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Qere and Ketiv (from theAramaicqere orq're,קְרֵי, "[what is] read";ketiv, orketib,kethib,kethibh,kethiv,כְּתִיב, "[what is] written") refers to a system for marking differences between what is written in the consonantal text of theHebrew Bible, as preserved by scribal tradition, and what is read. In such situations, theqere is the technicalorthographic device used to indicate the pronunciation of the words in theMasoretic text of the Hebrew language scriptures (Tanakh), while theketiv indicates their written form, as inherited from tradition.
The wordקרי is often pointedקְרִי and pronounced "kri" or "keri", reflecting the opinion that it is a passive participle rather than an imperative. This is reflected in theAshkenazi pronunciation "keri uchsiv".
Torah scrolls for use in public reading in synagogues contain only theHebrew language consonantal text, handed down by tradition (with only a very limited and ambiguous indication of vowels by means ofmatres lectionis). However, in theMasoreticcodices of the 9th–10th centuries, and most subsequent manuscripts and published editions of theTanakh intended for personal study, the pure consonantal text is annotated withvowel points,cantillation marks and other diacritic symbols used by theMasoretes to indicate how it should be read and chanted, besides marginal notes serving various functions. That Masoretic reading or pronunciation is known as theqere (Aramaic קרי "to be read"), while the pre-Masoretic consonantal spelling is known as theketiv (Aramaic כתיב "(what is) written").
The basic consonantal text written in theHebrew alphabet was rarely altered; but sometimes the Masoretes noted a different reading of a word than that found in the pre-Masoretic consonantal text. The scribes usedqere/ketiv to show, without changing the received consonantal text, that in their tradition a different reading of the text was to be used.Qere were also used to correct obvious errors in the consonantal text without changing it.[citation needed]
However, not allqere/ketiv represented cases of textual doubt; sometimes the change is deliberate. For example, in Deut. 28:27, the ketiv wordובעפליםophalim, "hemorrhoids," was replaced with the qereוּבַטְּחֹרִיםtechorim, "abscesses," because the ketiv was (after the return from Exile) considered too obscene to read in public.[1] A very high percentage ofqere/ketiv is accounted for by change of dialect from old archaic Hebrew to later Hebrew. When the old Hebrew dialect fell into disuse and certain words became unfamiliar to the masses, the scribes amended the original dialect to the later familiar dialect. A good example is the word "Jerusalem," which in old Hebrew was always written ירושלםyrwšlm, but in a later period was written ירושליםyrwšlym. The qere provides the more familiar reading without altering the text. This is also evident throughout2 Kings 4, where the archaic Hebrew2p feminine form of-ti is consistently eliminated by the qere, which replaces it with the familiar standard form of-t.[2]
In such Masoretic texts, the vowel diacritics of theqere (the Masoretic reading) would be placed in the main text, added around the consonantal letters of theketiv (the written variant to be substituted – even if it contains a completely different number of letters), with a special sign indicating that there was a marginal note for this word. In the margins there would be aק sign (forqere), followed by the consonants of theqere reading. In this way, the vowel points were removed from theqere and written instead on theketiv. Despite this, the vowels and consonantal letters of theqere were still meant to be read together.
In an "ordinary"qere, there is only a difference in certain closely related letters, or letters that can be silent (as inGenesis 8:17). For example, the similarly shaped lettersי ו ן are often exchanged (Deuteronomy 34:7), as areכ ב (Esther 3:4) and the similar-soundingד ת (Song of Songs 4:9). Very often, one of the lettersא ה ו י are inserted (Ecclesiastes 10:3) or removed from a word (Deuteronomy 2:33). Many other similar cases exist. Other times, letters are reordered within the word (Ecclesiastes 9:4).
Because the difference between theqere andketiv is relatively large, a note is made in footnotes, sidenotes or brackets to indicate it (see "Typography" below).
Sometimes, although the letters are unchanged, the vowel points differ between theqere andketiv of the word (Genesis 12:8). Theketiv is typically omitted with no indication, leaving only the vowelization for theqere. Often theketiv is left in an unusual spelling, but other times, bothqere andketiv remain in standard spelling.
This type ofqere is different fromqere perpetuum, because here, the consonants do not change. In aqere perpetuum, the consonants actually do change.
Occasionally, a word is not read at all (Ruth 3:12), in which case the word is markedketiv velo qere, meaning "written and not read."
Occasionally, a word is read but not written at all (Judges 20:14;Ruth 3:5), in which case the word is markedqere velo ketiv, meaning "read and not written."
In rarer cases, the word is replaced entirely (Deuteronomy 28:27, 30;Samuel I 5:6) for reasons oftohorat halashon, "purity of language."[3][4] This type ofqere is noted in a printed Hebrew Bible.
In such a case, aketiv is one word while theqere is multiple words (Deuteronomy 33:2) or vice versa (Lamentations 4:3).
In a few cases a change may be marked solely by the adjustment of the vowels written on the consonants, without any notes in the margin, if it is common enough that this will suffice for the reader to recognize it. This is known as aqere perpetuum ("perpetual"qere). It differs from an "ordinaryqere" in that there is no note marker and no accompanying marginal note — these are certain commonly occurring cases ofqere/ketiv in which the reader is expected to understand that aqere exists merely from seeing the vowel points of theqere in the consonantal letters of theketiv.
For example, in thePentateuch, the third-person singular feminine pronounהיאhī is usually spelled the same as the third-person singular masculine pronounהואhū. The Masoretes indicated this situation by adding a written diacritic symbol for the vowel [i] to the pre-Masoretic consonantal spellinghwʔהוא (see diagram). The resulting orthography would seem to indicate a pronunciationhiw, but this is meaningless in Biblical Hebrew, and a knowledgeable reader of the biblical text would know to read the feminine pronounhī here.
Another example of an importantqere perpetuum in the text of the Bible is the name of the God of Israel –יהוה (cf.Tetragrammaton). Often it is marked with the vowelsיְהֹוָה, indicating that it is to be pronounced asאֲדֹנָיAdonai (meaning "my Lord") rather than with its own vowels. The consensus of mainstream scholarship is that "Yehowah" (or in Latin transcription "Jehovah") is a pseudo-Hebrew form which was mistakenly created when Medieval and/or Renaissance Christian scholars misunderstood this commonqere perpetuum, so that "the bastard word 'Jehovah' [was] obtained by fusing the vowels of the one word with the consonants of the other"[5] (similar to readinghiw for theqere perpetuum of the third-person singular feminine pronoun). The usual Jewish practice at the time of the Masoretes was to pronounce it as "Adonai", as is still the Jewish custom today.[6]
Occasionally, the Tetragrammaton is markedיֱהֹוִה (Deuteronomy 3:24,Psalms 73:28) to indicate a qere ofאֱלֹהִיםElohim, another Divine Name.[7]
In Jewish tradition, both theqere and theketiv are considered highly significant. When reading the Torah scroll in the synagogue,Jewish law stipulates that theqere is to be read and not theketiv, to the extent that if theketiv was read, it must be corrected and read according to theqere.[8][9] In addition however, Jewish law requires the scroll to be written according to theketiv, and this is so critical that substituting theqere for theketiv invalidates the entire Torah scroll.[10][11]
Various traditional commentaries on the Torah illustrate the interplay of meaning between theqere and theketiv, showing how each enhances the meaning of the other. Some examples of this include:
Modern translators nevertheless tend to follow theqere rather than theketiv.
Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener in his 1884 commentary on the 1611Authorized Version of the Bible (a.k.a. the King James Bible) reports 6637 marginal notes in the KJV Old Testament, of which 31 are instances of the KJV translators drawing attention toqere andketiv, most being likePsalm 100 verse 3 withketiv being in the main KJV text and theqere in the KJV marginalia (albeit that theRevised Version placed thisqere in the main text[14]), but a handful (such as1 Samuel 27:8 for example) being the other way around.[15]
Modern editions of theChumash andTanakh include information about theqere andketiv, but with varying formatting, even among books from the same publisher. Usually, theqere is written in the main text with its vowels, and theketiv is in a side- or footnote (as in the Gutnick and Stone editions of the Chumash, from Kol Menachem[16] and Artscroll,[17] respectively). Other times, theketiv is indicated in brackets, in-line with the main text (as in the Rubin edition of the Prophets, also from Artscroll).
In aTikkun, which is used to train the synagogue Torah reader, both the full text using theketiv and the full text using theqere are printed, side-by-side. However, an additional note is still made in brackets (as in the Kestenbaum edition from Artscroll) or in a footnote (as in the Tikkun LaKorim from Ktav.[18])
In older prayerbooks (such as the older, all-Hebrew edition of Siddur Tehillat Hashem al pi Nusach HaArizal, in the prayerTikkun Chatzot), theketiv was vowelized according to theqere and printed in the main text. The unvowelizedqere was printed in a footnote.
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Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, §17