7:, There is a peculiarity connected with the marginal indication of those words the variations of which consist in the diminution or addition of a single letter. -When a letter is dropt from a word in the text p'11D), the whole word is g,iven in the marginal reading (4-)p), with the letter in question, and the remark 'Read so f' as, for instance, I Sam. xiv. 32 ; Prov. xxiii. 24, where the ac cording to the Massorah, is dropt from and 1 from *-61v1, as indicated by and ; the marginal glosses are 'p 9L,"71, ‘p ; but when the reverse is the case, if a letter has crept into a word, the whole word is not given in the marginal gloss, but it is simply remarked that such and such a letter is redundant (-ITN, or is not to be read t.6), as, for instance, in Eccles. X. 20 ; Neh. ix. 17, where the according to the Massorah, has crept in before M'Bn, and before -mn, the marginal gloss simply remarks 'm Try, Upon this point, however, the greatest inconsist ency is manifested in the Massoretic glosses ; comp., for instance, the Kethiv rn and '1"Y1 in Eccles. iv. 8, 17, both of which, according to the have a redundant 4, and are singular nouns, yet the Massoretic note upon the former is ip in, exhibiting the whole word, whilst on the latter it simply remarks '4 TN.
ii. The second class (nin t61 4.1p), which com prises entire words omitted from the text, exhibits tell such instances which occur in the Hebrew Bible, as follows, Judg. xx. 13 ; Ruth iii. 5, 17 ; 2 SaM. viii. 3 ; xvi. 23 ; XViii. 20 ; 2 Kings xix. 31, 37 ; Jer. xxxi. 3S ; 1. 29, Besides being noted in the marginal glosses on the respective passages, these omissions are also given in the Massorah on Deut. i. and Ruth iii. 16. They are also enume rated in the Talmud, Tract Sopherim, vi. 8, and in Nedarim 37, b. In Nedarim, however, the passage which refers to this subject is as follows, the insertion of words in the text (in,nn N$1 rnp) is exhibited in 111D [2 Sam. viii. 3] ; Pa.
xvi. 23]; [Jer. xxxi. 38] ; [ibia'.1. 29]; 111.4 [Ruth ii. II] ; [ibid. iii. 5, t7];' thus omit ting four instances—viz., Judg. xx. r3 ; 2 Sam. xviii. 20 ; 2 Kings xix. 3,1, 37 ; and adding one—viz.. Ruth ii. r, which is neither given by the Massorah nor in Sopherim.
This class of variations is indicated by a small circle or asterisk- placed in the text with the vowel skms of the word which is wanting, referring to the margin, where the word in question is given. Thus, for instance, in Judg. xx. 13, where, accord ing to.the Keri, the word is omitted, the Zethiv .L is ° upon which the marginal gloss remarks nin Of the third class clp t•M n'M), exhibiting entzre words which have crept into the text, there are eight instances, as follows, Ruth iii. 12 ; 2 Sft111. xiii. 33 ; xv. 21 ; 2 Kings v. IS ; Jer. xxxviii. 16 ; xxxix. 12 ; 3 Ezek. xlviii. 16. These variations are not only noted in the marginal glosses OD the respective passages, but are also given in the Massorah on Ruth iii. 12. The passage in Nedarim 27, b, which speaks of this class of variations, remarking, ` words which are found in the text, but are not read (t.6.1 tnin rip) are exhibited in t•U [2 Kings v. 181; rIN1 Lier. xxxii. i] ; 11"0 ribia'. li. 3]; vynn [Ezek. xlviii. 16] ; ON [Ruth iii. 121,' omits 2 Sam. xiii. 33 ; xv. 21 ; and Jer. xxxviii. ; xxxix. 12 ; and adds Jer. xxxii. 1, which does not exist in the Massorah ; whilst Sopherim vi. 9, which remarks vnri n1p7-2 -Inc 11JUN, referring to 2 SaM. xiii. 33 ; Jer. xxxix. 12 ; 2 SaM. NV. 21 ;
Ruth iii. ; Jer. li. 3 ; Ezek. xlviii. ; omits 2 Kings v. IS and Jer. xxxviii. 16.
This class of variations is not uniformly indi cated in the different editions of the Bible. Gene rally the word in question has no vowel signs, but an asterisk or small circle is put over it, referring to the margin, where it is simply remarked Z1-17 417 Z61, written in the text but not read ; in one ol two instances, however, the word itself is repeated in the margin, as in 2 Kings v. 18, where we have it 4-ip t•61 z+nn N.3, the word N,) 'written in the text but not read.
z. Number ana' position of the ai'eri and Kethiv. —A great difference of opinion prevails about the number and position of these various readings. The Talmud, as we have shewn above, and the early Jewish commentators, mention variations which do not exist in the Ken's and Kethivs of the Illassorah. This, however, is beyond the aim of the present article, which is to investigate the Keri and Kethiv as exhibited in the Illassorah and in the editions of the Hebrew Bible. From a careful perusal and collation of the Massorah, as printed in the Rabbinic Bibles, we find the following to be the number of the Keris and KethiVs in each book, according to the order of the Hebrew Bible :— The disparity between Abravanel's calculations about the number of Kerir and Zethivs, leading him to the conclusion that the Pentateuch has 65, Jeremiah 81, and and 2 Samuel 138 (Intro duction to yerentiah), and the numbers which we have stated as existing in these books, is easily accounted for when it is remembered that this erudite commentator died fifteen years before the laborious Jacob b. Chajim collated and published the Massorahs on the Hebrew Scriptures [ABRA VANEL ; JACOB B. CIIAJIM], and therefore had no opportunity of consulting them carefully. But we find it far more difficult to account for the serious difference in the calculations of later writers and our results, as may be seen front the following table. (See on p. 723.) For the collation of Bomberg,'s Bible, the Plantin Bible, and the Antwerp Bible, we are indebted to the tables exhibited in Cappellus' Critica Sacra, p. 7o, and Walton's Prolegomena (ed. Cantabrigize ISA vol. i., p. 473) ; and though we have been able by our-arrangement to correct their blunder in representing Elias Levita. as separating the Five Megilloth from the Hagio grapha, and giving the number of Keris to be 329 exclusive of the Megilloth ; yet we were obliged to describe the Megilloth apart from the Hagio grapha, to which they belong according to the Jewish order of the Canon. Elias Levita's own words on the numbers are as follows :—` I counted the Keris and Kethivs several times, and found that they were in all 848 ; of these, 65 are in the Pen tateuch, 454 in the Prophets, and 329 in the Hagio grapha. It is surprising that there should only be 65 in the Pentateuch, 22 of which refer to the single word Mr], which is -11.7) in the Kethiv, and in the Keri ; that the book of Joshua, which in quantity is about a tenth part of the Pentateuch, should have 32 ; and that the books of Samuel, which are merely about a fourth the size of the Pentateuch, should contain 133' (Massoreth Ha-Ilfassoreth, ed. Sulzbach i771, p. 8, sq.) It will be seen from this extract that Elias Levita not only gives six Keris less in Joshua than we have given, but also differs from Abravanel in the number of Keris to be found in the books of Samuel.