Qere and Ketiv, from the

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

''qere'' or ''q're'', ("

hat is A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

read") and ''ketiv'', or ''ketib'', ''kethib'', ''kethibh'', ''kethiv'', ("

written"), also known as "q're uchsiv" or "q're uchtiv," refers to a system for marking differences between what is written in the consonantal text of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

, as preserved by scribal tradition, and what is read. In such situations, the Qere is the technical orthographic device used to indicate the pronunciation of the words in the

Masoretic text 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. ...

of the Hebrew language scriptures (Tanakh), while the Ketiv indicates their written form, as inherited from tradition. The word is often pointed and pronounced "kri" or "keri", reflecting the opinion that it is a passive participle rather than an imperative. This is reflected in the

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

pronunciation "keri uchesiv" mentioned above.

The Masoretic tradition

Torah scroll A ( he, סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה; "Book of Torah"; plural: ) or Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Tora ...

s for use in public reading in synagogues contain only the

Hebrew language 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 ...

consonantal text, handed down by tradition (with only a very limited and ambiguous indication of vowels by means of matres lectionis). However, in 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. ...

codices The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

of the 9th–10th centuries, and most subsequent manuscripts and published editions of the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

vowel points,

cantillation Cantillation is the ritual chanting of prayers and responses. It often specifically refers to Jewish Hebrew cantillation. Cantillation sometimes refers to diacritics used in texts that are to be chanted in liturgy. Cantillation includes: * Chant ...

marks and other diacritic symbols used by the

Masoretes The Masoretes ( he, בַּעֲלֵי הַמָּסוֹרָה, Baʿălēy Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Masters of the Tradition') were groups of Jewish scribe-scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries CE, based primarily in ...

to indicate how it should be read and chanted, besides marginal notes serving various functions. That Masoretic reading or pronunciation is known as the ''qere'' (Aramaic קרי "to be read"), while the pre-Masoretic consonantal spelling is known as the ''ketiv'' (Aramaic כתיב "(what is) written"). The basic consonantal text written in the

Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet ( he, wikt:אלפבית, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew languag ...

was rarely altered; but sometimes the Masoretes noted a different reading of a word than that found in the pre-Masoretic consonantal text. The scribes used ''qere/ketiv'' to show, without changing the received consonantal text, that in their tradition a different reading of the text was to be used. ''Qere'' were also used to correct obvious errors in the consonantal text without changing it. However, not all ''qere/ketiv'' represented cases of textual doubt; sometimes the change is deliberate. For example, in Deut. 28:27, the ketiv word ובעפלים ''ophalim'', "

hemorrhoids Hemorrhoids (or haemorrhoids), also known as piles, are vascular structures in the anal canal. In their normal state, they are cushions that help with stool control. They become a disease when swollen or inflamed; the unqualified term ''hemo ...

," was replaced with the qere וּבַטְּחֹרִים ''techorim'', "

abscess An abscess is a collection of pus that has built up within the tissue of the body. Signs and symptoms of abscesses include redness, pain, warmth, and swelling. The swelling may feel fluid-filled when pressed. The area of redness often extends b ...

es," because the ketiv was (after the return from Exile) considered too obscene to read in public. A very high percentage of ''qere/ketiv'' is accounted for by change of dialect from old archaic Hebrew to later Hebrew. When the old Hebrew dialect fell into disuse and certain words became unfamiliar to the masses, the scribes amended the original dialect to the later familiar dialect. A good example is the word "Jerusalem," which in old Hebrew was always written ירושלם, but in a later period was written ירושלים. The qere provides the more familiar reading without altering the text. This is also evident throughout

2 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...

4, where the archaic Hebrew 2p feminine form of ''-ti'' is consistently eliminated by the qere, which replaces it with the familiar standard form of ''-t''. In such Masoretic texts, the vowel diacritics of the ''qere'' (the Masoretic reading) would be placed in the main text, added around the consonantal letters of the ''ketiv'' (the written variant to be substituted – even if it contains a completely different number of letters), with a special sign indicating that there was a marginal note for this word. In the margins there would be a sign (for ''qere''), followed by the consonants of the ''qere'' reading. In this way, the vowel points were removed from the ''qere'' and written instead on the ''ketiv''. Despite this, the vowels and consonantal letters of the ''qere'' were still meant to be read together.

"Ordinary" qere

In an "ordinary" ''qere'', there is only a difference in certain closely related letters, or letters that can be silent (as in

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

8:17). For example, the similarly shaped letters are often exchanged (

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...

34:7), as are (

Esther Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...

3:4) and the similar-sounding ( Song of Songs 4:9). Very often, one of the letters are inserted (

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 ...

10:3) or removed from a word (

2:33). Many other similar cases exist. Other times, letters are reordered within the word (

9:4). Because the difference between the ''qere'' and ''ketiv'' is relatively large, a note is made in footnotes, sidenotes or brackets to indicate it (see "Typography" below).

"Vowel" qere

Sometimes, although the letters are unchanged, the vowel points differ between the ''qere'' and ''ketiv'' of the word (

12:8). The ''ketiv'' is typically omitted with no indication, leaving only the vowelization for the ''qere''. Often the ''ketiv'' is left in an unusual spelling, but other times, both ''qere'' and ''ketiv'' remain in standard spelling. This type of ''qere'' is different from ''qere'' perpetuum, because here, the consonants do not change. In a ''qere'' perpetuum, the consonants actually do change.

"Omitted" qere

Occasionally, a word is not read at all (

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

3:12), in which case the word is marked ''ketiv velo qere'', meaning "written and not read."

"Added" qere

Occasionally, a word is read but not written at all (

Judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

20:14;

3:5), in which case the word is marked ''qere velo ketiv'', meaning "read and not written."

"Euphemistic" qere

In rarer cases, the word is replaced entirely (

28:27, 30;

Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

I 5:6) for reasons of ''tohorat halashon'', "purity of language." This type of ''qere'' is noted in a printed Hebrew Bible.

"Split/Joined" qere

In such a case, a ''ketiv'' is one word while the ''qere'' is multiple words (

33:2) or vice versa (

Lamentations The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...

4:3).

Qere perpetuum

In a few cases a change may be marked solely by the adjustment of the vowels written on the consonants, without any notes in the margin, if it is common enough that this will suffice for the reader to recognize it. This is known as a Qere perpetuum ("perpetual" ''Qere''). It differs from an "ordinary ''qere''" in that there is no note marker and no accompanying marginal note — these are certain commonly occurring cases of ''qere''/''ketiv'' in which the reader is expected to understand that a ''qere'' exists merely from seeing the vowel points of the ''qere'' in the consonantal letters of the ''ketiv''. For example, in the

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...

, the third-person singular feminine pronoun ''hī'' is usually spelled the same as the third-person singular masculine pronoun ''hū''. The Masoretes indicated this situation by adding a written diacritic symbol for the vowel to the pre-Masoretic consonantal spelling h-w-' (see diagram). The resulting orthography would seem to indicate a pronunciation ''hiw'', but this is meaningless in Biblical Hebrew, and a knowledgeable reader of the biblical text would know to read the feminine pronoun ''hī'' here. Another example of an important ''qere perpetuum'' in the text of the Bible is the name of the God of Israel – (cf.

Tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...

). Often it is marked with the vowels , indicating that it is to be pronounced as ''Adonai'' (meaning "my Lord") rather than with its own vowels. The consensus of mainstream scholarship is that "Yehowah" (or in Latin transcription "Jehovah") is a pseudo-Hebrew form which was mistakenly created when Medieval and/or Renaissance Christian scholars misunderstood this common ''qere perpetuum'', so that "the bastard word 'Jehovah' asobtained by fusing the vowels of the one word with the consonants of the other" (similar to reading ''hiw'' for the ''qere perpetuum'' of the third-person singular feminine pronoun). The usual Jewish practice at the time of the Masoretes was to pronounce it as "Adonai", as is still the Jewish custom today. Occasionally, the Tetragrammaton is marked (

3:24,

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

73:28) to indicate a qere of ''Elohim'', another Divine Name.

Interpretation and significance

Jewish tradition

In Jewish tradition, both the ''qere'' and the ''ketiv'' are considered highly significant. When reading the Torah scroll in the synagogue,

Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws which is derived from the Torah, written and Oral Tora ...

stipulates that the ''qere'' is to be read and not the ''ketiv'', to the extent that if the ''ketiv'' was read, it must be corrected and read according to the ''qere''. In addition however, Jewish law requires the scroll to be written according to the ''ketiv'', and this is so critical that substituting the ''qere'' for the ''ketiv'' invalidates the entire Torah scroll. Various traditional commentaries on the Torah illustrate the interplay of meaning between the ''qere'' and the ''ketiv'', showing how each enhances the meaning of the other. Some examples of this include: *Genesis 8:17: "Take out (''ketiv''/written: Send out) all the living things that are with you, from all the flesh: the birds, the animals, all the creeping things that creep over the earth; they shall swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." **

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

, ibid.: It is written as "send out" and read as "take out."

oah "Oah" is a song by Belarusian-Norwegian singer–songwriter Alexander Rybak. It is the first single released from his second album '' No Boundaries''. It was released on 8 June 2010. Background Rybak wrote the song as an ode to one of his femal ...

is to say to them, "Go out!" Thus, he written form"send out." If they do not want to go out, you should take them out. *Genesis 12:8: "And he

bram Bram may refer to: People * Bram (given name) * Bram (surname) * Bram (wrestler) (born 1986), ring name of professional wrestler Thomas Raymond Latimer * Bram Tchaikovsky (born 1950), stage name of British musician Peter Bramall * Bram Stoker Iris ...

moved from there to the mountain east of Beit-Eil and set up his tent (''ketiv''/written: her tent); Beit-Eil was in the west and Ai in the east. He built an altar there to the Lord and called in the name of the Lord." **Rashi, ibid.: It is written as "her tent." First, he set up his wife's tent, and afterwards his own.

Bereishit Rabbah Genesis Rabbah (Hebrew: , ''B'reshith Rabba'') is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical inter ...

39:15 **'' Siftei Chachamim'', ibid.: How does Rashi know that Abraham erected his wife's tent before his own; maybe he put up his own tent first? His words were based on the words of the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

that "one should honor his wife more than himself" (Yevamot 62b). *Exodus 39:33: "And they brought the

Mishkan According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

to Moses: the tent and all its vessels; its hooks, its beams, its bars (''ketiv''/written: its bar), its pillars, and its sockets." **Rashi, Exodus 26:26: The five

ars which supported the wall-planks and kept them straight Ars or ARS may refer to: Places * Ars, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * ''Ars'', various communes in France: ** Ars, Charente, in the Charente ''département'' ** Ars, Creuse, in the Creuse ''département'' ** Ars-en-Ré, in ...

were nthree ines going horizontally through each plank of the three walls but the top and bottom

ars in the three walls Ars or ARS may refer to: Places * Ars, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * ''Ars'', various communes in France: ** Ars, Charente, in the Charente ''département'' ** Ars, Creuse, in the Creuse ''département'' ** Ars-en-Ré, in ...

were made of two parts, each extending through half of the wall. Each arwould enter a hole

n the wall N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

on opposite sides until they met each other. Thus we find that the top and bottom arswere eallytwo ars each which were four alf-bars The middle bar, however, extended the entire length of the wall, going from end to end of the wall. **''Mefane'ach Nelamim'', cited in ''Eim LaMikra VeLaMasoret'', Exodus 39:33: The Talmud (Shabbat 98b with Rashi) understands "from end to end" as a miracle: after the planks were in place on the three sides of the Mishkan, a seventy-cubit-long bar would be inserted into the center of the first plank at the eastern end of either the northern or southern wall. When that bar reached the end of that wall, it would miraculously curve itself so that it continued within the western wall. At the end of that wall, it again turned to fill the space drilled through the planks of the third wall.... Thus the middle bar, which seemed to be three separate bars for the three walls, was really one long bar. The ''qere'', "its bars" refers to the simple interpretation that there were three distinct middle-bars, one for each wall. But the ''ketiv'', "its bar," refers to the second interpretation, that the three middle bars were really only one bar that miraculously spanned all three walls.

In translations

Some consider the ''qere'' and ''ketiv'' to be matters of scribal opinion, but modern translators nevertheless tend to follow the ''qere'' rather than the ''ketiv''.

Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener (September 29, 1813, Bermondsey, Surrey – October 30, 1891, Hendon, Middlesex) was a New Testament textual critic and a member of the English New Testament Revision Committee which produced the Revised Version ...

in his 1884 commentary on the 1611

Authorized Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

of the Bible (a.k.a. the King James Bible) reports 6637 marginal notes in the KJV Old Testament, of which 31 are instances of the KJV translators drawing attention to ''qere'' and ''ketiv'', most being like

Psalm 100 Psalm 100 is the 100th psalm in the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. In English, it is translated as "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands" in the King James Version (KJV), and as "O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands" in the Book ...

verse 3 with ''ketiv'' being in the main KJV text and the ''qere'' in the KJV marginalia (albeit that the

Revised Version The Revised Version (RV) or English Revised Version (ERV) of the Bible is a late 19th-century British revision of the King James Version. It was the first and remains the only officially authorised and recognised revision of the King James Versio ...

placed this ''qere'' in the main text), but a handful (such as 1 Samuel 27:8 for example) being the other way around.

Typography

Modern editions of the

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also *Chumash traditional n ...

and

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Tikkun, which is used to train the synagogue Torah reader, both the full text using the ''ketiv'' and the full text using the ''qere'' are printed, side-by-side. However, an additional note is still made in brackets (as in the Kestenbaum edition from Artscroll) or in a footnote (as in the Tikkun LaKorim from Ktav.Ktav
/ref>) In older prayerbooks (such as the older, all-Hebrew edition of Siddur Tehillat Hashem al pi Nusach HaArizal, in the prayer

Tikkun Chatzot Tikkun Chatzot ( he, תקון חצות, lit. "Midnight Rectification"), also spelled Tikkun Chatzos, is a Jewish ritual prayer recited each night after midnight as an expression of mourning and lamentation over the destruction of the Temple in Je ...

), the ''ketiv'' was vowelized according to the ''qere'' and printed in the main text. The unvowelized ''qere'' was printed in a footnote.

References

Sources

* () * ()

External links

*
Keri' and 'Ketiv': Words in the Torah That Are Not Pronounced According to Their Spelling"

��a list of where the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

uses the Qere.
"The Origins of ''Ketiv-Qere'' Readings"
��article by Michael Graves in ''TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism''. Vol. 8 (2003). {{DEFAULTSORT:Qere And Ketiv Hebrew alphabet Language of the Hebrew Bible