The Masoretic Text (MT)   The textual form of the books in Jewish scriptures were standardized by the Masoretes (traditors) of Tiberias sometime in the mid-to-late second century C.E. Our earliest manuscripts of this text, however, date to much later: some worn-out and partial manuscripts from 9th century C.E. Cairo, and two complete manuscripts from Aleppo (c. 915C.E.) and Leningrad (1009C.E.)   Hebrew/Aramaic Text Leningrad Codex (the most complete). Baumgartner, W., G. Beer, J. Begrich, et al. Biblia Hebraica. Stuttgart/New York: Würtemburgische Bibelanstalt/ American Bible Society, 1937.   All medieval codices, critical edition (basis for JPS translation). Hayyim, Jacob ben. The Pentateuch, The Earlier Prophets, The Later Prophets, and The Writings, 4 vols., rev. C. D. Ginsburg. London, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1926.   English Translations The NRSV and NAB (see English Versions) by and large base their English translations on the Masoretic Text, although they are gradually adopting some readings from the earlier Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts in their notes (cf. NAB 1 Sam 11:1 note) or in the text of the Bible itself (cf. NRSV 1 Sam 10:27; note that four sentences follow without verse numbers, and a note mentions that both Josephus [Ant. 6.5.1, §§68-71] and now, more importantly, a Qumran manuscript [4QSamuel-a, col. X], attest to a passage that was inadvertently lost during the centuries of hand-written transmission).   Online Texts & Tools © 2017 Catherine Murphy, Associate Professor cmurphy@scu.edu   Dept of Religious Studies, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053