Introducing the Biblia Hebraica Quinta

The Biblia Hebraica Quinta  is the fifth edition of the Biblia Hebraica.  The first volume was published in 2004, and currently nine of the twenty planned volumes are available.  It is the successor to the BHS, but contains considerably more information.  In addition to the critical apparatus and Masorah parva, it also includes the Masorah magna, commentary on the apparatus, and notes on the Masorah magna and Masorah parva.

The books covered in the current volumes are:

Bible Text

Like the BHS, the BHQ is based on the Leningrad Codex.  However, it was compiled using new color photographs made by the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center in Claremont, California.   As a result, it does differ slightly from the BHS in a few places.

Due to the fact that BHQ is based on fresh transliteration of the same manuscript as the BHS, the differences mostly consist of variations in vowel points and cantillation marks, and the presence or absence of maqqef in certain phrases.

The Bible text is accessed by opening the resource in Study Bible mode (the default), or by opening just the Bible text from the Library.  When opened in Study Bible mode, the Bible text will open in the main window, and the critical apparatus in the split window.

Parsings

The Olive Tree edition of the BHQ is unique in the fact that it contains parsing information for each word in the text.  This information is not included in the print edition, and was mapped to the text from the Westminster Hebrew Morphology, originally created by the J. Alan Groves Center at Westminster Theological Seminary for use with the Westminster Leningrad Codex.

The parsing information is access by simply tapping on a word in the text.  The parsing data for that word will then be displayed in a popup window.

Introductions

This set includes a general introduction in English, German, and Spanish that provides more details about the text, the Masorah, and the differences from the BHS and other previous editions.

There are also specific introductions for each volume that discuss the particular textual features of the books covered as well as the textual witnesses used.

The general introduction can be accessed by tapping “Intro” from the top level in the grid view verse chooser.  It is also the very first item in the list view of the TOC. 

The volume introduction can be accessed by tapping “Intro” in the first book included in each volume (e.g tap on “Genesis” and then “Intro”).  They are also accessible before the books in question in the list view TOC.

Critical Apparatus

The critical apparatus summarizes the readings of all of the textual witnesses used in compiling the main text.  One key difference between the BHQ and the BHS is that the BHQ critical apparatus includes all known pre-Tiberian witnesses for each case noted.

A cross symbol at the end of an entry indicates a note for that entry in the commentary on the critical apparatus.

Masorah Parva

The Masorah parva are short scribal notes in unpointed Hebrew or Aramaic that are placed in the margin of the Bible text.  These are often things such as statistics about how many times a particular word is used, or whether a particular word uses a defective or plene spelling. 

The use of masora circles over or between words in the Bible text indicates the presence of a note in the Masora magna.  In order to have something that is more easily clickable, the Olive Tree version of the BHQ includes half-bracket characters in the Bible text that can be tapped to access the Masora parva in a popup.

Masorah magna

The Masorah magna are longer scribal notes in unpointed Hebrew or Aramaic that were traditionally placed at the bottom of the page.  They are often similar to the Masora parva, but may include more details, such as a list of passages where a word occurs, rather than just the number of times that it occurs.

Since the Masorah magna is printed below the Bible text text, but above the critical apparatus in the BHQ, it has been collated with the content of the critical apparatus on a verse-by-verse basis.  The apparatus (and Masora magna) should open in the split window by default when the BHQ is opened in Study Bible mode.

Commentary on the Critical Apparatus

The commentary on the critical apparatus provides insights into why the different readings may have arisen based on scribal practices or grammatical features that may not be immediately obvious to non-specialists.  In this way, the commentary makes the apparatus accessible to a much broader range of readers.

The presence of commentary on an entry in the critical apparatus is indicated by a cross symbol at the end of the entry.  Tapping on this symbol will open the commentary in a popup window.

Notes on the Masorah Parva

Since unpointed Hebrew text can be difficult for non-specialists to decipher, the notes on the Masorah parva provide some additional context.  They also provide clarification in cases where the original note is unusual, or even mistaken.

These notes are collated with the Masorah parva in the Olive Tree edition of the BHQ, and can be accessed alongside the Masorah parva by tapping on the half-bracket symbols in the Bible text.

Notes on the Masorah Magna

The notes on the Masorah magna provide additional context for non-specialists.  Like the notes on the Masorah parva, they often point out discrepancies or errors.

These notes are collated with the commentary on the apparatus in the Olive Tree edition of the BHQ. The presence of a note on the Masora magna is indicated by a cross symbol in the Masora magna.  Tapping on this symbol will open the note in a popup window.