Bible Manuscripts Facts Definitions Scribes men who copied

Bible Manuscripts • Facts • Definitions • Scribes: men who copied the manuscripts • Scrolls: skins of parchments • Material • Written on long sheets of parchment • Rolled on wooden rollers

Bible Manuscripts • The Copying Process • New copies made from approved manuscript • Written with special ink • Written on “clean” animal skin • Pronounced each word aloud before writing • Wiped pen before writing the name of God • Washed body before writing “Jehovah”

Bible Manuscripts • Examination Process • Each copy examined with original • Whole copy was rejected, if one letter off • Hebrew Language • Originally written in consonants without any vowels and spacing to divide words

Septuagint • Latin word meaning seventy • Greek translation of the Old Testament • Widely circulated • Used as basis for many future translations • Names of the books were first used • Loose, free, faulty translation • Jesus Christ & the Apostles NEVER used it!

The Vulgate • Means “to make common or public” • Made in North Africa • Old & New Testament • O. T. = Latin translation of the Septuagint • N. T. = Latin translation of the original Greek • Standard Bible in Catholic chrch for 1000 yrs • Leader read to the people, because common people couldn’t read the Latin

Jerome • Ablest scholar of the 4 th century, that studied Hebrew • Pope Damascus proposed to Jerome that he would make a revision • Jerome completed N. T. in 388 • Translated O. T. using the ancient Hebrew manuscripts • Result was the vulgate that is still used in the Roman Catholic Douay Bible

First Anglo-Saxon Translation • Anglo-Saxon language • Introduced in England by the invaders (450) • Latin Vulgate was… • the only Bible available/handwritten only • only available to the learned and rich • so influential in the land, paganism died out • Other • Psalms/Gospels translated 8 th century • Alfred the Great ordered whole Bible translated • England conquered and English language introduced

First English Translation • John Wycliffe • Determined that the Bible was God’s word • Translated Bible from the Latin Vulgate • Handwritten, but circulation was large • Took 22 years to accomplish (1 copy = 10 mths) • $800 per copy, or pay to read it an hour/day • Roman Catholics forbade the reading of under penalty of death

Invention of Printing • Gutenberg invented printing in Europe around 1450 • Caxton introduced printing in England in 1476 • The invention increased the circulation of the Scriptures

William Tyndale • Made English translation from Greek • First to publish/print an English N. T. • Worked under great difficulty, exile, poverty and distress • Testaments were smuggled into England • Catholics prevented, burned thousands • Tyndale was strangled and burnt at the stake by the Roman Catholic authorities in 1536

First Printed English Bible • Miles Coverdale first printed the whole Bible in English in 1535 • THE END