Samaritans accept only the Pentateuch as canonical for their community. The text of the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP) differed in many places from the Massoretic Hebrew text (MT); the most famous of these is perhaps its Tenth Commandment which makes Mount Gerizim the chosen site for the the sacrifices and, therefore, their rationale for building their temple there. This divergence can be traced back to the Hasmonean era, when their temple on Mount Gerizim was destroyed and the community was pressured increasingly to redefine their identity vis-a-vis the Jews. In so doing, some of their traditions may reach as far back as the time of the Chroniclers and also that they had recourse to earlier texts and versions for the different readings in their canon.
It is interesting that, in some places, the NT prefers to quote from the SP or a source common with it. In his sermon recorded in Acts 7, e.g., Stephen quotes Exo 3:6 at v32, but he uses a reading not from the Hebrew Bible familiar to us in the MT or the Septuagint (LXX) but one common or familiar to the Samaritan Pentateuch. Similarly, in v5 of his sermon, Stephen quotes Deut 2:5 but uses a word whose Hebrew equivalent appears only in the Samaritan Pentateuch but not in the MT or LXX.
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