Updated American Standard Version
Giving Bible readers what God said not what translators think God meant
The Hebrew text was like the Greek NT; it had accumulated copyist errors, a few intentional, a good number accidental, between the Malachi days of 440 BCE and Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (135 to 217 CE). The same thing happened to the Greek New Testament from about 400 CE to 1550 CE, a period of copyist errors.
The Old Testament, the inspired Word of God, how was it copied, maintained as to the textual reliability, and handed down throughout the past three thousand years?
BEFORE the discovery of the cache of Hebrew scrolls in the Dead Sea caves in 1947, aside from a few fragments, our Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts were from the late 9th to the 11th century C.E. That is but a mere thousand years ago when the original thirty-nine Hebrew Old Testament Bible books date from 2,500 to 3,500 years ago. Does this mean that prior to 1947, textual scholars and translators were uncertain about the Hebrew Bible that lies behind our English Old Testament? No, there was the most important Hebrew manuscript, which is called the Keter, the “Crown,” that originally contained all the Hebrew Scriptures, or the “Old Testament.”
This is one of the most hotly debated discussions, this new doctrine Preservation of Scripture. Some have equated this doctrine with the Inerrancy of Scripture.
The Biblia Hebraica Quinta Editione, abbreviated as BHQ or rarely BH5, is the fifth edition of the Biblia Hebraica and when complete will supersede the fourth edition, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS).
An interview with Dr. Mark House and a question and answer with Dr. Ted Hildebrandt by Christian Publishing House (CPH). Mostly Biblical Greek will be discussed, but the same principles apply to Biblical Hebrew. Links to FREE Biblical Greek grammar and workbook at the end of the article.
The task of reconstructing the original text of the Bible with as great a degree of accuracy as the available materials permit, in the process of attempting to ascertain the original wording of the original text. Textual criticism is sometimes designated as lower criticism to distinguish it from higher criticism, which is an analysis of the date, unity, and authorship of the biblical writings.
The Leningrad Codex is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. It is dated 1008 CE (or possibly 1009).
How the Hebrew Scriptures, as part of the inspired Word of God, were copied, preserved as to textual integrity, and transmitted down to this day.
We have determined that, the Dead Sea Scrolls were the library of the Qumran community, who were its people? Early on, in 1947 Professor Eleazar Sukenik obtained three scrolls from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; thereafter, suggesting that these scrolls had belonged to the Essene Community.