History of the Origins of the English Bible

Transcription

1 History of the Origins of the English Bible Cool Facts about the Bible How many books are in the Bible? The Bible contains 66 books, divided among the Old and New Testaments. How many books are in the Old Testament? There are 39 books in the Old Testament. How many books are in the New Testament? There are 27 books in the New Testament. What does "testament" mean? Testament means "covenant" or "contract." Who wrote the Bible? The Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by over 40 different authors from all walks of life: shepherds, farmers, tent-makers, physicians, fishermen, priests, philosophers and kings. Despite these differences in occupation and the span of years it took to write it, the Bible is an extremely cohesive and unified book. Historians and archaeologists have repeatedly confirmed its authenticity. Which single author contributed the most books to the Old Testament? Moses. He wrote the first five books of the Bible, referred to as the Pentateuch; the foundation of the Bible. Which single author contributed the most books to the New Testament? The Apostle Paul, who wrote 14 books (over half) of the New Testament.

2 When was the Bible written? It was written over a period of some 1,600 years, from around 1,500 BC (the time of Moses) to about AD 100 (following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ). What is the oldest book in the Old Testament? Many scholars believe that Job is the oldest book in the Bible, written by an unknown Israelite about 1500 BC (Possibly Moses). Others hold that the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) are the oldest books in the Bible, written c BC. What is the earliest book in the Old Testament? The book of Malachi, written about 400 BC. What is the oldest book of the New Testament? Possibly the book of James, written as early as AD 45. What is the youngest book in the New Testament? The Book of Revelation is the youngest book of the New Testament, written c. AD 95. What languages was the Bible written in? The Bible was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. When was the Bible canonized? The entire New Testament as we know it today, was canonized before the year AD 375. The Old Testament had previously been canonized long before the advent of Christ. What does "canon" mean? "Canon" is derived front the Greek word "Kanon," signifying a measuring rod. Thus, to have the Bible "canonized" meant that it had been measured by the standard or test of divine inspiration and authority. It became the collection of books or writings accepted by the apostles and leadership of the early Christian church as a basis for Christian belief.

3 When was the first translation of the Bible made into English? Old English - AD 1382, by John Wycliffe Modern English AD 1537 by John Rogers (alias Thomas Mathew ) When was the Bible printed? The Bible was printed in AD 1455 by Johannes Gutenberg who invented the "type mold" for the printing press. It was the first book ever printed on this modern printing press. What is the oldest almost-complete manuscript of the Bible now in existence? The Codex Vaticanus, which dates c. AD 350. It is located in the library of the Vatican in Rome. There are older fragments of the Bible that are still preserved. The oldest being a tiny scrap of the Gospel of John was found in Egypt, dating back to the beginning of the second century. (It is currently in the Rayland's Library in Manchester, England). What is the longest book in the Bible? The book of Psalms. What is the shortest book in the Bible? 2 John. What is the longest chapter in the Bible? Psalm 119 What is the shortest chapter in the Bible? Psalm 117 What is the longest verse in the Bible? Esther 8:9 What is the shortest verse in the Bible? John 11:35

4 Which books in the Bible do not mention the word "God?" The book of Esther and possible the Song of Solomon Who was the oldest man that ever lived? Methuselah who lived to be 969 years old (Genesis 5:27). Who were the two men in the Bible who never died but were caught up to heaven? Enoch, who walked with God and was no more (Genesis 5:22-24). Elijah, who was caught up by a whirlwind into heaven (II Kings 2:11). Who does the Bible say was the meekest man in the Bible (not including Jesus)? Moses (Numbers 12:3). How many languages has the Bible been translated into? The Holy Bible has been translated into 2,018 languages, with countless more partial translations, and audio translations (for unwritten languages). This is an enormous amount of translations. In comparison, Shakespeare, considered by many to be the master writer of the English language, has only been translated into 50 languages. Is the Bible still the best-selling book in the world? Yes, indeed. Estimates are over 5 billion copies have been made! Biblical Manuscripts Probably, none of the original writings of the OT or NT still exist. They have long since been lost to decay, fires, wars and other causes. Bible copies were made entirely by hand until printing was invented in 15th century. As a result, there are many small variations among the many ancient Bible manuscripts still in existence.

5 Many additional ancient Bible manuscripts and fragments have been discovered since the late 1800's. The scientific methods of paleography and radiocarbon dating can now determine approximately when the thousands of different manuscripts were written. This new knowledge has enabled newer translations based on the oldest and best ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. Biblical Division of Chapters and Verses The Old Testament was originally divided into fifty-four sections by the Jews. One section was read in the synagogue every Sabbath day (Acts 13:15). The sections of the Masoretic Text (AD ) were subdivided into 669 orders. The chapter and verse divisions were added to the Bible for the sake of convenience. There is no authoritative basis for the divisions we now find. In the earliest versions of the Bible, four books (1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings) were originally one long book called Of Reigns. Chapters Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury in AD 1228, is believed to be responsible for the chapter divisions. Some scholars believe that the chapter divisions should be attributed to the students of Cardinal Hugo of Saint Cher in AD Cardinal Hugo was organizing a concordance of the Bible and utilized the help of his eager students to reference the verses in the Bible in a way to locate individual words quickly. Verses The earliest printed Hebrew Bibles marked each fifth verse only with a Hebrew numeral. The present New Testament verses were introduced by Robert Stephens first in his Greek-Latin Testament published in AD 1551, and then later in the Latin Vulgate of AD 1555, the first whole Bible divided into the present verses.

6 Most of the time, the numbering system works well for helping people look up scriptures. Sometimes, however, the verses are not well divided and this can mislead readers. One example occurs in Genesis 2:1-3, which is the description of how the Sabbath day was created. Since these three verses continue the rhythmic pattern of Genesis 1's description of the first six days, chapter 2 of Genesis should have started AFTER these three verses. So be aware that the chapter and verse system found in Bibles were not necessarily inspired by God, and can be a distraction in some cases, or cause readers to separate thoughts or ideas that weren't originally separate when the inspired men wrote Scripture. Biblical Text Language Hebrew is one of a group of languages known as the Semitic languages which were spoken throughout that part of the world, then called Mesopotamia, located today mainly in Iraq. Their alphabet consisted of 22 letters, all consonants. (Imagine having an alphabet with no vowels! Much later they did add vowels.) During the thousand years of its composition, almost the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew. But a few chapters in the prophecies of Ezra and Daniel and one verse in Jeremiah and one word in Genesis were written in Aramaic. This language became very popular in the ancient world and actually displaced many other languages. Aramaic, which originated c. 750 BC, even became the common language spoken in Israel in Jesus' time, and it was likely the language He spoke day by day. Some Aramaic words were even used by the Gospel writers in the New Testament.

7 The sections of the canon Old Testament written in Aramaic were: Genesis 31:47 translation of a Hebrew place name, Jegar-Sahadutha Strong's #H3026 Jeremiah 10:11 a single sentence denouncing idolatry occurs in the middle of a Hebrew text. Daniel 2:4b 7:28 five stories about Daniel and his colleagues, and an apocalyptic vision. Ezra 4:8 6:18 and 7:12 26 quotations of documents from the 5th century BCE on the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Septuagint (Original Greek translation of the Old Testament) was referenced and therefore used by Jesus and the apostles in Israel along with the Jewish Hebrew Torah. The New Testament, however, was written in Koine Greek. Greek was the language of scholarship during the years of the composition of the New Testament from AD 45 to 100. Primary Languages Used in Writing the Bible Almost all of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, outside of a few chapters and verses written in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek. Hebrew is a member of the Canaanite group of Semitic languages. It was the language of the early Jews, but from 586 BC it started to be replaced by Aramaic. By AD 200, use of Hebrew as an everyday language had largely ceased, but it continued to be used for literary and religious functions. Biblical Hebrew (10th century BC - 2nd century AD) Biblical or Classical Hebrew is the form of Hebrew used in Israel and Judah from about the 10th century BC until the 2nd century AD. Texts include the Hebrew Bible, and other religious and historical writings. It was written without vowel indication at first, and over time some consonants came to be used to indicate vowels.

8 Biblical Hebrew was first written with the Phoenician script, which developed into the Paleo-Hebrew script by the 10th or 9th century BC. By the 6th century BC the Aramaic script began to replace the Paleo-Hebrew script. Tiberian Hebrew (AD ) This is the reconstructed pronunciation of the Hebrew used between AD by Masoretic scholars living in the Jewish community of Tiberias in ancient Judea. Koine Greek Language (300 BC AD 600) The mainstream consensus is that the New Testament was written in a form of Koine Greek, which was the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean from the Conquests of Alexander the Great ( BC) until the evolution of Byzantine Greek (c. AD 600) New Testament Books There are solid reasons for trusting in today's list of New Testament books. The church accepted the New Testament books almost as soon as they were written. The writers were friends of Jesus or his immediate followers, men to whom Jesus had entrusted the leadership of the early church. The Gospel writers Matthew and John were some of Jesus' closest followers. Mark and Luke were companions of the apostles, having access to the apostles' account of Jesus' life. The other New Testament writers had immediate access to Jesus as well: James and Jude were half-brothers of Jesus who initially did not believe in him. Peter was one of the 12 apostles.

9 Paul started out as a violent opponent of Christianity and a member of the religious ruling class, but he became an ardent follower of Jesus, convinced that Jesus rose from the dead. The reports in the New Testament books lined up with what thousands of eyewitnesses had seen for themselves. When other books were written hundreds of years later, it wasn't difficult for the church to spot them as forgeries. For example, the Gospel of Judas was written by the Gnostic sect, around AD , long after Judas' death. The Gospel of Thomas, written around AD 140, is another example of a counterfeit writing erroneously bearing an apostles' name. These and other Gnostic gospels conflicted with the known teachings of Jesus and the Old Testament, and often contained numerous historical and geographical errors. In AD 367, Athanasius formally listed the 27 New Testament books (the same list that we have today). Soon after, Jerome and Augustine circulated this same list. By and large the whole church had recognized and used the same list of books since the first century after Christ. As the church grew beyond the Greekspeaking lands and needed to translate the Scriptures, and as splinter sects continued to pop up with their own competing holy books, it became more important to have a definitive list. Why did it take 30 to 60 years for the New Testament Gospels To be written? The main reason the Gospel accounts were not written immediately after Jesus' death and resurrection is that there was no apparent need for any such writings.

10 Initially the gospel spread by word of mouth in Jerusalem. There was no need to compose a written account of Jesus' life, because those in the Jerusalem region were witnesses of Jesus and well aware of his ministry. However, when the gospel spread beyond Jerusalem, and the eyewitnesses were no longer readily accessible, there was a need for written accounts to educate others about Jesus' life and ministry. Many scholars date the writing of the Gospels between 20 and 60 years after Jesus' death. Luke, at the beginning of his gospel, tells us why he wrote it: "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may have certainty of the things you have been taught. Silver Scrolls (c. 650 BC) Oldest surviving text from the Hebrew Bible. Discovered in 1979 in burial chambers on natural caverns south of Jerusalem. Two tiny silver scrolls has inscribed portions of the Book of Numbers and possibly also Deuteronomy. The writings on the scroll are on once used small amulets made c. 650 BC. While excavating a burial tomb near Jerusalem in 1979, Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay uncovered the oldest known copy of Old Testament scripture. The priestly blessing, recorded in Numbers 6:24-26, was discovered on two small silver scrolls dated to the 7th century BC. I can at least say that these verses existed in the 7th century... the time of the prophet Jeremiah and the time of King Josiah, Barkay said.

11 These verses pre-date the famous Dead Sea Scrolls by approximately four centuries. They are the only biblical verses we have from the time of the First Temple. The larger of the two scrolls was only about three inches long when it was unrolled. The smaller one was just over two inches long. Barkay said the thin fragile silver of each scroll was etched with 19 lines of tiny, Hebrew script. Years later, researchers realized that the inscription was an almost exact representation of the priestly blessing found in Numbers. Careful study revealed that the Hebrew characters used were distinctive of the 7th century BC. In English the verses read: The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. The find is significant because it helps establish the historicity and the age of Old Testament scripture. The Septuagint (c. 250 BC) By the third century BC, many Jews could not even read Hebrew anymore. So, around 300 BC a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek was undertaken. The oldest existing manuscripts of the Septuagint date to around AD The Septuagint (from the Latin septuaginta, "seventy") is a translation of the Hebrew Bible and some related texts into Koine Greek. As the primary Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is also called the Greek Old Testament. The title "The Translation of the Seventy" and its Roman numeral acronym LXX refer to the legendary seventy Jewish scholars (actually 72 scholars) who solely translated the Five Books of Moses into Koine Greek.

12 Seventy-two Jewish scholars were asked by the Greek King of Egypt Ptolemy II Philadelphus (king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 to 246 BC) to translate the Torah from Biblical Hebrew into Koine Greek, for inclusion in the Library of Alexandria. As the story goes, King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. One story states that, He entered each one's room and said: Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher. God put it in the heart of each one to translate identically as all the others did. It was universally accepted by the early Christians for the first 400 years of Christianity and was used and quoted from by Jesus Himself and His Apostles! The two Books of Samuel and the two Books of Kings are in the LXX one book in four parts called Βασιλειῶν ("Of Reigns") The Samaritan Pentateuch (400 BC) The Samaritan Pentateuch are the five books of Moses (Pentateuch) which the Samaritans took over from the Jews when they gained their independence in the 5th century BC. Samaritans believe that God authored their Pentateuch and gave Moses the first copy along with the two tablets containing the Ten Commandments. They believe that they preserve this divinely composed text uncorrupted to the present day. Samaritans commonly refer to their Pentateuch as קושטה ("The Truth"). Samaritans include only the Pentateuch in their biblical canon. They do not recognize divine authorship or inspiration in any other book in the Jewish Tanakh. A Samaritan Book of Joshua partly based upon the Tanakh's Book of

13 Joshua exists, but Samaritans regard it as a non-canonical secular historical chronicle. According to a view based on the biblical Book of Ezra (Ezra 4:11), the Samaritans are the people of Samaria who parted ways with the people of Judah in the Persian period ( BC). The Samaritans believe that it was not they, but the Jews, who separated from the authentic stream of Judaism, around the time of Eli, in the 11th century BC. Following this, the Samaritans separated themselves and restricted their canon to the first five books of Moses using their own alphabet. In this way the manuscripts they handed down remained independent of the history which led to the Masoretic text which is a matter of great interest for textual criticism. A manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch was found at Damascus in It is a popular copy of the original text and contains some 6000 variants from the Masoretic text. Since there were some changes in the extant Hebrew manuscripts during the later centuries, the Samaritan Pentateuch is an important tool for doing textual criticism, which tries to ascertain the probable original readings of the Masoretic text. The Samaritan Pentateuch varies from the Masoretic text nearly six thousand times. But these variances are nearly all minor. Two thousand of these cases agrees with the Septuagint (LXX). A couple of these variations are especially revealing about the differences between the Jews and Samaritans. Mt. Gerizim is emphasized in the Samaritan Pentateuch. Mt. Gerizim replaces Mt. Ebal in Deuteronomy 27:4-8, and inserts a passage right after the Ten Commandments in Ex 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, which emphasizes Mt. Gerizim again. Many of these agreements reflect inconsequential grammatical details, but some are significant. For example, Exodus 12:40 in the Samaritan and the Septuagint reads:

14 "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel and of their fathers which they had dwelt in the land of Canaan and in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years." In the Masoretic text, the passage reads: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years." The Apocrypha (c. 170 BC AD 70) The Apocrypha, a group of books of unknown authorship, were written mostly during the period c. 170 BC to AD 70. These Jewish books were included in many versions of the Septuagint in circulation as the New Testament was being formed, but they were excluded from the official canon of Judaism, established about AD 100. The word's origin (Apocrypha) is the Medieval Latin adjective apocryphus, "secret, or non-canonical", from the Greek adjective ἀπόκρυφος (apokryphos), "obscure", from the verb ἀποκρύπτειν (apokryptein), "to hide away." Today, the books of the Apocrypha are included in Catholic versions of the OT, but not in most Protestant versions. The Greek Septuagint and the original King James Bible included the Apocrypha. There were between 7-15 books, depending on which Bible included them. The apocryphal books of the Septuagint include: Judith Additions to the Book of Esther Tobit Additions to the Book of Daniel Baruch The Prayer of Manasseh Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus) The two Books of Esdras The Wisdom of Solomon First and Second Maccabees

15 The Apocryphal books were probably included in the Greek Septuagint for historical and religious purposes only. The original King James Bible included: 1 Esdras (Vulgate 3 Esdras) 2 Esdras (Vulgate 4 Esdras) Tobit Judith Rest of Esther (Vulgate Esther 10:4-16:24) Wisdom Ecclesiasticus (also known as Sirach) Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy (all part of Vulgate Baruch) Song of the Three Children (Vulgate Daniel 3:24-90) Story of Susanna (Vulgate Daniel 13) The Idol Bel and the Dragon (Vulgate Daniel 14) Prayer of Manasses 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees For most of the history of the English Bible, some of the Apocrypha was part of the Bible even though it never qualified for Canonization. Up until the 1880 s almost every Protestant Bible (not just Catholic Bibles) had 80 books, not 66. Martin Luther did not class apocryphal books as being Scripture, but in both the German (1534) and English (1535) translations of the Bible, the apocrypha are published in a separate section from the other books. Book of the Apocrypha were part of almost every printing of the Tyndale- Matthews Bible, the Great Bible, the Bishops Bible, the Protestant Geneva Bible, and the King James Bible until their removal in the mid-19 th century. The Protestant Church have rejected these books, and removed them from their Bibles. This has left most modern-day Christians believing that there is something Roman Catholic about the Apocrypha.

16 Arguments Explaining Why the Apocrypha Does Not Deserve Canonization There are doctrines and practices contained in the Apocrypha that are contrary to what the Scripture teaches. They include the following. It has doctrines at odds with the Bible, such as prayers for the dead and sinless perfection. They contain fantastical statements and other statements which contradict not only the canonical Scriptures, but themselves; as when, in the two Books of Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes is made to die three different deaths in as many different places. It teaches immoral practices, such as lying, suicide, assassination and magical incantation. They Teach a Person Is Saved by Works In the Apocrypha proof texts can be found to support the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification by human works and not faith alone. The Apocrypha contains the following verses: For almsgiving saves from death and purges away every sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life (Tobit 12:9). The Doctrine of Purgatory It says: Therefore, he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sin (Second Maccabees 12:41-45). The Doctrine of the Pre-Existence of Souls As a child I was naturally gifted, and a good soul fell to my lot; or rather, being good, I entered an undefiled body (Wisdom 8:19,20).

17 The Apocrypha Was Never Cited in The New Testament as Scripture Though the New Testament cites directly, or alludes to, almost every book of the Old Testament as Scripture, it never cites the Apocrypha as being God's Word. While Jesus and His apostles often quoted from the Septuagint, they never quoted from the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha Was Not Seen by the Jews As Scripture The Jews have never considered these works to be divinely inspired. On the contrary, they denied their authority. At the time of Christ, we have the testimony of the Jewish writer Flavius Josephus that there were only twentytwo books divinely inspired by God. These books are the same as our thirtynine in the Old Testament. Wrong Historical Facts The book of Judith incorrectly says that Nebuchadnezzar was the king of the Assyrians when he was the king of the Babylonians: "Now in the twelfth year of his reign, Nabuchodonosor, king of the Assyrians, who reigned in Ninive the great city, fought against Arphaxad and overcame him." Judith 1:5 The Apocryphal book Baruch 6:2 says the Jews would serve in Babylon for seven generations: "And when you are come into Babylon, you shall be there many years, and for a long time, even to seven generations: and after that I will bring you away from thence with peace." Where the Biblical book of Jeremiah 25:11 says it was for 70 years: "And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 200 BC - AD 100) The most well-known texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls are the ancient religious writings found from in eleven caves near the site of Qumran, two kilometers from the Dead Sea.

18 These sources of who wrote these scrolls offer a picture of diversity which can now be identified and supported by the Dead Sea texts. Original beliefs were that the Essenes wrote these scrolls. Now, historians attribute these works to a number of different Jewish sects, such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and the Essenes. Discoveries from additional sites yielded mostly documents and letters, especially papyri that had been hidden in caves by refugees from wars. While some of these writings survived as nearly intact scrolls, most of the archive consists of thousands (15,000) of parchment and papyrus fragments. The Qumran Caves Scrolls consist of two types: Biblical manuscripts books found in today s Hebrew Bible, and non-biblical manuscripts other religious writings circulating during the Second Temple era, often related to the texts now in the Hebrew Bible. Scroll dates range from 200 BC (mid Second Temple period) to the first century AD, before the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70. While Hebrew is the most frequently used language in the Scrolls, about 15% were written in Aramaic and several in Greek. Twelve manuscripts were found in Paleo-Hebrew language of the first temple era. The Scrolls materials are made up mainly of parchment, although some are papyrus, and the text of one Scroll is engraved on copper. About 230 manuscripts are referred to as Biblical Scrolls. These are copies of works that are now part of the Hebrew Bible. Among the Scrolls are partial or complete copies of every book in the Hebrew Bible (except the book of Esther). The 972 manuscripts found at Qumran were found primarily in two separate formats: as scrolls and as fragments of previous scrolls and texts. Some 40% of them are copies of texts from the Hebrew Scriptures.

19 Approximately another 30% of them are texts from the Second Temple Period which ultimately were not canonized in the Hebrew Bible, like the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, and the extra books of Psalms The remaining roughly 30% of them are sectarian manuscripts of previously unknown documents. They already held a special status in the Second Temple period, and were considered to be vessels of divine communication. Evidence suggests that the Scrolls' contemporary communities did not have a unified conception of an authoritative collection of scriptural works. The idea of a closed biblical canon only emerged later in the history of these sacred writings. Many biblical manuscripts closely resemble the Masoretic Text. This similarity is quite remarkable, considering that the Qumran Scrolls are over a thousand years older than previously identified biblical manuscripts. Strikingly, some biblical manuscripts feature differences from the standard Masoretic biblical language and spelling. Additions and deletions in certain texts imply that the writers felt free to modify texts they were copying. The Qumran Caves Scrolls preserve a large range of Jewish religious writings from the Second Temple period, including Para biblical texts, exegetical texts, hymns and prayers, wisdom texts, apocalyptic texts, calendrical texts, and others. Other Dead Sea Scrolls discovered outside of the Qumran caves range from as early as the First Temple period (eighth century BC) to as late as the 11th century AD.

20 Important Sections Found from the Dead Sea Scrolls Genesis Date: BC Language: Hebrew Among the oldest known copies of Genesis, the fragment of the Scroll shown here contains the description of the first three days of the creation of the world. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep; And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1 2 The Ten Commandments Date: 30 1 BC Language: Hebrew This small scroll preserves one of the earliest known copies of the Ten Commandments I am the Lord your God who took you out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. You are to have no other gods but me. Deuteronomy 5:6-7 Psalms Scroll Date: AD 1 68 Language: Hebrew How good and pleasant it is when God s people live together in unity Psalms 133:1 This book of Psalms is one of the best preserved biblical scrolls, containing 48 psalms, including 7 that are not found in the standard Masoretic version of the Bible.

21 An additional prose passage provides one of the most ancient references to King David as the composer of the book of Psalms: and David, the son of Jesse, was wise, and a light like the light of the sun... And he wrote 3,600 Psalms. Enoch Date: BC Language: Aramaic The book of Enoch was not included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible. It tells of Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, who lived for 365 years and walked with God. The displayed fragment describes the heavenly revolt of the fallen angels, and their descent to earth to cohabit with the daughters of men and to reveal secret knowledge to mankind, a story hinted at in Gen. 6:1-4. Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Hebrew-language manuscripts of the Bible were the Masoretic Text date from approximately the 8th century AD. The biblical manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls push that date back a full thousand years, to the 2nd century BC. While some of the Qumran biblical manuscripts are nearly identical to the Masoretic, or traditional, Hebrew text of the Old Testament, some manuscripts of the books of Exodus and Samuel found in Cave Four exhibit dramatic differences in both language and content. In their astonishing range of textual variants, the Qumran biblical discoveries have prompted scholars to reconsider the once-accepted theories of the development of the modern biblical text from only three manuscript families: The Masoretic text The Septuagint The Samaritan Pentateuch. It is now becoming increasingly clear that the Old Testament scripture was extremely fluid until its canonization around AD 100.

22 Earliest Extant New Testament Manuscripts (c. AD 150) The earliest manuscript of a New Testament text is a business-card-sized fragment from the Gospel of John, Rylands Library Papyrus P52, which may be as early as c. 125 AD. The first complete copies of single New Testament books appear around 200, and the earliest complete copy of the New Testament, the Codex Sinaiticus dates to the 4th century. New Testament Papyrus A New Testament papyrus is a copy of a portion of the New Testament made on papyrus. To date, over 120 such papyri are known. In general, they are considered the earliest witnesses to the original text of the New Testament. About 20 have been found that date before AD 400. The most important papyri are {P} 45 (the Chester-Beatty papyrus), which contains the Gospels; {P} 46, which contains the letters of Paul; and {P} 47, which contains the Revelation of John. All of these date from sometime in the third century. Check out this link to see the actual copies! ered_new_testament_papyri The Four Uncial Codices (c. AD 350) The great uncial codices (manuscripts) are the only remaining manuscripts that contain (or originally contained) the text of the Greek Bible (Old and New Testament). Uncial is a script commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters were used to write Greek, Latin, and Gothic.

23 Only four great codices have survived to the present day: Codex Sinaiticus (c. AD 350) Codex Vaticanus (c. AD 350) Codex Alexandrinus (c. AD 400) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (c. AD 450) The Codex Vaticanus is one of the oldest extant manuscripts of the Greek Bible (Old and New Testament). The Codex Vaticanus is named after its place of conservation in the Vatican Library, where it has been kept since at least the 15th century. The Four Codices Are Considered Corrupted Copies by Many Scholars These manuscripts represent what some scholars consider the corrupted copies of the Bible, also known as the Alexandrian manuscripts. These manuscripts, many times, do not even agree with each other. The Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts are part of this group. Facts About the Vaticanus It was written on fine vellum (tanned animal skins) and remains in good condition. It was found in the Vatican Library in AD In spite of being in good condition, IT OMITS: Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 46:28 Psalms Matthew 16:2-3 The Pauline Pastoral Epistles Hebrews 9:14-13:25 Revelation It is unknown whether these sections were lost over time or were left out on purpose.

24 The Vaticanus was available to the translators of the King James Bible, but they didn't use it because they felt it was unreliable. The Vaticanus also contains the Apocrypha. Facts About the Sinaiticus The Sinaiticus is a manuscript that was found in 1844 in a trash pile in St. Catherine's Monastery near Mt. Sinai, by a man named Mr. Tischendorf. It is the oldest copy of the complete New Testament. It contains nearly all of the New Testament plus it adds the "Shepherd of Hermes" and the "Epistle of Barnabas" to the New Testament. The Sinaiticus is extremely unreliable, proven by examining the manuscript itself. John Burgeon spent years examining every available manuscript of the New Testament. He writes about the Sinaiticus: "On many occasions 10, 20, 30, 40 words are dropped through very carelessness. Letters, words or even whole sentences are frequently written twice over, or begun and immediately canceled; while that gross blunder, whereby a clause is omitted because it happens to end in the same words as the clause preceding, occurs no less than 115 times in the New Testament." On nearly every page of the manuscript there are corrections and revisions, done by 10 different people. Some of these corrections were made about the same time that it was copied, but most of them were made in the 6th or 7th century. Phillip Mauro was a brilliant lawyer who was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in April He wrote a book called "Which Version" in the early 1900's.

25 He writes concerning the Sinaiticus: "From these facts, therefore, we deduce: first that the impurity of the Codex Sinaiticus, in every part of it, was fully recognized by those who were best acquainted with it, and that from the very beginning until the time when it was finally cast aside as worthless for any practical purpose." The Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts are the oldest, but they are not the best manuscripts. Unfortunately, some scholars accepted the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus simply because they were old. When the modern version Bibles say in the footnotes, "Some of the oldest manuscripts do not contain vv. 9-20," or "This verse not found in the most ancient authorities," they are taking their information from the corrupt and unreliable Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts. Many scholars warn not to fall for the "oldest are the best" line. The oldest are not the best. For example, the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus both leave out the last 12 verses of Mark concerning the resurrection of Christ. But, there is not one other manuscript, either uncial or cursive, that leave out this passage. There are 18 other Uncial (capital letter) manuscripts that have the passage in and at least 600 cursives (small letter) manuscripts that all contain these verses. The Latin Vulgate (AD 400) The Vulgate is the popular name given to the Latin version of the Bible, a translation usually attributed to Jerome. Jerome completed the translation in AD 400, and his version was known as the editio vulgate because he used the common (or vulgar) language of early medieval times. Pope Damasus I assembled the first list of books of the Bible at the Council of Rome in AD 382. He commissioned Saint Jerome to produce a reliable and consistent text by translating the original Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin.

26 This translation became known as the Latin Vulgate Bible. And in 1546, at the Council of Trent, Jerome's Vulgate translation was declared by the Roman Catholic Church to be the only authentic and official Bible in the Latin Church. Before Jerome s time, as the number of Latin-speaking Christians grew, the Bible was translated into Latin so that the Christians of the time could understand it. The Masoretic Text (AD ) The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh. The Masoretic Text was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries AD. The Masoretic Text, other than the Dead Sea Scrolls, is the only existing representation of the Old Testament in Hebrew. The oldest fragments date from the 9th century AD, but the oldest complete texts come from the 10th and 11th centuries AD. However, the Hebrew text that it contains is clearly not the original Hebrew, nor even the Hebrew that was in use in the 1st century AD. The Hebrew of the 1st century AD was closely aligned to the Greek Septuagint that we have today. In the 1st century, the Christians and all other Greek speaking Israelites, including 1,000,000 of them who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, used the Greek Septuagint. Jesus and His Apostles wrote in Greek and quoted the Greek Septuagint. In regards to the Masoretic Text, the manuscripts date from around AD The manuscripts are admittedly altered from their original form, for vowel symbols have been added and the text has been revised in light of Talmudic tradition.

27 In regards to the Septuagint, the oldest existing manuscripts date to around AD (though fragments are much older). It was never purposely changed or edited, but the oldest texts of the Septuagint represent the oldest surviving descendants of an ancient translation made of the Hebrew in the 3rd century BC which was considered divinely inspired by most Judeans at that time. What we do know is that toward the end of the 1st century AD and into the 2nd century, the Talmudic Jews were actively attacking the Greek Septuagint because it was used by the Christians. Some scholars feel that they discredited the Christians merely for the reason that they used Greek, and at the same time, they began twisting the Hebrew Scriptures to try and disprove that Jesus was the true Messiah. This controversy roared on until at least the 4th and 5th centuries AD. One of the most popular arguments concerning the possibility of how the Jews attacked the Greek Septuagint regarded the word virgin. The particular verse in question is Isaiah 7:14, which reads in the Greek Septuagint: "Therefore, the Master Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb, and will bring forth a Son, and you will call His Name Emmanuel." In the Greek Septuagint, the word for virgin is parthenos, which literally means a virgin. In the Masoretic Text, however, the word is almah which means a young girl. However, tradition of that time assumed that a young girl was a virgin. But the usual Hebrew word for virgin, and the word in every case translated virgin in the Revised Version, is bethuwlah. This verse is quoted from Isaiah in the Christian Scriptures in Matthew 1:23. There is no instance where it can be proved that almah designates a young woman who is not a virgin. The fact of virginity is obvious in Gen 24:43 where almah is used of one who was being sought as a bride for Isaac.

28 But there are many more considerations to this specific issue concerning the Hebrew and Koine Greek words for virgin. This is an interesting study which goes well beyond this current study of the History of the Bible. The Jews attacked the Septuagint from the beginning because they claimed that it had been corrupted by the Christians and that the Christians changed the word in the Septuagint to read virgin instead of young woman so that it would support the reading in Matthew. Of course, the Edomite Jews did not believe that Jesus was the true Messiah; this was why they were attacking the Septuagint. The Jews are the ones who changed the Hebrew, replacing the word virgin with young woman. The early motive of the Edomite Jews was to tarnish Christianity, not just the Septuagint. The Wessex Gospels (AD 990) The Wessex Gospels (also known as the West-Saxon Gospels) are a full translation of the four gospels into a West Saxon dialect of Old English. Produced in approximately AD 990, they are the first translation of all four gospels into Old English without the Latin text. Seven manuscript copies survive. The text of Matthew 6:9 13, the Lord's Prayer, is as follows: Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum, si þin nama gehalgod. To becume þin rice, gewurþe ðin willa, on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg, and forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum. And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele. Soþlice. Wycliffe s Bible (1385) Wycliffe's Bible is the name now given to a group of Bible translations into Midieval English that were made under the direction of John Wycliffe. They appeared over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395.

29 Although Wycliffe's Bible circulated widely in the later Middle Ages, it had very little influence on the first English biblical translations of the reformation era such as those of William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale, as it had been translated from the Latin Vulgate rather than the original Greek and Hebrew; and consequently it was generally ignored in later English Protestant biblical scholarship. The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones to be dugup, crushed, and scattered in the river. The Tyndale Bible (1526) The Tyndale Bible generally refers to the body of biblical translations by William Tyndale (c ). Tyndale s Bible is credited with being the first English translation to work directly from Hebrew and Greek texts. Tyndale's New Testament was the first English translation to be printed. It was that was mass-produced as a result of new advances in the art of the printing press. The term Tyndale's Bible is not strictly correct, because Tyndale never published a complete Bible. Prior to his execution Tyndale had only finished translating the entire New Testament and roughly half of the Old Testament. Of the latter, the Pentateuch, Jonah and a revised version of the book of Genesis were published during his lifetime. Tyndale's Pentateuch was published at Antwerp by Merten de Keyser in His English version of the book of Jonah was published the following year. This was followed by his revised version of the book of Genesis in Tyndale translated additional Old Testament books including Joshua, Judges, first and second Samuel, first and second Kings and first and second Chronicles, but they were not published and have not survived in their original forms.

30 Tyndale used a number of sources when carrying out his translations of both the New and Old Testaments. When translating the New Testament, he referred to the third edition (1522) of Erasmus s Greek New Testament, often referred to as the Received Text. Tyndale also used Erasmus' Latin New Testament, as well as Luther s German version and the Latin Vulgate. Scholars believe that Tyndale stayed away from using Wycliffe's Bible as a source because he didn t want his English to reflect that which was used prior to the Renaissance. The Matthew s Bible (1537) The Matthew Bible, also known as Matthew's Version, was first published in 1537 by John Rogers, under the alias pseudonym "Thomas Matthew" to avoid persecution by the church of Rome. Matthew's Bible was the combined work of three individuals, working from numerous sources in at least five different languages. It combined the New Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as he had been able to translate before being captured and put to death. The translations of Myles Coverdale from German and Latin sources completed the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, except the Apocryphal Prayer of Manasses. It is thus a vital link in the main sequence of English Bible translations. The entire New Testament (first published in 1526 by William Tyndale), the Pentateuch, Jonah, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and First and Second Chronicles, were the work of William Tyndale. Pastor John Rogers assembled a volume in 1537 that contained, for the first time as part of a complete Bible, all of William Tyndale s translation work, the

31 1534 New Testament, the Pentateuch, and the nine historical books, ending with 2 Chronicles. Where there were gaps in Tyndale s work, Rogers used that of Miles Coverdale. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer saw to it that the Matthew s Bible was shown to King Henry VIII, who then licensed the complete Bible in English. Thomas Cromwell, King Henry s agent for church affairs, subsequently encouraged bishops to order copies of the Matthew s Bible for their churches. Such official sanction sparked tremendous demand for the book. Historians often tend to treat Coverdale and Tyndale like competitors in a race to complete the monumental and arduous task of translating the biblical text. One is often credited to the exclusion of the other. In reality they knew each other and occasionally worked together. Foxe states that they were in Hamburg translating the Pentateuch together as early as The Prayer of Manasses was the work of John Rogers. Rogers translated from a French Bible printed two years earlier (in 1535). Rogers compiled the completed work and added the preface, some marginal notes, a calendar and an almanac. Of the three translators, two were burned at the stake. John Rogers was "tested by fire" on 4 February 1555 at Smithfield, England; the first to meet this fate under Mary I of England. William Tyndale was burned (after being strangled to death) on 6 October 1536 in Vilvoorde, Belgium. Myles Coverdale was employed by Cromwell to work on the Great Bible of 1539, the first officially authorized English translation of the Bible. The Great Bible (1539) The Great Bible of 1539 was the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, authorized by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England. The Great Bible was prepared by Myles Coverdale.

32 In 1538, Thomas Cromwell, King Henry s agent for church affairs, directed the clergy to provide "one book of the Bible of the largest volume in English, whereas your parishioners may most commodiously resort to the same and read it." The Great Bible includes much from the Tyndale Bible, with the objectionable features revised. As the Tyndale Bible was incomplete, Coverdale translated the remaining books of the Old Testament and Apocrypha from the Latin Vulgate and German translations, rather than working from the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts. The Geneva Bible (1560) Its name comes from the fact it was first published in Geneva in The work of Protestant exiles from England and Scotland, the Geneva Bible is well respected and was an important Bible in Scotland and England before and even after the King James Version was published in For some forty years after the King James Version was published, the Geneva Bible remained the most popular English translation of the Bible. In 1553 Mary Tudor became Queen of England. As Queen she was committed to eliminating Protestant influences in England and restoring Roman Catholicism as the official religion. Under her rule there was a time of intense persecution of Protestants known as the Marian Persecutions, which earned her the nickname Bloody Mary. She had over 288 Protestant believers burned at the stake, and many others fled to other countries rather than face certain death for not supporting Roman Catholicism. During this time period, several key English Protestant leaders fled to Geneva, Switzerland, to avoid the persecution in England. Among them were Miles Coverdale, John Foxe, Thomas Sampson, and William Whittingham. With the support of John Calvin and the Scottish Reformer John Knox, these English Reformers decided to publish an English Bible that was not dependent upon the approval of English royalty.

33 Building upon earlier English translations such as those done by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale, the Geneva Bible was the first English translation in which all of the Old Testament was translated directly from Hebrew manuscripts. The Geneva Bible was the first Bible to add numbered verses to the chapters, so that referencing specific passages would be easier. Every chapter was also accompanied by extensive marginal notes and references so thorough and complete that the Geneva Bible is also considered the first English "Study Bible". William Shakespeare quotes hundreds of times in his plays from the Geneva translation of the Bible. The Geneva Bible became the Bible of choice for over 100 years of English speaking Christians. Between 1560 and 1644 at least 144 editions of this Bible were published. Examination of the 1611 King James Bible shows clearly that its translators were influenced much more by the Geneva Bible, than by any other source. The Geneva Bible itself retains over 90% of William Tyndale's original English translation. The Geneva holds the honor of being the first Bible taken to America, and the Bible of the Puritans and Pilgrims. It is truly the Bible of the Protestant Reformation. Strangely, the famous Geneva Bible has been out-of-print since 1644, so the only way to obtain one is to either purchase an original printing of the Geneva Bible, or a less costly facsimile reproduction of the original 1560 Geneva Bible.