Il testo consonantico della tradizione babilonese. Ms. Opp.Add. 4 154 della Biblioteca Bodleiana

Abstract

This paper is part of a project on manuscripts carried on under the auspices of Prof. Paolo Sacchi. It deals with Ms. Opp.Add. 4 154 of the Bodleian Library, of Yemenite provenance. The comparison of its readings with the variants collected by Kennicott and De Rossi and the old translations confirms the results described in the first part of this project: the Babylonian text (BT) is old and similar to the Tiberian one and their common basis is the old Hebrew Bible. The agreements of the BT with Aquila, Theodotion, Symmachus, Origen, and Hieronymus show that this text was current in Palestine at least until the 4th century AD. When the Tiberian text supplanted the Babylonian in the 10th century, the BT still survived in Yemenite communities. Many variants of the BT are attested in Ashkenazi MSS, and conse­quently in the Soncino Bible.