Tracing the History of the Bible One Book at a Time
Bible and archaeology news
Since 1958, some of the world’s best Bible scholars have worked at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Bible Project to come up with an authoritative critical edition of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible. Using the ninth-century C.E. Aleppo Codex,* the oldest extant version of the complete Hebrew Bible, as a baseline, these scholars are tracking how and in what ways the Biblical text has changed over the course of centuries and millennia. They compare the Aleppo Codex text with earlier Biblical manuscripts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Torah and early Greek and Latin translations, to identify places where the words of the Hebrew Bible have been changed, altered, omitted or simply misspelled. But it is also an agonizingly slow process. In the five and half decades since the project began, three Biblical books have been published, with a fourth set to appear in the coming year. If the pace is maintained, the complete critical edition will appear sometime after 2210.
* Harvey Minkoff, “The Aleppo Codex,” Bible Review, August 1991.
Related Posts
Must-Read Free eBooks
Want more Bible history?
Sign up to receive our email newsletter and never miss an update.
All-Access Membership
All-Access Membership
Dig into the illuminating world of the Bible with a BAS All-Access Membership. Get your print subscription to BAR and your online access to the BAS Library—as well as FREE online talks and Travel/Study discounts. Start your journey into the biblical past today!
i as a child of the most high Yahveh most believe in is word i know the bible is not full proof but it don;t take away the massage of salvation. SHALOM
Re: Ron’s statement… Your words “limit your ego and open up your reality” comprise a beautiful guideline. I will remember & use this quote. Thank you.
Jana says
I too, wonder why it has taken so long, and is taking so long, to make sense of the DDS, most likely it has become a big business. And I agree that there must be a middle ground between the canonical scriptures and the-next-to-worthless-for-learning-about-god, if the meaning, of the bible, for our lives, and our current civilization is to make any sense.