Synonymous Variations in the Hebrew Texts of Ben Sira

The Hebrew manuscripts of Ben Sira from Qumran, Masada and the Cairo Genizah present numerous variants between the different Hebrew witnesses, as well as in the marginal readings of manuscript B. One salient feature of these variants is that most represent “synonymous readings.” In this paper, we would like to examine this phenomenon more closely by looking at the different textual Hebrew witnesses of Ben Sira, while focusing on three main points: (1) In what way these synonymous variants may be comprehended from an historical-linguistic point of view; (2) How this typical feature may inform us about scribal practices from antiquity to the medieval period; (3) Whether a comparison of this phenomenon with similar features in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, which Shemaryahu Talmon highlighted in his “Synonymous Readings” article, might show that these textual variations can serve as a paradigm highlighting scribal practices in textual transmission in antiquity.