Ketiv and Qere

Definition and Occurrence

Ketiv is Aramaic for "what is written," and qere means "what is to be read." In the Old Testament of the Masoretic Text, there are places where the consonants written in the text (the ketiv) differ from the words traditionally read aloud in the synagogue (the qere). In such places the Masoretes did not alter the consonants of the text. Instead, they placed the vowel points of the qere beneath those consonants and wrote the consonants of the qere in the margin. The number of such places varies by manuscript and by scholar, with counts ranging from several hundred to well over a thousand.

Representative examples include the following:

• Perpetual qere: The four consonants of the divine name (YHWH) were always read as Adonai ("Lord"), without any marginal note.
• Euphemisms: Coarse expressions, as in Deuteronomy 28:30, were replaced in reading with more decorous words.
• Written but not read; read but not written: In Ruth 3:5 and 3:17, the words "to me" are understood to be absent from the written text but are nevertheless to be read.

Background

The Masoretes were Jewish scholars who, roughly between the seventh and tenth centuries, preserved the Hebrew text and supplied it with vowels and annotations. Because they regarded the consonantal text they had received as sacred, they left it untouched and recorded alternative readings only in their notes. Scholars differ on how the ketiv and qere arose. Some regard them as corrections of scribal errors, others as a record of readings drawn from multiple manuscripts, and still others as the preservation of a tradition of public reading.

Influence on Bible Translation

It is widely held that the name "Jehovah" arose from reading the consonants of YHWH with the vowels of "Adonai" (→ Names of God). In some places the meaning differs depending on which reading a translation follows. In Psalm 100:3 the ketiv reads "not we," while the qere reads "we are his." The King James Version follows the ketiv, rendering it "and not we ourselves," whereas the New Korean Revised Version follows the qere, rendering it "we are his."

Interpretation and Points of Debate

Jewish tradition honors both the ketiv and the qere as part of the received tradition, and in the synagogue the qere is read. Christian translations generally follow the qere, but on text-critical grounds they sometimes choose the ketiv or other witnesses such as the Septuagint or the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those who hold to biblical inerrancy often explain that inerrancy applies to the original autographs and that differences among manuscripts are a matter for textual criticism. The ketiv and qere are sometimes presented as evidence that the Masoretes arbitrarily altered the text. In fact, however, they did not change the consonantal text and recorded alternative readings only in their notes.

In the Korean Church

The way Korean churches render the name of God is connected to this issue. The New Korean Revised Version renders the name as "Yeohowa" (Jehovah) and the Common Translation as "Yahwe" (Yahweh), while the New Korean Standard Version generally renders it as "Ju" (Lord), which is closer to the tradition of reading it as Adonai.