« Bénissez YHWH ! » : Le verbe bénir (ברך) entre la philologie biblique et l’autorité des massorètes

Abstract

The masoretic manuscripts and the Hebrew grammars have transmitted two different ways of vocalizing the imperative form of the verb ברך « to bless ». The Tiberian manuscripts, such as Alep and Leningrad B 19a, contain בָּרֲכוּ, while since the twelfth century on, the majority of manuscripts and contemporary editions have read the orthography בָּֽרְכוּ. Different vocalizations of ר (reš) probably reflect dialectal divergences, and a new generation of Hebrew grammar should reflect them as well. The Practice of Ben Asher, who mainly used the ḥatef pataḥ, became the minority, while the use of the šwa by Ben Naftali became the majority and was later taken up by Norzi in the seventeenth century. Thus, the masoretes’ authority is a philological issue in the printed editions of the Hebrew Bible.