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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Primary and Secondary Old Testament Witnesses
  • Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 18:52:12 -0500

Dear Philip,

Are the following statements true?


1. The primary Old Testament witnesses are the Masoretic Text and the
Septuagint.

2. The secondary Old Testament witnesses include:

i. The Dead Sea Scrolls,
ii. The Samaritan Pentateuch,
iii. The Wadi Murabbaat Manuscripts,
iv. The Masada Manuscripts,
v. The Geniza Fragments.

If the above statements are true, what is the justification for selecting
some witnesses as primary witnesses and other witnesses as secondary
witnesses?

HH: I would call them all primary witnesses with the possible exception of the Septuagint, which is a translation into another language. All the other materials are ancient or very old records of the Scriptures in the original languages. But in another sense even translations are primary witnesses, since they are ancient copies of the Scriptures. I would consider as secondary witnesses the quotation of Scripture in other writings.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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