Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

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The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, or BHS, is an edition of the Hebrew Bible published by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (German Bible Society) in Stuttgart. It is widely regarded by both Jews and Christians as a reliable edition of the Hebrew and Aramaic scriptures (i.e., the Tanakh in Jewish terminology, the Old Testament in Christian terminology) and is substantially the most widely used original-language edition among scholars.

It is a revision of the third edition of the Biblia Hebraica edited by Rudolf Kittel, the first Bible to be 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.

The text is an exact copy (barring a handful of errors) of the Masoretic Text as recorded in the Leningrad Codex. The only significant difference is that the Books of Chronicles, which in the Codex precede Psalms, have been moved to the end, which is where they are in other Hebrew Bibles. The Book of Job precedes the Book of Proverbs, as in the Codex but unlike other Hebrew Bibles.

In the margin are Masoretic notes. These are based on those in the Codex, but have been heavily edited to make them more consistent and easy to understand. Even so, whole books have been written to explain these notes. For example, some 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.

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, but some are just conjectures.

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

[edit] Literature

BHS editions

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Hardcover: ISBN 3-438-05218-0, Paperback: ISBN 3-438-05222-9

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