Wikipedia's first sentence called it “prayer in judaism”. Today it says “prayer recited by religious jews expressing reverence to entering synagogues and other places of worship in jud”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Ma Tovu ( Hebrew for "O How Good" or "How Goodly") is a prayer in Judaism , expressing reverence and awe for synagogues and other places of worship . The prayer is derived from Numbers 24:5, where Balaam , sent to curse the Israelites, is instead overcome with awe at God and the Israelites' houses of worship. Its first line of praise is a quote of Balaam's blessing and is thus the only prayer commonly used in Jewish services that was written by a non-Jew . The remainder of the text is derived from passages in Psalms relating to entering the house of worship and preparation for further prayer. In this vein is the prayer recited by Jews upon entering the synagogue (Psalms 5:8; 26:8; 95:6; and 69:14).
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17312613.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Ma Tovu ( Hebrew for "O How Good" or "How Goodly") is a prayer in Judaism , expressing reverence and awe for synagogues and other places of worship . The prayer begins with Numbers 24:5 , where Balaam , sent to curse the Israelites, is instead overcome with awe at God and the Israelites' houses of worship. Its first line of praise is a quote of Balaam's blessing and is thus the only prayer commonly used in Jewish services that was written by a non-Jew . The remainder of the text is derived from passages in Psalms relating to entering the house of worship and preparation for further prayer ( Psalms 5:8 ; 26:8 ; 95:6 ; and 69:14 ). In this vein is the prayer recited by Jews upon entering the synagogue.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 357339560.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Jewish prayer Ma Tovu ( Hebrew for "O How Good" or "How Goodly") is a prayer in Judaism , expressing reverence and awe for synagogues and other places of worship . The prayer begins with Numbers 24:5 , where Balaam , sent to curse the Israelites, is instead overcome with awe at God and the Israelites' houses of worship. Its first line of praise is a quote of Balaam's blessing and is thus the only prayer commonly used in Jewish services that was written by a non-Jew . The remainder of the text is derived from passages in Psalms relating to entering the house of worship and preparation for further prayer ( Psalms 5:8 ; 26:8 ; 95:6 ; and 69:14 ). In this vein is the prayer recited by Jews upon entering the synagogue.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962100524.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Jewish prayer Ma Tovu ( Hebrew for "O How Good" or "How Goodly") is a prayer in Judaism , expressing reverence and awe for synagogues and other places of worship . The prayer begins with Numbers 24:5 , where Balaam , sent to curse the Israelites, is instead overcome with awe at God and the Israelites' houses of worship. Its first line of praise is a quote of Balaam's blessing and is thus the only prayer commonly used in Jewish services that was written by a non-Jew . The remainder of the text is derived from passages in Psalms relating to entering the house of worship and preparation for further prayer ( Psalms 5:8 ; 26:8 ; 95:6 ; and 69:14 ). In this vein is the prayer recited by Jews upon entering the synagogue; in the Western Ashkenzic rite, it is usually sung before beginning Maariv on Festivals, especially the second night of Yom Tov.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1150756153. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “prayer in judaism”. Today it says “prayer recited by religious jews expressing reverence to entering synagogues and other places of worship in jud”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
prayer in judaism
Now
prayer recited by religious jews expressing reverence to entering synagogues and other places of worship in jud
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
