Samaritan Pentateuch Source Guide
The Samaritan Pentateuch is not a different religion's whole Bible. It is the Torah in Samaritan transmission, with key differences from the Jewish Masoretic tradition, especially around Mount Gerizim, textual variants, and community identity.
Summary
The Samaritan Pentateuch preserves the Torah in Samaritan Hebrew script and Samaritan community transmission. It sits beside the Masoretic Text, Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls evidence, and later Jewish and Christian readings as a major textual witness.
Why it matters
The most visible difference is Mount Gerizim. Samaritan tradition centers the chosen sanctuary there, not Jerusalem. That changes how commandments, covenant geography, and sacred place are heard.
What belongs in the comparison
- Samaritan Pentateuch: the core Torah witness.
- Masoretic Text: the dominant Jewish textual tradition behind many modern Old Testament editions.
- Septuagint: ancient Greek Jewish translation tradition.
- Dead Sea Scrolls: evidence that some variants resembling Samaritan readings circulated in the Second Temple period.
- Samaritan Targum and Memar Marqah: interpretive and theological layers inside Samaritan tradition.
Source status
The newest English edition is open access but non-commercial. That means users can be pointed to it, but the site should not bulk-display it as a commercial public text without permission. The public reader can still compare Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy across the public-domain Bible versions already loaded.
- Ancient Torah transmission
Samaritan and Jewish textual traditions diverge
The Samaritan Pentateuch preserves Torah with community-specific readings and script tradition.
- Second Temple evidence
Some related variants appear in broader textual witnesses
The comparison belongs beside Masoretic, Septuagintal, and Dead Sea Scrolls evidence rather than in a simple true/false frame.
- Samaritan interpretation
Mount Gerizim becomes the central sacred-place marker
Gerizim is the major theological and geographic difference users should understand first.
- Modern editions
Full English display is rights-blocked for now
The newest open-access English edition is non-commercial, so the site maps and links it without bulk copying.
Public-domain baseline for Torah comparison while Samaritan English display remains restricted.
Important comparison area for sacred-place and altar traditions.
Open access but non-commercial; link/source-map only until permission is secured.