Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ) is a detailed and up-to-date presentation of the available evidence for the transmission of the text of the Hebrew Bible. It is being released book by book by the German Bible Society as the work on each one is finished. As with the previous critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, Biblical Hebraica Stuttgartensia, BHQ provides an excellent overview of the existing textual variants that are relevant for translation and exegesis. Much disparate material is brought together in this edition, which makes it a valuable resource for text critical scholars.
At the beginning of each volume, there is a table of accents, a glossary for the Masorah parva, a list of the definitions and abbreviations used to characterize the readings, and a useful sample page that illustrates the features of the layout. Each volume ends with a detailed yet succinct discussion of the textual witnesses for each biblical book that contains a wealth of helpful information, and the manuscripts and critical editions of the texts are clearly annotated. The volumes read right to left.
Features include:
- The text of the Leningrad Codex, corrected from new color photographs of the codex.
- The Masorah magna and Masorah parva from the Leningrad Codex.
- A single apparatus with all relevant textual variants at the bottom of the page.
- All available pre-Tiberian witnesses for each textual case are noted.
- At least two other Tiberian codices are collated for each book.
- The Qumran and Judean Desert fragments are collated.
- Extensive commentary.
