Qere and Ketiv (from the

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

''qere'' or ''q're'', , " hat isread"; ''ketiv'', or ''ketib'', ''kethib'', ''kethibh'', ''kethiv'', , " hat iswritten") 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"
. '' orthographic device used to indicate the pronunciation of the words in the

Masoretic text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

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 ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

pronunciation "keri uchsiv".

The Masoretic tradition

Torah scroll A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Interior, Tora Cases.jpg">Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India ...

s for use in public reading in synagogues contain only the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

consonantal text, handed down by tradition (with only a very limited and ambiguous indication of vowels by means of

matres lectionis A ''mater lectionis'' ( , ; , ''matres lectionis'' ; original ) is any consonant letter that is used to indicate a vowel, primarily in the writing of Semitic languages such as Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac. The letters that do this in Hebrew are ...

). However, in the

Masoretic The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

codices The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

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

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

vowel points, cantillation marks and other diacritic symbols used by the

Masoretes The Masoretes (, 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 the Jewish centers of the Levant (e.g., Tiberias and Jerusalem) an ...

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 (, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is a unicase, unicameral abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewish languages, most notably ...

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 ''he ...

," 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, usually caused by bacterial infection. Signs and symptoms of abscesses include redness, pain, warmth, and swelling. The swelling may feel fluid-filled when pre ...

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 ''yrwšlm'', but in a later period was written ירושלים ''yrwšlym''. The qere provides the more familiar reading without altering the text. This is also evident throughout 2 Kings 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: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

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

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

34:7), as are (

Esther Esther (; ), originally Hadassah (; ), is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, which is set in the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther and ma ...

3:4) and the similar-sounding (

Song of Songs The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a Biblical poetry, biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, i ...

4:9). Very often, one of the letters are inserted (

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...

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 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 20:14; Ruth 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 is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

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 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 ( , "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. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

, 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 ''hwʔ'' (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 TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliteration, transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from ...

). 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 ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

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'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

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 (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

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

oah The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of History of the United States, American history. OAH's membe ...

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 brammoved 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 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 (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

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 (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

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 straightwere nthree ines going horizontally through each plank of the three walls but the top and bottom ars in the three wallswere made of two parts, each extending through half of the wall. Each arwould enter a hole n the wallon 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

Modern translators nevertheless tend to follow the ''qere'' rather than the ''ketiv''. Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener in his 1884 commentary on the 1611

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

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 Tanakh. 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 of C ...

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 Vers ...

placed this ''qere'' in the main text), but a handful (such as

1 Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) that constitute a theological ...

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

* Pentateuch (dis ...

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), 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 (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

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