Pentateuch

Samaritanism

The Samaritan Torah (‮ࠕࠫ‎‬ࠅࠓࠡࠄ‎‎, Tōrāʾ), also called the Samaritan Pentateuch, is the scripture of Samaritanism, which is slightly different from the Torah of Judaism. The Samaritan Pentateuch was written in the Samaritan script, a direct descendant of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet that emerged around 600 BCE. Some 6,000 differences exist between the Samaritan and Jewish Masoretic Text, most of which are minor spelling and grammar variations, while others involve significant semantic changes, such as the uniquely Samaritan commandment to construct an altar on Mount Gerizim. Nearly 2,000 textual variations are found to be consistent with the Koine GreekSeptuagint, some with the Latin Vulgate. It is reported that Samaritans translated their Pentateuch into Aramaic, Greek and Arabic.