The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of manuscripts found in caves near the Dead Sea between 1947 and 1956. They include almost all books of the Old Testament and many other books of religious and historical significance. The manuscripts are dated between 150 BC and AD 70. Most scholars think the scrolls were produced by the Essenes [...]
Answers about manuscripts
This inconsistency is only evident in some translations as it is often corrected. Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 36:9 NKJV) Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and [...]
No. A late date for the earliest manuscript of any ancient book could be evidence that the book is a forgery or unreliable;1 but it does not necessarily follow that a late date for an earliest manuscript means the book is a forgery or is unreliable. There is other evidence to take into account. Some [...]
The recent book ‘Misquoting Jesus’ (2005), by Bart Ehrman (a professional textual critic and ex-Christian), has been cited widely as presenting an overwhelming case for the unreliability of the textual transmission of the New Testament. Ehrman’s work is neither a breakthrough nor a revelation.[1] [2] He raises no new textual difficulties, contributes no new evidence, [...]
To understand why some translations omit Mark 7:16, first we need to understand a little bit about a process known as “textual criticism”. In brief, the original versions of the NT books (known as the “autographs”) are no longer available (they no doubt disintegrated many centuries ago). The Greek text we have today is based [...]
There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of translations of the Bible. In English alone, there have been more than 100 published translations of the Bible in the last ten years (see www.biblereadersmuseum.com for a list). In general, the differences between the translations are largely about style of language and whether the translation is more word-for-word or [...]
No. There are over 300 ancient Greek manuscripts of the book of Revelation, but none that differ significantly from what is in our English Bibles. A list of the most important textual variants is given here.
