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An ancient version of one book has an extra phrase. Another appears to have been revised to retroactively insert a prophecy after the events happened.
Jerusalem - A dull-looking chart projected on the wall of a university office in Jerusalem displayed a revelation that would startle many readers of the Old Testament: the sacred text that people revered in the past was not the same one we study today.
An ancient version of one book has an extra phrase. Another appears to have been revised to retroactively insert a prophecy after the events happened.
Scholars in this out-of-the-way corner of the Hebrew University campus have been quietly at work for 53 years on one of the most ambitious projects attempted in biblical studies - publishing the authoritative edition of the Old Testament, also known as the Hebrew Bible, and tracking every single evolution of the text over centuries and millennia.
And it has evolved, despite deeply held beliefs to the contrary.
For many Jews and Christians, religion dictates that the words of the Bible in the original Hebrew are divine, unaltered and unalterable. For Orthodox Jews, the accuracy is considered so inviolable that if a synagogue's Torah scroll is found to have a minute error in a single letter, the entire scroll is unusable.
But the ongoing work of the academic detectives of the Bible Project, as their undertaking is known, shows that this text at the root of Judaism, Christianity and Islam was somewhat fluid for long periods of its history, and that its transmission through the ages was messier and more human than most of us imagine.
The project's scholars have been at work on their critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, a version intended mainly for the use of other scholars, since 1958.
“What we're doing here must be of interest for anyone interested in the Bible,” said Michael Segal, the scholar who heads the project.
The sheer volume of information makes the Bible Project's version “the most comprehensive critical edition of the Hebrew Bible in existence at the present time,” said David Marcus, a Bible scholar at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, who is not involved with the project.
But Segal and his colleagues toil in relative anonymity. Their undertaking is nearly unknown outside a circle of Bible experts numbering several hundred people at most, and a visitor asking directions to the Bible Project's office on the university campus will find that many members of the university's own staff have never heard of it.
This is an endeavor so meticulous, its pace so disconnected from that of the world outside, that in more than five decades of work the scholars have published a grand total of three of the Hebrew Bible's 24 books. (Christians count the same books differently, for a total of 39.) A fourth is due out during the upcoming academic year.
If the pace is maintained, the final product will be complete a little over 200 years from now. This is both a point of pride and a matter of some mild self-deprecation around the office.
Bible Project scholars have spent years combing through manuscripts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Greek translations on papyrus from Egypt, a printed Bible from 1525 Venice, parchment books in handwritten Hebrew, the Samaritan Torah, and scrolls in Aramaic and Latin. The last member of the original team died last year at age 90.
The scholars note where the text we have now differs from older versions - differences that are evidence of the inevitable textual hiccups, scribal errors and other human fingerprints that became part of the Bible as it was passed on, orally and in writing.
A Microsoft Excel chart projected on one wall on a recent Sunday showed variations in a single phrase from the Book of Malachi, a prophet.
The verse in question, from the text we know today, makes reference to “those who swear falsely.” The scholars have found that in quotes from rabbinic writings around the 5th century A.D., the phrase was longer: “those who swear falsely in my name.”
In another example, this one from the Book of Deuteronomy, a passage referring to commandments given by God “to you” once read “to us,” a significant change in meaning.
Other differences are more striking.
The Book of Jeremiah is now one-seventh longer than the one that appears in some of the 2,000-year-old manuscripts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some verses, including ones containing a prophecy about the seizure and return of Temple implements by Babylonian soldiers, appear to have been added after the events happened.
The year the Bible Project began, 1958, was the year a priceless Hebrew Bible manuscript arrived in Jerusalem after it was smuggled out of Aleppo, Syria, by a Jewish cheese merchant who hid it in his washing machine. This was the 1,100-year-old Aleppo Codex, considered the oldest and most accurate version of the complete biblical text in Hebrew.
The Bible Project's version of the core text - the one to which the others are compared - is based on this manuscript. Other critical editions of the Bible, such as one currently being prepared in Stuttgart, Germany, are based on a slightly newer manuscript held in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Considering that the nature of their work would be considered controversial, if not offensive, by many religious people, it is perhaps surprising that most of the project's scholars are themselves Orthodox Jews.
“A believing Jew claims that the source of the Bible is prophecy,” said the project's bearded academic secretary, Rafael Zer. “But as soon as the words are given to human beings - with God's agreement, and at his initiative - the holiness of the biblical text remains, even if mistakes are made when the text is passed on.” - Sapa-AP
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Nick, wrote
Wizzard is right thank goodness I don't have to fly into a panic when educated scientists and learned people make a new discovery ,it must be stressful to keep trying to justify the various gods and fairy tales .
Nick, wrote
Hello , are there really people, who really thought that any holy book was not full of holes ,come on guys wake up and see the the real world for a change .
Murtadd, wrote
Where is my post?????...or is that the webmaster is biased and selective of which responses to post...Ive made a post under the same name yesterday it hasnt been loaded yet....
Anonymous, wrote
Man created god. Not the other way round! Religious wars: A war where we kill eachother to see who has the best imaginery friend.
Anonymous, wrote
All these books are the same stories changed over time by man to suit himself and his followers. These arent the word of god, its the word of man. Stories repeated and repeated and changed over time. Maybe one day people will think Goldilocks was written by god and they wont eat their porridge warm and kill people who do.
@Bimla, wrote
Just because Muhammed said that God revealed the Quran doesn't make it true, does it? To any outsider studying the Quran and the Bible would see that the stories related in the Quran resemble those in the Bible, suggesting that Mohammad was familiar with the history at that time but got a few things wrong. So once again, the Quran that the caliph composed may be accurately copied now but there's not proof that the sources for the compilation was accurate. You should also take a look at the scientific errors found in the Quran viz how embryos are formed and how the sun rises and sets.
Puvz, wrote
How many lives have been lost over these books. Why worry about them at all. Can we not embrace God almighty as one without a name, a face, an idea, a religion, and even without a book.
Bimla, wrote
To the brother who says that the Bible is 99.999 accurate, please read Ahmed Deedat's "Is the Bible God's Word" and you will be astonished to see that number of factual errors in the Bible. There is wholesale plagiarism, sexually explicit texts bordering on pornography, and amazingly from the age of 12 to 30 nothing is known about Jesus. The original compiled Quraan in Arabic is found in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. There is no original text of the Bible. By the way no-one has offered a plausible explanation of how 2 different versions of the Bible (Catholic and Protestant) can be considered a Word of God when Christians themselves can't decide which one is the supposed Word of God. By the way, the Quraan is the only religious text in the world which has a verse which states that God has revealed the Quraan and He will Protect it. Try as people might over the past 1432 years, no-one has been able to alter the Arabic Quraan. No other book which has been read and copied so often has this record. The Bible does not even come close.
@Anonymous, wrote
You seem a little slow to understand. I don't doubt that everybody today recites the same quran; as what they have today is what the caliph assembled decades after Mohammad's death. The issue lies in the time between the 'revelations' and the compilation of the book. Where's the proof that what was put in the compilation was correct or all there? Afterall the sources for the compilation was memory, pieces of bone and parchment. If these Yemen documents show that the current book is different then all that is recited now (irresepctive of how many people are able to recite it) is incorrect, right?
Anonymous, wrote
the quran is recited throughout the world letter for letter the same. even when a non english person verifies it against an only english speaking person..the memorised quran is letter for letter identical...go test it yourself yes anywhere in the world...so when minority versions here and there pop up then we cna confidently ignore it becasue the quran is overwhlemingly in existence everywhere in the memory of people. trying to experience this yourself will help you understand that we dont need to study the proofs so much as actually experience it! how does millions of people through DIFFERENT chains of memorisation come to the same outcome....its like u claiming brasil doesnt exist and you have never been there! but becasue so many people through different chains have said about brasil...you know it exists!
jman, wrote
If you analyse what this article is really saying , statistically , is that the Bible is actually 99.9999% accurate,if it is just aword or two here or there which is in dispute, compared to the number of words contained in the Bible which are indisputable.
@Anonymous12:48, wrote
It's interesting how you immediately claim it could be a forgery just because it contradicts what you now believe. Actually carbon dating shows that the documents are not forgeries and were found in one of the oldest mosques. What majority do you refer to? It is the copies of what could essentially be incorrect documents? It's not about debate but interesting how people defend the quran as being so perfect and yet immediately reject proof that it isn't perfect without properly studying the proof.
Anonymous, wrote
these writings you speak about might be in existence now but i can quickly forge something for you too. rather you are not broadening your mind to the concept of probabilities. who cares about the yemen version when majority out weight it like a trillion to that one. also, please come with this narration of aisha because i hope you realise that not everything is factual and in the world of probabilities there is methodology to how probable a text can be. have you just read the text or analysed its strength. if ur mind i made up then im not here to debate. only clear the questions to those who dont understand things the way they are. Follow a way, on the majority view and concensus of its people..else look at the wierd minorty opinionsmisunderstandings and remain in wihtout direction?
@Anonymous 10:37, wrote
@Brother, wrote
You have a rather rose-tinted view of the quran. The writings found in Yemen are not just in a different dialect. There are differences in the content. You need to read up a bit more. According to the hadiths, Mohammad's wife Aisha is known to have said things are missing from the quran. Also, you really should look at how it was compiled because it's not as cut and dried as you would like to believe. There's no guarantee that during the decades between Muhammed saying things and it actually being put in a book, there were no changes. Afterall the book was compiled from memory, bone and parchment scraps.
Anonymous, wrote
@ anomolies....to make sure that the written form had no variances due to scribing or memory issues by individuals.(this was the exception of individual weakness and mistakes) but majority was always the one version that was memorised letter for letter to the tee. ...regarding Quran.
Anonymous, wrote
You know, people are worried about dates and a whole lot of ''significant'' information...while people are dying without Jesus Christ and going to hell. Come judgement day, will man's knowledge really matter, or will our love for God expressed even through 'Others' matter? Mark 12: 30, yes God's people perish for lack of knowledge, but are dates the knowledge God is talking about. Jesus is the truth...know Jesus(personal relationship), and you know everything there is to know, and that truth will set you free...not get yourself attention and boost your ego and pride by showing others how much you know, instead of just...simply sharing the truth with them, telling them about the awsome love of our mighty God.
Wizzard, wrote
Thankfully, we athiests don't have to be concerned with all the primitive superstitions committed to paper and passed off as the "word of god". Only the delusional still believe in invisible friends.
Brother, wrote
Firstly, this article is not surprising to me. It has been known by Christian Scholars for decades that large parts of the Bible have been changed and many of the supposed authors never wrote a word ascribed to them. In fact there are many versions of the Bible today. The Roman Catholics have extra books in their bibles which the Protestants reject (the Apocrypha). Now how can you have a book of God with so many errors and inconsistencies. The arabic Quraan is the same for the past 1400 years. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stated that the Quraan was revealed in 7 Arabic dialects. The ancient copy found in Yemen refer to different dialect. Nothing fundamental in the changing of the Quraan has been reported. I'm not going to get into details of how the Quraan was compiled. The scholars at Darul-Ifta can provide the reader with details. But I will not denigrate another religion because the Prophet (peace be upon him) told us to respect people of other faiths. We should not use this site to spew our hatred of other people. Rather use reasoning to invite people to the Truth.
Anonymous, wrote
It can only be a good thing. It's like the problem of the Hebrew Masoteric and the Greek Septuagint versions of the Old Testament, where Bible scholars are aware that there are some sort of discrepancies between the two versions. That is why Biblical scholarship is crucial; sort of like the difference in English Bibles on the inclusion or exclusion of the Apocrypha and things like the length of Saul's rule in Israel. Some say a couple Saul ruled for a couple of years, others say 40 years, others say 42 years and that's where scholars step in to try and give accuracy without bias.
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