Samaritan Pentateuch

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The Samaritan Pentateuch, also called the Samaritan Torah (Samaritan Hebrew: ‮ࠕࠦ‎‎‬ࠅࠓࠡࠄ‎, Tūrā), is the sacred scripture of the Samaritans. Written in the Samaritan script, it dates back to one of the ancient versions of the Torah that existed during the Second Temple period. It constitutes the entire biblical canon in Samaritanism. Some 6,000 differences exist between the Samaritan and the Jewish Masoretic Text. Most are minor variations in the spelling of words or grammatical constructions, but others involve significant semantic changes, such as the uniquely Samaritan commandment to construct an altar on Mount Gerizim. Nearly 2,000 of these textual variations agree with the Koine Greek Septuagint, and some are shared with the Latin Vulgate. Throughout their history, Samaritans have used translations of the Samaritan Pentateuch into Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic, as well as liturgical and exegetical works based upon it. It first became known to the Western world in 1631, proving the first...

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