The Hodayot’s use of the psalter: Text-critical contributions (Book1)

This chapter aims to identify passages in the Hodayot that might be of significance to the development of the ancient Hebrew text of the Psalter, that is, to isolate and examine any apparent uses of the Psalter, which occurs in the Hodayot in a slightly different form from that attested in Masoretic texts (MT), a form that might, however, correspond in some way to one of the non-Masoretic traditions. The references to Hodayot texts in the BHS apparatus to Pss. 4:8 and 5:11 exemplify how easy it is to see a possible connection between the wording of a passage in the Hodayot and another in the Psalter, but how difficult it is to establish that such a relationship actually existed. In the case of the Hodayot's use of Ps. 31:19, there is no variation from MT, and so the Hodayot text simply supports MT (possibly against Peshitta).Keywords: Hebrew Bible; Hodayot texts; Masoretic texts (MT); Peshitta; Psalter