Were Bible Documents Copied Reliably?

The original manuscripts of the Bible no longer exist, since they have been lost to decay a long time ago. Before the printing press was invented, copyists had to copy biblical texts by hand. Thus, the copies of the biblical texts that we have today are copies of copies of copies going back to the original texts.

It is popularly claimed that biblical texts were copied so accurately by copyists such that the manuscripts of the Bible that we have today are exactly identical to the original texts—word for word, letter for letter. However, this is not at all true. Biblical copyists did not always copy their source texts exactly identically. The result is that there are actually differences among biblical manuscripts in terms of letters, words, and even entire verses.

The Masoretic Text

The Masoretic Text is a standardized text of the Jewish Scriptures (or “Old Testament”) produced by a group of Jewish scribes known as the Masoretes. When Christians talk about “the Hebrew text of the Old Testament that we have today”, they are referring to the Masoretic Text, since it is used most widely by Christians as the authoritative Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Most Christian translations of the Old Testament are based primarily on the Masoretic Text.

However, the Masoretic Text is not exactly identical to the original Hebrew text of the Jewish Scriptures. While it is true that when copying biblical texts, the Masoretes were very careful to ensure that the copied text would be as close as possible to its source text, the Masoretes only began their careful copying of biblical texts in the seventh century CE—at least a thousand years after the Jewish Scriptures were originally composed. Fortunately, we have access to other Hebrew texts which may reflect the original Hebrew text of the Jewish Scriptures better than the Masoretic Text.

The Septuagint

The Septuagint is a body of Greek translations of the Jewish Scriptures made by Jews during the third to second centuries BC. This means that the Septuagint was translated from Hebrew texts which must be produced during the second century BC or earlier—more than 700 years closer to the time that the Jewish Scriptures were originally composed than the Masoretic Text. Therefore, in places where the Septuagint differs significantly from the Masoretic Text, it is possible that the Septuagint’s Hebrew text reflects the original Hebrew text of the Jewish Scriptures better than the Masoretic Text.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The biblical manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls were produced during the second century BC. Like the Septuagint, these Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts were produced more than 700 years closer to the original texts of the Jewish Scriptures than the Masoretic Text, and may therefore reflect the original Hebrew text of the Jewish Scriptures better than the Masoretic Text. In places where the reading of Septuagint agrees with the reading of the Dead Sea Scrolls’ biblical manuscripts against the Masoretic Text, it is likely that the Masoretic Text is mistaken. Good examples of this include the missing verse of Psalm 145 and the Hebrew text of Psalm 22:16.

The New Testament

The best way for a Christian to determine the original Hebrew text of any given passage in the Old Testament is to compare how the New Testament Scriptures treat that passage. If a New Testament writer quotes or uses an Old Testament passage in a different way from how it appears in the Masoretic Text, then the Masoretic Text reading is most likely mistaken. The New Testament reading is often also supported by the Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls. A good example of this is the writer of Hebrews’ quote of Deuteronomy 32:43.