BSN: The Masoretic Text (MT)

  • The MT is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic version of the Jewish Bible, or Tanakh, used by Rabbinic Judaism.
  • The MT is a product of Jewish scribes called Masoretes working in the 7th-10th centuries AD. They were called such because Masora (or Masorah) was used to describe the product of their work.
  • Most English translations of the Bible translate the Old Testament from the MT.
  • Contrast the MT, which is the Hebrew OT which was produced in the 7th-10th centuries AD with the LXX (Septuagint), which is the Greek OT which was produced in the 3rd-1st centuries BC.

Question or Comment