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PricingAboutSupportCantillation Marks
Te'amim mark stress, pause, and melody. They also show how a verse is parsed.
What They Do
Each word in the pointed Masoretic Text usually carries a ta'am. Disjunctive accents close a phrase; conjunctive accents bind words. The same signs guide synagogue chant, with different melodies for Torah, prophets, and some writings.
A Few Names to Recognize
Sof pasuq ends a verse. Etnakhta often marks the main pause in the middle. Zaqef, tipkha, and munakh are common in prose. You can ignore melody at first and still use the pauses as punctuation.
in the beginning (tipkha, a pause)
Gen 1:1God (etnakhta, the main pause)
Gen 1:1the earth (silluq and sof pasuq, end of verse)
Gen 1:1Poetry and Prose
Psalms, Proverbs, and most of Job use a slightly different accent system (the poetic books). Do not expect the prose pattern of Genesis when you open Psalm 23.
Read Next
Vowels and the Masoretes
The Masoretes added niqqud so a purely consonantal Bible could be read with a stable tradition.
Reading the Torah Scroll
A sefer Torah is consonants only, in square script, on parchment, chanted with a memorized melody.
Hebrew Poetry and Parallelism
Biblical verse leans on matching lines, not on end-rhyme. Psalms, prophets, and wisdom books all use it.