Christian Publishing House Blog
Apologetic Defense of the faith, the Bible, and Christianity
We must face the reality that while the original 39 OT manuscripts and 27 NT manuscripts were inspired by God [Lit. “God-breathed”] (1 Tim. 3:16), as the authors were moved along by the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 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 ...
Dead Sea Scrolls. Collection of biblical and extrabiblical manuscripts from Qumran, an ancient Jewish religious community near the Dead Sea. The discovery of the scrolls in caves near the Dead Sea in 1947 is considered by many scholars to be the most important manuscript discovery of modern times.
Each instance, some 1,300 of these depending on the manuscript, must be evaluated on its own merits. Many times, the kethib (text) is correct and is a good reading or an even better reading than the qere (margin).
Old Testament Textual Criticism (sometimes called lower criticism) is the study of copies of Old Testament documents whose original no longer survives. It is the process of attempting to ascertain the original wording of a text.
DIFFICULTY: For some scholars, this is a difficulty, as they feel “he removed them [i.e., the people] to the cities,” does not make a lot of sense in this context. They feel that “he made slaves of them” makes more sense in this context. What is the case?
The Hebrew Text has the reading “they settled” in verse 18 of chapter 25. On the other hand, the LXX and VG, have “he settled” in verse 18 of chapter 25, the latter translations being a reference to Ishmael for the sake of clarity.
The Hebrew has the reading “he or one said” in verse 17 of chapter 19. On the other hand, the Greek Septuagint (LXX), Syriac Peshitta (SYR), and the Latin Vulgate (VG) have “they said” in verse 17 of chapter 19.
The Hebrew has the reading “And Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he fathered Shelah, and he fathered other sons and daughters.” in verse 13 of chapter 11. On the other hand, the Greek Septuagint (LXX) differs tremendously ...
The Father is the speaker here, the subject of this clause and the shift from the pronoun “me” to “him” in the next clause makes it sounds as though God the Father was the one to be pierced instead of Jesus. (John 19.37; Rev. 1;7)
The first rabbinic Bible—i.e., the Hebrew text furnished with full vowel points and accents, accompanied by the Aramaic Targums and the major medieval Jewish commentaries—was edited by Felix Pratensis and published by Daniel Bomberg (Venice, 1516/17). The second edition, edited by Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah and issued by Bomberg in four volumes (Venice, 1524/25), became the prototype of future Hebrew Bibles down to the 20th century.