Welcome to the Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter Project
The first eclectic and digital critical edition of the first 50 Psalms.
This Virtual Manuscript Room digital workspace will support the three-year NEH-funded project “‘I Shall No Longer Want’ (Psalm 23:1): The Critical Edition of the Hebrew Psalter” (CEHP) to produce the first full eclectic and digital critical edition of the Hebrew Psalms 1-50, as well as the printed volume for Psalms 1-50 for the Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition series. The project is co-directed by Prof. Brent Strawn and Dr. Drew Longacre at Duke University/Divinity School.
The project will move beyond existing scholarly editions that use one manuscript as their basic text and will instead collate and evaluate the best readings of the text of the Hebrew Bible from all available sources and publish those in an eclectic edition with critical apparatus and full textual commentary. Among these sources are the important Psalms manuscripts among the Dead Sea Scrolls that have been missing or inadequately treated in previous editions. The world has waited more than two thousand years for a critical text of one of the greatest classics of religious literature, the book of Psalms. When complete, all who study, translate, or read the Psalms will be able to say ‘I no longer want’—a play on Psalm 23:1—for a critical and reliable edition.
This exciting project would not be possible without the help of many collaborators and especially our volunteer transcribers to record the vast evidence of the ancient and medieval manuscripts in multiple languages. If you would like to participate, please register your interest by filling out this Google form. Note that, when you create transcriptions within this VMR system, they will be jointly owned by you and the project. Your transcription will be connected to your personal account, and you are free to reuse it as you would like. But you also grant the CEHP project rights to use, adapt, and/or publish the transcription in conjunction with the project.
Financial Sponsors
*If you're interested in partnering with us by supporting the research financially, please reach out to Prof. Brent Strawn.
National Endowment for the Humanities Scholarly Editions and Translations grant
Mr. and Mrs. Alex and Anne Bernhardt
Mr. George Blumenthal
Rev. Dr. Edgardo Colón-Emeric
Rev. Dr. James and Lisa Howell, in memory of Bishop Thomas B. Stockton and in honor of Fr. Roland Murphy
Rev. John H. McMullen, Jr.
Bishop Carlton P. Minnick, Jr.
Mr. John Stubbs