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Emanuel Tov

FBA
עמנואל טוב
Emmanuel tov.jpg
Born
Menno Toff

(1941-09-15) 15 September 1941 (age 83)
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Nationality Dutch, Israeli
Alma mater Harvard University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Occupation Biblical scholar
Spouse(s) Lika (née Aa)
Children Three
Awards Honorary doctorates from the University of Vienna, University of Salzburg, and University of Copenhagen
Israel Prize in biblical studies
Scientific career
Institutions Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Thesis "The Septuagint Translation of Jeremiah and Baruch" (1973)
Doctoral advisor Shemaryahu Talmon, Frank Moore Cross

Emanuel Tov is a famous Dutch-Israeli expert in the Bible and languages. He is a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For many years, he has worked closely with the Dead Sea Scrolls. From 1991, he was the main editor for publishing these ancient scrolls.

About Emanuel Tov

Emanuel Tov was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on September 15, 1941. This was during a difficult time when Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands. When he was just one year old, his parents had to go to special camps. They left him with a kind Christian family to keep him safe. After the war, he grew up with his aunt and uncle, who treated him like their own child.

When he was 14, he joined a youth group called Habonim. This group encouraged him to visit Israel for training when he was 18. In 1960, he became the leader of this group in the Netherlands. The next year, in 1961, he moved to Israel.

Emanuel Tov is married to Lika. They have three children: a daughter named Ophira, and two sons, Ariel and Amitai. They also have four granddaughters.

His School Days

Tov went to Boerhaaveschool and Kohnstamm School in Amsterdam. At age 12, he started learning Latin and Greek language at Spinoza Lyceum. There, he met his future wife, Lika. By 18, he had finished high school, where he learned many old and new European languages. He also learned Hebrew from a young age.

He spent a year in Israel from 1959 to 1960. He studied at a special place for youth leaders. He also sang in a choir and learned to play the flute. After this, he returned to the Netherlands.

In October 1961, Tov decided to move back to Israel. He wanted to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned his first degree in Bible and Greek literature in 1964. In 1967, he received his master's degree in Hebrew Bible. He also worked as an assistant in the Bible department. From 1967 to 1969, he studied at Harvard University in the United States. He earned his PhD from the Hebrew University in 1973. His special project was about the Septuagint translation of the books of Jeremiah and Baruch.

After finishing his studies, he worked as an assistant at the University of Haifa and the Hebrew University.

Teaching and Research

In 1986, Emanuel Tov became a professor at the Hebrew University. By 1990, he was named the J. L. Magnes Professor of Bible Studies. He has also been a visiting professor at many universities around the world. These include Oxford, Uppsala, and the University of Pennsylvania.

He was one of the editors for the Hebrew University Bible Project. He also helps edit important journals like Dead Sea Discoveries. From 1990 to 2009, he was the main editor for the international Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project. During this time, his team published 33 books about the scrolls. They also created two concordances, which are like indexes of words.

He also made digital versions of the non-biblical Qumran scrolls. He created electronic versions of the Hebrew and Greek Bibles too.

Awards and Honors

Emanuel Tov has received many important awards and honors for his work:

His Research Work

Emanuel Tov's research helps us understand the Bible better. He looks at old copies and translations of the Bible.

The Septuagint

The Septuagint is an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Emanuel Tov studied how this translation was made. He also looked at how it helps us understand the original Hebrew Bible. He found that some parts of the Septuagint show an earlier version of the Hebrew text. This is different from the later version we often use today, called the Masoretic Text.

Tov believes that studying these old translations helps us understand how the Bible stories developed over time. He thinks that the people who wrote and copied the Bible changed it a little bit over many years.

How the Bible Text Developed

Emanuel Tov believes that the Bible text changed and grew over time. He doesn't just guess; he looks at old handwritten copies. Many different versions of the Bible were used long ago. This is clear from the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran. These scrolls show that texts were not always exactly the same.

Tov also studied a group of texts called the 4QReworked Pentateuch. He realized these texts were not just new writings. They were actually Bible texts with extra explanations added. This shows how the Bible text kept changing.

He thinks that there wasn't just one "original" Bible text. Instead, there were many "original texts" that changed step by step. This idea helps us understand the Bible's long history.

The Torah's Text

Tov has also focused on the Torah, which is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. He believes the Torah's text developed differently from other Bible books. He sees two main groups of Torah texts. One group is like the Masoretic Text we have today. The other group includes the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch. This second group often has texts that are easier to read or have small changes to make them fit together better.

Dead Sea Scrolls and Scribes

Emanuel Tov has studied many things about the Dead Sea Scrolls. His most important work is about the scribes, who were the people who copied these scrolls. In 2004, he wrote a book about how these scribes worked. He looked at things like how they measured columns and how they corrected mistakes.

He also developed a theory about the Qumran scribes. He suggested that some scrolls were copied by a special group of scribes. These scribes had unique ways of spelling and writing. Many of the scrolls from the Qumran community were copied this way. This suggests that these scribes might have lived at Qumran. Other scrolls were brought to Qumran from different places.

Computers and Bible Research

Emanuel Tov believes that computers can help us study the Bible and Dead Sea Scrolls. He helped create computer programs and databases for this. In the 1980s, he helped put the Leningrad Codex (an important Hebrew Bible manuscript) into a computer.

He also worked on a project called CATSS (Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint Studies). This project created a database that compares words in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. This program helps researchers search and analyze the texts.

Another database he edited contains all the non-biblical Dead Sea Scrolls. It has the original texts, translations, and search tools. These computer tools are very helpful for researchers around the world.

Books Written by Emanuel Tov

Emanuel Tov has written many books about his research. Here are some of them:

  • The Book of Baruch also Called I Baruch (1975)
  • The Septuagint Translation of Jeremiah and Baruch (1976)
  • The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research (1981, with updated editions in 1997 and 2015)
  • Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint Studies (CATSS), Volume 1, Ruth (1986)
  • A Computerized Data Base for Septuagint Studies (1986)
  • Textual Criticism of the Bible: An Introduction (Hebrew, 1989, with updated editions)
  • Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (English version of the above, 1992, with updated editions in 2001, 2012, and 2022)
  • The Greek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever (1990)
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls on Microfiche (1993)
  • The Hebrew University Bible, The Book of Jeremiah (1997)
  • The Greek and Hebrew Bible – Collected Essays on the Septuagint (1999)
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader (6 parts, 2004-2005, with a revised edition in 2014)
  • Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert (2004)
  • Hebrew Bible, Greek Bible, and Qumran – Collected Essays (2008)
  • Revised Lists of the Texts from the Judaean Desert (2010)
  • Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Qumran, Septuagint: Collected Writings, Volume 3 (2015)
  • Textual Developments, Collected Essays, Volume 4 (2019)
  • Studies in Textual Criticism: Collected Essays, Volume 5 (2024)

Electronic Publications

Emanuel Tov has also published many works online and as computer programs:

  • The Dead Sea Scrolls Database (Non-Biblical Texts) (1999)
  • The Hebrew text in JPS Hebrew–English Tanakh (1999)
  • The Parallel Aligned Text of the Greek and Hebrew Bible (part of the Accordance, Logos, and Bible Works computer programs, starting 2002)
  • "Electronic Resources Relevant to the Textual Criticism of Hebrew Scripture" (2003)
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Library, Revised Edition (2006)
  • "Electronic Tools for the Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible – 2013 Introduction and List"
  • "Electronic Bible Editions on the Internet (2014)"
  • "The (Proto-)Masoretic Text: A Ten-Part Series" (2017)

Books Edited by Emanuel Tov

He has also edited many books and journals, helping other scholars share their work:

  • The Hebrew and Greek Texts of Samuel (1980)
  • A Classified Bibliography of Lexical and Grammatical Studies on the Language of the Septuagint and Its Revisions (1982)
  • Textus, Studies of the Hebrew University Bible Project (volumes 11-15, 1984-1990)
  • "Sha’arei Talmon": Studies in the Bible, Qumran, and the Ancient Near East Presented to Shemaryahu Talmon (1992)
  • I. L. Seeligmann, Studies in Biblical Literature (Hebrew, 1992)
  • Max L. Margolis, The Book of Joshua in Greek, Part V (1992)
  • A Comprehensive Bilingual Concordance of the Hebrew and Greek Texts of the Book of Ecclesiastes (1993)
  • Area editor for The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion (1997)
  • Area editor for Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2000)
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls: Fifty Years After Their Discovery (2000)
  • A Classified Index of the Minuses of the Septuagint, Part I: Introduction; Part II: The Pentateuch (2002)
  • The Bible as Book – The Hebrew Bible and the Judaean Desert Discoveries (2002)
  • Studies in the Hebrew Bible, Qumran and the Septuagint Presented to Eugene Ulrich (2006)
  • Meghillot, Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls V–VI, A Festschrift for Devorah Dimant (2007)
  • Shai le-Sara Japhet (2007)
  • Exploring the Origins of the Bible – Canon Formation in Historical, Literary, and Theological Perspective (2008)
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls in Context: Integrating the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Study of Ancient Texts, Languages, and Cultures, Vols. I–II (2011)
  • Textual History of the Bible, The Hebrew Bible, Vol. 1A, Overview Articles (2016)
  • Textual History of the Bible, The Hebrew Bible, Vol. 1B, Pentateuch, Former and Latter Prophets (2017)
  • Textual History of the Bible, The Hebrew Bible, Vol. 1C, Pentateuch, Former and Latter Prophets (2017)
  • Dead Sea Scrolls in the Museum Collection (2016)
  • Textus, A Journal on Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (volumes 27-33, 2018-2022)
  • Biblia Hebraica Petropolitana, The Pentateuch and the Davidic Psalter (2020)

Editor-in-Chief for Discoveries in the Judaean Desert

As the main editor for this important series, Emanuel Tov oversaw the publication of many volumes about the Dead Sea Scrolls. These books share the findings from the ancient texts found in the Judean Desert. Here are some of the volumes published under his leadership:

  • Qumran Cave 4.IV: Palaeo-Hebrew and Greek Biblical Manuscripts (1992)
  • Qumran Cave 4.V: Miqsat Ma’ase ha-Torah (1994)
  • Qumran Cave 4.VI: Poetical and Liturgical Texts, Part 1 (1998)
  • Qumran Cave 4.VII: Genesis to Numbers (1994)
  • Qumran Cave 4.VIII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 1 (1994)
  • Qumran Cave 4.IX: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Kings (1995)
  • Qumran Cave 4.X: The Prophets (1997)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XI: Psalms to Chronicles (2000)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XII: 1–2 Samuel (2005)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XIII: The Damascus Document (1996)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XIV: Parabiblical Texts, Part 2 (1995)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XV: Sapiential Texts, Part 1 (1997)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XVI: Calendrical Texts (2001)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XVII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 3 (1996)
  • Qumran Cave 11.II: 11Q2–18, 11Q20–31 (1998)
  • Wadi Daliyeh I: The Wadi Daliyeh Seal Impressions (1997)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XVIII: Textes hébreux (1998)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XIX: 4QSerekh Ha-Yah≥ad and Two Related Texts (1998)
  • Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek Documentary Texts from Nah≥al H≥ever and Other Sites (1997)
  • Wadi Daliyeh II: The Samaria Papyri from Wadi Daliyeh (2001)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XX: Poetical and Liturgical Texts, Part 2 (1999)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XXI: Parabiblical Texts, Part 4: Pseudo-Prophetic Texts (2001)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XXII: Textes araméens, première partie: 4Q529–549 (2001)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XXIII: Unidentified Fragments (2001)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XXIV: 4QInstruction (Musar leMevîn): 4Q415 ff. (1999)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XXV: Halakhic Texts (1999)
  • Cryptic Texts; Qumran Cave 4.XXVI: Miscellanea, Part 1 (2000)
  • Miscellaneous Texts from the Judaean Desert (2000)
  • The Texts from the Judaean Desert: Indices and an Introduction to the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert Series (2002)
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance I. The Non-Biblical Texts from Qumran (2003)
  • Qumran Cave 1.III: 1QHodayota with Incorporation of 1QHodayotb and 4QHodayota–f (2009)
  • Qumran Cave 4.XXVII: Textes araméens, deuxième partie: 4Q550–575a, 580–587 et Appendices (2009)
  • Qumran Cave 1.II: The Isaiah Scrolls (2010)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Emanuel Tov para niños

  • List of Israel Prize recipients
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