Most modern translations
of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament are translations
of the text of one medieval manuscript, the Leningrad
Codex. The Leningrad Codex, held by the Russian
National Library in St. Petersburg, occupies
this prestigious position because it is the oldest
complete manuscript of the Bible in Hebrew known
to exist.
For many years the only photographic
documentation of this important manuscript
available to Western
scholars was a muddy and at times unreadable
microfilm. In 1990, the Ancient Biblical Manuscript
Center, in collaboration with West Semitic Research,
sent a photographic team to St. Petersburg (then
Leningrad) to take crystal-clear photographs
of the Leningrad Codex and make its text accessible
to researchers and students around the globe.
An international team of Jewish and Christian
scholars are now using the photographs to prepare
a new edition of Biblia Hebraica, the publication
of the biblical Hebrew text most used by scholars
and students around the world. This new edition,
Biblia Hebraica Quinta, will be published by
the United Bible Societies, and will also be
the basis of translations of the Hebrew Bible
(or Old Testament, or Tanakh) made throughout
the world. With the new photographs in hand,
the BHQ will be a completely revised and corrected
of the Hebrew Bible. To insure access for students
and scholars everywhere, ABMC worked with West
Semitic Research, Los Angeles, CA and the University
of Michigan to publish a photographic facsimile
of the manuscript (Eerdmans, 1997).
For availability contact Eerdmans Publishing
Company at www.eerdmans.com
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