem to indicate a pronunciation hiw, but this is meaningless in Biblical Hebrew, and a knowledgeable reader of the Biblical text would know to read the feminine pronoun here.

Another example of an important qere perpetuum in the text of the Bible is the name of the God of Israel — (cf. Tetragrammaton
Tetragrammaton
The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...

). Often it is marked with the vowels , indicating that it is to be pronounced as Adonai (meaning "my Lord") rather than with its own vowels. The consensus of mainstream scholarship is that "Yehowah" (or in Latin transcription "Jehovah") is a pseudo-Hebrew form which was mistakenly created when Medieval and/or Renaissance Christian scholars misunderstood this common qere perpetuum; the usual Jewish practice at the time of the Masoretes was to pronounce it as "Adonai," as is still the Jewish custom today. Pronouncing it as "Jehovah," "Yehowah" or similar would be a mistake of exactly the same type as reading hiw for the qere perpetuum of the third-person singular feminine pronoun.

Occasionally, the Tetragrammaton
Tetragrammaton
The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...

 is marked to indicate a qere of Elohim, which itself is another Divine Name.

Jewish tradition

In Jewish tradition, both the qere and the ketiv are considered highly significant. When reading the Torah scroll in the synagogue, Jewish law stipulates that the qere is to be read and not the ketiv, to the extent that if the ketiv was read, it must be corrected and read according to the qere. In addition however, Jewish law requires the scroll to be written according to the ketiv, and this is so critical that substituting the qere for the ketiv invalidates the entire Torah scroll.

Various traditional commentaries on the Torah illustrate the interplay of meaning between the qere and the ketiv, showing how each enhances the meaning of the other. Some examples of this include:
  • Genesis 8:17: "Take out (ketiv/written: Send out) all the living things that are with you, from all the flesh: the birds, the animals, all the creeping things that creep over the earth; they shall swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."
Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...

, ibid.
: It is written as "send out" and read as "take out." [Noah] is to say to them, "Go out!" Thus, [the written form] "send out." If they do not want to go out, you should take them out.

  • Genesis 12:8: "And he [Abram] moved from there to the mountain east of Beit-Eil and and set up his tent (ketiv/written: her tent); Beit-Eil was in the west and Ai in the east. He built an altar there to the L‑rd and called in the name of the L‑rd."
Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...

, ibid.
: It is written as "her tent." First, he set up his wife's tent, and afterwards his own. Bereishit Rabbah[, 39:15].

Siftei Chachamim, ibid.: Hows does Rashi know that Abraham erected his wife's tent before his own; maybe he put up his own tent first? His words were based on the words of the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

 that "one should honor his wife more than himself" (Yevamot 62b).

  • Exodus 39:33: "And they brought the Mishkan
    Mishkan
    Mishkan is the Hebrew word for the dwelling place of God, or the Tabernacle. It may refer to:*The Israelite Tabernacle...

     to Moses: the tent and all its vessels; its hooks, its beams, its bars (ketiv/written: its bar), its pillars, and its sockets."
Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...

, Exodus 26:26
: The five [bars which supported the wall-planks and kept them straight] were [in] three [lines going horizontally through each plank of the three walls], but the top and bottom [bars in the three walls] were made of two parts, each extending through half of the wall. Each [bar] would enter a hole [in the wall] on opposite sides until they met each other. Thus we find that the top and bottom [bars] were [really] two [bars each], which were four [half-bars]. The middle bar, however, extended the entire length of the wall, going from end to end of the wall.

Mefane'ach Nelamim, cited in Eim LaMikra VeLaMasoret, Exodus 39:33: The Talmud (Shabbat 98b with Rashi) understands "from end to end" as a miracle: after the planks were in place on the three sides of the Mishkan, a seventy-cubit-long bar would be inserted into the center of the first plank at the eastern end of either the northern or southern wall. When that bar reached the end of that wall, it would miraculously curve itself so that it continued within the western wall. At the end of that wall, it again turned to fill the space drilled through the planks of the third wall.... Thus the middle bar, which seemed to be three separate bars for the three walls, was really one long bar. The qere, "its bars" refers to the simple interpretation that there were three distinct middle-bars, one for each wall. But the ketiv, "its bar," refers to the second interpretation, that the three middle bars were really only one bar that miraculously spanned all three walls.

Other

Some consider the qere and ketiv to be matters of scribal opinion, but modern translators nevertheless tend to follow the qere rather than the ketiv.

Typography

Modern editions of the Chumash and Tanach include information about the qere and ketiv, but with varying formatting, even among books from the same publisher. Usually, the qere is written in the main text with its vowels, and the ketiv is in a side- or footnote (as in the Gutnick and Stone editions of the Chumash, from Kol Menachem and Artscroll, respectively). Other times, the ketiv is indicated in brackets, in-line with the main text (as in the Rubin edition of the Prophets, also from Artscroll).

In a Tikkun
Tikkun (book)
A tikkun or tiqqun is a book used by Jews to prepare for reading or writing a Torah scroll. There are two types of tikkun, a tikkun kor'im and a tikkun soferim.-Tikkun kor'im:...

, which is used to train the synagogue Torah reader, both the full text using the ketiv and the full text using the qere are printed, side-by-side. However, an additional note is still made in brackets (as in the Kestenbaum edition from Artscroll) or in a footnote (as in the Tikkun LaKorim from Ktav).

In older prayerbooks (such as the older, all-Hebrew edition of Siddur Tehillat Hashem al pi Nusach HaArizal, in the prayer Tikun Chatzot), the ketiv was vowelized according to the qere and printed in the main text. The unvowelized qere was printed in a footnote.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK