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LENINGRAD CODEX

Folio 422V (Ruth 3:13b–4:13a) of the Leningrad Codex
(Photograph by Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman, West Semitic Research)

Codex Leningradensis (L), the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible extant. It was copied ca. 1008/1009 c.e. by the scribe Shemuʾel ben Yaʿaqob in Cairo, following the authoritative manuscripts of Aharon ben-Moshe ben-Asher of Tiberias. The earliest complete Hebrew Bible containing vowel points and accents, the codex is particularly valued for its extensive masorah, marginal notations concerning textual matters such as occurrences and spellings. It is the base text for the third (BHK) and fourth (BHS) editions of the Biblia Hebraica; all Masoretic notes from the Leningrad Codex will be incorporated into the fifth edition (BHQ).

The codex comprises 491 folios written on thick white parchment. Each page consists of three columns, except for Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, which have two columns with poetry inserted into the text. Following the Minor Prophets, the Writings appear in “chronological” order: Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah. An opening colophon indicates the date and place of copying; two other colophons provide the name of the scribe. The manuscript also features 16 illuminated “carpet pages” as well as Masoretic lists and poems by ben-Yaʿaqob and Moshe ben-Asher.

Housed in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, the codex is also identified as Firkovich B 19 A, obtained from the collection of Abraham Firkovich in 1862.

Bibliography. D. N. Freedman, ed., The Leningrad Codex: A Facsimile Edition (Grand Rapids, 1998).

Allen C. Myers

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LENINGRAD CODEX

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)