Variant Literary Editions of Numbers: Extra-Masoretic Additions in the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Syro-Hexapla

Presenter: Bodor, Attila

Period: 19 July 2026

Event title: 88th International Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association (CBA)

Event type: Conference

Location: Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, USA & virtual participation

Degree of Recognition: International

Abstract: The Samaritan Pentateuch preserves a series of substantial additions in Numbers when compared with the Masoretic Text. Since several of these are also attested in 4QNumᵇ, they are best understood not as late Samaritan innovations, but as readings already in circulation during the Second Temple period. Their importance lies not only in this early attestation, but also in their literary character: these expansions reshape the narrative of Numbers and reflect a literary profile distinct from that of the Masoretic Text. For textual-historical research, these additions become even more significant in light of the fact that, of the twelve major extra-Masoretic expansions preserved in the Samaritan Pentateuch and fragmentarily attested at Qumran, ten are also found in the Syro-Hexapla (Num 10:10; 12:16; 13:33; 14:40; 14:45; 20:13; 21:11; 21:12; 21:20; 31:20). By analyzing these shared readings, this paper examines their significance for the textual and literary history of Numbers. It asks whether the combined evidence of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Qumran, and the Syro-Hexapla supports the existence of a variant literary edition of Numbers alongside the proto-Masoretic text and, if so, what purpose such an expanded edition may have served.

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