#New Testament Textual Studies

[aelstudies]

Tuesday September 26th

More library photos, as that is where I’m studying this afternoon. I still can’t get over how pretty my college library is. There are several other libraries on campus, but I haven’t yet explored any other than my own because this one is so lovely.

Had New Testament class this morning. I spent almost an hour afterwards talking with the professor about New Testament textual criticism. It was really fun.

I have class again this evening, so I will stay around the college. There’s not really much point in going home; especially since I get more done and less distracted when I’m on campus.

[tamamita]

Watching a debate between a Jewish and Christian scholar is fascinating, because there is as stark difference in how the Christian and Jewish person will conduct themselves when they stand at the podium. Obviously, there is a sense of professionalism, but there will also be a manner of articulating your points and arguments from boths sdies.

The Jewish scholar tends to be academical and often refer to sources to debuke any Christological and ecclesial supposition about the Tanakh/OT, whereas the Christian often appeals to emotion and will speak in a charismatic way to reinforce his belief in Christ rather than to substantiate their argument. The other issue I find with the Christian debater is that they attempt to substantiate their belief through the New Testament, a scripture which holds no weight to a Jewish person; it is as useful as a brick.

The challenge in debating a Jewish scholar is the fact that a Jewish scholar studies Hebrew and Aramaic and are often fluent in respective language, thus possessing an advantage in textual and hermeneutical analysis of the Masoretic text, whereas a Christian often make use of an already translated Bible, which has been prone to corruption, distortion and christological alterations throughout centuries.

[santmat]

New Thinking Regarding Marcion of Sinope, Creator of The First New Testament, by James Bean

The old views regarding Marcion is that he was a semi-gnostic "heretic" who was the heavy-handed editor of early Christian texts snipping out references to the Hebrew scriptures. This however is simply parroting the old propaganda against Marcion concocted by the heresiologists, the heresy hunting church fathers not exactly known for complete accuracy and honesty. The more recent scholarly research and subsequent updates regarding Marcion is that he was the one who first invented the idea of a Christian canon of scripture consisting of one gospel followed by ten letters of the Apostle Paul. Marcion was not an editor of the Gospel of Luke but made use of an early gospel from an unknown author that others would eventually plagiarize, adopt, edit and expand into what we now call the Gospel of Luke. The letters of Paul in Marcion's collection are the genuine ones actually authored by Paul. This collection of Marcionite texts represents earlier material than the more familiar final versions found in the New Testament canon.

Thus being the EARLIEST NEW TESTAMENT Marcion's First New Testament is an extremely valuable source for the study of the original proto-Luke gospel (the Evangelion) and letters of Paul (the Apostolikon). A few reconstructions of Marcion's New Testament have been made including The First New Testament: Marcion's Scriptural Canon, by Jason Beduhn: "The earliest version of the New Testament, now in English for the first time! History preserves the name of the person responsible for the first New Testament, the circumstances surrounding his work, and even the date he decided to build a textual foundation for his fledgling Christian community. So why do so few people know about him? Jason BeDuhn introduces Marcion, reconstructs his text, and explores his impact on the study of Luke-Acts, the two-source theory, and the Q hypothesis."

Discussions regarding the above:

Reconstructing the FIRST New Testament! https://youtu.be/Q27JRfu35qE?si=dqNqU9aGzNO2lmcT

The Apostolos: https://www.youtube.com/live/Ou3Xrtme91c?si=eOL5xoQ1mE8plNS_

Marcion, Found Christianities Series: https://youtu.be/DktjZVfUWHU?si=hiQPHCZ-a3cuCXwD

[biblehistoryusa]

Exploring the Rich Tapestry of Bible History: Insights into Faith, Culture, and Humanity

Unveiling the Tapestry of Bible History: A Journey Through Time

The Bible stands as a monumental work of literature, religion, and history, revered by millions around the globe. Its pages contain a rich tapestry of stories, teachings, and accounts that have shaped civilizations, inspired movements, and influenced cultures for millennia. Delving into the annals of Bible history unveils a captivating narrative that spans centuries and continents, offering profound insights into the human condition and our relationship with the divine.

Ancient Beginnings

The roots of Bible history trace back to ancient Mesopotamia, where the earliest narratives of the Hebrew Bible (known as the Old Testament) took shape. From the creation story in Genesis to the epic tales of Abraham, Moses, and the Israelites, these foundational texts lay the groundwork for the monotheistic faith of Judaism.

The Rise of Empires

As empires rose and fell throughout the ancient Near East, the Hebrew people found themselves entangled in a web of political intrigue and cultural exchange. The conquests of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia shaped the landscape of the biblical narrative, providing the backdrop for stories of exile, redemption, and the struggle for identity.

The Life of Jesus

In the first century CE, a Jewish teacher from the backwater town of Nazareth emerged as a central figure in the unfolding drama of Bible history. Jesus of Nazareth challenged the religious authorities of his time, proclaiming a message of love, forgiveness, and the coming Kingdom of God. His teachings and actions, as recorded in the New Testament, sparked a movement that would ultimately transform the course of world history.

Spread and Impact

The spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire brought the message of the Bible to new lands and cultures, reshaping societies and influencing art, literature, and politics. From the catacombs of Rome to the libraries of Constantinople, the Bible became a cornerstone of Western civilization, its stories and teachings woven into the fabric of daily life.

Challenges and Interpretations

Yet, the history of the Bible is not without its controversies and challenges. From debates over authorship and textual authenticity to the clash of religious interpretations and the rise of secular skepticism, the Bible has been a flashpoint for intellectual inquiry and spiritual struggle.

Legacy and Relevance

Despite the passage of centuries, the Bible continues to exert a profound influence on the modern world. Its stories of faith, courage, and redemption speak to the universal human experience, transcending time and culture. Whether as a sacred scripture, a literary masterpiece, or a historical document, the Bible remains a touchstone for millions, inviting readers to explore its depths and discover new layers of meaning. In conclusion, the history of the Bible is a testament to the enduring power of faith, the resilience of human spirit, and the inexorable march of time. Through its pages, we glimpse the triumphs and tribulations of generations past, finding echoes of our own journey in the tapestry of Bible history.

Also Read:-

Bible Lessons

Bible Principle

Bible Stories

Bible Study

Online Bible

Bible Teachings

Bible Verses

Free Online Bible

Online Bible

Scripture Online

[beardedmrbean]

A scientist said he found a chapter of the Bible hidden for more than 1,500 years.

Researchers used ultraviolet photography to spot the text, which was hidden beneath multiple edits.

Researchers said the manuscript was a "gateway" to understanding phases of the Bible's evolution.

Scientists say they have found an old version of a Bible chapter that was hidden underneath a section of text for more than 1,500 years.

Grigory Kessel, a historian at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, announced the discovery earlier this year in an article in New Testament Studies, a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press.

Kessel said he used ultraviolet photography to see the earlier text under three layers of words written on a palimpsest, an ancient manuscript that people used to write over other words but often left traces of the original writing behind.

Palimpsests were used in ancient times due to the scarcity of parchment. Words would be written on the material repeatedly until several layers covered the hidden words underneath.

Kessel said in a news release that the text was an extended, unseen version of Chapter 12 in the Book of Matthew that was originally a part of the Old Syriac translations of the Bible some 1,500 years ago. He said he made the discovery in the manuscript held at the Vatican Library.

The manuscript offers a "unique gateway" for researchers to understand the earliest phases of the Bible's textual evolution, according to the news release, and shows some differences from modern translations of the text.

For instance, according to the release, the original Greek version of Matthew 12:1 — which is the one most commonly used today — said, "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and his disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat."

The newly discovered Syriac translation, however, is slightly different. It said, "began to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them."

[une-sanz-pluis]

This late-thirteenth-century New Testament is of extraordinary importance to our understanding of English mediaeval royal culture, politics, and diplomacy during the Hundred Years’ War. Although as the work of the Cholet Master its decoration makes it a very attractive object in its own right, it is its textual interest and staggering provenance which make it a national treasure. The manuscript is previously unknown to scholarship, having been in private hands for over 300 years. Excitingly, the particular French translation of the New Testament it contains appears to be unique and ripe for significant philological research. Furthermore, it was owned by Jean II ‘le Bon’, King of France (1350-1364), whose signature – an exceedingly rare survival – is on its final page. It is highly likely that it was seized as war booty when he and his possessions were taken hostage at the Battle of Poitiers by the Black Prince in 1356, and it has been in England ever since. [...] Provenance: Owned by Jean le Bon, King of France, whose name is inscribed on the final page. Other erased inscriptions, readable under ultraviolet light, show that the manuscript was owned by Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (1387–1421), second son of King Henry IV of England, and by Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (1406–1455). Beaufort gave the manuscript to Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester (1390–1447), fourth son of Henry IV and bibliophile.

For the impact on the studies of Humphrey's manuscript collection in particular (and for information about two other manuscripts connected with him this year), David Rundle has a blog post here.

[eli-kittim]

Is Paul Teaching an Imminent Eschatology in 1 Corinthians 15:51?

Eli Kittim

Some commentators have claimed that Paul’s language in 1 Corinthians 15:51 is referencing an imminent eschatology. Our primary task is to analyze what the critical Greek New Testament text actually says (not what we would like it to say), and then to ascertain if there are any proofs in it of an imminent eschatology. Let’s start by focusing on a particular verse that is often cited as proof of Paul’s imminent eschatology, namely, 1 Corinthians 15:51. It is alleged that this verse seems to suggest that Paul’s audience in Corinth would live to see the coming of Christ. But we must ask the question:

What in the original Greek text indicates that Paul is referring specifically to his immediate audience in Corinth and not to mankind collectively, which is in Christ? We can actually find out the answer to this question by studying the Greek text, which we will do in a moment.

At any rate, it is often asserted that the clause “We shall not all die" (in 1 Corinthians 15:51) does not square well with a future eschatology. These commentators often end up fabricating an entire fictional scenario that is not even mentioned in the original text. For starters, the plural pronoun “we” seems to be referring to the dead, not to people who are alive in Corinth (I will prove that in a moment). And yet, on the pretext of doing historical criticism, they usually go on to concoct a fictitious narrative (independently of what the text is saying) about how Paul is referring to the people of Corinth who will not die until they see the Parousia.

But, textually speaking, where does 1 Corinthians 15:51 mention the Corinthian audience, the Parousia, or that the Corinthians will still be alive to see it? They have rewritten a novel. None of these fictitious premises can be found in the textual data. Once again, I must ask the same question:

What in the original Greek text indicates that Paul is referring to his audience (which is alive) in Corinth and not to the dead in Christ (collectively)?

We can actually find out the answer to this question by studying the Greek text, which we will do right now!

As I will demonstrate, this particular example does not prove an imminent eschatology based on Paul’s words and phrases. In first Corinthians 15:51, the use of the first person plural pronoun “we” obviously includes Paul by virtue of the fact that he, too, will one day die and rise again. In fact, there is no explicit reference to the rapture or the resurrection taking place in Paul’s lifetime in 1 Corinthians 15:51. In the remainder of this commentary, I will demonstrate the internal evidence (textual evidence) by parsing and exegeting the original Greek New Testament text!

Commentators often claim that the clause “We shall not all die" implies an imminent eschatology. Let’s test that hypothesis. Paul actually wrote the following in 1 Corinthians 15:51 (according to the Greek NT critical text NA28):

πάντες οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα, πάντες δὲ

ἀλλαγησόμεθα.

My Translation:

“We will not all sleep, but we will all be

transformed.”

In the original Greek text, there is no separate word that corresponds to the plural pronoun “we.” Rather, we get that pronoun from the case endings -μεθα (i.e. κοιμηθησόμεθα/ἀλλαγησόμεθα). The Greek verb κοιμηθησόμεθα (sleep) is a future passive indicative, first person plural. It simply refers to a future event. But it does not tell us when it will occur (i.e. whether in the near or distant future). We can only determine that by comparing other writings by Paul and the eschatological verbiage that he employs in his other epistles. Moreover, it is important to note that the verb κοιμηθησόμεθα simply refers to a collective sleep. It does not refer to any readers in Corinth!

Similarly, the verb ἀλλαγησόμεθα (we will all be transformed) is a future passive indicative, first person plural. It, too, means that all the dead who are in Christ, including Paul, will not die but be changed/transformed. The event is set in the future, but a specific timeline is not explicitly or implicitly given, or even suggested. Both expressions (i.e. κοιμηθησόμεθα/ἀλλαγησόμεθα) refer to all humankind in Christ or to all the elect that ever lived (including, of course, Paul as well) because both words are preceded by the adjective πάντες, which means “all.” In other words, Paul references “all” the elect that have ever lived, including himself, and says that we will not all perish but be transformed. We must bear in mind that the word πάντες means “all,” and the verb “we will all be changed” (ἀλλαγησόμεθα) refers back to all who sleep in Christ (πάντες κοιμηθησόμεθα). Thus, the pronoun “we,” which is present in the case endings (-μεθα), is simply an extension of the lexical form pertaining to those who sleep (κοιμηθησόμεθα). So, the verb κοιμηθησόμεθα simply refers to all those who sleep. Once again, the adjective πάντες (all/everyone)——in the phrase “We will not all sleep”—— does not refer to any readers in Corinth.

There is not even one reference to a specific time-period in this verse (i.e. when it will happen). Not one. And the plural pronoun “we” specifically refers to all the dead in Christ (πάντες κοιμηθησόμεθα), not to any readers alive in Corinth (eisegesis).

And that is a scholarly exegesis of how we go about translating the meanings of words accurately, while maintaining literal fidelity. It’s also an illustration of why we need to go back to the original Greek text rather than to rely on corrupt, paraphrased English translations (which often include the translators’ theological interpretative biases).

Conclusion

What commentators often fail to realize is that the first person plural pronoun “we” includes Paul because he, too, is part of the elect who will also die and one day rise again. Koine Greek——the language in which Paul wrote his epistles——is interested in the so-called “aspect” (how), not in the “time” (when), of an event. First Corinthians 15:51 does not suggest specifically when the rapture & the resurrection will happen. And it strongly suggests that the plural pronoun “we” is referring to the dead, not to the readers who, by contrast, are alive in Corinth.

Some commentators are simply trying to force their own interpretation that doesn’t actually square well with the grammatical elements of 1 Corinthians 15:51 or with Paul’s other epistles where he explicitly talks about the Day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) and the last days (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1 ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις), a time during which the world will look very different from his own. The argument, therefore, that 1 Corinthians 15:51 is referring to an Imminent Eschatology is not supported by the textual data (or the original Greek text).

What is more, if we compare the Pauline corpus with the eschatology of Matthew 24 & 2 Peter 3:10, as well as with the totality of scripture (canonical context), it will become quite obvious that all these texts are talking about the distant future!

If anyone thinks that they can parse the Greek and demonstrate a specific time-period indicated in 1 Corinthians 15:51, or that the phrase “all who sleep” (πάντες κοιμηθησόμεθα) is a reference to the readers in Corinth, please do so. I would love to hear it. Otherwise, this study is incontestable/irrefutable!

The same type of exegesis can be equally applied to 1 Thessalonians 4:15 in order to demonstrate that the verse is not referring to Paul’s audience in Thessalonica, but rather to a future generation that will be alive during the coming of the Lord (but that's another topic for another day):

ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν

παρουσίαν τοῦ κυρίου.

“we who are alive, who are left until the

coming of the Lord.”

If that were the case——that is, if the New Testament was teaching that the first century Christians would live to see the day of the lord——it would mean that both Paul and Jesus were false prophets who preached an imminent eschatology that never happened.

[firstumcschenectady]

“The Tower” based on Deuteronomy 29:10-15 John 11:28-44

Last Summer Diana Butler Bass gave a sermon at the Wild Goose Festival that was shared and forwarded to me approximately 100 times, which was good because that's how many times it took for me to read it. And once I read it, I participated in the sharing and forwarding too. Her sermon was entitled “All the Marys”1 and it shared one of the biggest breakthroughs in Biblical Scholarship in generations.

Which, I know, is THE SINGLE MOST EXCITING THING I COULD EVER SAY! Or, perhaps, maybe, it might not be?

Stick with me.

It's worth it. This is a case where a huge break through in Biblical scholarship has pretty big implications for those of us who follow Jesus. I'm well aware they aren't all like that.

What I find interesting is that I've now read her sermon several times over the course of 10 months, and I can't seem to retain it. The implications are actually so big and require such an enormous re-framing of how I understand the early Christian story, that my brain keeps erasing it in favor of the familiar.

If you have spent less time in Gospel commentaries and/or seminary than I have, I suspect you are going to find it easier to accept these very simple truths than I do. Which is great! This is really awesome stuff, and I'd love for people to hear it, know it, and even retain it.

Diana Butler Bass tells the story of Elizabeth (Libbie) Schrader who felt moved to study Mary Magdalene, landed at General Theological Seminary in New York to work on a Masters of New Testament, and wrote her final paper on John 11. Her professor encouraged her to look at the newly digitized version of the oldest known text of John, Papyrus 66, from around 200 CE, and find something new in it.

I'm going to quote Diana Butler Bass here:

And so Libbie is in the library looking at the text and she sees this first sentence. And it’s in Greek, of course. “Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and his sister Mary.” And Libbie said, “What? That’s not what my English Bible says. My English Bible says, ‘Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.’” But the Greek text, the oldest Greek text in the world doesn’t say that. The oldest Greek text in the world says, “Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, at the village of Mary and his sister, Mary.” There are two Marys in this verse. And Libbie went, “What the heck? What is going on here?” And she started digging into the text, zooming in on it to try to see what she could see over the digitized version in the internet. And lo and behold, Libbie noticed something that no New Testament scholar had ever noticed.

And that is, in the text where it had those two Marys, the village of Mary and his sister, Mary, and her sister, Mary, the text had actually been changed. In Greek, the word Mary, the name Mary, is basically spelled like Maria in English, M-A-R-I-A. And the I, the Greek letter I, is the letter Iota. And it looks basically like an English I. Libbie could see by doing this textual analysis that the Iota had been changed to the letter TH in Greek, Theta. That somebody at some point in time had gone in over the original handwriting and actually changed the second Mary to Martha. And not only had that person changed the second Mary to Martha, but that person had also changed the way it comes out in English. It says, “The village of Mary,” that would’ve stayed the same, “and her sister, Martha.” Someone had also changed that “his” to “her”; that “her” was originally a “his,” but they had changed it to a “her.”

Admittedly, the original text is a confused and not very good sentence. “Now, a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, at the village of Mary and his sister, Mary,” it’s almost like they’re heightening the fact that Lazarus has this sister, Mary. They lived in this village together, and Mary is Lazarus’ sister. Someone had changed it to read, “Mary and her sister, Martha.”

Libbie sat in the library with all of this, and it came thundering at her, the realization that sometime in the fourth century, someone had altered the oldest text of the Gospel of John and split the character Mary into two. Mary became Mary and Martha.

She went through the whole manuscript of John 11 and John 12, and lo and behold, that editor had gone in at every single place and changed every moment that you read Martha in English, it originally said, “Mary.” The editor changed it all.

Now, that's a pretty big deal, but I imagine that maybe you don't... umm... I think the words might be “Care that much.” But let me say, “yet.” I haven't gotten to the part where this MATTERS yet, that was a really important BACKGROUND. It also makes John 11 as we know it really hard to read and make sense of. But that's OK too.

So the underlying question in this is “why?” Why would someone go through so much trouble to create the character Martha out of what was once Mary? The key may be in the part of John 11 we read last week,

25Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: the one that believes in me, though they may die, yet shall they live; 26and the one who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord: I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one that comes into the world.

In the Bibles I have that “she” appears to be Martha but if she doesn't exist, then the she is Mary. And now we're getting to it. Christianity has long claimed that the first declaration that Jesus was the Messiah comes from Peter, the Rock, who is presented as having done so in Mark, Matthew, and Luke (the “Synoptics”) and that answer kinda worked because Martha was a pretty minor character and even though she says so in John, it is easy enough to ignore because Peter is THE ROCK, and Martha is... well, kinda a nobody.

Back to Diana Bulter Bass:

But if it is Mary, the Mary who shows up in John 11 is not an unremembered Mary... This Mary has long been suspected of being the other Mary, Mary Magdalene. Is it really true that the other Christological confession of the New Testament comes from of the voice of Mary Magdalene? That the Gospel of John gives the most important statement in the entirety of the New Testament, not to a man, but to a woman, and to a really important woman who will show up later as the first witness to the resurrection.

You see how these two stories work together. In John 11, Lazarus is raised from the dead, and who is there but Mary Magdalene? And at that resurrection, she confesses that Jesus is indeed the son of God. And then you go just 10 chapters later and who is the person at the grave? She mistakes him, at first, thinks he’s the gardener. She turns around and he says, “Mary,” and she goes, “Lord.” It’s Mary Magdalene. It is Mary Magdalene.

Oh, and now I get to place for you the final piece. Do you remember learning that Christ wasn't Jesus' last name? I do. Christ is the English version of Christos which was the Greek translation of Messiah, which literally meant “smeared” as in “smeared with oil” as in “annointed as king” because the Greek didn't have a Messiah concept like Hebrew did. So when we say Jesus Christ, we are actually saying “Jesus the Messiah.”

Well, a lot of people think Mary Magdalene was called that cause she was Mary, from Magdala. Except there was no village called Magdala. Diana Butler Bass summariezes it this way:

When we call her Magdalene, Mary Magdalene, is not Mary from Magdala. Instead, it’s a title.

The word magdala in Aramaic means tower. And so now you get the full picture. In the Synoptics, Jesus and Peter have a discussion. In that discussion, Peter utters the Christological confession. As a result of the Christological confession, Jesus says, “You are Peter the Rock.” In the gospel of John, Mary and Jesus have a conversation, and Mary utters the Christological confession. And she comes to be known as Mary the Tower.

Between these two confessions, are we looking at an argument in the early church? Peter the Rock or Mary the Tower?

But the John account was changed. The John story has been hidden from our view. All those years ago, Mary uttered those words, “Yes, Lord, I believe you are the Messiah, the son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” …

Mary is indeed the tower of faith. That our faith is the faith of that woman who would become the first person to announce the resurrection. Mary the Witness, Mary the Tower, Mary the Great, and she has been obscured from us. She has been hidden from us and she been taken away from us for nearly 2,000 years. …

Or, or perhaps and, you can leave here with a question: What if the other story of Mary hadn’t been hidden? What if Mary in John 11 hadn’t been split into two women? What if we’d known about Mary the Tower all along? What kind of Christianity would we have if the faith hadn’t only been based upon, “Peter, you are the Rock and upon this Rock I will build my church”? But what if we’d always known, “Mary, you are the Tower, and by this Tower we shall all stand?”

OK, that's it. That's my big Biblical Studies breakthrough story. Perhaps you might want to laugh with me that the big breakthrough is simply another affirmation that God loves and cares about all people, JUST LIKE THE TEXT FROM DEUTERONOMY said in a lot fewer words.

But, dear ones, what if we'd gotten both stories? And maybe the even more important question: how can we live now that we have both stories? How can we be followers of Jesus who was seen clearly by Peter and by Mary? How can we be people of faith who both follow a leader who is a rock on which we are steadied and a tower who lifts us all up? What if masculine and feminine were allowed to stand together as holy to the deepest core of our faith? What if there is a whole lot of space for both/and in our tradition!?!?

Someone actually didn't want that. Someone edited it out, and made Mary smaller. Dear ones, may we commit ourselves to the opposite. May we go out and make God, and each other, and all we meet BIGGER! Tower like, even. Amen

1 ALL THE MARYS Wild Goose Festival, Closing Sermon, July 17, 2022 by Diana Butler Bass https://dianabutlerbass.com/wp-content/uploads/All-the-Marys-Sermon.pdf

Rev. Sara E. Baron  First United Methodist Church of Schenectady  603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305  Pronouns: she/her/hers  http://fumcschenectady.org/  https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

May 21, 2023

[batstabb]

The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthology – a compilation of texts of a variety of forms – originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These texts include instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, among other genres. The collection of materials that are accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text can vary.

The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections. The earliest contained the first five books of the Bible. It is called the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch (meaning five books) in Greek; the second oldest part was a collection of narrative histories and prophecies (the Nevi'im); the third collection (the Ketuvim) contains psalms, proverbs, and narrative histories. "Tanakh" is an alternate term for the Hebrew Bible composed of the first letters of those three parts of the Hebrew scriptures: the Torah ("Teaching"), the Nevi'im ("Prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("Writings"). The Masoretic Text is the medieval version of the Tanakh, in Hebrew and Aramaic, that is considered the authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible by modern Rabbinic Judaism. The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of the Tanakh from the third and second centuries BCE (Before Common Era); it largely overlaps with the Hebrew Bible.

Christianity began as an outgrowth of Judaism, using the Septuagint as the basis of the Old Testament. The early Church continued the Jewish tradition of writing and incorporating what it saw as inspired, authoritative religious books. The gospels, Pauline epistles and other texts quickly coalesced into the New Testament.

With estimated total sales of over five billion copies, the Bible is the best-selling publication of all time. It has had a profound influence both on Western culture and history and on cultures around the globe. The study of it through biblical criticism has indirectly impacted culture and history as well. The Bible is currently translated or being translated into about half of the world's languages.

Etymology

The term "Bible" can refer to the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Bible, which contains both the Old and New Testaments.[1]

The English word Bible is derived from Koinē Greek: τὰ βιβλία, romanized: ta biblia, meaning "the books" (singular βιβλίον, biblion).[2] The word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of "scroll" and came to be used as the ordinary word for "book".[3] It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, "Egyptian papyrus", possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos (also known as Gebal) from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece.[4]

The Greek ta biblia ("the books") was "an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books".[5] The biblical scholar F. F. Bruce notes that John Chrysostom appears to be the first writer (in his Homilies on Matthew, delivered between 386 and 388) to use the Greek phrase ta biblia ("the books") to describe both the Old and New Testaments together.[6]

Latin biblia sacra "holy books" translates Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια (tà biblía tà hágia, "the holy books").[7] Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra "holy book". It gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun (biblia, gen. bibliae) in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe.[8]

Development and history

See also: Biblical manuscript, Textual criticism, and Samaritan Pentateuch

Hebrew Bible from 1300. Genesis.

The Bible is not a single book; it is a collection of books whose complex development is not completely understood. The oldest books began as songs and stories orally transmitted from generation to generation. Scholars are just beginning to explore "the interface between writing, performance, memorization, and the aural dimension" of the texts. Current indications are that the ancient writing–reading process was supplemented by memorization and oral performance in community.[9] The Bible was written and compiled by many people, most of whom are unknown, from a variety of disparate cultures.[10]

British biblical scholar John K. Riches wrote:[11]

The books of the Bible were initially written and copied by hand on papyrus scrolls.[12] No originals survive. The age of the original composition of the texts is therefore difficult to determine and heavily debated. Using a combined linguistic and historiographical approach, Hendel and Joosten date the oldest parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Song of Deborah in Judges 5 and the Samson story of Judges 16 and 1 Samuel) to having been composed in the premonarchial early Iron Age (c. 1200 BCE).[13] The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in the caves of Qumran in 1947, are copies that can be dated to between 250 BCE and 100 CE. They are the oldest existing copies of the books of the Hebrew Bible of any length that are not fragments.[14]

The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa), one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is the oldest complete copy of the Book of Isaiah.

The earliest manuscripts were probably written in paleo-Hebrew, a kind of cuneiform pictograph similar to other pictographs of the same period.[15] The exile to Babylon most likely prompted the shift to square script (Aramaic) in the fifth to third centuries BCE.[16] From the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Hebrew Bible was written with spaces between words to aid in reading.[17] By the eighth century CE, the Masoretes added vowel signs.[18] Levites or scribes maintained the texts, and some texts were always treated as more authoritative than others.[19] Scribes preserved and changed the texts by changing the script and updating archaic forms while also making corrections. These Hebrew texts were copied with great care.[20]

Considered to be scriptures (sacred, authoritative religious texts), the books were compiled by different religious communities into various biblical canons (official collections of scriptures).[21] The earliest compilation, containing the first five books of the Bible and called the Torah (meaning "law", "instruction", or "teaching") or Pentateuch ("five books"), was accepted as Jewish canon by the fifth century BCE. A second collection of narrative histories and prophesies, called the Nevi'im ("prophets"), was canonized in the third century BCE. A third collection called the Ketuvim ("writings"), containing psalms, proverbs, and narrative histories, was canonized sometime between the second century BCE and the second century CE.[22] These three collections were written mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with some parts in Aramaic, which together form the Hebrew Bible or "TaNaKh" (an abbreviation of "Torah", "Nevi'im", and "Ketuvim").[23]

Hebrew Bible

There are three major historical versions of the Hebrew Bible: the Septuagint, the Masoretic Text, and the Samaritan Pentateuch (which contains only the first five books). They are related but do not share the same paths of development. The Septuagint, or the LXX, is a translation of the Hebrew scriptures, and some related texts, into Koine Greek, begun in Alexandria in the late third century BCE and completed by 132 BCE.[24][25][a] Probably commissioned by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, King of Egypt, it addressed the need of the primarily Greek-speaking Jews of the Graeco-Roman diaspora.[24][26] Existing complete copies of the Septuagint date from the third to the fifth centuries CE, with fragments dating back to the second century BCE. [27] Revision of its text began as far back as the first century BCE.[28] Fragments of the Septuagint were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls; portions of its text are also found on existing papyrus from Egypt dating to the second and first centuries BCE and to the first century CE.[28]: 5 

The Masoretes began developing what would become the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible in Rabbinic Judaism near the end of the Talmudic period (c. 300–c. 500 CE), but the actual date is difficult to determine.[29][30][31] In the sixth and seventh centuries, three Jewish communities contributed systems for writing the precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation known as the mas'sora (from which we derive the term "masoretic").[29] These early Masoretic scholars were based primarily in the Galilean cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem, and in Babylonia (modern Iraq). Those living in the Jewish community of Tiberias in ancient Galilee (c. 750–950), made scribal copies of the Hebrew Bible texts without a standard text, such as the Babylonian tradition had, to work from. The canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible (called Tiberian Hebrew) that they developed, and many of the notes they made, therefore differed from the Babylonian.[32] These differences were resolved into a standard text called the Masoretic text in the ninth century.[33] The oldest complete copy still in existence is the Leningrad Codex dating to c. 1000 CE.[34]

The Samaritan Pentateuch is a version of the Torah maintained by the Samaritan community since antiquity, which was rediscovered by European scholars in the 17th century; its oldest existing copies date to c. 1100 CE.[35] Samaritans include only the Pentateuch (Torah) in their biblical canon.[36] They do not recognize divine authorship or inspiration in any other book in the Jewish Tanakh.[b] A Samaritan Book of Joshua partly based upon the Tanakh's Book of Joshua exists, but Samaritans regard it as a non-canonical secular historical chronicle.[37]

In the seventh century, the first codex form of the Hebrew Bible was produced. The codex is the forerunner of the modern book. Popularized by early Christians, it was made by folding a single sheet of papyrus in half, forming "pages". Assembling multiples of these folded pages together created a "book" that was more easily accessible and more portable than scrolls. In 1488, the first complete printed press version of the Hebrew Bible was produced.[38]

New Testament

Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, c. 1619 painting by Valentin de Boulogne

During the rise of Christianity in the first century CE, new scriptures were written in Koine Greek. Christians called these new scriptures the "New Testament", and began referring to the Septuagint as the "Old Testament".[39] The New Testament has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work.[40][41] Most early Christian copyists were not trained scribes.[42] Many copies of the gospels and Paul's letters were made by individual Christians over a relatively short period of time very soon after the originals were written.[43] There is evidence in the Synoptic Gospels, in the writings of the early church fathers, from Marcion, and in the Didache that Christian documents were in circulation before the end of the first century.[44][45] Paul's letters were circulated during his lifetime, and his death is thought to have occurred before 68 during Nero's reign.[46][47] Early Christians transported these writings around the Empire, translating them into Old Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Latin, among other languages.[48]

Bart Ehrman explains how these multiple texts later became grouped by scholars into categories:

during the early centuries of the church, Christian texts were copied in whatever location they were written or taken to. Since texts were copied locally, it is no surprise that different localities developed different kinds of textual tradition. That is to say, the manuscripts in Rome had many of the same errors, because they were for the most part "in-house" documents, copied from one another; they were not influenced much by manuscripts being copied in Palestine; and those in Palestine took on their own characteristics, which were not the same as those found in a place like Alexandria, Egypt. Moreover, in the early centuries of the church, some locales had better scribes than others. Modern scholars have come to recognize that the scribes in Alexandria – which was a major intellectual center in the ancient world – were particularly scrupulous, even in these early centuries, and that there, in Alexandria, a very pure form of the text of the early Christian writings was preserved, decade after decade, by dedicated and relatively skilled Christian scribes.[49]

These differing histories produced what modern scholars refer to as recognizable "text types". The four most commonly recognized are Alexandrian, Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine.[50]

The Rylands fragment P52 verso is the oldest existing fragment of New Testament papyrus.[51] It contains phrases from the 18th chapter of the Gospel of John.

The list of books included in the Catholic Bible was established as canon by the Council of Rome in 382, followed by those of Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397. Between 385 and 405 CE, the early Christian church translated its canon into Vulgar Latin (the common Latin spoken by ordinary people), a translation known as the Vulgate.[52] Since then, Catholic Christians have held ecumenical councils to standardize their biblical canon. The Council of Trent (1545–63), held by the Catholic Church in response to the Protestant Reformation, authorized the Vulgate as its official Latin translation of the Bible.[53] A number of biblical canons have since evolved. Christian biblical canons range from the 73 books of the Catholic Church canon, and the 66-book canon of most Protestant denominations, to the 81 books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church canon, among others.[54] Judaism has long accepted a single authoritative text, whereas Christianity has never had an official version, instead having many different manuscript traditions.[55]

Variants

All biblical texts were treated with reverence and care by those that copied them, yet there are transmission errors, called variants, in all biblical manuscripts.[56][57] A variant is any deviation between two texts. Textual critic Daniel B. Wallace explains that "Each deviation counts as one variant, regardless of how many MSS [manuscripts] attest to it."[58] Hebrew scholar Emanuel Tov says the term is not evaluative; it is a recognition that the paths of development of different texts have separated.[59]

Medieval handwritten manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible were considered extremely precise: the most authoritative documents from which to copy other texts.[60] Even so, David Carr asserts that Hebrew texts still contain some variants.[61] The majority of all variants are accidental, such as spelling errors, but some changes were intentional.[62] In the Hebrew text, "memory variants" are generally accidental differences evidenced by such things as the shift in word order found in 1 Chronicles 17:24 and 2 Samuel 10:9 and 13. Variants also include the substitution of lexical equivalents, semantic and grammar differences, and larger scale shifts in order, with some major revisions of the Masoretic texts that must have been intentional.[63]

Intentional changes in New Testament texts were made to improve grammar, eliminate discrepancies, harmonize parallel passages, combine and simplify multiple variant readings into one, and for theological reasons.[62][64] Bruce K. Waltke observes that one variant for every ten words was noted in the recent critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, leaving 90% of the Hebrew text without variation. The fourth edition of the United Bible Society's Greek New Testament notes variants affecting about 500 out of 6900 words, or about 7% of the text.[65]

Further information: Textual variants in the Hebrew Bible and Textual variants in the New Testament

Content and themes

Themes

Further information: Ethics in the Bible, Jewish ethics, and Christian ethics

Creation of Light, by Gustave Doré.

The narratives, laws, wisdom sayings, parables, and unique genres of the Bible provide opportunity for discussion on most topics of concern to human beings: The role of women,[66]: 203  sex,[67] children, marriage,[68] neighbors,[69]: 24  friends, the nature of authority and the sharing of power,[70]: 45–48  animals, trees and nature,[71]: xi  money and economics,[72]: 77  work, relationships,[73] sorrow and despair and the nature of joy, among others.[74] Philosopher and ethicist Jaco Gericke adds: "The meaning of good and evil, the nature of right and wrong, criteria for moral discernment, valid sources of morality, the origin and acquisition of moral beliefs, the ontological status of moral norms, moral authority, cultural pluralism, [as well as] axiological and aesthetic assumptions about the nature of value and beauty. These are all implicit in the texts."[75]

However, discerning the themes of some biblical texts can be problematic.[76] Much of the Bible is in narrative form and in general, biblical narrative refrains from any kind of direct instruction, and in some texts the author's intent is not easy to decipher.[77] It is left to the reader to determine good and bad, right and wrong, and the path to understanding and practice is rarely straightforward.[78] God is sometimes portrayed as having a role in the plot, but more often there is little about God's reaction to events, and no mention at all of approval or disapproval of what the characters have done or failed to do.[79] The writer makes no comment, and the reader is left to infer what they will.[79] Jewish philosophers Shalom Carmy and David Schatz explain that the Bible "often juxtaposes contradictory ideas, without explanation or apology".[80]

The Hebrew Bible contains assumptions about the nature of knowledge, belief, truth, interpretation, understanding and cognitive processes.[81] Ethicist Michael V. Fox writes that the primary axiom of the book of Proverbs is that "the exercise of the human mind is the necessary and sufficient condition of right and successful behavior in all reaches of life".[82] The Bible teaches the nature of valid arguments, the nature and power of language, and its relation to reality.[75] According to Mittleman, the Bible provides patterns of moral reasoning that focus on conduct and character.[83][84]

In the biblical metaphysic, humans have free will, but it is a relative and restricted freedom.[85] Beach says that Christian voluntarism points to the will as the core of the self, and that within human nature, "the core of who we are is defined by what we love".[86] Natural law is in the Wisdom literature, the Prophets, Romans 1, Acts 17, and the book of Amos (Amos 1:3–2:5), where nations other than Israel are held accountable for their ethical decisions even though they don't know the Hebrew god.[87] Political theorist Michael Walzer finds politics in the Hebrew Bible in covenant, law, and prophecy, which constitute an early form of almost democratic political ethics.[88] Key elements in biblical criminal justice begin with the belief in God as the source of justice and the judge of all, including those administering justice on earth.[89]

Carmy and Schatz say the Bible "depicts the character of God, presents an account of creation, posits a metaphysics of divine providence and divine intervention, suggests a basis for morality, discusses many features of human nature, and frequently poses the notorious conundrum of how God can allow evil."[90]

Hebrew Bible

Further information: Hebrew Bible and Development of the Hebrew Bible canonTanakh

show

Torah (Instruction)

show

Nevi'im (Prophets)

show

Ketuvim (Writings)

v

t

e

The authoritative Hebrew Bible is taken from the masoretic text (called the Leningrad Codex) which dates from 1008. The Hebrew Bible can therefore sometimes be referred to as the Masoretic Text.[91]

The Hebrew Bible is also known by the name Tanakh (Hebrew: תנ"ך‎). This reflects the threefold division of the Hebrew scriptures, Torah ("Teaching"), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings") by using the first letters of each word.[92] It is not until the Babylonian Talmud (c. 550 BCE) that a listing of the contents of these three divisions of scripture are found.[93]

The Tanakh was mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, with some small portions (Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26, Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:4–7:28)[94] written in Biblical Aramaic, a language which had become the lingua franca for much of the Semitic world.[95]

Torah

Main article: Torah

See also: Oral Torah

A Torah scroll recovered from Glockengasse Synagogue in Cologne.

The Torah (תּוֹרָה) is also known as the "Five Books of Moses" or the Pentateuch, meaning "five scroll-cases".[96] Traditionally these books were considered to have been dictated to Moses by God himself.[97][98] Since the 17th century, scholars have viewed the original sources as being the product of multiple anonymous authors while also allowing the possibility that Moses first assembled the separate sources.[99][100] There are a variety of hypotheses regarding when and how the Torah was composed,[101] but there is a general consensus that it took its final form during the reign of the Persian Achaemenid Empire (probably 450–350 BCE),[102][103] or perhaps in the early Hellenistic period (333–164 BCE).[104]

Samaritan Inscription containing portion of the Bible in nine lines of Hebrew text, currently housed in the British Museum

The Hebrew names of the books are derived from the first words in the respective texts. The Torah consists of the following five books:

Genesis, Beresheeth (בראשית)

Exodus, Shemot (שמות)

Leviticus, Vayikra (ויקרא)

Numbers, Bamidbar (במדבר)

Deuteronomy, Devarim (דברים)

The first eleven chapters of Genesis provide accounts of the creation (or ordering) of the world and the history of God's early relationship with humanity. The remaining thirty-nine chapters of Genesis provide an account of God's covenant with the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (also called Israel) and Jacob's children, the "Children of Israel", especially Joseph. It tells of how God commanded Abraham to leave his family and home in the city of Ur, eventually to settle in the land of Canaan, and how the Children of Israel later moved to Egypt.

The remaining four books of the Torah tell the story of Moses, who lived hundreds of years after the patriarchs. He leads the Children of Israel from slavery in ancient Egypt to the renewal of their covenant with God at Mount Sinai and their wanderings in the desert until a new generation was ready to enter the land of Canaan. The Torah ends with the death of Moses.[105]

The commandments in the Torah provide the basis for Jewish religious law. Tradition states that there are 613 commandments (taryag mitzvot).

Nevi'im

Main article: Nevi'imBooks of Nevi'im Former Prophets

Joshua

Judges

Samuel

Kings

Latter Prophets (major)

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Ezekiel

Latter Prophets (Twelve minor)

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Obadiah

Jonah

Micah

Nahum

Habakkuk

Zephaniah

Haggai

Zechariah

Malachi

Hebrew Bible

v

t

e

Nevi'im (Hebrew: נְבִיאִים, romanized: Nəḇî'îm, "Prophets") is the second main division of the Tanakh, between the Torah and Ketuvim. It contains two sub-groups, the Former Prophets (Nevi'im Rishonim נביאים ראשונים, the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Nevi'im Aharonim נביאים אחרונים, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the Twelve Minor Prophets).

The Nevi'im tell a story of the rise of the Hebrew monarchy and its division into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah, focusing on conflicts between the Israelites and other nations, and conflicts among Israelites, specifically, struggles between believers in "the LORD God"[106] (Yahweh) and believers in foreign gods,[c][d] and the criticism of unethical and unjust behaviour of Israelite elites and rulers;[e][f][g] in which prophets played a crucial and leading role. It ends with the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, followed by the conquest of the Kingdom of Judah by the neo-Babylonian Empire and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Former Prophets

The Former Prophets are the books Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. They contain narratives that begin immediately after the death of Moses with the divine appointment of Joshua as his successor, who then leads the people of Israel into the Promised Land, and end with the release from imprisonment of the last king of Judah. Treating Samuel and Kings as single books, they cover:

Joshua's conquest of the land of Canaan (in the Book of Joshua),

the struggle of the people to possess the land (in the Book of Judges),

the people's request to God to give them a king so that they can occupy the land in the face of their enemies (in the Books of Samuel)

the possession of the land under the divinely appointed kings of the House of David, ending in conquest and foreign exile (Books of Kings)

Latter Prophets

Further information: Major prophet

The Latter Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Twelve Minor Prophets, counted as a single book.

Hosea, Hoshea (הושע) denounces the worship of gods other than Yehovah, comparing Israel to a woman being unfaithful to her husband.

Joel, Yoel (יואל) includes a lament and a promise from God.

Amos, Amos (עמוס) speaks of social justice, providing a basis for natural law by applying it to unbelievers and believers alike.

Obadiah, Ovadyah (עבדיה) addresses the judgment of Edom and restoration of Israel.

Jonah, Yonah (יונה) tells of a reluctant redemption of Ninevah.

Micah, Mikhah (מיכה) reproaches unjust leaders, defends the rights of the poor, and looks forward to world peace.

Nahum, Nahum (נחום) speaks of the destruction of Nineveh.

Habakkuk, Havakuk (חבקוק) upholds trust in God over Babylon.

Zephaniah, Tsefanya (צפניה) pronounces coming of judgment, survival and triumph of remnant.

Haggai, Khagay (חגי) rebuild Second Temple.

Zechariah, Zekharyah (זכריה) God blesses those who repent and are pure.

Malachi, Malakhi (מלאכי) corrects lax religious and social behaviour.

Ketuvim

Hebrew text of Psalm 1:1–2

Main articles: Ketuvim and Poetic BooksBooks of the Ketuvim Three poetic books

Psalms

Proverbs

Job

Five Megillot (Scrolls)

Song of Songs

Ruth

Lamentations

Ecclesiastes

Esther

Other books

Daniel

Ezra–Nehemiah (Ezra

Nehemiah)

Chronicles

Hebrew Bible

v

t

e

Ketuvim or Kəṯûḇîm (in Biblical Hebrew: כְּתוּבִים "writings") is the third and final section of the Tanakh. The Ketuvim are believed to have been written under the inspiration of Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) but with one level less authority than that of prophecy.[107]

In Masoretic manuscripts (and some printed editions), Psalms, Proverbs and Job are presented in a special two-column form emphasizing their internal parallelism, which was found early in the study of Hebrew poetry. "Stichs" are the lines that make up a verse "the parts of which lie parallel as to form and content".[108] Collectively, these three books are known as Sifrei Emet (an acronym of the titles in Hebrew, איוב, משלי, תהלים yields Emet אמ"ת, which is also the Hebrew for "truth"). Hebrew cantillation is the manner of chanting ritual readings as they are written and notated in the Masoretic Text of the Bible. Psalms, Job and Proverbs form a group with a "special system" of accenting used only in these three books.[109]

The five scrolls

Further information: Five Megillot

Song of Songs (Das Hohelied Salomos), No. 11 by Egon Tschirch, 1923

The five relatively short books of Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Book of Esther are collectively known as the Hamesh Megillot. These are the latest books collected and designated as "authoritative" in the Jewish canon even though they were not complete until the second century CE.[110]

Other books

The books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah[h] and Chronicles share a distinctive style that no other Hebrew literary text, biblical or extra-biblical, shares.[111] They were not written in the normal style of Hebrew of the post-exilic period. The authors of these books must have chosen to write in their own distinctive style for unknown reasons.[112]

Their narratives all openly describe relatively late events (i.e., the Babylonian captivity and the subsequent restoration of Zion).

The Talmudic tradition ascribes late authorship to all of them.

Two of them (Daniel and Ezra) are the only books in the Tanakh with significant portions in Aramaic.

Book order

The following list presents the books of Ketuvim in the order they appear in most current printed editions.

Tehillim (Psalms) תְהִלִּים is an anthology of individual Hebrew religious hymns.

Mishlei (Book of Proverbs) מִשְלֵי is a "collection of collections" on values, moral behavior, the meaning of life and right conduct, and its basis in faith.

Iyyôbh (Book of Job) אִיּוֹב is about faith, without understanding or justifying suffering.

Shīr Hashshīrīm (Song of Songs) or (Song of Solomon) שִׁיר הַשִׁירִים (Passover) is poetry about love and sex.

Rūth (Book of Ruth) רוּת (Shābhû‘ôth) tells of the Moabite woman Ruth, who decides to follow the God of the Israelites, and remains loyal to her mother-in-law, who is then rewarded.

Eikhah (Lamentations) איכה (Ninth of Av) [Also called Kinnot in Hebrew.] is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.

Qōheleth (Ecclesiastes) קהלת (Sukkôth) contains wisdom sayings disagreed over by scholars. Is it positive and life-affirming, or deeply pessimistic?

Estēr (Book of Esther) אֶסְתֵר (Pûrîm) tells of a Hebrew woman in Persia who becomes queen and thwarts a genocide of her people.

Dānî’ēl (Book of Daniel) דָּנִיֵּאל combines prophecy and eschatology (end times) in story of God saving Daniel just as He will save Israel.

‘Ezrā (Book of Ezra–Book of Nehemiah) עזרא tells of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.

Divrei ha-Yamim (Chronicles) דברי הימים contains genealogy.

The Jewish textual tradition never finalized the order of the books in Ketuvim. The Babylonian Talmud (Bava Batra 14b–15a) gives their order as Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Daniel, Scroll of Esther, Ezra, Chronicles.[113]

One of the large scale differences between the Babylonian and the Tiberian biblical traditions is the order of the books. Isaiah is placed after Ezekiel in the Babylonian, while Chronicles opens the Ketuvim in the Tiberian, and closes it in the Babylonian.[114]

The Ketuvim is the last of the three portions of the Tanakh to have been accepted as canonical. While the Torah may have been considered canon by Israel as early as the fifth century BCE and the Former and Latter Prophets were canonized by the second century BCE, the Ketuvim was not a fixed canon until the second century CE.[110]

Evidence suggests, however, that the people of Israel were adding what would become the Ketuvim to their holy literature shortly after the canonization of the prophets. As early as 132 BCE references suggest that the Ketuvim was starting to take shape, although it lacked a formal title.[115] Against Apion, the writing of Josephus in 95 CE, treated the text of the Hebrew Bible as a closed canon to which "... no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable..."[116] For an extended period after 95CE, the divine inspiration of Esther, the Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes was often under scrutiny.[117]

The Isaiah scroll, which is a part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, contains almost the whole Book of Isaiah. It dates from the second century BCE.

Septuagint

Main articles: Septuagint and Jewish apocrypha

See also: Deuterocanonical books and Biblical apocrypha

Fragment of a Septuagint: A column of uncial book from 1 Esdras in the Codex Vaticanus c. 325–350 CE, the basis of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton's Greek edition and English translation.

The Septuagint ("the Translation of the Seventy", also called "the LXX"), is a Koine Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible begun in the late third century BCE.

As the work of translation progressed, the Septuagint expanded: the collection of prophetic writings had various hagiographical works incorporated into it. In addition, some newer books such as the Books of the Maccabees and the Wisdom of Sirach were added. These are among the "apocryphal" books, (books whose authenticity is doubted). The inclusion of these texts, and the claim of some mistranslations, contributed to the Septuagint being seen as a "careless" translation and its eventual rejection as a valid Jewish scriptural text.[118][119][i]

The apocrypha are Jewish literature, mostly of the Second Temple period (c. 550 BCE – 70 CE); they originated in Israel, Syria, Egypt or Persia; were originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, and attempt to tell of biblical characters and themes.[121] Their provenance is obscure. One older theory of where they came from asserted that an "Alexandrian" canon had been accepted among the Greek-speaking Jews living there, but that theory has since been abandoned.[122] Indications are that they were not accepted when the rest of the Hebrew canon was.[122] It is clear the Apocrypha were used in New Testament times, but "they are never quoted as Scripture."[123] In modern Judaism, none of the apocryphal books are accepted as authentic and are therefore excluded from the canon. However, "the Ethiopian Jews, who are sometimes called Falashas, have an expanded canon, which includes some Apocryphal books".[124]

The contents page in a complete 80 book King James Bible, listing "The Books of the Old Testament", "The Books called Apocrypha", and "The Books of the New Testament".

The rabbis also wanted to distinguish their tradition from the newly emerging tradition of Christianity.[a][j] Finally, the rabbis claimed a divine authority for the Hebrew language, in contrast to Aramaic or Greek – even though these languages were the lingua franca of Jews during this period (and Aramaic would eventually be given the status of a sacred language comparable to Hebrew).[k]

Incorporations from Theodotion

The Book of Daniel is preserved in the 12-chapter Masoretic Text and in two longer Greek versions, the original Septuagint version, c. 100 BCE, and the later Theodotion version from c. second century CE. Both Greek texts contain three additions to Daniel: The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children; the story of Susannah and the Elders; and the story of Bel and the Dragon. Theodotion's translation was so widely copied in the Early Christian church that its version of the Book of Daniel virtually superseded the Septuagint's. The priest Jerome, in his preface to Daniel (407 CE), records the rejection of the Septuagint version of that book in Christian usage: "I ... wish to emphasize to the reader the fact that it was not according to the Septuagint version but according to the version of Theodotion himself that the churches publicly read Daniel."[125] Jerome's preface also mentions that the Hexapla had notations in it, indicating several major differences in content between the Theodotion Daniel and the earlier versions in Greek and Hebrew.

Theodotion's Daniel is closer to the surviving Hebrew Masoretic Text version, the text which is the basis for most modern translations. Theodotion's Daniel is also the one embodied in the authorised edition of the Septuagint published by Sixtus V in 1587.[126]

Final form

Further information: Deuterocanonical books and Biblical apocrypha

Textual critics are now debating how to reconcile the earlier view of the Septuagint as 'careless' with content from the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, scrolls discovered at Wadi Murabba'at, Nahal Hever, and those discovered at Masada. These scrolls are 1000–1300 years older than the Leningrad text, dated to 1008 CE, which forms the basis of the Masoretic text.[127] The scrolls have confirmed much of the Masoretic text, but they have also differed from it, and many of those differences agree with the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch or the Greek Old Testament instead.[118]

Copies of some texts later declared apocryphal are also among the Qumran texts.[122] Ancient manuscripts of the book of Sirach, the "Psalms of Joshua", Tobit, and the Epistle of Jeremiah are now known to have existed in a Hebrew version.[128] The Septuagint version of some biblical books, such as the Book of Daniel and Book of Esther, are longer than those in the Jewish canon.[129] In the Septuagint, Jeremiah is shorter than in the Masoretic text, but a shortened Hebrew Jeremiah has been found at Qumran in cave 4.[118] The scrolls of Isaiah, Exodus, Jeremiah, Daniel and Samuel exhibit striking and important textual variants from the Masoretic text.[118] The Septuagint is now seen as a careful translation of a different Hebrew form or recension (revised addition of the text) of certain books, but debate on how best to characterize these varied texts is ongoing.[118]

Pseudepigraphal books

Main articles: Jewish apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

See also: Authorship of the Bible

Pseudepigrapha are works whose authorship is wrongly attributed. A written work can be pseudepigraphical and not be a forgery, as forgeries are intentionally deceptive. With pseudepigrapha, authorship has been mistransmitted for any one of a number of reasons.[130]

Apocryphal and pseudepigraphic works are not the same. Apocrypha includes all the writings claiming to be sacred that are outside the canon because they are not accepted as authentically being what they claim to be. For example, the Gospel of Barnabas claims to be written by Barnabas the companion of the Apostle Paul, but both its manuscripts date from the Middle Ages. Pseudepigrapha is a literary category of all writings whether they are canonical or apocryphal. They may or may not be authentic in every sense except a misunderstood authorship.[130]

The term "pseudepigrapha" is commonly used to describe numerous works of Jewish religious literature written from about 300 BCE to 300 CE. Not all of these works are actually pseudepigraphical. (It also refers to books of the New Testament canon whose authorship is questioned.) The Old Testament pseudepigraphal works include the following:[131]

3 Maccabees

4 Maccabees

Assumption of Moses

Ethiopic Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)

Slavonic Book of Enoch (2 Enoch)

Hebrew Book of Enoch (3 Enoch) (also known as "The Revelation of Metatron" or "The Book of Rabbi Ishmael the High Priest")

Book of Jubilees

Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (2 Baruch)

Letter of Aristeas (Letter to Philocrates regarding the translating of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek)

Life of Adam and Eve

Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah

Psalms of Solomon

Sibylline Oracles

Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch)

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

Book of Enoch

Notable pseudepigraphal works include the Books of Enoch such as 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, which survives only in Old Slavonic, and 3 Enoch, surviving in Hebrew of the c. fifth century – c. sixth century CE. These are ancient Jewish religious works, traditionally ascribed to the prophet Enoch, the great-grandfather of the patriarch Noah. The fragment of Enoch found among the Qumran scrolls attest to it being an ancient work.[132] The older sections (mainly in the Book of the Watchers) are estimated to date from about 300 BCE, and the latest part (Book of Parables) was probably composed at the end of the first century BCE.[133]

Enoch is not part of the biblical canon used by most Jews, apart from Beta Israel. Most Christian denominations and traditions may accept the Books of Enoch as having some historical or theological interest or significance. Part of the Book of Enoch is quoted in the Epistle of Jude and the book of Hebrews (parts of the New Testament), but Christian denominations generally regard the Books of Enoch as non-canonical.[134] The exceptions to this view are the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.[132]

The Ethiopian Bible is not based on the Greek Bible, and the Ethiopian Church has a slightly different understanding of canon than other Christian traditions.[135] In Ethiopia, canon does not have the same degree of fixedness, (yet neither is it completely open).[135] Enoch has long been seen there as inspired scripture, but being scriptural and being canon are not always seen the same. The official Ethiopian canon has 81 books, but that number is reached in different ways with various lists of different books, and the book of Enoch is sometimes included and sometimes not.[135] Current evidence confirms Enoch as canonical in both Ethiopia and in Eritrea.[132]

Christian Bible

Main articles: Biblical canon and List of English Bible translations

A page from the Gutenberg BiblePart of a series onChristianity

show

Jesus

Christ

show

Bible

Foundations

show

Theology

show

History

Tradition

show

Denominations

Groups

show

Related topics

Glossary

Index

Outline

 Christianity portal

v

t

e

A Christian Bible is a set of books divided into the Old and New Testament that a Christian denomination has, at some point in their past or present, regarded as divinely inspired scripture by the holy spirit.[136] The Early Church primarily used the Septuagint, as it was written in Greek, the common tongue of the day, or they used the Targums among Aramaic speakers. Modern English translations of the Old Testament section of the Christian Bible are based on the Masoretic Text.[34] The Pauline epistles and the gospels were soon added, along with other writings, as the New Testament.[137]

Old Testament

Main article: Old Testament

Further information: Development of the Old Testament canon

The Old Testament has been important to the life of the Christian church from its earliest days. Bible scholar N.T. Wright says "Jesus himself was profoundly shaped by the scriptures."[138] Wright adds that the earliest Christians searched those same Hebrew scriptures in their effort to understand the earthly life of Jesus. They regarded the "holy writings" of the Israelites as necessary and instructive for the Christian, as seen from Paul's words to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:15), as pointing to the Messiah, and as having reached a climactic fulfillment in Jesus generating the "new covenant" prophesied by Jeremiah.[139]

The Protestant Old Testament of the twenty-first century has a 39-book canon – the number of books (although not the content) varies from the Jewish Tanakh only because of a different method of division. The term "Hebrew scriptures" is often used as being synonymous with the Protestant Old Testament, since the surviving scriptures in Hebrew include only those books.

However, the Roman Catholic Church recognizes 46 books as its Old Testament (45 if Jeremiah and Lamentations are counted as one),[140] and the Eastern Orthodox Churches recognize 6 additional books. These additions are also included in the Syriac versions of the Bible called the Peshitta and the Ethiopian Bible.[l][m][n]

Because the canon of Scripture is distinct for Jews, Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, and Protestants, the contents of each community's Apocrypha are unique, as is its usage of the term. For Jews, none of the apocryphal books are considered canonical. Catholics refer to this collection as "Deuterocanonical books" (second canon) and the Orthodox Church refers to them as "Anagignoskomena" (that which is read).[141] [o]

Books included in the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Slavonic Bibles are: Tobit, Judith, Greek Additions to Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah (also called the Baruch Chapter 6), the Greek Additions to Daniel, along with 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees.[142]

The Greek Orthodox Church, and the Slavonic churches (Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia) also add:[143]

3 Maccabees

1 Esdras (called 2 Esdras in the Slavonic canon)

Prayer of Manasseh

Psalm 151

2 Esdras (4 Ezra) and the Prayer of Manasseh are not in the Septuagint, and 2 Esdras does not exist in Greek, though it does exist in Latin. There is also 4 Maccabees which is only accepted as canonical in the Georgian Church. It is in an appendix to the Greek Orthodox Bible, and it is therefore sometimes included in collections of the Apocrypha.[144]

The Syriac Orthodox Church also includes:

Psalms 151–155

The Apocalypse of Baruch

The Letter of Baruch[145]

The Ethiopian Old Testament Canon uses Enoch and Jubilees (that only survived in Ge'ez), 1–3 Meqabyan, Greek Ezra and the Apocalypse of Ezra, and Psalm 151.[n][l]

The Revised Common Lectionary of the Lutheran Church, Moravian Church, Reformed Churches, Anglican Church and Methodist Church uses the apocryphal books liturgically, with alternative Old Testament readings available.[p] Therefore, editions of the Bible intended for use in the Lutheran Church and Anglican Church include the fourteen books of the Apocrypha, many of which are the deuterocanonical books accepted by the Catholic Church, plus 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh, which were in the Vulgate appendix.[147]

The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches use most of the books of the Septuagint, while Protestant churches usually do not. After the Protestant Reformation, many Protestant Bibles began to follow the Jewish canon and exclude the additional texts, which came to be called apocryphal. The Apocrypha are included under a separate heading in the King James Version of the Bible, the basis for the Revised Standard Version.[148]The Orthodox Old Testament[149][q]Greek-based nameConventional English nameLawΓένεσιςGénesisGenesisἜξοδοςÉxodosExodusΛευϊτικόνLeuitikónLeviticusἈριθμοίArithmoíNumbersΔευτερονόμιονDeuteronómionDeuteronomyHistoryἸησοῦς NαυῆIêsous NauêJoshuaΚριταίKritaíJudgesῬούθRoúthRuthΒασιλειῶν Αʹ[r]I ReignsI SamuelΒασιλειῶν ΒʹII ReignsII SamuelΒασιλειῶν ΓʹIII ReignsI KingsΒασιλειῶν ΔʹIV ReignsII KingsΠαραλειπομένων ΑʹI Paralipomenon[s]I ChroniclesΠαραλειπομένων ΒʹII ParalipomenonII ChroniclesἜσδρας ΑʹI Esdras1 EsdrasἜσδρας ΒʹII EsdrasEzra–NehemiahΤωβίτ[t]TobitTobit or TobiasἸουδίθIoudithJudithἘσθήρEstherEsther with additionsΜακκαβαίων ΑʹI Makkabaioi1 MaccabeesΜακκαβαίων ΒʹII Makkabaioi2 MaccabeesΜακκαβαίων ΓʹIII Makkabaioi3 MaccabeesWisdomΨαλμοίPsalmsPsalmsΨαλμός ΡΝΑʹPsalm 151Psalm 151Προσευχὴ ΜανάσσηPrayer of ManassehPrayer of ManassehἸώβIōbJobΠαροιμίαιProverbsProverbsἘκκλησιαστήςEkklesiastesEcclesiastesἎσμα ἈσμάτωνSong of SongsSong of Solomon or CanticlesΣοφία ΣαλoμῶντοςWisdom of SolomonWisdomΣοφία Ἰησοῦ ΣειράχWisdom of Jesus the son of SeirachSirach or EcclesiasticusΨαλμοί ΣαλoμῶντοςPsalms of SolomonPsalms of Solomon[u]ProphetsΔώδεκαThe TwelveMinor ProphetsὩσηέ ΑʹI. OsëeHoseaἈμώς ΒʹII. AmōsAmosΜιχαίας ΓʹIII. MichaiasMicahἸωήλ ΔʹIV. IoëlJoelὈβδίου Εʹ[v]V. ObdiasObadiahἸωνᾶς Ϛ'VI. IonasJonahΝαούμ ΖʹVII. NaoumNahumἈμβακούμ ΗʹVIII. AmbakumHabakkukΣοφονίας ΘʹIX. SophoniasZephaniahἈγγαῖος ΙʹX. AngaiosHaggaiΖαχαρίας ΙΑʹXI. ZachariasZachariahἌγγελος ΙΒʹXII. MessengerMalachiἨσαΐαςHesaiasIsaiahἹερεμίαςHieremiasJeremiahΒαρούχBaruchBaruchΘρῆνοιLamentationsLamentationsἘπιστολή ΙερεμίουEpistle of JeremiahLetter of JeremiahἸεζεκιήλIezekiêlEzekielΔανιήλDaniêlDaniel with additions

The bible wont save you from my foot going up your ass

[marmota-b]

I don't know about American Bible classes, but I think I learned about 75% of what I know about textual criticism from Bible classes in my church before I even hit full puberty. All the literature classes I've had since then only polished something that was already hardwired in me.

To the point that I once had a very amusing online conversation with some atheist or other who thought that the fact there are different versions of the text in tiny writing in your Bible would be a world-shattering revelation to me. Like, excuse me, my minister pointed and explained those out to me when I was maybe eight, and my great-uncle was one of the people involved in the translation and compiling process and was probably responsible for some of those footnotes in my language.

To the point that I, a Christian, recently had to explain to a random smug Christianity-mocker online what textual criticism even was, because they thought criticism = attacking something, and, surprise surprise, that's actually not what the word means, and you might know that if you spent more of your life actually paying attention to texts instead of mocking people who, for whatever reason, do.

I need to stress this to anyone whose impression of Christianity is mainly based on American conservatives and their current batshit crazy worldviews. To anyone still wondering what I'm talking about, serious Bible study basically actually is where textual criticism was born. Nothing like comparing many many versions and translations of an important cultural text in an attempt to compile a definitive version to force people to think critically about texts and words and their meanings and origins and biases.

It probably helps that the minister we had when I was that age went on to teach New Testament at the main Protestant theological faculty in my country and is now the faculty's head...

It didn't make me an atheist. But it definitely made me a different sort of Christian than American conservatives. Not that that was hard, my church is not that kind of church to begin with.

[freebiblestudyhub]

Why is Matthew 17:21 Not Included?

The Bible is a compilation of diverse books, letters, and teachings that have been passed down through generations. While many parts of the New Testament are consistent across translations, certain verses, like Matthew 17:21, are conspicuously absent from some versions of the Bible. This absence raises important questions about the historical and theological reasons for its omission. Why is Matthew 17:21 not included in many modern Bible translations? Does its exclusion affect the meaning of the Gospel, and what does this say about how the Bible has been transmitted over the centuries?

In this article, we will explore the historical, textual, and theological reasons why Matthew 17:21 is not included in many translations of the Bible, what its original context may have been, and the broader implications for understanding the process of biblical transmission.

Matthew 17:21 and the Textual Issue

To understand why Matthew 17:21 is sometimes omitted, we must first look at the context of the verse itself. Matthew 17:21 is a verse that appears in some versions of the Gospel of Matthew, but not in others. It reads as follows in the King James Version (KJV):

"Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." (Matthew 17:21, KJV)

This verse is part of a larger passage in which Jesus' disciples are unable to cast out a demon from a boy who is possessed. When they ask Jesus why they could not perform the exorcism, Jesus responds with the famous words:

“Because of your unbelief…” (Matthew 17:20, KJV)

Then, in the KJV, Matthew 17:21 follows, with the added instruction that some demons can only be cast out through prayer and fasting.

However, this specific verse does not appear in most modern Bible translations, including the New International Version (NIV), the English Standard Version (ESV), and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), among others. The key question is: why is this the case?

The Role of Textual Criticism

The absence of Matthew 17:21 in many translations comes down to the field of textual criticism, which seeks to determine the most accurate and reliable text of the Bible based on the oldest and most complete manuscripts available. Textual critics study variations in ancient manuscripts to identify possible alterations, additions, and omissions.

Manuscript Evidence: The earliest Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew (such as Papyrus 37, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Vaticanus) do not include Matthew 17:21. These early manuscripts, which date back to the 4th and 5th centuries, are considered to be some of the most reliable and authoritative witnesses to the text of the New Testament. They are the primary sources that modern Bible translations rely on.

Later Manuscripts: However, later manuscripts, especially those produced in the Byzantine tradition, do include Matthew 17:21. These manuscripts, which were copied from earlier versions during the Middle Ages, contain a number of textual additions and variations, some of which were likely inserted over time by scribes who wanted to harmonize certain passages or provide clarification.

Textual Variants: The fact that Matthew 17:21 appears in some manuscripts but not in others is a prime example of a textual variant—a difference in wording or content found in different copies of the Bible. Textual critics examine these variants to determine which reading is most likely to reflect the original text of the New Testament. In this case, the majority of early manuscripts (and some key later manuscripts) do not contain Matthew 17:21, leading many scholars to conclude that this verse was likely a later addition.

Why Was Matthew 17:21 Added?

While we cannot be absolutely certain about the exact origin of Matthew 17:21, scholars have several theories as to why it might have been added to certain manuscripts of the Gospel.

1. Harmonization with Mark 9:29

One of the most plausible explanations is that Matthew 17:21 was added as a way to harmonize the Gospel of Matthew with the Gospel of Mark. In Mark 9:29, the parallel passage to Matthew 17:21, Jesus says:

“This kind can come out only by prayer.” (Mark 9:29, NIV)

The phrase "prayer and fasting" in Matthew 17:21 may have been introduced by scribes who were familiar with this verse in Mark and sought to add additional detail to the Matthew account, possibly in an effort to harmonize the two Gospels. The inclusion of "fasting" in Matthew 17:21 aligns more closely with other passages in the Gospels that emphasize the importance of fasting in spiritual disciplines (such as in Matthew 6:16-18).

2. Theological Considerations

Another possible reason for the addition of Matthew 17:21 could be theological. Early Christian communities were deeply concerned with the power of prayer and fasting as spiritual tools for overcoming evil forces. The idea that some spiritual battles required a more intense commitment to prayer and fasting was a theme that resonated with the early church.

The Role of Fasting: The combination of prayer and fasting as a means of spiritual preparation or warfare is a concept that appears in other parts of Scripture, particularly in the early church's practices. The inclusion of fasting in Matthew 17:21 may have been intended to provide a fuller teaching on how to confront spiritual challenges, especially in light of the growing influence of ascetic practices in some Christian communities.

3. Transmission and Scribe Variants

The addition of Matthew 17:21 may also be the result of the way texts were transmitted in antiquity. Scribes often sought to clarify or expand upon a passage they were copying, sometimes adding details that they believed would help readers better understand the text. The scribe who inserted Matthew 17:21 may have been influenced by the oral tradition or the liturgical practices of the time, which emphasized the importance of fasting alongside prayer.

Theological Implications of the Omission

While the absence of Matthew 17:21 from many modern translations may seem insignificant at first, it does have some theological implications. The omission of this verse does not change the core message of the passage—that faith in God can overcome even the most difficult challenges—but it does alter the focus on the role of prayer and fasting in spiritual warfare.

Prayer and Fasting as Spiritual Disciplines: The concept of prayer and fasting as a means of spiritual preparation and victory over evil is still supported by other parts of the Bible. For instance, in Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus teaches about fasting as a private act of devotion. Additionally, in the Gospel of Mark and other New Testament writings, prayer is emphasized as a means of accessing God's power and intervention.

Theological Emphasis: While Matthew 17:21 specifically mentions both prayer and fasting, the omission of fasting from the passage does not diminish the biblical teaching on these practices. Instead, it suggests that the early church recognized the importance of both prayer and fasting as distinct disciplines in their own right.

Conclusion: The Importance of Textual Integrity

The question of why Matthew 17:21 is not included in many translations of the Bible is a reflection of the broader discipline of textual criticism, which seeks to preserve the integrity of the biblical text. While the verse itself may not be included in all modern translations, its omission does not affect the core message of the Gospel. The presence or absence of Matthew 17:21 should not detract from the profound truths of the passage: that faith in Jesus can move mountains, and that prayer is a powerful tool in spiritual warfare.

Ultimately, the study of textual variants like Matthew 17:21 highlights the complex history of the Bible’s transmission, and serves as a reminder of the care and diligence involved in preserving the Word of God for future generations. Whether or not Matthew 17:21 is included, the overall message of the Gospel remains unchanged: that through faith in Jesus Christ, believers have access to divine power and victory over evil.

[shubhamblogs-blog]

7 Wonders of the World

History & Society

In 2000, a Swiss foundation launched a campaign to determine the New Seven Wonders of the World. Given that the authentic Seven Wonders list was compiled in the second century BCE and that only one entrant is still standing (the Pyramids of Giza), it seemed time for a replacement. And humans around the sector reputedly agreed, as more than a hundred million votes have been cast on the Internet or by using textual content messaging. The final outcomes, which were introduced in 2007, have been met with cheers as well as a few jeers—some of the outstanding contenders, including Athens’s Acropolis, failed to make the cut. Do you consider the brand new listing?

Great Wall of China

Great is probably an understatement. One of the world’s largest building production projects, the Great Wall of China, is broadly thought to be approximately 5,500 miles (8,850 km) long; a disputed Chinese study claims the period is thirteen hundred and seventy miles (21,200 km). Work started in the 7th century BCE and persevered for two millennia. Although called a “wall,” the structure absolutely features parallel partitions for prolonged stretches. In addition, watchtowers and barracks dot the bulwark. One not-so-super aspect of the wall, however, turned into its effectiveness. Although it was built to prevent invasions and raids, the wall, in large part, failed to offer actual safety. Instead, students have stated that it served more as “political propaganda.

Great Wall Of China

Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza is a Mayan city on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico that flourished within the ninth and 10th centuries CE. Under the Mayan tribe Itza—who were strongly encouraged by the Toltecs—some essential monuments and temples have been built. Among the most extraordinary is the stepped pyramid El Castillo (“The Castle”), which rises 79 feet (24 meters) above the Main Plaza. A testament to the Mayans’ astronomical abilities, the structure functions as a complete 365-step system for the wide variety of days within the sun year. During the spring and autumnal equinoxes, the putting sun casts shadows on the pyramid that give the appearance of a serpent slithering down the north stairway; at the base is a stone snake head. Life there has been now, not all paintings and technological know-how, but. Chichen Itza is home to the largest tlachtli (a type of wearing discipline) within the Americas. In that area, the citizens played a ritual ball sport famous throughout pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

Chichen Itza

Petra

The historical metropolis of Petra, Jordan, is located in a far-flung valley, nestled amongst sandstone mountains and cliffs. It was alleged to be one of the places in which Moses struck a rock and water gushed forth. Later, the Nabataeans, an Arab tribe, made it their capital, and all through this time, it flourished, becoming an important alternate middle, especially for spices. Noted carvers, the Nabataeans chiseled dwellings, temples, and tombs into the sandstone, which changed color with the moving sun. In addition, they constructed a water machine that allowed for lush gardens and farming. At its peak, Petra reportedly had a population of 30,000. The city began to decline, but as exchange routes shifted, An important earthquake in 363 CE brought on greater difficulty, and after another tremor hit in 551, Petra was step by step deserted. Although rediscovered in 1912, it became largely overlooked with the aid of archaeologists until the overdue twentieth century, and many questions remain about the metropolis.

Petra

Machu Picchu

This Incan web page close to Cuzco, Peru, was “observed” in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, who believed it was Vilcabamba, a mystery Incan stronghold used throughout the 16th-century rebellion in opposition to Spanish rule. Although that declaration was later disproved, the purpose of Machu Picchu has confounded students. Bingham believed it was domestic to the “Virgins of the Sun,” girls who lived in convents under a vow of chastity. Others suppose that it changed into, in all likelihood, a pilgrimage website online, even though a few consider it a royal retreat. One aspect it apparently should not be is the website of a lager commercial. In 2000, a crane getting used for such an advertisement fell and cracked a monument. What is understood is that Machu Picchu is one of the few essential pre-Columbian ruins determined to be nearly intact. Despite its relative isolation high in the Andes Mountains, it has agricultural terraces, plazas, residential areas, and temples.

Machu Picchu

Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer, a huge statue of Jesus, stands on Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro. It began right after World War I, when some Brazilians feared a “wave of atheism." A statue was proposed, which was eventually designed by Heitor da Silva Costa, Carlos Oswald, and Paul Landowsky. Construction began in 1926 and was completed five years later. The resulting monument stands 98 feet (30 meters) tall—not including the base, which is about 26 feet (8 meters) high—and its outstretched arms are 92 feet (28 meters) wide. It is an Art Deco sculpture that is the largest in the world. Christ the Redeemer is made of reinforced concrete and is covered with about six million tiles. Somewhat worryingly, the statue is frequently struck by lightning, and in 2014, the tip of Jesus’ right finger was damaged during a storm.

Christ the Redeemer

Colosseum

The Colosseum in Rome was built in the first century by order of Emperor Vespasian. An engineering feat, the theater measures 620 by 513 feet (189 by 156 meters) and features an impressive vault system. It was able to accommodate 50,000 spectators, and they watched events. Perhaps most notable were skirmishes, although fighting men and animals were also common. In addition, the Colosseum was once used for mock naval meetings. But the belief that Christians were killed there—that is, thrown to lions—is questioned. According to one estimate, some 500,000 people died in the Colosseum. In addition, so many animals have been captured and then killed there that some species are reportedly extinct

Colosseum

Taj Mahal

 Located in Agra, India, this mausoleum is considered one of the most famous monuments in the world and is perhaps the finest example of Mughal architecture. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–58) in honor of his wife Mumtaz Mahal (the “Elect Palace”), who died after giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. It took about 22 years and 20,000 workers, and the great building was built, including a large garden with a reflecting pool. The mausoleum is made of white stone with geometric beads of semi-precious stones. Its impressive central dome is flanked by four small domes. According to some reports, Shah Jahan wanted his mausoleum to be made of black marble. But before any work could begin, one of his sons deposed him.

Taj Mahal

 In conclusion, the Seven Wonders of the World represent a unique collection of architectural works that transcend time, geography, and culture. Each with its own unique history and significance, these symbols are enduring symbols of human creativity, ingenuity, and aspiration. From the towering pyramids of Giza to the majestic Taj Mahal, these wonders have captivated people for centuries, inspiring awe, admiration, and reverence. The only surviving marvel of antiquity, the Great Pyramid of Giza, stands as a testament to the advanced technology of the ancient Egyptians. Built over 4,500 years ago, this mysterious wonder, in perfect harmony with its impressive buildings and massive limestone stones, leaves historians and archaeologists in awe.

[authorspress]

Featured Author | Book Buzz Radio Interview | Rev. Dr. Henry B. Malone

Featured Book: The Preaching and Sacred Writings of St. Peter the Apostle Kata St. Mark The Biblical Scholarship series on the New Testament writings Modern Received Eclectic Text compared to the Early Papyri and Uncials VOLUME II

Written for Pastors and serious Bible scholars to give them more time in the Greek text. The first question for the serious Bible scholar should be "What is the text?" Only then are you ready to move on to "What does it mean?" The Sacred Preaching & Writings of St. Peter the Apostle presents the "Received Text" since its inception to present. This is the eclectic text used today for all major translations. The changes over time are color coded Greek script. The textual critic's effort to recover the original autographs is recorded as the top line. Like an interlinear Bible, a level one English translation is provided. Below this in parallel and vertical format are the major Greek Uncials and Papyri published. A few documents take us to within twenty to forty years of the original autographs. The mundane work has been done. Now a study of the text itself can occupy your study. All top line eclectic text verbs have be parsed and the first person indicative form is identified for you.

[tech-issues-apologies]

This reminds me 2 things.

1

One of my friend groups is getting annoyed by this(I personally genuinely don't care). I've literally seen them call the recent uptick in shipping women together with no textual basis fujoshi like behavior. Wich cracked me up.

2

When I explained death of the author to my mother, her go to personal example to relate to it was a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut self insert character Kilgore trout in which an alien trying to understand the cruelty of most Christians wrote a Fix-It fic for the Bible so that the story of Jesus Christ better encouraged the morals Christians claim their religion stands for.

“It was The Gospel From Outer Space, by Kilgore Trout. It was about a visitor from outer space...[who] made a serious study of Christianity, to learn, if he could, why Christians found it so easy to be cruel. He concluded that at least part of the trouble was slipshod storytelling in the New Testament. He supposed that the intent of the Gospels was to teach people, among other things, to be merciful, even to the lowest of the low. But the Gospels actually taught this: Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes. The flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn't look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being in the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought...: "Oh, boy - they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time!" And that thought had a brother: "There are right people to lynch." Who? People not well connected. So it goes.”

The point I'm trying to make here I guess is that different people are going to have different levels of flexibility when engaging with texts. Some will surprise you and some will let you down.

the awesome thing about the internet is i realized i can just do to female characters what people do to male characters all the time

[laguaridadelnagual]

Hallan un "capítulo oculto" de la Biblia de hace más de mil 500 años

Aunque no se tiene todavía una traducción completa del capítulo encontrado, ya hay detalles del texto Un científico ha reportado el impresionante hallazgo de lo que parece ser un fragmento perdido de la Biblia que se escribió hace más de mil 500 años y que había permanecido oculto. El descubrimiento se publicó recientemente en la revista New Testament Studies, una publicación periódica de alcance internacional. Precisó que se encontró en una copia en pergamino del libro de los evangelios de la Biblioteca del Vaticano y se describe que se mantuvo oculto debido a que este estaba debajo de dos capas de escritura, ilegible a simple vista. Esto fue así debido a que, en la antigüedad, el papel se obtenía a partir de piel de animales, siendo de muy difícil acceso, lo que obligaba a que las personas reutilizarán dicho papel escribiendo y borrando una y otra vez. Según los informes, se trata de la traducción siríaca del capítulo 11 a 12 del evangelio de Mateo, lo que constituye una de las primeras traducciones de los Evangelios y se incluyó originalmente en una de las versiones de la Biblia al siríaco antiguo hace mil 500 años. “Hasta hace poco, solo se conocían dos manuscritos que contenían la traducción siríaca antigua de los Evangelios”, dice Kessel para un comunicado. “Uno reside en la Biblioteca Británica de Londres y el otro fue un palimpsesto descubierto en el Monasterio de Santa Catalina en el Monte Sinaí, en lo que se conoce como el ‘Proyecto de los palimpsestos del Sinaí’ y, recientemente, se desenterró un tercer manuscrito”. Se cree que esta traducción fue escrita originalmente en el siglo III y copiada cientos de años después, en el siglo VI. Hace alrededor de mil 300 años, algún escriba de la actual Palestina borró la traducción para poder reutilizar el pergamino, que era un bien escaso en esa época. De este modo, el reciente hallazgo se considera el cuarto testimonio textual “que da fe de la versión en siríaco antiguo y ofrece una puerta de entrada única a la fase más temprana en la historia de la transmisión textual de los Evangelios”, informó Physorg. Esta investigación detalla que con anterioridad ya se tenía conocimiento del manuscrito al tenerlo en 1953, pero fue redescubierto hasta 2010 para que terminara por ser digitalizado hasta 2020. Una vez completadas sus imágenes con luz ultravioleta ya forman parte de la biblioteca digital del Vaticano. Los investigadores todavía no cuentan con una traducción completa del texto, pero ya tienen una idea de qué es lo que dice. El hallazgo es de gran relevancia, pues podría proporcionar información valiosa sobre los primeros cristianos, entre otras cuestiones relacionadas, como ser una pieza clave para reconstruir el rompecabezas de la historia de la Biblia. Read the full article

[diarioelpepazo]

Se trata de una interpretación siríaca de una parte del Evangelio de Mateo que abre una ventana única a la fase más temprana de la historia de la transmisión textual de los evangelios. Científicos descubrieron un fragmento 'oculto' de la Biblia en un pergamino de alrededor de 1.750 años de antigüedad, según un estudio publicado recientemente en la revista New Testament Studies. Se trata de una traducción siríaca que hace unos 1.300 años fue borrada por un escriba en Palestina, decisión que estuvo motivada por el hecho de que los pergaminos escaseaban en el desierto en la Edad Media, por lo que los manuscritos a menudo se reciclaban de esta manera. "La tradición del cristianismo siríaco conoce varias traducciones del Antiguo y el Nuevo Testamento", explicó Grigory Kessel, de la Academia Austríaca de Ciencias, autor de la investigación. "Hasta hace poco, solo se conocían dos manuscritos que contenían la traducción siríaca antigua de los evangelios", detalló. Uno de ellos se conserva en la Biblioteca Británica de Londres, mientras que el otro se descubrió en el monasterio de Santa Catalina, en el monte Sinaí. Fragmentos de un tercer manuscrito fueron identificados recientemente en el marco del Proyecto Palimpsestos del Sinaí, ideado para preservar documentos históricos importantes. El pequeño fragmento de manuscrito encontrado ahora, que puede considerarse el cuarto testigo textual, fue identificado por los científicos usando fotografía ultravioleta en la tercera capa del texto de un pergamino. Historia de la transmisión textual de los evangelios Según los investigadores, el texto recién descubierto es una interpretación siríaca antigua de una parte del Evangelio de Mateo en el Nuevo Testamento y abre una ventana única a la fase más temprana de la historia de la transmisión textual de los evangelios. Por ejemplo, mientras que el original griego del capítulo 12 de Mateo, versículo 1, dice: "En aquel tiempo iba Jesús por los sembrados en el día de reposo; y sus discípulos tuvieron hambre y comenzaron a arrancar espigas y a comer", la traducción siríaca dice: "[...] empezaron a arrancar espigas, a frotarlas con las manos y a comerlas". "Este descubrimiento demuestra lo productiva e importante que puede ser la interacción entre las modernas tecnologías digitales y la investigación básica cuando se trata de manuscritos medievales", afirmó Claudia Rapp, directora del Instituto de Investigación Medieval de la Academia Austriaca de Ciencias.   Para recibir en tu celular esta y otras informaciones, únete a nuestras redes sociales, síguenos en Instagram, Twitter y Facebook como @DiarioElPepazo El Pepazo/RT Español