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The Masoretic Text (MT), whether in its consonantal form or its fuller, later form, is the commonly used version of the Hebrew Bible, considered authoritative by Jews for almost two millennia. In modern times, the MT is found all over. Even if one thinks that one does not know what MT is or where to find it, one cannot miss it, so to speak, because MT is found in multiple sources.

All the printed editions of the Hebrew Bible and most of its modern translations present a form of MT. From the invention of the printing press, all editions of the Hebrew Bible have been based on a form of MT, with the exception of publications of the Samaritan Pentateuch or eclectic editions.¹

The roots of MT and its popularity go back to the first century of the Common Era. Before that period, only the proto-rabbinic (Pharisaic) movement made use of MT, while other streams in Judaism used other Hebrew textual traditions. In other words, before the first century of the Common Era, we witness a textual plurality among Jews, with multiple text forms conceived of as »Bible,« or Scripture, including the Hebrew source of the Septuagint (LXX) Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which began as the biblical text for Greek speaking Hellenistic Jews.

Around the turn of the Common Era, the consonantal proto-MT text was accepted as an authoritative form of Hebrew Scripture by the proto-rabbinic movement, whereas other forms were accepted as authoritative by other groups.

With the advent of Christianity in the first century CE, the LXX, which began as the biblical text for Greek speaking Hellenistic Jews, was accepted as holy writ by the new group of early Christians, and was concomitantly dropped by Greek-speaking Jews and ceased to be considered authoritative scripture by them. Somewhat earlier, the Samaritans created the version of the Torah known as the Samaritan Pentateuch, while the Qumran community, which had assembled texts of different types, ceased to exist.

Thus, since the first century CE, the consonantal proto-MT and subsequently the full MT version of scripture, including all the books that are contained in it, was accepted as authoritative by all streams of the Jewish people. This text is the only text quoted in rabbinic literature (the small deviations are negligible) and Karaite works,² and it is the only text used by organized Judaism for the past two millennia. The Samaritans embraced their own holy writ, the Pentateuch only (§ 2.5.a below).