history of hebrew vowels

Fulke was appointed Lecturer in Hebrew at St. John’s College in 1567, and he continued to teach in England at various institutions afterwards. . Bruce, F. F., “Transmission and Translation of the Bible,” in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. Sperling, Harry & Simon, Maurice, trans., The Zohar, vol. and notes by C. D. Ginsburg, 2nd ed., New York, NY:  KTAV, 1968. & ed., Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah, Israel Yeivin, Chico, CA:  Scholar’s Press, 1980. Unger, Merrill F., “The Text of the Old Testament,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 108:429 (Jan 51), 15-43. During the Nicene Post-Nicene era of Christian history (A.D. 311-590), only two men had a working knowledge of Hebrew language, the most scholarly was Jerome (A.D. 345-420) who translated the Bible into Latin from the original Hebrew and Greek. If the Torah was to be “engraven” and “specified” on the stones so that “all the words” would be able to be “called by name” and accurately translated into seventy languages, specific, vocalizable words, including vowels, would have been required. Objective: After studying this unit, you should be able to read, write, and recite the the Hebrew vowel system. ed. Moncrieff, John, An Essay on the Antiquity and Utility of the Hebrew Vowel-Points, London, England:  Whittaker, Treacher, and Arnot, 1833. 55-57, “Life of Elias Levita,” in Ginsburg. In Hebrew orthography, niqqud or nikud (Hebrew: נִקּוּד‎, Modern: nikud, Tiberian: niqqud, "dotting, pointing" or Hebrew: נְקֻדּוֹת‎, Modern: nekuddot, Tiberian: nəquddôṯ, "dots") is a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. ed. by E. Kautzsch. Bishop, George Sayles, The Doctrines of Grace and Kindred Themes, New York, NY:  Gospel Publishing House, 1919 (reprinted, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1977). was very nearly the same as that of our ‘received text’ (i. e., the second Bomberg edition)” (pg. The truth was that even if Hebrew was not spoken by all, the alphabet – that written-backwards alphabet with odd looking letters, each representing a consonant, without vowels – was known to all Jews. Neither side seemed to decisively win the day;  although the Enlightenment zeitgeist assisted the anti-vowalists over time, their antiquity found a continuing chain of advocates such as Joseph Cooper,[65] Samuel Clark,[66] Whitfield,[67] and John Gill. [9]  Among the Jews, Levita’s “denying the divine origin and antiquity of the vowel-points was regarded not only as heterodoxy, but as a most unpardonable sin.”[10]  The idea of the recent addition of the points was popular among the Catholics, for it lent support to their idea of the superiority of the Latin Vulgate to the Hebrew (and Greek) original, formally canonized in the Council of Trent,[11] and became a tool in anti-Protestant polemic, for the ambiguity which resulted from the removal of the points mitigated the Reformers’ doctrine of the  perspicuity of Scripture and supported the Romanist contention for the necessity of infallible interpretation by their organization.[12]. Smith, Miles, “The Translators to the Reader,” Preface to the King James Version of 1611, Accordance Bible Software module prepared by OakTree Software, Inc., from http://www.ebible.org/bible/kjv/Preface.htm. Three of these consonants (he, waw, yod) were also used to express vowel sounds. Either is fine to use. [6]  However, in 1538 Elias Levita, a famous Jewish grammarian and scholar, published his Massoreth Ha-Massoreth,[7] which asserted that the vowels had been added by the Masorites c. A. D. 500,[8]  although they represented the true vocalization and interpretation of the text as originally given by inspiration. [9]           “Levita did not question the validity of the vowel sounds, but only the vowel signs.” (pg. Despite the greater sympathy of Walton for Levita’s position than Cappel’s, those who followed him in asserting the novelty of the vowels tended to do exactly what John Owen had feared;  the points were widely rejected as modern, useless or worse than useless, and entirely unauthoritative, and the practices advocated in Cappellus’ Critica Sacra[74] of profligate conjectural emendation and the downgrading of the Hebrew text in favor of ancient versions multiplied rapidly. to remark upon what Capellus says upon the Supposition, that there may be such Differences of reading, without Violence to the Sense . Firstly, they really thought, or tried to convince themselves, that the vowel points were ancient and went back to the historical origin of the books. Karaite transcriptions of Biblical Hebrew in Arabic script (cross reference) dating back to the 9th to 14th centuries C.E., disclose numerous different reading traditions through the use of vowel pointing and other signs. The definition “small horn” is not the grammatical meaning of the word. Elwell, Walter A., ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, MI:  Baker Books, 1984. Allen Menzies, D.D. . [76]  The second yet more radical school, maintained that the Jews designedly corrupted the Hebrew through the insertion of the points and letters, and that, as “their last shift to change their evasions of the truth,” they made “the words different from what they were, or of another root, or of another signification, than the words would have been without pointing in the context.”[77]  To this school belonged William Romaine (1714-1795), friend of Whitefield and chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon, along with Bishop Horne,  Parkhurst, and others. Kaf, Mem, … One notes that the only other reference to writing plainly in Scripture is Habakkuk 2:2:  “And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it”  (:wáøb aérwõøq X…wërÎy NAo¶AmVl twóøjU;lAh_lAo r™EaDb…w NwYøzDj bwâøtV;k rRmaYø¥yÅw ‹hÎOwh◊y yˆn§EnSoÅ¥yÅw). XX, 37, and means ‘fetter’. The Controversy Within England And Its Results, The positions that the Hebrew vowel points were coeval with the consonants, that they were of Masoretic origin but still authoritative, and that they were of Masoretic origin and consequently unauthoritative all found representatives in England. “With very few exceptions a syllable must begin with a single consonant followed at least by one vowel.”22)Thomas O. Lambdin, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew, Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd. (London: 1973), p. XVIII jQuery("#footnote_plugin_tooltip_659_22").tooltip({ tip: "#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_659_22", tipClass: "footnote_tooltip", effect: "fade", predelay: 800, fadeInSpeed: 200, fadeOutSpeed: 2000, position: "top center", relative: true, offset: [2, 2] }); Such tampering would literally double the Hebrew Scripture as a vowel is placed under every consonant and an accent exists on every word. Commenting on Ezekiel 27:18, Jerome wrote, “Hebrew nouns have very different interpretations, from the difference of accent, and the change of letters and vowels, especially such as have their peculiar uses.”  Likewise, in his commentary on Jonah, he writes, “I am quite surprised at some translations, since in Hebrew there is no such close relation between letters, syllables, accents, and words.”5)Thomas D. Ross, Evidences for the Inspiration of the Hebrew Vowel Points, p. 21-22; accessible at http://faithsaves.net/inspiration-hebrew-vowel-points/ jQuery("#footnote_plugin_tooltip_659_5").tooltip({ tip: "#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_659_5", tipClass: "footnote_tooltip", effect: "fade", predelay: 800, fadeInSpeed: 200, fadeOutSpeed: 2000, position: "top center", relative: true, offset: [2, 2] }); During this time (A.D. 200-400), The Babylonian Talmud was being composed from oral and written material. The least of its evil is not yet thoroughly considered. [60]  Consequently, while Walton’s work appeared during the height of the classic formulation of the debate about the points, and some within the sphere of Protestantism continued to avow anti-point positions, the younger Buxtorf’s reply to the Arcanum had apparently stemmed the strong philological assault which it had made against his father’s Tiberias. Hebrew Vorlage . General Background to the Controversy, Including Affairs on the Continent, Medieval Judaism accepted the inspiration of the Hebrew points[4]  and generally dated them to Moses, although Ezra was often held to have exercised a prophetic role in the standardization of the text;[5] the available copies were considered perfectly preserved from the time of their original inspiration, and not only consonants and vowels, but Masorah and tradition, handed down unchanged from God to the patriarchs to the present day. George M. Giger, ed. [48]  The positions of Buxtorf, Levita, and Cappel all found supporters in England, as on the Continent. Prues, Robert D. The Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, vol. The most widespread system, and the only one still used to a significant degree today, was created by the Masoretes of Tiberiasin the s… Walton’s position was strenuously opposed by Lightfoot, who had worked with him on the Polyglot and was probably the highest authority in Hebrew learning in England at the time, and by John Owen. 1, London, England:  Soncino Press, 1933. [18]              quoted in Ginsburg, pg. Consider how one can handle their exposition of the Old Testament if they deny the fixed and preserved inspiration of the Hebrew Vowel points. [8]                Levita’s view did not go unchallenged among the Jews;  Azzariah de Rossi, in his. How does the pointing, or lack thereof, of the text influence the doctrine of inspiration? The Vowels. [A]ll the accents and Hebrew points . The denial of the Hebrew vowels can neither be established by objective historical documentations, nor has it been the historical view of Jews or Christians of antiquity. of the Targums . A., The Nature and Character of Theology: An Introduction to the Thought of J. [10]         Pg. Hugh Broughton, in his commentary on Daniel, published in 1596, upheld the same view, as did John Piscator in his 1594 Analysis Logica Evangelii secundum Matthaeum. The thought that the Hebrew vowels were in the original autographs of the Bible, handwritten by the prophets who originally received God’s words, most likely sound ridiculous to the average Christian today because the scholars have consistently taught us the Hebrew vowels did not exist until a later date. Jewish teachers… seem either to have had or to have affected the most unreasonable opinions as to the infallible accuracy with which their scriptures had been handed down;  they held that every letter, vowel-point, and accent which was found in the modern copies of the Old Testament was of divine authority;  and that not a single thing, however minute, had been added, altered, or omitted, since the time of the sacred writers. James T. Dennison, Jr., Phillipsburg, NJ:  P & R Publishing, 1992. Thomas Ross records, “Medieval Judaism accepted the inspiration of the Hebrew [vowel] points and generally dated them to Moses, although Ezra was often held to have exercised a prophetic role in the standardization of the text; the available copies were considered perfectly preserved from the time of their original inspiration, and not only consonants and vowels, but Masorah and tradition … Within these vowel classes, there are five vowel types (a, e, i, o, u), though not all are attested in each of the vowel classes. [27]              This is evident in the fact that Bible translations were made from the TR, in the quotation of distinctively Received Text readings in Protestant confessions of faith (i. e, 1 Jn 5:7 in chap. [52]  These early Englishmen affirmed, as did a continuing Protestant tradition, that the keraia or “tittle” of Matthew 5:18 referred to the points of the Hebrew text, so they existed in Christ’s day and received His Divine sanction. ): Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta ... Zeta ... Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu ... Pi ... Rho, Sigma Tau. The earliest method of indicating some vowels in Hebrew writing was to use the consonant letters yod י ‎, waw ו ‎, he ה ‎,and aleph א ‎ of the Hebrew alphabet to also write long vowels in some cases. “The fragments from Qumran, at this relatively early age, were written with Hebrew letters only, consecutively traced without word spacing. Jerome also specifically speaks of the Hebrew vowels and accents in a variety of his writings…. The \"Kh\" and the \"Ch\" are pronounced as in German or Scottish, a throat clearing noise, not as the \"ch\" in \"chair.\" Note that there are two versions of some letters. Raymond Martin (c. 1220-1287), the Dominican, argued that the points were added by Ben Naphtali and Ben Asher around 900-960 and the Emendations of the Scribes were a few of many willful Jewish corruptions and perversions of the Hebrew text to erase testimonies to Christianity. will never suffer to perish. On the Continent, for example, by 1609, Amandus Polanus (1561-1610), professor of theology and Old Testament exegesis at the University of Basel,[19] argued for the inspiration of the points on the basis that Scripture teaches the inspiration of words, and not consonants alone, or merely thoughts, and that the faith was based on the words of the prophets, not of the Masorites. “The idea of the recent addition of the points was popular among the Catholics, for it lend support to their idea of the superiority of the Latin Vulgate to the Hebrew (and Greek) original, formally canonized in the Council of Trent, and became a tool in anti-Protestant polemic, for the perspicuity of Scripture and support the Romanist contention for the necessity of infallible interpretation by their organization.”23)Thomas Ross, The Battle Over the Hebrew Vowel points, Examined Particularly As Waged in England,” p. 5; accessible at http://evans.landmarkbiblebaptist.net/04-BibleCorrectionExamples/Battle%20Over%20the%20Hebrew%20Vowel%20Points,%20Ros.pdf jQuery("#footnote_plugin_tooltip_659_23").tooltip({ tip: "#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_659_23", tipClass: "footnote_tooltip", effect: "fade", predelay: 800, fadeInSpeed: 200, fadeOutSpeed: 2000, position: "top center", relative: true, offset: [2, 2] }); Protestants first resisted such ideas but slowly gave up the inspired vowels. 115. Turretin’s, [33]              “[The inspiration of the vowel points would not] be difficult to establish… by various arguments, [Buxtorf Sr.’s. For, whereas the letters of the Hebrew tongue have no vocals, they only had the skill to read the Scripture by the consonants;  and thereby the vulgar people were kept from reading it, by special providence of God, as it is thought, that precious stones should not be cast before swine, that is to say, such as be not called thereto, as being, for their unreverent curiosity and impure life, unworthy” (, [56]              Interestingly, while many Protestants feared the conclusions of Cappel in his. Without some manner of theological presuppositions about the preservation of the Hebrew text, beyond a simple acceptance of the inspiration of the autographa, is assurance of an authoritative and available revelation from God, as sure as the audible voice of the Father that Peter heard on the Mount of Transfiguration (2 Pet 1:16-21), possible? [78]              As, i. e., Horne suggests, pg. . ed., trans. 49, Ginsburg, [16]          While Calvin did not take a stand in favor of the inspiration of the vowels, he did follow the general consensus of his era and accept as correct the pronunciation. in 1661. Click the chart below for more information about a particular vowel type: Hebrew Diphthongs. When God revealed Himself so to Jeremiah, did the prophet write down the pointed Hebrew text above,[1] with the addition of accent marks, or only the unpointed consonants—or perhaps even only those consonants without the so-called vowel letters? If the translators wrote the Aleph (א)—which is a silent consonant in Hebrew—as the Greek letter Alpha (Α), than the second letter in Greek is being interpreted as וּ to produce the υ, instead of וֹ which is the “O” of what Origen is essentially arguing about. The Jewish proselyte to Catholicism Nicholas de Lyra (c. 1270-1340) also asserted the late addition of the points. (cf. I believe this is the most likely scenario. These opinions were too hastily assumed as true by most of their Christian pupils.” pg. [25]  Furthermore, in contrast with some willingness among the partisans of Rome to engage in lower criticism, usually with the intention of undermining the authority of the extant original language copies, Protestants generally believed “the original texts of the Old and New Testaments [had] come down to us pure and uncorrupted”[26] and consequently affirmed the preservation of both the New Testament Textus Receptus[27] and the 1524-1525 Hebrew Old Testament, the 2nd Rabbinic Bible edited by Jacob ben Chayyim, “accepted as the authoritative text (textus receptus) for four hundred years or more… [and which] fixed the vowel-letters, the vowel points, and the accents as well.”[28]  Ben Chayyim’s introduction to the Masoretic Textus Receptus[29] assumed the vowel points were given by inspiration to Moses at Sinai[30] and his Massorah finalis included a Jewish treatise by Moses the Punctuator that took the same view, and “has since been reprinted in all the editions of the Rabbinic Bibles.”[31]  This could not have been other than a point in favor of the Hebrew vowels among the Protestants. Arias Montanus” (pg. . . Accordance Bible software, including Bible texts and numerous tools, including the Theological Journal Library, Version 5, published by Galaxie Software;  cf. Compare also the very early MS AA discovered in the Cairo Geniza: :NCl NyobwCb Mgrtmw NCl djb yrqtm tway Crpmw qyqj btk adh htyrwa ylm lk ty hynba lo Nwbtktw. Hebrew is a consonantal language. A consideration of the origin, inspiration, and authority of the Hebrew vowel points has tremendous bibliological and hermeneutical significance;  controversy surrounding them generated great heat in the Reformation and post-Reformation eras and is, indeed, still with Christiandom today, when atheistic presuppositions plague much of the study of the historiography and philology of Hebrew and dominate both higher and lower biblical criticism. While the defenders of the originality of the points were overwhelmingly staunch advocates of Protestant orthodoxy, supporters of the Masoretic origin of the points fell into two distinct camps;  the first, which took the position of Elias Levita, affirmed that the points, although written down in the Christian era, were authoritative expressions of the autographal understanding, while the latter, which took the position adopted by a prime mover in rationalistic Old Testament textual criticism, Cappellus,[38] viewed the points as unauthoritative and the Hebrew text as corrupt. Muller, Richard A., “The Debate over the Vowel Points and the Crisis in Orthodox Hermeneutics,” The Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 10 (1980) 1. He defined the term Reformed scholasticism primarily in the context of the system of theology epitomized in the Formula. [43]  In contrast, Cappel argued that with the addition of the points, and the alteration of the original form of the Hebrew script,[44] many matres lectiones were eliminated, and the Hebrew textus receptus often required emendation. Owen likewise considered that any compromise of the divine origin and inspiration of the vowels would lead to disaster. [21]   The points found numerous defenders among men like Gerardus, Junius, Gomarus, Polanus, Whitaker, Ussher, Rainolds, Buxtorf Sr. and Jr., Voetius, Deodatus, Lightfoot, and Heidegger. 1, Streamwood, IL:  Primitive Baptist Library, 1981, reprint of the 1814 printing. [20]  Buxtorf Sr. took the same position that year in his Thesaurus Grammaticus. Though the quotations from contemporary scholars, theologians, and apologists on the denial of Hebrew vowels in the original autographs of the Bible can be extended indefinitely; one, more recent of such statements should suffice. While the long and the short forms are significant in Biblical Hebrew—the difference in pronunciation is not noted in Modern Hebrew. So that… I must needs say, I had rather that [Walton’s Polyglot, despite its usefulness], and all works of the like kind, were out of the world, than that this one opinion [of the recent origin of the points] should be received, with the consequences that unavoidably attend it.[63]. Although Owen’s fear of the consequences of the adoption of a non-authoritative view of the points is manifest in his Integrity and Purity of the Hebrew and Greek Text of the Scripture, with considerations on the prologomena and appendix to the late “Biblia Polyglotta,” he presented a scholarly and gentlemanly rebuttal to Walton, and asserted the fixation of the points by “the men of the great synagogue, Ezra and his companions, guided therein by the infallible direction of the Spirit of God… [although he did] not oppose them who maintain that they are coevous with the letters— which are not a few of the most learned Jews and Christians.”[64]  Walton published a rather vitriolic and abusive reply, The Considerator Considered, in 1659. Table 16 - Long Vowels in EBHP by Origin. [43]              Indeed, Levita even stated “I shall first do battle against those who say that [the points] were given on Sinai, and then state who invented them, and when they were originated and affixed to the letters. pub. Like most early Semitic alphabetic writing systems, the alef-bet has no vowels. It is doubtful whether the word should be pointed from the New Hebrew verb "to hand down," or from the verb meaning "to bind." As with other Semitic languages, only the consonants were written down (no vowels). 46, Porter, J. Scott. The pointing of the Bible savours of the work of the Holy Spirit, not the work of lost, blinded, besotted men.[62]. Advocates included Archbishop Secker and Drs. [39]         For example, Whitfield wrote:  “I think it necessary . [68]  Indeed, arguments for the originality of the points continued into the nineteenth century and beyond. The Hebrew alphabet is comprised of 24 letters and a point system that denotes vowel sounds because the alphabet itself has no vowels. The Hebrew language has five basic vowels which have a long and a short form. Secondly, when the doctrine was so tightly connected with the exact verbal form of the biblical text, it would have been very peculiar if they had not regarded as inspired the vocalization, which is so essential for the determination of meaning.”26)James Barr, Fundamentalism, SCM Press Ltd, (London, 1977) p. 298 jQuery("#footnote_plugin_tooltip_659_26").tooltip({ tip: "#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_659_26", tipClass: "footnote_tooltip", effect: "fade", predelay: 800, fadeInSpeed: 200, fadeOutSpeed: 2000, position: "top center", relative: true, offset: [2, 2] }); The thought of the inspiration of Hebrew vowel points is mocked by secular men and Liberals theologians and all but ignored by contemporary evangelicals because of their compromised views on inspiration, but sound evidence and logic would persuade us that God gave us His words in an unambiguous clear communication to be understood (Deuteronomy 27:8) because God desires for all nations and languages to hear His glorious gospel (Revelation 14:6) and have His word translated for them to obey all things He has commanded (Matthew 28:20). [19]              pg. ), Hendrickson Publishers (Peabody, Massachusetts: 1896, Fifth Printing, 2012) Vol. . The Hebrew Alphabet. In the following charts, the Hebrew vowels are presented in four major vowel classes: short, changeable long, unchangeable long and reduced. Few traces of dialects exist in Biblical Hebrew, but scholars believe this to be the result of Masoretic editing of the text. The question of whether Hebrew has vowels is a tricky one because it requires a distinction between spoken and written language. 295. Download and print your own Hebrew vowel flash cards. . Klauber, Martin I., “Jean-Alphonse Turrettini and the Abrogation of the Formula Consensus in Geneva,” Westminster Theological Journal, 53:2 (Fall 1991), 325-338. As a carpenter employs tools to build a home, so G-d utilized the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, the alef-beis, to form heaven and earth. [45]              It is possible that his views grew more radical over time—or that he simply grew more free in his expression of them. Today, the different vowel marks are used to describe long or short vowels, a difference that only people who study the Hebrew language rules (at high-school or university level) are aware of. Contrary to the Buxtorf position, Walton maintained that the Hebrew points were added to the text between A. D. 500 and 600 and are consequently not of absolute divine authority, than an examination of Hebrew variants outside of the textus receptus, as well as of early translations, was appropriate to determine the true reading and at times correct the Received Text, and conjectural emendation could be adopted in especially difficult circumstances. In his commentary on the Gospel of John, he wrote about variations in the text of the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint (LXX) from the Hebrew manuscripts he observed in Israel that the Jews had. A Brief History of Hebrew Vowels 2.1 During the original phase, Hebrew was written without any vowels indicated in the script. Liberal author James Barr wrote about the inconsistency of contemporary conservative evangelicals views of inerrancy, saying, “The older protestant scholastics, on the other hand, had a certain amount of reason on their side. 2, Boston, MA:  Littell and Gay, 1868. IX, The Works of John Owen, ed. Whitfiield, Peter, A Dissertation on the Hebrew Vowel-Points, showing that they are an original and essential part of the Language. Thomas D. Ross, Evidences for the Inspiration of the Hebrew Vowel Points, p. 21-22; accessible at, The Babylonian Talmud, tractate Bavil Nedarim, 37b; accessible at, footnote #8 of The Babylonian Talmud, tractate Bavil Nedarim, 37b; accessible at, Dean Burgon, Cause of Corruption of the New Testament Text, Sovereign Grace Publishers, Inc., 1998, p. 21, Thomas D. Ross, Evidences for the Inspiration of the Hebrew Vowel Points, p. 11-20; accessible at, Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology, Victor Books, 1986, p. 88-89, John Gill, A Brief Memoir of the Life and Writtings of the Late Rev John Gill (John Rippon) Baptist Standard Bearer, 1999, p. 51-51, W.E. [4]                There seem to be very few possible exceptions to this view in medieval Judaism;  the only two possible prominent candidates would be the ninth century Natronai ha-Sheni ben Hilai and the twelfth century Ibn Ezra (pg. The central argument for the primacy of Hebrew as the cradle of vowels systems, as discussed in Chapter 3, seems to be that the spread and incorporation of vowels into other languages would have been more widespread if these vowels had been propagated by the more widespread language of Aramaic (noting that the Aramaic language and alphabet are similar to and closely related to that of … . [35]  These theological presuppositions of the verbal inspiration and preservation of the textus receptus were brought to bear in the standard-bearing treatises for the originality and inspiration of the points by Buxtorf Sr. and Jr.,[36]  alongside of philological and grammatical exercitation.[37]. [58]  Buxtorf Sr. had written his Tiberias, defending the originality and inspiration of the points, in 1620, to which Cappel had replied with his 1623 Arcanum punctationis revelatum;  Buxtorf Jr. published a series of dissertations on the antiquity on the Hebrew language and its antiquity in 1645, and a specific rebuttal of the Acranum punctationis in 1648. Read over the Jerusalem Talmud, and see there how R. Judah, R. Chaninah, R. Judan, R. Hoshaia, R. Chija Rabba, R. Chija bar Ba, R. Jochanan, R. Jonathan, and the rest of the grand doctors among the Rabbins of Tiberias, behave themselves, how earnestly they do nothing, how childishly they handle serious disputes! The first three arguments are as follows: This is where the discussion come to a practical level for every born again believer today. [50]              “[I]t is without perhaps, or peradventure, that not one iota or prick of the law of God can perish, by the testimony of our Saviour Christ, Matthew v.  . Lightfoot declared pointedly: There are some who believe the Holy Bible was pointed by wise men of Tiberias. For seeing that the reading of the Bible is so difficult, and so liable to various ambiguities, from the very nature of the thing, it is plan that it is not the will of God that every one should rashly and irreverently take upon himself to explain it;  nor to suffer the common people to expound it at their pleasure; but that in those things, as in other matters respecting religion, it is His will that the people should depend upon the priests.[18]. Indeed, “[t]he authority of the Septuagint is above that of the present standard, not only in those places where its reading gives a better sense, but also where it gives one as good and appropriate, and that because it is the more ancient. One referred to a region and one to a people group. pgs. The letters קדצ could have meant “righteousness,” “his righteousness,” “they are righteous,” etc. . In course of time it was connected with masar (to hand down), and thus came to mean traditional reading.”7)footnote #8 of The Babylonian Talmud, tractate Bavil Nedarim, 37b; accessible at http://www.come-and-hear.com/nedarim/nedarim_37.html jQuery("#footnote_plugin_tooltip_659_7").tooltip({ tip: "#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_659_7", tipClass: "footnote_tooltip", effect: "fade", predelay: 800, fadeInSpeed: 200, fadeOutSpeed: 2000, position: "top center", relative: true, offset: [2, 2] }); The editor then follows the statement by expressing the average view of the Tiberian Masorite Theory that the original Hebrew was without brakes in the letters consisting of only consonants, but in saying such he contradicts the entire passage. Yoma 21b; Bab. Two alternative schools of interpreters arose, both of which undermined Biblical authority. So they developed a vowel point system to know how to pronounce it. Dean Burgeon stressed that the corruptions of manuscripts were caused by some scribes that copied the sacred Scriptures in such a style as commonly claimed. [57]         Interestingly, Walton not only advocated an anti-vowel position, but he was a prime father of Old Testament textual criticism in general;  “the earlist list of guidelines suggested for the comparison of reading in the Hebrew Bible is that of Walton” (pg. 106, Turretin, Francis. 2:  Holy Scripture:  The Cognitive Foundation of Theology, Grand Rapids, MI:  Baker Books, 1993. However, the church at Rome, displeased with the Reformers’ cry that the Bible, unfettered by tradition, was the complete and authoritative Word of God, took Levita’s assertion of the recent origin of the points and wielded it against the Protestants, affirming that it demonstrated that the Bible could not be understood apart from the Catholic church. (BDAG), Chicago, IL:  University of Chicago Press, 2000. [59]  Lewis Cappel replied to Buxtorf Jr.’s rebuttal of his Arcanum, but this work remained unpublished until 1689. Chapter 2: The Hebrew Vowels 9 2.2 Hebrew Vowel Charts. Pelikan, Jaroslav, Reformation of Church and Dogma, Chicago, IL:  University of Chicago Press, 1985. If all he saw was as ו, he would not be able to argue for the name to be rendered with an “O” over “Αυ”. Miller, H. S., General Biblical Introduction, 9th ed., Houghton, NY:  Word-Bearer Press, 1956. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Revell, 1966, Vol. Revell, E. J., trans. However, around the 8th century as a system of dots and dashes was developed whereby marks were placed beneath the Hebrew letters in order to indicate the appropriate vowel. . Thus, all spoken languages have vowels. Originally the Hebrew language was not written with vowels to indicate how a word should be pronounced. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites, Judeans and their ancestors; however, the language was not referred to by the name "Hebrew" in the Tanakh itself. Can a solely consonantal text serve as the perspicuous, final, and ultimate authority in all matters pertaining to God, or does its ambiguity lead to the necessity of church tradition to properly understand the Word of God? [2]                The Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647, 1:8, pg. Hills, Edward F., The King James Version Defended, Des Moines, Iowa:  Christian Research Press, 1956. 1) Bodie Hodge, Tower of Babel: The Culture History of Our Ancestors, Master Books, (Green Forest, AR, 2013), p. 114 jQuery("#footnote_plugin_tooltip_659_1").tooltip({ tip: "#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_659_1", tipClass: "footnote_tooltip", effect: "fade", predelay: 800, fadeInSpeed: 200, fadeOutSpeed: 2000, position: "top center", relative: true, offset: [2, 2] }); This opinion is known as the “Tiberian Masorite Theory” (TMT) indicating the idea that Masoritic scribes in Tiberias invented the Hebrew vowel points generally somewhere between A.D. 500-1000. — He holds that accents are also Biblical;  for R. Ika b. Abin said in the name of R. Hananel in Rab’s name: What is the meaning of, And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading? Orlinsky, Harry M., ed, The Library of Biblical Studies, Jacob Ben Chajim Ibn Adonijah’s Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible and The Massoreth Ha-Massoreth of Elias Levita, trans. [17]              In contrast with, for example, the opinion of De Valencia in the previous footnote. Hebrew uses the original alphabet, which was invented for Hebrew or a close cousin to it. Durell, Judd, Lowth, Blayney, Newcome, Wintle, Horsley, Good, and Boothroyd. The Lord, I hope, will safeguard his own from the poison of such attempts. ‘They read in the book, it, the law of God,’ refers to Scripture; ‘distinctly,’ to Targum [“translation”—generally referring to Aramaic];  ‘and they gave the sense’, to the division of sentences; ‘so that they understood the reading,’ to the accentuation; others say, to the masoroth.6) The Babylonian Talmud, tractate Bavil Nedarim, 37b; accessible at http://www.come-and-hear.com/nedarim/nedarim_37.html jQuery("#footnote_plugin_tooltip_659_6").tooltip({ tip: "#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_659_6", tipClass: "footnote_tooltip", effect: "fade", predelay: 800, fadeInSpeed: 200, fadeOutSpeed: 2000, position: "top center", relative: true, offset: [2, 2] }); The footnote explains the word “masoroth” as “The term ‘masorah’ occurs in Ezek. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001. cf. . . The 1524-1525 five volume Biblia Rabbinica edited by Ben Chayyim, as originally published with targums, Massorah, and rabbinic commentaries, is available from Good Books, 2456 Devonshire Road, Springfield, IL, 62703. ed, New York, NY:  Philips & Hunt, 1880. 77-78. While some maintained it alongside of fundamental Christian orthodoxy in other areas, Cappel’s criticism tended to gut Biblical authority, and utterly rejected the general orthodox consensus of the time that the available Hebrew and Greek apographa, not the autographs alone, were inerrant. Biblical Hebrew (עִבְרִית מִקְרָאִית ‎ Ivrit Miqra'it or לְשׁוֹן הַמִּקְרָא ‎ Leshon ha-Miqra), also called classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of Hebrew, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages, spoken by the Israelites in the area known as Israel, roughly west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea. Luther Poellot, St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 1986. Fulke, William, A Defense of the Sincere and True Translation of the Holy Scriptures into the English Tongue, against the Manifold Cavils, Frivolous Quarrels, and Impudent Slanders of Gregory Martin, one of the Readers of Popish Divinity, in the Traitorous Seminary of Rheims. Gould, William H, & Quick, Charles W., Philadelphia, PA:  Leighton Publications, 1865. 55) who also believed in the inspiration of the vowels and accents. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1994). Owen, John, Of the Divine Original, Authority, Self-Evidencing Light, and Power of the Scriptures;  with an Answer to that Inquiry, How We Know The Scriptures to be The Word of God, in vol. It is significant that “it is likely that a belief in the inspiration of the Hebrew vowels was maintained either universally or at least by the main body of the translators of the King James Version of 1611…”19)Thomas Ross, The Battle Over the Hebrew Vowel points, Examined Particularly As Waged in England,” p. 15; accessible at http://evans.landmarkbiblebaptist.net/04-BibleCorrectionExamples/Battle%20Over%20the%20Hebrew%20Vowel%20Points,%20Ros.pdf jQuery("#footnote_plugin_tooltip_659_19").tooltip({ tip: "#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_659_19", tipClass: "footnote_tooltip", effect: "fade", predelay: 800, fadeInSpeed: 200, fadeOutSpeed: 2000, position: "top center", relative: true, offset: [2, 2] }); Thomas Ross records, “Medieval Judaism accepted the inspiration of the Hebrew [vowel] points and generally dated them to Moses, although Ezra was often held to have exercised a prophetic role in the standardization of the text; the available copies were considered perfectly preserved from the time of their original inspiration, and not only consonants and vowels, but Masorah and tradition handed down unchanged from God to the patriarchs to the present day. All spoken languages are composed of sounds generated in part by breathing, and linguists designate unrestricted air flowing over the vocal tract resulting in audible sounds as vowels. Woodbridge, John D., “Biblical Authority:  Towards an Evaluation of the Rogers and Mckim Proposal,” Trinity Journal 1:2 (Fall 1980), 165-236. The Complete Hebrew Vowel List. Farnell, F. David, “The Gift of Prophecy in the Old and New Testaments,” Bibliotheca Sacra  149:596 (Oct 92). 44, “Life of Elias Levita,” Ginsburg. His commentaries also reveal the existence of Hebrew vowel points. Indeed, many among the Catholics had, to better oppose the Jews, held to the late origin of the points for some time in the medieval era. Tov, Emanuel, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 2nd ed. Pick. Parker society ed. 55-56, 578, 78). 80-97, vol. Can we say “Thus saith the LORD” without adding “unless there is a variant”? The first, and less radical, considered that “the Masoretic punctuation is an interpretation of the text made by the Jews, probably not earlier than the eighth century, and that, accordingly, our public translations… close copies of the Hebrew pointed text, are in reality only versions at second hand, translations of the Jews’ interpretation of the Old Testament”[75]  and the Hebrew text itself “is considerably injured, and stands in need of frequent emendation.”  It put great weight upon early versions and made conjectures based on flights of fancy that greatly undermined the authority of Scripture. Letters of Light is a unique and insightful exposition of how the letters of the alef-beis continue to be a source of creation and inspiration. Would the people be able to “write upon [the stones] all the words of [the] law” (Deuteronomy 27:3) so that they could “keep all the commandments” (27:1) in them with an unpointed copy? Gill, John, A Dissertation concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, Letters, Vowel Points, and Accents, originally published in 1767, available at http://www.onlinebible.net/topics6.html. But vowel points were added to help alleviate any misconception. However, since they are not friends but enemies of Holy Writ, I often utter words which strongly oppose these points” (Luther on Gen 47:31) and “that most dangerous people, the Jews, falsify the words of the prophets with the points and distinctions;  and their points, which are nothing but a modern invention, most assuredly are not to be preferred to the simple, correct, and grammatical sense.” (Comment. Around 700 ce, various systems for writing vowels were developed for Semitic languages, with each language developing distinct vowel symbols. 156, “The Vowel-Points Controversy in the XVI and XVII Centuries,” B. Allen Menzies, D.D. Many letters in the Greek alphabet have similar names and occur in the same order (though they don't look anything alike! It is also worthy of note that “the . This interpretation follows a more logical consistency as the word “jot” being a transliteration of the smallest Hebrew consonant and the “tittle” from the Greek word Keraia as a transliteration of the Hebrew word Chirek—the smallest Hebrew vowel. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Targum Yerushalmi I) on Deuteronomy 27:8 reads, “And you shall write on the stones all the words of this Torah, an engraved and distinct writing, read in one language and translated into seventy languages” (Nynvyl Nyobyvb Mgrtymw Nvyl djb yrqtm vrpmw qyqj btk adj atyyrwa ymgtyp lk ty aynba lo Nwbwtkytw). [22]   Lutherans such as Flaccius, Gerhard, who brought “the view into general acceptance among Luthern theologians,”[23] and Dannhauer[24]  defended the points, and their originality and inspiration became a fundamental theological tenet of Reformed high orthodoxy. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Revell, 1966, Vol. Here again the Targumic wording supports a vocalized text being engraved on the tablets. London:  Oxford University Press, 1910. Several such diacritical systems were developed in the Early Middle Ages. ), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3rd. 296-297, Loonstra. In the ten volumes of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, the most common typo is switching u with n, so words like “aud” or “bnt” appear on occasions. 1., Gaebelein, Frank E., gen ed., Grand Rapids, MI;  Zondervan, 1990, CD version by OakTree Software. The denial of the Vowel points began creeping into Christendom as the Catholic church first promoted the opinion of the Tiberian Masorite Theory yoked with Catholic tradition and magistrates alone able to interpret Scripture due to ambiguity without the vowels. 60. One also notices statements in the Talmud such as:  “Said Mar Zutra, “Read the verse as though the vowels yielded not, that they may learn, but that they may teach” (Bavil Tractate Hagigah), which certainly look like evidence for the existence of the points at the time of its composition. ed. [Since] our Saviour Christ hath promised that never a prick of the law shall perish, we may understand the same also of the prophets, who have not received the vowels of the latter Jews, but even of the prophets themselves. [79]              pg. McKane, William, Selected Christian Hebraists, New York, NY:  Cambridge University Press, 1989. [W]e acknowledge the text of the Old Testament in Hebrew and Chaldee [Aramaic] . OakTree Software, Inc., Palm Springs Drive, Suite 100, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701. Harman, Henry, Introduction to the Holy Scriptures, 2nd. . pub. The same can and ought to be said of all the codices of the ancient interpreters.”[46]  The great variations in the Septuagint from the standard Hebrew text, such as the fact that the Hebrew of Jeremiah 25-45 roughly corresponds to chapters 32-51 in the Greek,[47]  and the poor quality of much of its translation, illustrates how greatly Cappel’s lower critical views undermined the current Protestant bibliology. pgs. [61]               “By the use, and according to tradition, by the aid of the three letters ’vy [awy], called, [65]              His dissertation is entitled. Those who deny the Hebrew vowel points would interpret the “tittle” as a small horn protruding from a letter, as Ryrie does, are not carrying a consistent interpretive method which would demand the grammatical sense of the word. Recollect, I beseech you, the names of the Rabbins of Tiberias, from the first situation of the University there to the time that it expired;  and what at length do you find, but a kind of men mad with Pharisaism, bewitching with traditions and bewitched, blind, guileful, doting, they must pardon me if I say, magical and monstrous! [71]              pg. Fulke even cites “an excellent learned papist . The textual tradition of Hebrew Bible, an official registration of its words, consonants, vowels and accents. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1994. van Asselt, Willem J., & Dekker, Eef, eds., Reformation and Scolasticism, Grand Rapids, MI:  Baker Books, 2001. In the ten volumes of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, the most common typo is switching u with n, so words like “aud” or “bnt” appear on occasions. John Moncrieff, professor of Oriental Languages at the Andersonian University, who argued in his 1833 Essay on the Antiquity and Utility of the Hebrew Vowel Points that the sounds of the points, marked in the text in some manner, were authoritative and pre-Christian, even if the current signs were invented by the Masorites, lamented: Without anticipating any evidence which may be advanced, or any judgment to which we may be led on the question, as to the authenticity of the Vowel-Points, I hesitate not to affirm, that the great indifference which has, for a considerable time, prevailed, to acquire any critical knowledge of the Hebrew language, has been, not only because many public Teachers have been averse to teach it in any other way than according to the letters, but have boldly proscribed the method of reading with the Vowel-Points, in the language of bitter ridicule, and magisterial condemnation… The practice of exclusively teaching the language by means of the letters alone, in so many of our Seminaries, when viewed in connexion with the acrimonious and condemnatory language, employed against the other method of reading, has not only produced in students an aversion to be qualified to judge with discrimination on the vital question, as to the antiquity of the Vowel-Points, and other questions connected with the Language;  but there is reason to believe that this resolutely exclusive course of procedure, has had the unhappy influence, though no doubt far from what was intended, to produce a great indifference, with many who are professionally occupied with Theology, to acquire any knowledge of this original language, even in its very first principles.[79]. This may include new incidents introduced into the Scriptures, unheard-of statements, name changes, and other perversions of our Lord’s Divine sayings—such phenomena are observed to follow upon the mere omission of the article, or the insertion of an expletive, or the change of a single letter.”15)Dean Burgeon, Cause of Corruption of the New Testament Text, Sovereign Grace Publishers, Inc., 1998, p. 27 jQuery("#footnote_plugin_tooltip_659_15").tooltip({ tip: "#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_659_15", tipClass: "footnote_tooltip", effect: "fade", predelay: 800, fadeInSpeed: 200, fadeOutSpeed: 2000, position: "top center", relative: true, offset: [2, 2] }); A single letter would include, for example, a Hebrew vowel that appears as a simple dot (Chirek). 1583). Hebrew diphthongs are combination of vowels acting as a unit and producing a unique sound: Other Learning Resources Schaff, Philip, The Creeds of Christiandom, vol. 1,400 B.C. Contrary to many previous approaches, Benjamin Suchard shows that t See More Evidence the Hebrew Vowel Points were Inspired, Bodie Hodge, Tower of Babel: The Culture History of Our Ancestors, Master Books, (Green Forest, AR, 2013), p. 114, Samuel Terrien, The Psalms: Strophic Structure and Theological Commentary, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, MI: 2003), p. 25, Origen, Origen’s Commentary on John, book 6, chap.24; The Ante-Nicene Father, (ed. How would they know whether or not they were forbidden to boil goats in their mother’s milk (bDlDj) or fat (bRlEj), for example (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21), since, without vowels, the two words are exactly the same (blj), and there is nothing in the context of the texts that would prove the one or the other reading is correct? Gould, William H, & Quick, Charles W., Philadelphia, PA:  Leighton Publications, 1865. ix, xi-xii, “Prolegomenon” to Ben Chayyim’s, [32]              “The influence of Protestant scholasticism was both immediate and long-range… The dominant Reformed scholastics… were Beza, Vermigli, Adrianus Heerebout, and, most importantly, Francis Turretin (1623-87). CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. to 1,000 B.C. 604 in Schaff, [3]                For example, the KJV-only, Landmark Baptist periodical. Liverpool, 1748. Targum Neofiti reads, “And you shall write on the stones all the words of this Torah, written, inscribed [qyqj, Peal passive participle, “being engraven”] and explained well [vrpm, Pael passive participle, “being specified” + tway, “rightly, properly”], so as to be read [arqtm, Ithpeel participle from yrq, thus, “to call by name”] and translated into seventy languages” (:Nvl Myobvb Mgrtmw arqtmw vrpmw qyqj bytk hdh htyrwa ymgtp lk ty hyynba lo Nwbtktw). VII, p. 580, Thomas Ross, The Battle Over the Hebrew Vowel points, Examined Particularly As Waged in England,” p. 8; accessible at, James Barr, Fundamentalism, SCM Press Ltd, (London, 1977) p. 298, http://www.newadvent.org/fa thers/101506.htm, http://faithsaves.net/inspiration-hebrew-vowel-points/, http://www.come-and-hear.com/nedarim/nedarim_37.html, http://www.deanburgonsociety.org/CriticalTexts/witfields.htm, http://truthwatchers.com/deistic-inspiration-preserved-inerrancy/, http://evans.landmarkbiblebaptist.net/04-BibleCorrectionExamples/Battle%20Over%20the%20Hebrew%20Vowel%20Points,%20Ros.pdf, Dr. Lee Berger: The Suspicious Character Behind Homo Naledi, Counsel of the Ungodly: Commentary on Psalm 1:1, Why Contemporary Christian Music is NOT Christian, The necessity of vowel-points in reading the Hebrew language, The necessity for forming different Hebrew conjugations, moods, tenses, as well as dual and plural endings on nouns, The necessity of vowel-points in distinguishing a great number of words with different significations which without vowel-points are the same. [53]  However, the necessity of coeval vowels and consonants was not universally recognized as necessary to maintain Protestant bibliology;  Anglican John Jewel, who wrote against the Catholic convert Thomas Harding some years before Fulke’s pro-points work,[54] mentions that a variety of opinions existed about their age of origin, from Moses to the Masorites, but as the ancient practice of writing Greek without accents never prevented the common man from reading his language, so the absence of vowels in a Hebrew text never hindered the Jews from reading the Bible:  “Certainly Mr. Harding knows that even now not only the learned of the Jews, but also the very children of ten years of age, are able to read without pricks or vowels.”[55]  While some Protestants feared that anything less than points inscribed by the Prophets would destroy Scriptural authority and deliver victory to Rome, others argued that an unpointed text was still perspicuous and therefore yielded nothing to the Papist contention in any case.[56]. 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