Correcting Copyists' Errors

Suppose 100 persons were asked to make a handwritten copy of a lengthy document. Undoubtedly at least some of the copyists would make mistakes. However, they would not all make the same mistakes. If you were to take all 100 copies and compare them very carefully, you would be able to isolate the errors and determine the exact text of the original document, even if you never saw it. Similarly, the Bible copyists did not all make the same mistakes. With literally thousands of Bible manuscripts now available for comparative analysis, textual scholars have been able to isolate mistakes, determine the original reading, and make note of needed corrections. As a result of such careful study, textual scholars have produced master texts in the original languages. These refined editions of the Hebrew and of the Greek texts adopt the words most generally agreed upon as being the original, often listing in footnotes variations or alternative readings that may exists in certain manuscripts. The refined editions by the textual scholars are what Bible translators use to translate the Bible into modern languages.

So when you pick up a modern translation of the Bible, there is every reason for confidence that the Hebrew and the Greek texts on which it is based represent with remarkable fidelity the words of the original Bible writers. The record of how the Bible survived thousands of years of recopying by hand is truly extraordinary. Sir Frederic Kenyon, longtime curator of the British Museum, could therefore state: " It cannot be too strongly asserted that in substance the text of the Bible is certain . . . This can be said of n o other ancient book in the world."

Next time:A Book That Speaks Living Languages

A Book For All People, 1997