(500-1000 A.D.)
During a time when the Hebrew people were losing their ability to read old Hebrew, the Masoretic texts were made by the Masoretes with the goal of reproducing a Hebrew Bible with an intricate system of punctuation and stress marks so as to make the old biblical Hebrew accessible and unambiguous. They are the Hebrew source for Hebrew Bibles.
(https://overviewbible.com/masoretic-text/)
The Base for Today's Hebrew Bible
The Masoretic Text is the most complete text of the Hebrew Bible. It is based on the Masora, the textual tradition of the Masoretes of Tiberias (located on the Sea of Galilee).
Their textual tradition continued to be used by biblical manuscripts past the A.D. 11th century. The Masoretic Text did not stabilize until A.D. 500.
Despite their completeness, they were written 1000-2000 years after the original autographs.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Texts and Manuscripts of the Old Testament by Mark R. Norton, Page 155-156, 158, 159)
Ben Asher Family
The Masoretic Text, as it exists today, owes much to the Ben Asher family. For 5-6 generations, from the 2nd half of the 8th century to the middle of the 10th A.D., they played a leading role in the Masoretic work at Tiberias. The oldest Masoretic manuscript is Codex Cairensis (895 A.D.)
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Texts and Manuscripts of the Old Testament by Mark R. Norton, Page 158)
Contribution to Language
Originally, the Hebrew language had no vowels. Vowels were simply understood by the reader like our blvd. and rd. After the Christian era and the Diaspora, Hebrew became a dead language and traditional pronunciation and understanding were becoming lost. Jewish scribes tried to permanently establish vowel sounds. First, mothers of reading (matres lectionis) were added before the Christian era to indicate long vowels, and they are seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Around the 5th century A.D., the Masoretes added vowel signs to indicate short vowels in at least 3 different systems of signs over space and time. The one used today is from Masoretic scribes in Tiberias. Vowels and half-vowels are indicated by dots or dashes above or below the consonants.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Biblical Languages by Larry Walker. Page 221-222)