Updated American Standard Version
Giving Bible readers what God said not what translators think God meant
Unlock the secrets of the Bible's past with this article. Dive deep into the historical analysis of the Bible's manuscripts to gain a new understanding of the accuracy and authenticity of the texts we hold sacred today. From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Codex Vaticanus, this article will challenge your perceptions and deepen your knowledge of the Bible's transmission, corruption, and restoration through time.
The Hebrew Scriptures, also known as the Old Testament, is a section of the Holy Bible that is written primarily in Hebrew, with a few chapters and isolated verses written in Aramaic. This collection of texts was completed over 2,400 years ago, and many people question the accuracy of modern copies in comparison to the original texts.
The Hebrew Old Testament, also known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible, is the collection of thirty-nine sacred texts that are central to Judaism and are also accepted by many Christian denominations as part of their canon of scripture. The Hebrew Old Testament includes the Torah (also known as the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses), the Prophets, and the Writings. It is the authoritative text of the Old Testament by Jews and many Christian scholars.
Contrary to the cover-up theorists, after the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, numerous publications were released over the years that made those first finds accessible to scholars worldwide.
In the spring of 1947, a Bedouin shepherd threw a stone into a cave, marking an event that would be heard around the world, making the name “Dead Sea Scrolls” more known than any other associated with archaeology.
Paul would have been aware of many nuances in his day when it came to the original language, Hebrew text, and the Greek Septuagint. So, this is no easy question to answer.
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.