The Essence and History of the Masoretic Text

In the presented paper author presents an extensive and multilayered explanation of what Masoretic Text (MT) is. Having located MT in the core of great majority of the Bible editions, the author firstly presents the MT as the only text used by organized Judaism from the first century CE onwards. Since it is a medieval text with roots in antiquity, but capable enough of reflecting a thousand year old ancient tradition, a relationship between the forerunners of the medieval MT and the medieval text is further explained. A particular attention is given to the work of the scribes, especially with the reference to the proto-MT. The presentation continues with a respective but condensed presentation of the nature of MT and finally ends with a hermeneutical comparison of MT with the other texts, like Septuagint (LXX), Samaritan Pentateuch (SP) and Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS).