Updated American Standard Version
Giving Bible readers what God said not what translators think God meant
Even though there has been a serious decline in Christianity over the past 70 years, the Bible is still the bestselling book throughout the world. In fact, it seems that since 1960 there have been dozens of new translations over the years.
Sadly, 30 years ago, almost all Christians would have been stunned if they had heard that there were intentional and unintentional changes made in the process of copying the manuscripts of the New Testament over a 1,400 year period, some 400,000+ variants. What does this mean for our translations? Can they be trusted?
Judaism has always been a book religion: it stands or falls with the Old Testament, especially with the Pentateuch. Although no manuscript of the Hebrew Old Testament is older than the 10th-century B.C.E, save for one papyrus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, we know, from citations, translations, etc., that the consonantal text of the Old Testament was in the 1st century C.E. practically what it is today.
PROBLEM: Genesis 10:5, 20, 31 seem to suggest many dialects, which is an apparent conflict with Genesis 11:1 which clearly states, “the whole earth had one language and one speech.” Norman L. Geisler.
At Babel, for the first time, humanity introduces corporate idolatry in an attempt to build their own kingdom rather than God's kingdom. - Kenneth Gangel
Secular historians are not able to disclose the origin of the Hebrew language. In fact, for that matter, the same is true for any of the most ancient languages known, such as Sumerian, Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian), Aramaean, and Egyptian. The reason for this is because the earliest tongues appeared already fully developed in the earliest written records that have been discovered. However, nevertheless, ...
Scribes were employed as secretaries in Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Greco-Roman Empire. Court scribes would sometimes rise to positions of social prestige and considerable political influence, much as a Secretary of State today.
Scribes were a class of literate professionals ranging from copiers, secretaries, and government officials in the earlier OT period to special scholars and teachers of the Torah in the postexilic and NT periods.
Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV)$5.00Click here to purchase. Lachish letters Lachish letter III Replica (front side) Below Material Clay ostraca Writing Phoenician script / Paleo-Hebrew script Created c. 590 BC Discovered 1935 Present location British Museum and Israel Museum Identification ME 125701 to ME 125707, ME 125715a, IAA 1938.127 and 1938.128 The Lachish... Continue Reading →
Although scribes continue to perform such roles in the postexilic period (cf. Neh. 13:13, where a scribe named Zadok is appointed as a treasurer over the storehouses where tithes are kept), the term begins to be more specifically associated with the transmission and interpretation of Torah.