© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011 DOI: 10.1163/156853311X580653 Vetus Testamentum 61 (2011) 1-11 brill.nl/vt Vetus Testamentum he Phenomenon Qere We La’ Ketib in the Main Biblical Codices: New Data 1 Elvira Martín-Contreras CCHS-CSIC, Madrid elvira.martin@cchs.csic.es Abstract New relevant data have been obtained by a comparative study on the phenomenon qere we la’ ketib in the main biblical Tiberian codices (Cairo, Aleppo, Leningrad) and their masorot. hey modify the general view on the number, the representation and the formula of this phenomenon and show that it is more complex than what has been described up to now. Keywords Textual criticism, Masorah, oral transmission he passages in the biblical text in which a word is to be read although it is not written in the consonantal text are listed in the rabbinic literature as well as in the Masorah. It is the phenomenon known as qere we la’ ketib, according to the commonly used formula ( כתב ולאקרי). In rabbinic literature, TB Ned 37b- 38a and in Sof 6,8, seven passages which are considered the “law of Moses on Sinai” are listed, without specifying the number: 2 Sam 8:3; 16:23; Jer 31:38; 50:29; Ruth 2:11; 3:5; 3:17. In the masoretic lists, 2 the number ten is specifi- cally mentioned in the heading and the following ten passages are recorded as 1) his work has been done within the frame of the research project titled “he Role of the Rabbinic Literature in the Textual Transmission of the Hebrew Bible” (Ref: HUM2007-60109) within the I+D Program of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN). It is an extended version of a paper read at the Twenty-third Congress of the International Organization for Masoretic Studies (IOMS). 2) C. D. Ginsburg, he Massorah Compiled from Manuscripts Alphabetically and Lexically Arranged, With an Analytical Table of Contents and Lists of Identified Sources and Parallels by A. Dotan, 4 vols. (New York, 1975), vol. II, list 487, pp. 54-55; S. Frensdorff, Ochlah W’ochlah (Hannover, 1864), list 97; F. Díaz Esteban, Sefer Oklah we Oklah (Madrid, 1975), list 80. VT 61,3_1036_1-11.indd 1 VT 61,3_1036_1-11.indd 1 5/27/2011 4:50:19 PM 5/27/2011 4:50:19 PM