The Masoretic Text (MT) is or primary text and should be abandoned only when the weightiest evidence stands against it. Genesis 38:25 would be an example of this.
OTTC GENESIS 38:25: When Should the Translator Abandon the Hebrew Masoretic Text?
Papyrus Rylands 458: The Oldest Copy of the Greek Septuagint
Papyrus Rylands 458 is a copy of the Pentateuch in a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint.
ORIGEN’S HEXAPLA: A Sixfold Text in Parallel Columns of the Old Testament
At the end of the second century, there were (at least) four competing Greek versions of the OT. Origen, one of the most important theologians in the Eastern church, was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and was active in the middle of the third century CE. Aware of differences between the Greek and Hebrew texts, he set out to bring order and understanding to the confusing array of competing textual witnesses and to produce an edition that would account for those variations.
THE BASICS of the Dead Sea Scrolls
The earliest MS evidence available for the OT text is also the most recently discovered. Since 1947 thousands of fragments of MSS, both biblical and nonbiblical, have come to light in the Dead Sea region.
Who Were the Masoretes and What Is the Masoretic Text? History, Methods, and the Reliability of the Hebrew Hebrew Bible
The Masoretes preserved the Hebrew Bible with vowels, accents, and rigorous marginal notes, yielding a reliable Masoretic Text grounded in careful transmission.
OLD TESTAMENT TEXTUAL STUDIES: Accuracy of Transmission
Respecting the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, scholar W. H. Green observed: “It may be safely said that no other work of antiquity has been so accurately transmitted.” (Archaeology and Bible History, by J. P. Free, 1964, p. 5) This statement is even more true today.
What Is the Truth About the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947, transformed biblical scholarship, revealing diverse textual traditions and evidence of ancient Jewish practices.
The Quest for Truth: Karaites, Aaron Ben Moses Ben Asher, and the Masoretic Text—Origins, Evidence, and Transmission
How Karaites, Ben Asher, and the Tiberian Masoretes fixed the Hebrew Bible’s wording—and why the Masoretic Text remains the primary witness for exegesis.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF HOW WE GOT THE BIBLE
We have to face the reality that while the original 39 OT manuscripts and 27 NT manuscripts were inspired by God [Lit. “God-breathed”] (2 Tim 3:16), as the authors were moved along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21), this was not the case with the copyists thereafter. Yes, hundreds of thousands of scribal errors crept into our manuscripts. Yet, there is solid evidence that the Bible,
The Crown of All Hebrew Manuscripts: The Aleppo Codex
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.”
