Counting the Covenant: The History of Word Counts and Related Statistics of the Hebrew Bible
Word counts and related statistics of the Hebrew Bible according to the Talmud in Tractate Kiddushin; Attempted explanations for the discrepancies between our statistics, and those of the Talmud
Continuation of the previous piece:
A completely revised and updated version of that piece is now on my Academia.edu page (requires registration): “Words of Wisdom: Word Counts of Classical Jewish Works”
The following is based on סטטיסטיקות של התנ"ך – ויקיפדיה
Statistics of the Tanakh, including the count of verses, words, and letters in the Tanakh, have been discussed since the Talmudic times (around the 3rd century).
Later, during the period of the Masoretes (between the 5th and 10th centuries), counting the words and letters was done to determine a uniform version of the scripture and protect it from errors.
The Babylonian Talmud states that the ‘Scribes’ (סופרים) were so called due to their involvement in counting the letters and words of the Torah.
Word Counts and Related Statistics of the Hebrew Bible According to the Talmud in Tractate Kiddushin
The Talmud brings a tradition about the number of verses in the Five Books of Moses, Psalms, and Chronicles, as well as the location of the middle of the Torah and Psalms. However, it adds that we are not proficient in the missing or additional verses and verse divisions (אינהו בקיאי בחסירות ויתרות, אנן לא בקיאינן), and if we check (ניתי ספר תורה ונימנינהו), we might find different data:
Talmud Bavli, Kiddushin 30a:
לפיכך נקראו ראשונים ״סופרים״,
שהיו סופרים כל האותיות שבתורה,
שהיו אומרים:
וא״ו ד״גחון״– חציין של אותיות של ספר תורה.
״דרש דרש״ – חציין של תיבות.
״והתגלח״ – של פסוקים.
״יכרסמנה חזיר מיער״ – עי״ן דיער חציין של תהלים.
״והוא רחום יכפר עון״ – חציו דפסוקים.
Therefore, because they devoted so much time to the Bible, the first Sages were called: Those who count [soferim],
because they would count all the letters in the Torah,
as they would say that
the letter vav in the word “belly [gaḥon]” (Leviticus 11:42) is the midpoint of the letters in a Torah scroll.
The words: “Diligently inquired [darosh darash]” (Leviticus 10:16), are the midpoint of the words in a Torah scroll.
And the verse that begins with: “Then he shall be shaven” (Leviticus 13:33), is the midpoint of the verses.
Similarly, in the expression: “The boar out of the wood [miya’ar] ravages it” (Psalms 80:14), the ayin in the word wood [ya’ar] is the midpoint of Psalms, with regard to its number of letters.
The verse: “But He, being full of compassion, forgives iniquity” (Psalms 78:38), is the midpoint of verses in the book of Psalms.
בעי רב יוסף: וא״ו ״דגחון״, מהאי גיסא או מהאי גיסא?
אמרו ליה: ניתי ספר תורה ונימנינהו, מי לא אמר רבה בר בר חנה: לא זזו משם עד שהביאו ספר תורה ומנאום?
אמר להו: אינהו בקיאי בחסירות ויתרות, אנן לא בקיאינן.
Rav Yosef raises a dilemma: Does the vav of the word “belly [gaḥon]” belong to this side or to this side? Is it part of the first or second half of the Torah?
The Sages said to him: Let us bring a Torah scroll and count the letters. Didn’t Rabba bar bar Ḥana say with regard to a different issue: They did not move from there until they brought a Torah scroll and counted the letters? Therefore we can do the same.
Rav Yosef said to them: They were experts in the deficient and plene forms of words and therefore could count the letters precisely. We are not experts in this regard, and therefore we would be unable to resolve the question even if we were to count the letters.
בעי רב יוסף: ״והתגלח״, מהאי גיסא או מהאי גיסא?
אמר ליה אביי: פסוקי מיהא ליתו לימנינהו!
בפסוקי נמי לא בקיאינן,
דכי אתא רב אחא בר אדא, אמר:
במערבא פסקי ליה להאי קרא לתלתא פסוקי: ״ויאמר ה׳ אל משה הנה אנכי בא אליך בעב הענן״.
Similarly, Rav Yosef raises a dilemma: Does the midpoint of the verses in the Torah, which is “then he shall be shaven,” belong to this side or to this side?
Abaye said to him: Even if we cannot count the letters, we can at least bring a Torah scroll to count the verses.
Rav Yosef explained: We are not experts about verses either,
as when Rav Aḥa bar Adda came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said:
In the West, i.e., Eretz Yisrael, they divide this following verse into three separate verses: “And the Lord said to Moses, behold I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever; And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord” (Exodus 19:9). Perhaps there are other verses that we do not know how to divide properly.
תנו רבנן: חמשת אלפים ושמונה מאות ושמונים ושמונה פסוקים הוו פסוקי ספר תורה,
יתר עליו תהלים שמונה,
חסר ממנו דברי הימים שמונה.
The Sages taught: Five thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight verses are the verses in a Torah scroll.
Psalms has eight more verses than that,
and Chronicles has eight fewer verses than that.
Summary of the statistics according to the Talmud
To summarize the data provided in the Talmud:
In the Five Books of Moses, there are 5,888 verses.
Psalms has eight more verses, and Chronicles has eight fewer verses.
The middle letter of the Torah.
The middle words of the Torah.
The middle verse of the Torah.
The middle letter of the Psalms.
The middle verse of the Psalms.
All the data provided in the Talmud do not match the count according to the Tanakh versions we have.
Attempted explanations for the Discrepancies Between Our Statistics, and Those of the Talmud
R’ Hai Gaon was asked about the difference between the number of verses we have and the number of verses mentioned in the Talmud. He replied that he heard from the "early sages" that the Beraita indicates the number according to a Torah scroll found in Jerusalem, where the number of verses was different from the accepted Torah.
The explanation for changes in verse division still doesn't reconcile the differences in marking the middle of the book. However, many rabbis and researchers tried to reconcile the Talmud's words with the version we have.
Other explanations were proposed, such as the Beraita referring to all breaks in the Torah, including significant central punctuation marks.
Another interpretation suggests that the Talmud refers to the location of the middle of the doubled words in the Torah.
Another explanation for the letter ‘Vav of Gahon’ is that the Talmud meant to mark the location of the middle of the unique letters in the Torah.