Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, abbreviated as BHS or rarely BH⁴, is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes. It is the fourth edition in the Biblia Hebraica series started by Rudolf Kittel, and is published by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (German Bible Society) in Stuttgart.

Front cover for an edition of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.

Quotes

"Not only the loss of the original molds in the bombing of Leipzig, but especially conversion to machine composition has made it necessary to replace the beautiful Hebrew type face of BHK, prepared to Kittel's own specifications ..." (Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, "Foreword to the First Edition")

• After forty years Kittel's Biblia Hebraica once again makes its appearance before the learned world in a new form. ... We therefore suggest that the new edition be cited as BHS, as distinguished from BHK.
  • Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, "Foreword to the First Edition", p. xii. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (1977). ISBN 3-438-05218-0.

• There is no need to defend the use of the Leningrad Codex B19^A (L) as the basis for an edition of the Hebrew Bible, whatever one may think of its relationship to the Ben Asher text. ... In any event, L is still "the oldest dated manuscript of the complete Hebrew Bible."
  • Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, "Foreword to the First Edition", p. xii. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (1977). ISBN 3-438-05218-0.

• Not only the loss of the original molds in the bombing of Leipzig, but especially conversion to machine composition has made it necessary to replace the beautiful Hebrew type face of BHK, prepared to Kittel's own specifications, with a new face, adapted to the limitations of machine composition.
  • Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, "Foreword to the First Edition", p. xii. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (1977). ISBN 3-438-05218-0.

Quotes about the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

"The BHS is in worldwide use today and is esteemed among all denominations as a highly reliable edition of the Hebrew Bible." ("Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia", www.die-bibel.de)

• The BHS is in worldwide use today and is esteemed among all denominations as a highly reliable edition of the Hebrew Bible.
  • "Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia" (archived), www.die-bibel.de

• In BHK since the third edition, 𝕸 has represented the text of Ms. B 19^A of the Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library of St. Petersburg, written in a.d. 1008 (L, Leningradensis; pl. 24). The fourth edition of Biblia Hebraica, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS), edited by Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, is also based on the same manuscript.
  • Ernst Würheim: The Text of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Biblia Hebraica, ch. 2, "The Masoretic Text", p. 10. Second edition, translated by Erroll F. Rhodes. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (1995). ISBN 0-8028-0788-7.

• The Ezra SIL fonts are the identical typeface to the SIL Ezra font released by SIL in 1997. The font was developed from the beautiful Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia volume which is familiar to many biblical Hebrew scholars.
  • Ezra SIL Hebrew Unicode Fonts Installation Guide, p. 6. SIL International (2007).

• Puncta extraordinaria (extraordinary points) occur fifty-six times in the Old Testament text: fifty-three times above letters and three times below letters. The electronic edition of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia text notes that the function of these marks "is not entirely clear ..."
  • John Hudson: SBL Hebrew Font User Manual, p. 14. Version 1.51 (February 2008). Society of Biblical Literature.

See also

• Leningrad Codex
• Masoretic Text
• Tanakh

External links

• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (electronic edition)
• Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Internet Archive)