"The translator drew on the Authorized Version of the Old Testament for English translations of the expressions and passages cited from the Hebrew text."

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

I. Introducing textual criticism : 1. The expression "textual criticism" -- 2. The problems of textual criticism -- 3. The academic setting of Old Testament textual criticism : Old Testament textual criticism and theology in general ; Old Testament textual criticism, interpretation and grammar ; Old Testament textual criticism and interpretation -- 4. The distinction between Old Testament textual and literary criticism -- 5. The main types of content and their use by students.

VIII. The other translations : 1. The Coptic translations -- 2. The Ethiopian translation -- 3. The Armenian translation -- 4. The Arabic translations -- 5. Some residual early translations -- IX. The methods and the task of Old Testament textual criticism : 1. The procedures for textual restoration : Text-critical preliminaries : Collecting the textual materials ; Ordering the textual material : Ordering by family ; Ordering by age ; Ordering by character. Reconstructing a text ; Text-critical preliminaries and textual editions. A possible genealogy of Old Testament textual witnesses : Reading figure 2 ; Qualifying remarks regarding figure 2. Evaluation of a reading : Evaluation of variant readings in manuscripts : Critical questions ; General rules of evaluation. Evaluation of variant readings from translations ; Free emendation as a last resort -- 2. The task of Old Testament Textual Criticism : The reconstruction of autographa ; The reconstruction of the canonical text ; The reconstruction of the standardised Hebrew text ; A possible solution -- 3. Retrospect and prospect.

VII. The Latin translations : 1. The Vetus Latina : The Vetus Latina and the Hebrew text ; Manuscripts and editions of the Venus Latina : Manuscripts ; Editions -- 2. The Vulgate : Jerome and the Hebrew text ; The editions ad subsequent history of the Vulgate.

VI. The Greek translations : 1. The origins of the Septuagint: Aristeas's letter -- 2. Recensions of the Septuagint and other Greek translations : The translations by Aquila ; The translation by Symmachus ; The translation by Theodotion . Origen's Hexapla : The Syro-hexaplar ; Other remnants of Origen's Hexapla ; Excursus on the second column of the Hexapla. Other recensions of the Septuagint : The edition by Lucian ; The edition by Hesychius ; The edition by Eusebius and Pamphilius. Other Greek translations in circulation -- 3. The reconstruction of the history of the Septuagint : Paul de Lagarde ; Paul Kahle ; Dominique Barthelemy ; Frank Moore Cross and the Harvard School ; Summary -- 4. The Septuagint and the Hebrew text : The origin of the Septuagint ; The Hebrew lexicon ; The grammar and style of the Septuagint ; The religious and philosophical world of the Septuagint ; The sociological and cultural background of the Septuagint ; The Septuagint as a textual witness -- 5. Manuscripts and editions of the Septuagint : Manuscripts of the Septuagint : The Rylands papyrus Greek ; The Qumran and Muraba'at texts ; The Chester Beatty Papyri and John H. Scheide Papyri ; The Codex Sinaiticus ; The Codex Vaticanus ; The Codex Alexandrinus ; The Codex Marchalianus ; Minuscules on the Septuagint. Editions of the Septuagint : The Complutensian Polyglot ; The Sixtine edition ; The Holmes and Parsons edition ; The Swete edition ; The Ralphs edition ; The Gottingen edition ; The Cambridge edition.

V. The Syriac translation: The Peshitta : 1. The origin of the Peshitta -- 2. The Peshitta and the Hebrew text -- 3. The text of the Peshitta -- 4. Manuscripts of the Peshitta -- 5. Editions of the Peshitta.

IV. The Aramaic translations: The Targumim : 1. The Targumim Onkelos and Jonathan : The official Targumim : The names Onkelos and Jonathan ; The place and time of origin of these Targumim ; The language of the Targumim ; Editions of the official Targumim ; Examples : The Targum Onkelos: Gen. 4:7 ; The Targum Jonathan: Is. 53:2 -- 2. The Targum Palaestinense -- 3. The Targum Neofiti I : The date of the manuscript ; Editions of the Neofiti I ; Example : Gen. 4:8 -- 4. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan/Jerusalem I : Example: Ex. 24:10 -- 5. The fragment Targum / Jerusalem II : Example: Gen 49:11 6. Targumim on the Writings : Example: Ruth 1:1.

III. The Samaritan Pentateuch : 1 In quest of a date for the text : Excursus on the history of the Samaritans ; Dating the text -- 2. The Samaritan Pentateuch and European scholarship -- 3. The character of the Samaritan Pentateuch -- 4. Excursus on the "forgeries" in the Samaritan Pentateuch -- 5. Excursus on Samaritan and Tiberian Hebrew -- 6. Translations of the Samaritan Pentateuch -- 7. Manuscripts and editions of the Samaritan Pentateuch.

II. The transmission of the Hebrew text : 1. The transmission of texts -- 2. The alphabet in which the text was transmitted -- 3. Textual corruption in the process of transmission : Errors committed inadvertently : Sound-alike words were confused ; Look-alike letters were confused ; Consonants were switched ; Letters, words or phrases were omitted ; Letters and words were written twice ; Wrong word divisions were made ; The consonantal text was misread ; Marginal glosses were incorporated in the text. Errors committed deliberately : Simplification of the text ; Linguistic emendations ; Emendations on religious or moral grounds ; Emendations on theological grounds -- 4. The stardardisation of a consonantal text : The Massoretes ; The massora of the Massoretes : The massora marginalis ; The massora finalis ; The massora in disuse. Critical indications by the Massoretes : The large letters (literae majusculae) ; The small letters (literae minusculae) ; The floating letters (literae suspensae) ; The inverted nûn (nûn inversum) ; The unusual dots (puncta extraordinaria). The corrections by the scribes (tiqqune sopherim) ; Other typical practices of the Massoretes : The final letters (literae finales) ; The extended letter (literae dilatabiles) ; The 'Atbash ('Atbas) rule -- 5. The division of the text -- 6. The Massoretic vocalisation of the text : Vocalisation of the Massoretes of the east ; Vocalisation of the Massoretes of the west ; Excursus on Massoretic vocalisation : Punctuation and spelling ; Pronunciation ; Morphology ; Conclusions -- 7. Important manuscripts : The Qumran Bible manuscripts ; The Isaiah Scrolls ; The Samuel texts ; The Jeremiah text ; Other texts. The Ben Asher manuscripts : The Codex Cairensis ; The Codex Aleppo ; The Codex Leningradensis. Ben Naphtali manuscripts ; A pseudo-Ben Naphtali manuscript ; The Petersburg Codex of the Prophets ; The Nash Papyrus ; The Geniza texts from Cairo ; The Firkowitch Collections ; Lost manuscripts -- 8. Some printed editions of the Hebrew text : The Bomberg Bibles ; The Michaelis edition ; The Kennicott edition ; The Ginsburg edition ; Kittel's Biblia Hebraica (BHK) : BHK and B19 ; BHK and Ben Asher ; The critical apparatus of BHK ; Summary. The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.