The languages of the Old Testament are Hebrew and Aramaic. Hebrew and Aramaic belong to the north-west branch of the Semitic family of languages. The Hebrew texts of the Old Testament were composed at various periods before, during and after the Babylonian exile. The Aramaic passages of Daniel and Ezra were composed in the post-exilic period. The orthography of the Qumran biblical scrolls demonstrates that there was not only diversity in the types of biblical text but also diversity in the way the text was read. These diverse types of reading reflect differences in phonology and morphology. The vocalisation signs are a written notation that was developed by the Tiberian masoretes to record a reading tradition. The transcription of Hebrew proper names in cuneiform sources during the pre-exilic period often reflects a pronunciation that is different from the Tiberian reading tradition.