How the Bible Came to Us God s revealed word God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Hebrews 1:1 1
The reason for it from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 Books of the Bible Hebrew/Aramaic Greek Genesis Song of Solomon Exodus Isaiah Leviticus Jeremiah Numbers Lamentations Deuteronomy Ezekiel Joshua Daniel Judges Hosea Ruth Joel 1/2 Samuel Amos 1/2 Kings Obadiah 1/2 Chronicles Jonah Ezra Micah Nehemiah Nahum Esther Habakkuk Job Zephaniah Psalms Haggai Proverbs Zechariah Ecclesiastes Malachi Matthew 1/2 Thessalonians Mark 1/2 Timothy Luke Titus John Philemon Acts Hebrews Romans James 1/2 Corinthians 1/2 Peter Galatians 1/2/3 John Ephesians Jude Philippians Revelation Colossians 2
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Books of the Bible Hebrew/Aramaic Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1/2 Samuel 1/2 Kings 1/2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Books of the Bible Hebrew/Aramaic 3
Books of the Bible Hebrew/Aramaic Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1/2 Samuel 1/2 Kings 1/2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi Books of the Bible Hebrew/Aramaic Greek Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1/2 Samuel 1/2 Kings 1/2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi Matthew Mark Luke John 4
Books of the Bible Hebrew/Aramaic Greek Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1/2 Samuel 1/2 Kings 1/2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans 1/2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1/2 Thessalonians 1/2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1/2 Peter 1/2/3 John Jude Books of the Bible Hebrew/Aramaic Greek Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1/2 Samuel 1/2 Kings 1/2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans 1/2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1/2 Thessalonians 1/2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1/2 Peter 1/2/3 John Jude Revelation 5
Ebla Tablets 2300 BC Cities of the Dead Sea (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, Bela) valley recorded in same order as in Gen 14v2 2000 BC 0 Major prophets 1500 BC Moses 1000 BC Samuel 500 BC Ezra 2000 BC 0 6
Prophets knew earlier writings Book of the law found (2 Chron.34v15) Ezra read from the book of the law (Neh.8v13) Daniel read Jeremiah (Dan.9v2) Ezekiel refers to Noah, Job and Daniel (Ezek.14v14) New Testament Written in Greek some may have originally been written in Aramaic Most written prior to AD 70 Evidence that they were generally accepted at an early stage 7
NT writers referred to each other Paul quotes Jesus in the gospels (1 Cor.7v10) Peter refers to Paul s letters (2 Pet.3v15) Paul alludes to information believers already knew from the gospels (1 Thess.5v1-2) Sopherim/Masoretes Sopherim- Lit.- Counters Scribes who copied the Hebrew text letter by letter AD 1000 Aleppo Codex Added marginal notes Masorah providing technical information on the text 8
Sopherim/Masoretes Rules:- i) each line contain 30 letters AD 1000 Aleppo Codex ii) each column even number of lines iii) scroll ruled with lines before writing iv) special ink used v) nothing from memory vi) each word studied and spoken aloud vii) word and letter counts 0 2000 BC Momentous discovery Dead Sea Scrolls 250 BC AD 135 Discovered AD 1947 Evidence that Masoretic text accurate 2000 BC 0 9
NT documents Over 5000 Greek manuscripts of the NT in whole or part Earliest AD 100-150 Many AD 350-500 Earliest surviving fragments 2000 BC 0 Translated into other languages Septuagint (LXX) 285 BC (72 translators) Samaritan Pentateuch Coptic (Egyptian) Alexandrian Codex Syrian Some affected by local beliefs and traditions 10
Latin Translation Jerome s Vulgate (common version) Written in Latin AD 400 Texts copied by hand by monks Only version allowed for over 1000 years First English Version John Wycliffe (1324 1384) From Vulgate to English Hand copied Banned by the church Law in 1408 banning translation into English 11
Momentous times AD 1453-5 Guttenburg invents moveable type printing 2000 BC 0 Momentous times AD 1453-5 Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Empire Many texts from Byzantium (Constantinople) brought to the west Byzantine tradition texts Codex Vaticanus Codex Bezae Comparing original Greek to Latin translation 2000 BC sparked the reformation 0 12
Reformation - Erasmus Using all texts available produces a Greek/Latin parallel NT AD 1516 (later becomes known as Textus Receptus or Received Text ) Reformation - William Tyndale AD 1494 1536 Cleric wanted all to have Bible Ploughboy to know Bible Moved to Europe Published NT in 1526 Betrayed - Open the eyes of the King of England 2000 BC 0 13
Reformation Henry VIII Declared Defender of the Faith by Pope Divorced first wife 1533 Split with Rome and became head of church of England AD 1534 Now wanted English version Commissioned Great Bible 2000 BC 0 Age of translations AD 1534-1611 Matthew Bible Masoretic Rogers 1537 Great Bible 1539 Textus Receptus Vulgate Septuagint Luther Tyndale Coverdale Parker Whittingham Bishop s Bible 1568 Geneva Bible 1576 14
King James Version AD 1611 Came to throne at delicate time Mother Mary Queen of Scots a devout Catholic Brought up a Protestant Persuaded by Puritans to produce a new translation. 2000 BC 0 King James Version AD 1611 1604 Hampton Court Conference 47 Scholars split into 6 panels Rules (15 including):- Follow Bishop s Bible Common names used No marginal notes except for explanation of text Everyone in a panel to come to agreement Other translations used (inc. Tyndale) 15
22/05/2011 Different Versions 2000 BC Based on different copies of original language manuscripts Word for word (formal equivalence) Sense of meaning (dynamic equivalence) Paraphrase 0 How the Bible came to Us 4000+ years in the making 2000 BC 0 16
God s free gift to us all 17