I wanted to update you on the CEHP project. Thanks to a generous research grant through the University of Münster, it has become possible to continue working on the project through the end of 2025. Brent and I will use this time to submit several major grant proposals in hopes of procuring long-term funding and bringing the project to full completion. We are also using this time to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the collation process across multiple languages, which will make that part of the project go much faster.

In the meantime, we are able to resume managing the transcription work. Thankfully, with the completed assignments submitted by around 100 volunteer transcribers and the dedicated work of our expert reconcilers (if you have completed a transcription assignment, please confirm that your name has been added to the Team page, so we don’t miss anyone), we now have approved project transcriptions for almost all of the major manuscripts we originally intended to include, plus most of the oldest St. Petersburg codices. We have also begun adding in several additional early Greek fragments. And now, with the help of Ben Outhwaite and Kim Phillips from Cambridge, we have started to include all of the most important manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah. We also hope soon to receive 127 additional transcriptions of later medieval manuscripts reconstructed from the old Kennicott collations by our colleagues on the Digitizing Kennicott project. With this wealth of data, we can now say that we are producing the first editio critica maior (large critical edition) of the Hebrew Psalms, in addition to being eclectic and born-digital.

If you are interested in taking on another transcription assignment this fall, please reply here or email me to confirm, and I will set up an assignment for you. If you haven't done transcribing in the past but would like to get involved, please fill out our Google form to register your interest. Most of the assignments will be working with Cairo Genizah fragments, which are slightly more complicated (because they are fragmentary), but mostly have the same features as the other Masoretic manuscripts we have already transcribed. If you would prefer to work on early Greek fragments, please let me know, so I can give you an appropriate assignment. Once we have the assignments sorted out, Caleb Punt will post your assignment on the Forum and confirm with you by email.

Thanks again to all of you who have contributed, and I look forward to working with many of you again this fall.