Christian David Ginsburg (, 25 December 1831 – 7 March 1914) was a Polish-born British

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

scholar and a student of the

Masoretic The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition in

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

. He was born to a Jewish family in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

but converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

at the age of 15. Coming to

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shortly after the completion of his education in the

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

nic College at Warsaw, Ginsburg continued his study of the Hebrew Scriptures, with particular attention to the '' Megillot''. The first result was a translation of the '' Song of Songs'', with a historical and critical commentary, published in 1857. A similar interpretation of ''

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly use ...

'', followed by treatises on the Karaites, the Essenes, and the ''Kabbala'', kept the author prominently before biblical students while he was preparing the first sections of his ''magnum opus'', the critical study of the ''Masorah''.

Magnum opus

Beginning in 1867 with the publication of

Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah Jacob ben Hayyim ben Isaac ibn Adonijah or Jacob ben Chayyim (c. 1470 – before 1538), was a scholar of the Masoretic Text, Masoretic textual notes on the Hebrew Bible, and printer (publisher), printer. Born in Tunis (hence sometimes called Tunisi ...

's ''Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible, Hebrew and English, with notices'', and the ''Masoret haMasoret'' of Elias Levita, in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, with translation and commentary, Ginsburg took rank as an eminent Hebrew scholar. In 1870, he was appointed one of the first members of the committee for the revision of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

version of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

under contract with the Trinitarian Bible Society. His life-work culminated in the publication of the ''Masorah'', in three volumes (1880–1886), followed by the ''Massoretico-critical edition of the Hebrew Bible'' (1894), and the elaborat
introduction
to it (1897).

Other works

Ginsburg had one predecessor in the field; the learned Jacob ben Hayyim, who, in 1524–1525, had published the second ''Rabbinic Bible'' (Mikraot Gedolot), containing what has ever since been known as the ''Masorah''. Still, the materials were not available, and criticism was not sufficiently advanced for a complete edition. Ginsburg took up the subject almost where it was left off by those early pioneers, and he collected portions of the ''Masorah'' from the countless manuscripts scattered throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the East. Ginsburg published ''Facsimiles of Manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible'' (1897 and 1898), and ''The Text of the Hebrew Bible in Abbreviations''(1903), in addition to a critical treatise ''on the relationship of the so-called Codex Babylonicus of A.D. 916 to the Eastern Recension of the Hebrew Text''(1899, for private circulation). In the last-mentioned work, he seeks to prove that the ''St. Petersburg Codex'', for so many years accepted as the original text of the Babylonian school, is, in reality, a Palestinian text that was carefully altered to render it conformable to the Babylonian recension. He subsequently undertook the preparation of a new edition of the Hebrew Bible for the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The Soc ...

. He also contributed many articles to

John Kitto John Kitto (4 December 1804 – 25 November 1854) was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent. Biography Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his ...

's ''Encyclopaedia'', William Smith's "Dictionary of Christian Biography and the

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

(1877–1887).

References

Selected bibliography

*The Massorah; Compiled from Manuscripts; BAND I, London/Vienna, Brög, 1880;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, The Massorah Ia

Ginsburg, 1880: The Massorah Ib
*The Massorah; Compiled from Manuscripts; BAND II, London/Vienna, Brög, 1880;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1880: The Massorah IIa

Ginsburg, The Massorah IIb
*The Massorah; Compiled from Manuscripts; BAND III, London/Vienna, Brög, 1880;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1880: The Massorah III
*The Massorah; Translated into English; With a critical and exegetical commentary; BAND IV, London/Vienna, Brög, 1897–1905;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1905: The Massorah IV
*The Essenes: Their history and doctrines; Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1864. *Jacob Ben Chajim Ibn Adonijah's Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible, London, 1867;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1867: Jacob Ben Chajim Ibn Adonijah's Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible
*The Massoreth Ha-Massoreth of Elias Levita, being an exposition of the Massoretic notes on the Hebrew Bible, or the ancient critical apparatus of the Old Testament in Hebrew, with an English translation, and critical and explanatory notes, London, Longmans, 1867;
Digital Copy
Ginsburg, 1867: The Massoreth Ha-Massoreth of Elias Levita

Ḥamishah Ḥumshe Torah
London 1908. * The Kabbalah: its doctrines, development, and literature; London, 1920.

External links

*
''Introduction to the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible''
(1897) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ginsburg, Christian David 1831 births 1914 deaths 19th-century British people 19th-century British biblical scholars 19th-century Jewish biblical scholars 19th-century translators British people of Polish-Jewish descent Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom Converts to Protestantism from Judaism Jewish translators of the Bible Translators of the New Testament into Hebrew Writers from Warsaw