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Build 27.2 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 2.1 (1 Apr 2024)

Daniel Holman, of Tomah, Wisconsin, USA, has completed his first pass through the Tanach. His effort started with UXLC 1.5 in July 2022 and produced 772 corrections up to the current text. These corrections represent about 75% of the UXLC corrections to date! His dedication and skill are gratefully acknowledged.

An error in the change to Chronicles 23:4.8 in UXLC 2.0 has been repaired in UXLC 2.1.

The site operation and license are unchanged.

Build 27.1 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 2.0 (19 Oct 2023)

"Harvesting" BHL Appendix A for changes

The BHL (2001) contains an Appendix A (BHLA) that when combined with the BHL's body text (BHL) forms a diplomatic edition of the LC. The BHLA contains notes on words that Dotan considered to be problematic. BHLA has only 779 entries for the entire Tanach. Thus, the BHLA represents a compact source of potential corrections to the UXLC text.

As an experiment, the 40 BHLA entries for Chronicles 1 and 2 were compared to the UXLC and to the Sefaria.org LC photocopies. Twenty-two BHLA entries (55%) matched both the UXLC and the LC photocopies. Eighteen BHLA entries (45%) suggested 13 consonant or vowel changes to the UXLC text and 6 transcription notes. Only two BHLA entries (5%) were found which were not acceptable by UXLC transcription standards: one involved a space between words not evident in the LC (2 Chr 20:1.2); the other was a reddish dot suggested as a putative dagesh in a het (2 Chr 26:15.18). Transcription notes have been added to both these words in the UXLC. These 18 changes are included in 2023.10.19 - Changes.xml with the author "Dotan BHLA: CVK".

Build 27.0 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 1.9 (4 Jul 2023)

Tipeha or dehi transcription problem

A tipeha should occur in the ordinary accent position below the consonant. A dehi should be pre-positive, that is, it should be at the leading of edge of the consonant/vowels/accent group. Unfortunately, the positional differences sometimes are not evident:

Well-positioned dehi (Ps 24:2.2) Sefaria.org	Dehi or tipeha? (Ps 42:9.5) Sefaria.org

Both examples are transcribed by Dotan and others as dehis.

A new transcription note 'd', "This tipeha is a dehi in other texts.", has been added. It is applied when a dehi/tipeha mark is not sufficiently pre-positive to be considered a dehi and Dotan's Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia (BHL, the body text), 2001, has a dehi. Psalms 42:9.5 (above) has a 'd' transcription note in UXLC 1.9; a total of 16 'd' notes have been added.

Build 26.9 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 1.8 (1 Apr 2023)

Ben Denckla's Taamey D font for Biblical Hebrew has been updated to v0.921-2 to provide better accent positioning on the vav holam.

The free LibreOffice.org Writer is now recommended for working with ODT files instead of OpenOffice. Users have reported difficulties in viewing ODT files with the Microsoft Word text editor and with the Microsoft Edge browser.

Build 26.8 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 1.7 (7 Dec 2022)

A new transcription note 'm', "This meteg is a merkha in other texts.", has been added. It is applied when a vertical accent lacks sufficient northeast-to-southwest inclination to be transcribed as a merkha and either Dotan's Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia (BHL), 2001, or the Sefaria Miqra According to the Masorah (MAM) has a merkha. If a transcription has additional uncertainty, a 't' note is applied instead. This note has been added retroactively to the UXLC 1.6 release.

Notes to selected changes now include results from Aron Dotan's Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia (BHL). These results give his eclectic body text (BHL) and associated transcription notes (BHL Appendix A). The reader should keep in mind that the UXLC is a diplomatic transcription of the Leningrad Codex and differences between it and the BHL are to be expected. Excerpts from his Foreword to the BHL (in the Supplements section) offer great insights into the general transcription problem.

Build 26.7 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 1.6 (19 Oct 2022)

2022.10.19 - Changes.xml introduces a new type of change item: NoAction. Change items marked NoAction are submissions that were not accepted by the publisher for inclusion in the text and are retained for consideration by readers.

Meteg or merkha transcription problem

	Note: "Vertical" is defined as being perpendicular to a line fitted to the bottoms of consonants all the way across the line of text in the Leningrad Codex containing the word in question. "Inclinations" are relative to this vertical line.
Sefaria.org

The vertical marks associated with the dalet and nun are nearly parallel. The mark associated with the dalet has a slight northwest to southeast inclination similar to a back slash, \. The Miqra According to the Masorah (MAM) and UXLC 1.5 have a merkha under the dalet and meteg under the nun representing the consensus of what the mark should be. While merkha-then-meteg is likely to be what the LC scribe intended, this intention is not evident from the marks on the page. Therefore, the UXLC transcribes both of these marks as metegs.

Many metegs in the UXLC may have been intended to be merkhas by the LC writer; however, images of the LC text by itself are inadequate to determine the writer's intent. In Deut 13:16.4 the LC writer might have tried to make the presence of merkha more clear by overwriting a vertical mark with a properly inclined mark.

Future meteg/merkha changes will be considered with the following criteria: For a near-vertical mark to be changed to a merkha it must have a noticeable northeast to southwest inclination (/). If the mark is vertical and either Dotan's Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia (BHL), 2001, or the Sefaria Miqra According to the Masorah (MAM) has a merkha. it will be marked with a new transcription note 'm', "This meteg is a merkha in other texts." and transcribed as a meteg. If a transcription has additional uncertainty, a 't' note will be applied instead. Following this criteria, the merkha in Gen 28:7.8 will be changed to a meteg in UXLC 1.6 and marked with a 'm' note.

The difference between a meteg and a merkha (a conjunctive mark) will have little impact on translation for most readers.

Build 26.6 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 1.5 (7 Jul 2022)

Special note: Added vowels in Numbers 7:12 - 7:83

Another instance in which the UXLC adds to the LC text is in Numbers 7:12-83. These verses describe the offerings of the 12 tribes of Israel to the tabernacle. The description is structured to emphasize that each tribe makes the same offering. Each tribe's contribution is given in 6 verses, the first of which gives the day of the contribution, the chieftain's name, and the tribe. This first verse changes in the listing of each of the 12 tribe's contributions. The remaining 5 verses detail the contribution with the last 2 words of the last verse repeating the name of the tribe's chieftain.

The LC text does not provide vowels for the last 5 verses of each tribe's contribution after the first day, presumably because the words are the same and the vowels can be inferred from the 5 verses of the first day. The LC text does provide accents on all verses in this section, however.

The UXLC applies the vowels of the first day to the remaining contributions to facilitate reading and to keep the text content consistent for machine processing. This follows the approach of most texts.

The LC text anomaly was pointed out by Ben Denckla.

Build 26.5 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 1.4 (1 Apr 2022)

All changes to the UXLC since WLC 4.20 (25 Jan 2016) are presented in the Change summary above. With this version, UXLC 1.4, 210 changes have been made to the text since WLC 4.20. This count doesn't include the bulk changes to insert 728 Combining Grapheme Joiners (CGJs), to remove all Groves Center transcription notes and morphological divisions, and to replace 198 selected yerah ben yomos with atnah hafukhs.

Build 26.4 - Change in default Hebrew font (31 Oct 2021)

The default Hebrew font for the site has been changed to Taamey D Web derived from Ben Denckla's Taamey D font. The user-installed Shofar font remains available. The pre-computed book ODT and PDF files are now based on the Taamey D font.

Chapter:verse numbering has been modified to give the chapter number only on the first verse of a chapter.

Build 26.3 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 1.3 (19 Oct 2021)

The majority of the changes in 2021.10.19 - Changes.xml have been the result of a survey of UXLC accents by Ben Denckla. He found 27 possible instances of chanted words lacking accents. (A chanted word is made up of one or more orthographic words joined by a maqaf as needed. Each chanted word should have an accent.) Of the 27 instances, 3 were transcription errors and corrected. The remaining 24 instances are omissions in the Leningrad Codex. They have been noted with a 'c' transcription note; the corresponding detailed note displays the Leningrad Codex text and gives the accent found in the Miqra according to the Masorah. Of the 24 missing accents, 15 were omitted maqafs. The Leningrad Codex has 260,935 chanted words, the number of missing accents represents 0.009% of the total.

Changes in site operation:

The Coding page has been modified to include the Hebrew names for each Hebrew character. The accent type (conjunctive, disjunctive, disjunctive level) is given for accents not in the Sifrei Emet (Job, Proverbs, and Psalms).

Hints about site features are included. These hints appear in blue boxes (like this) and disappear after a few (5) viewings of the site. To restore these hints, click the build number at the lower, right corner of the Home page and reload the site.

Home page links to the PreviousVersions, Technical, and DH pages have been removed. These pages are accessible via the Page index link on the Home page.

Changes of yerah ben yomos to atnah hafukhs in the Sifrei Emet:

BIB_LENCDX_F366B, Column 1, Line 6 Sefaria.org

The U-shaped mark labeled "YBY" is a yerah ben yomo ("new moon"); the V-shaped mark labeled "AH" is an atnah hafukh ("inverted etnahta"). The two accents are easily distinguished throughout the text. The Leningrad Codex has 38 yerah ben yomos and 198 atnah hafukhs in the Sifrei Emet. The atnah hafukh is found only in the Sifrei Emet, the yerah ben yomo occurs 16 times outside the Sifrei Emet.

The previously-recommended fonts (SBL Hebrew, Ezra SIL, Taamey Frank CLM) respond to both codepoints with an atnah hafukh symbol, ◌֪. Some well-regarded printed texts, such as the JPS Tanach (1999), do not distinguish the two accents either. A possible explanation is that the earliest digital texts, including the WLC, had only one coding for the two accents. The yerah ben yomo has more occurrences (54) in the Tanach than the merkha kefula (14), the qarney para (16), and the shalshelet (46), yet it is not displayed in these fonts. The new default font, ShofarWeb, displays both accents correctly. The pre-computed full book files for ODT and PDF formats on a book's Chapter page display results with the ShofarWeb font. For example, Psalms.acc.pdf gives the book of Psalms in the ShofarWeb font.

The 198 atnah hafukh changes of yerah ben yomos to atnah hafukhs in the Sifrei Emet were accomplished by software. The program applies 2 general principles suggested by Ben Denckla to the 236 input yerah ben yomos: "oleh veyored" for replacement by an atnah hafukh (6 rules) and "pazer" for retention as a yerah ben yomo (3 rules). Ten special cases outside these two principles were noted; all 10 were inspected in the Leningrad Codex and found to require replacement by an atnah hafukh. The 2 general principles and 10 special cases covered all input yerah ben yomos. The output of the software documents each decision and is available on request.

Build 26.2 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 1.2 (1 Apr 2021)

The previous changes file, 2020.10.19 - Changes.xml, has been updated in two places: Lamentations 3:33.6 has been changed based on a higher resolution, color image of the text. The dagesh has been removed and a note 't' added. The transcription note on Jer 44:19.14 has been changed from 'n' to 'c'. These changes add a vowel change and two transcription note changes to UXLC 1.2. Another view of the changes can be seen on the Supplements page via the link UXLC 1.1 -> 1.2.

Morphological divisions removed:

Two new Sefaria links:

The list also has a menu item "Sefaria: Miqra according to the Masorah" which links to a Tanach based on the Aleppo Codex, the Leningrad Codex, and related manuscripts and which embodies the full range of relevant Masoretic scholarship. It provides a valuable counterpoint to the Leningrad Codex-only Tanach provided here.

Transcription notes:

Two new notes have been added:

• c - "Text is correct relative to LC. Usually this marks a peculiarity of the LC relative to the other Masoretic texts." flags apparent anomalies in the display that are definitely in the LC and not transcription errors.
• t - "Transcription uncertain. Examine the LC facsimile for other possible readings." flags textual points that are not clear in the LC and where a editorial decision was required in the encoding.

Many WLC 4.20 notes have already been removed; this change removes additional WLC 4.20 notes. UXLC 1.1 contained 112 notes of type n; 109 of these have been removed as they were accessory to already-removed transcription notes. One n note has been changed: Jer 44:19.1 and one t note has been added: Lam 3:33.6. F, "Marks a consonant with an anomalous final form that is word-medial." (1 instance), and M, "Marks a word with a final consonant that is a medial (not a final) form." (2 instances) have been replaced by the c note.

Note 4, "Puncta extraordinaria..", no longer produces a superscript value. This leaves 5 text decoration note values, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, expressed by display rather than superscripts. This leaves only 3 types of transcription notes (c, t, X) expressed as superscripts as shown in the Transcription notes page.

Suggestions for new notes are appreciated.

The previous method of hovering the cursor over the note symbol has been retained; however, for selected notes, clicking on the note brings up a popup window giving a detailed note specific to the noted text. Currently, all notes in Hebrew text are clickable and produce detailed notes.

For example, see Jeremiah 44:19. Hovering on the note t produces the general note text "Transcription uncertain. Examine the LC image for other possible readings." Clicking on the t brings up a detailed note specific to this text in a popup window. In this case, the note shows an image of the LC containing the word.

Coding changes:

Files removed:

Build 26.1 - New Hebrew text: UXLC 1.1 (19 Oct 2020)

The UXLC strives to replicate the text of the Leningrad Codex rather than providing a eclectic edition derived from multiple texts. Previous editions of the UXLC (and the WLC before it) have contained two verses in Joshua, Joshua 21:36 - 37, which are not in the Leningrad Codex. The two verses are related to, but not equal to, 1 Chronicles 6:63 - 64; their origin is unknown. Ben Denckla and Seth (Avi) Kadish have pointed out this discrepancy to the publisher. The verses remain in the UXLC to preserve verse numbering and to be compatible with other texts. However, they are now marked with a new transcription note "X" and the text color has been set to gray to alert the reader.

The display of the word "Jerusalem" has been improved by an approach devised by Ben Denckla. This approach re-arranges the marks on the lamed and incorporates a Unicode Combining Grapheme Joiner (CGJ, x034f). It has been applied to the 405 instances of "Jerusalem" in which it is needed. Five other word displays, mainly in the Decalogues, have been improved by the addition of a CGJ. See the Coding page for more information on this change.

A discussion of the Decalogues, (Ex 20:3 -14, Deut 5:6-17), has been added to the Supplements section. Ben Denckla suggested this supplement; he and Seth (Avi) Kadish contributed to its contents. A caution note in blue has been added at the top of any page containing either Decalogue.

The pages in the Supplements section have been updated.

The Groves Center has set licensing restrictions on WLC transcription notes. To avoid confusion, the following 14 types of transcription notes (938 notes) have been removed from the UXLC text: 1, a, c, k, p, q, v, y, C, K, P, Q, U, V . Only 9 types of notes remain: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, n, F, M, X; for definitions of these notes, see transcription notes in the Supplements page. Future builds will be capable of displaying context-dependent content for notes. That is, clicking on a note 'n' ("Marks an anomalous form.") could display a detailed explanation as to why that particular text is considered anomalous.

Proposed text changes for the next version of the UXLC are available for review at the Proposed changes to the text link at the top of this page. Please feel free to suggest text changes to the publisher or to comment on proposed changes.

Build 26.0 - New Hebrew text: Unicode/XML Leningrad Codex 1.0 [UXLC 1.0] (1 Apr 2020)