INTRODUCTION

This work is intended to give a general review of about the Holy Bible and to see
how God revealed himself for Human beings by holy Bible. We are not going to
study and analyze the bible in detail, but we are going to introduce the bible. It is
an introductory subject. We study the scriptures because they are containing the
inspired word of God. Ignorance of scriptures is ignorance of Christ. The Church
has always venerated the divine scriptures just as she venerates the body of the
Lord. Therefore the bible should be studied and interpreted having in mind these
intentions of its course.
The Bible is: - the scriptures, the writings, as recording what was spoken by God.
The Oracle, i.e. the things spoken, because the Bible is what God spoke to man.
The Testament or Covenant because it is the testimony of God to man, the truths
to which God bears witness; and is also the covenant or agreement of God with
man for his salvation.
The Law, to express that it contains God's commands to men.
The literature of faith, collection to which the church attaches canonical
authority, and is fully meaningful only to those who believe in God. For it is not
the literature of scientific observation of historical demonstration. The authors of
these sacred scriptures were neither scientists nor historians, but they all
without exception were firm believers in God and what they have put to writings
is from their experience of God. They had no intention of conveying to their
readers scientific knowledge of created things or historical truths. Their only
intention was and is the relevance of studying the sacred literature is to have
God’s knowledge and experience, to believe on what we know, to have deeds on
what we believe and finally to inherit the kingdom of God and attain eternal
salvation. God doesn’t judge us on the basis of our intelligence or schooling, but
on the basis of our faith deeds.

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The course has six Chapters
The content of the course
Chapter One
General Notions about the Bible
Chapter Two
Inspiration and revelation
Chapter Three
The Language and Versions of the Bible
Chapter Four
Ancient Writing Systems of the Bible
Chapter Five
Canonization kin of the Bible
Chapter Six
Biblical Geography

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 CHAPTER ONE

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1. The Literal meaning of the Term Bible and Scripture

The term Bible is derived from the Greek word Byblos from the ancient story of
the Writing material papyrus (outer coat of a papyrus reed) which was being
exported to the harbor of Byblos in Phoenicia (an Ancient maritime country an
eastern end of the Mediterranean) from Egypt by the eleventh century B.C.
Although the term Byblos without qualification indicates for every writing
material as a special position which it enjoys among all the books of the world,
in the long process the word was reserved for the holy book of the Jews and the
Christians. The plural form of Byblos is biblia (Greek, during 2" C.A.D
Christians were using this name) which gave birth to Latin biblia, and then old
French biblia from which the modern French Bible and then the English Bible.

The term Bible is often used synonymously with "Scripture”. The names "Sacred
Scripture" and "Bible" are two conventional terms used for the collection of the
sacred books of Judaism and Christianity. The name scripture is derived from
the third division of the Hebrew (Jews) canon of the Bible, as Torah, Prophets,
and Writings (scriptures). The plural form "scriptures" was later made into
singular as "scripture". The qualification "holy or sacred" is prefixed to the name
Bible in order to show its inner holiness.

1.2. Meaning of Testament

The Bible consists of two volumes or parts, the Old Testament and the New
Testament. The term OT and NT came into general use since the time of
Tertullian, by the end of 2"d cent. A.D However, the two parts of the Bible are not
"Testaments" in the ordinary sense of the term.

When we consider the content of the Old Testament and the New Testament it is

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more significant to designate them as "the Old Covenant"' and "the New
Covenant. A Covenant is an agreement or contract between two parties (it is a
bilateral agreement). The biblical writers, in both the Old and New Testament,
speak of a covenant between God and man. In the Old Testament ; we find God
making covenants with Noah (Gen. 9:3-17), Abraham (Gen 15:18-21), Isaac
Gen.26;4, Jacob Gen. 28;8, Moses at Sinai (Ex: 19:5-6), David and with the
nation Israel. In all these covenants the initiative always came from God's side.
The covenant is God's doing and God's gift. God is always the giver and man the
receiver, it differed from human covenants. There are two types of covenants:
unilateral covenant (unconditional) and bilateral covenant (conditional). The
biblical covenants have three parts: a statement about God's saving act (what
God brings to the agreement), a statement about what God expects from
humanity in response, and a sign or symbol as a reminder of the covenant.

1.3. The Unity of the Two Testaments

The book of the Old Testament and the New Testaments are two parts of the same
book. We can see some of their similarities and cohesions which attract us:

a. Both deals with the same God: The most basic source of unity and the one
unifying theme of biblical revelation is the one God himself. It is the same God
who reveals himself in different ways in every pages of the bible. The God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the same God who speaks through Jesus in
the New Testament. The God of Israel is the same to the God of Christianity.
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament God himself is the savior
and compassionate of his people (Isa. 43:3, 1Tim. 2:3-4). The saving
character of God was revealed in bringing Israel out of Egypt in the Old
Testament, but it was revealed on a new level on the cross at Calvary (a hill
near to Jerusalem where Jesus Christ was crucified) in the New Testament.
EX.12;1 about Israelites, how they casted out from the bondage of Egypt, and
in Ex.3;7 God heard their voice.

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There are some differences in the way God has chosen to affect his salvation in
both parts of the bible. The differences are with regard to three basic areas;-

1. The bringer of salvation: in the Old Testament the bringer of salvation and
mediator of covenant is Moses, but in the New Testament it is Jesus Christ
himself. Ex. 5;4, Ex. Ex.17;1-1, Num.21;2-5 John 2;1, John 3;15-16

2. The way of salvation: in the Old Testament the way of salvation is obedience
to the law and circumcision is the sign of the covenant,
Gen.15;18,Ex.19,21;1 but in the New Testament it is faith in Jesus Christ
which is a pure gift of God and baptism is the sacramental sign of the new
covenant. Mark. 16;16 Heb.17;6

3. The heirs of salvation: in the Old Testament the heirs of salvation are the
old Israelites, but in the New Testament it is the church of Christ. In this
case there is a unity, continuity and all the same time there is
transcendence.

b. Both Testaments Deals with a chosen Nation: The Old Testament deals with
Israel, the people of God, their origin and history, victories and defeats and
their ultimate aspirations. They are commissioned by God to carry on his
mission in the world. Similarly in the New Testament the Christian church is
tension chosen by God. It is the new Israel, the continuation and fulfillment of
the old Israel.

c. Old Testament events are examples and models of New Testament events:
many events in the life of Jesus Christ and in the experience of the Christian
church can be seen as symbols and signs in the Old Testament. Jesus
Christ's return from Egypt as a child subsequent to Joseph's
dream that Herod had died his fast for 40 days in the desert and subsequent
temptations are all, according to the Gospel writers, similar experiences found
in the history of Israel.

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d. The Testament finds its Fulfillment in the New Testament: Many prophecies
and psalms of the OT are fulfilled in the NT and almost all the NT writers
share such an outlook towards the Old Testament. Throughout the Gospel of
St. Mathew we find OT passages scattered to prove that almost every event in
the life of Jesus is a fulfillment of OT prophecy. This can be
seen in other parts of the NT as well. The Old Testament is a long preparation
for the NT, and the hopes and aspirations expressed in it bear fruit in the life
and activities of Jesus Christ as narrated by the New Testament. Generally,
the relationship between the two covenants is well
summarized by the famous statement of Augustine:"... the old Testament
revealed in the New, the New veiled in the Old..." or, as another has put it "the
New is in the Old contained, and the Old is in the New explained."

1.4. Old Testament as a Preparation for t h e New Testament

The Old and the New Testaments are the two acts of the same play of salvation.
Unless we understand the first act of the play we will not be able to follow fully
the meaning of the second act. The OT recounts the preparatory phase of
salvation history, the purpose of which was to make the way ready for Christ. In
the OT we have the gradual unfolding of God's revelation and salvation which
reaches its culmination in Jesus Christ who thus fulfils the plan of salvation
begun in the Old Testament. The great themes of the OT find their transcendental
fulfillment in Jesus Christ; thus t he creation points to a new creation, the
Exodus to a new-Exodus, and the covenant to a covenant. Hence, to understand
who Jesus is and to enter into a living and personal relationship with him. We
have to know what the OT is and what it stands for.

1.5. Bible as the Word of God in the words of Men

We give greater respect and reverence for the Bible than for any other book in the
world. This is because Bible is the inspired word of God. When we say that Bible
is the inspired word of God, it means that God is the author of the Bible though

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he made use of human authors to communicate his salsify message. In this
sense Bible has twofold authorship: Divine authorship as well as human
authorship. In other words, Bible is word of God in the words of men.

The Bible is the word of God incarnate in human words; this means that there
are divine as well as human characteristics in the Bible. Since the word of God is
committed to writing by human authors we can find there specifications on the
part of human authors, for example, limitations of time, place, culture, language
etc. No book in the history of the world has exerted as much influence on
humanity and civilization as the Holy Bible. The Bible is unique in that it has
God as its author and men as its writer. The 'dabar' occurs more than 1400
times in the Old Testament. The expression "the word of the Lord" occurs about
400 times this confirms that God is the source of the massage.

1.6. The Structure and Divisions of the Bible

The present structure of the Bible has been subject to several historical
variations. The main division is between the Jewish scriptures and those which
are exclusively Christian. These are known as respectively as the Old Testament
and the New Testament. From the Old Testament the most of the orthodox
churches and the Catholics accept a longer canon containing 46 books while the
Jewish and most Protestants have a shorter canon consisting of 24 or 39 books.

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Old testaments Division

1.6.1. The Jewish Tanak:

Tanak;- Ta means Torah- Low,

Na means Nebiim-Prophetic text

K means Kethubhim-Historical text

The Jewish division of the Old Testament has three parts known as Torah (the
Laws), Nebiim (the Prophets), and kethubhim (the Writings).

Torah consisted of the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Nebiim included 8 books which were divided into***Former Prophets (Joshua,

Judges, Samuel, Kings) and the Later prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
Twelve Minor Prophets).

Kethubhim were the poetic books (Psalms, proverbs, Job and the so-called 5
rolls (meghilloth) = Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther;
and the 3 late narrative books=Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles. Thus there
were in all 24 books by Hebrew reckoning.

1.6.2 The Orthodox Bible

The arrangement of books in the Orthodox bible is quite logical: Law, history,
poetry or wisdom and prophecy. The same number of books when it was
translated into Greek by the LXX; (3rdcent'B.C.) became 39 in number, because
LXX divided the book of Samuel into 2, the Kings into 2, the minor Prophets
into 12, Ezra Nehemiah into 2, and the Chronicles into 2. This Greek division
of LXX is followed by the orthodox and Catholic Churches. These books are
later known as the proto-canonical books.

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Moreover, the LXX later included some more books in its Greek translation
which were not found in the Hebrew Bible. They were not generally considered
by the Hebrew as authentic, but they were known as deutero-Canonical. Seven
books are belonged to the Deutero-Canonical group.

A. Two books of the Maccabees

B. Tobit

C. Judith

D. Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach)

E. Wisdom

F. Baruch.

All these Deutero-Canonical books are considered by the Orthodox and Roman
Catholic churches as authentic or canonical and have been included in the
Bible.

Law 5:

- Genesis

- Exodus

- Leviticus

- Numbers

- Deuteronomy

Historical books, 16

- Joshua - Ezra

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 - Judges - Nehemiah

- Samuel 1 - Tobit

- Samuel 2 - Judith

- Kings 1 - Esrher/Aster/

- Kings 2 - Maccabees 1

- Chronicles 1

- Chronicles 2

Didactical books 7

- Job

- Psalms

- Proverbs

- Ecclesiates

- Song of songs

- Wisdom

- Sirach (Ecclesiaticus)

Prophetic books 18

- Isaiah

- Jeremiah

- Lamentations

- Baruch

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 - Ezekiel

- Daniel

- The 12 minor prophets

 The Greek Orthodox Church accepts the same number of books as the RCC,
PLUS.

- 1esdras

- Prayer of Manasseh

- Psalm 151

- 3 Maccabees

The Coptic Church accepts two more books from the N.T such as

- 1st epistle of clement

- 2nd epistle of clement

Division of the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible

Law 5

- Genesis

- Exodus

- Leviticus

- Numbers

- Deuteronomy

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Historical books, 16

- Joshua 2nd Ezra & Ezra Sutuel

- Judges - Tobit

- Ruth - Judith

- 1 & 2 Samuel - Esther

- 1 & 2 kings - 1 Maccabees

- 1 Chronicles - 2 & 3 Maccabees

- 2 Chronicles

- Jubuilee

- Enoch l

- Ezra Nehemia

Wisdom (Poetry) books, 8

- Job

- Psalms

- Proverbs

- Reproof

- Wisdom

- Ecclesiastes

- Song of songs

- Sirach

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Prophetic books 16

- Isaiah

- Jeremiah

- Ezekiel

- Daniel

- Hosea

- Amos

- Micah

- Joel

- Obadiah

- Jonah

- Nahum

- Habakkuk

- Zephaniah

- Haggai

- Zekariah

- Malachi

 Joseph ben Gurion

1.6.3 The Protestant Bible

The Calvinist's, Lutherans and all other protestant churches follow-the Hebrew

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Bible and they do not include the above seven Deutro-canonical books in their
Bible.

Thus, accordingly, we have 46 books of the Old Testament in the Orthodox,

and Catholic Bible, 39 in the Protestant Bible based on the Greek division of
the 'LXX, and 24 in the Hebrew Bible according to the Jewish division.

New Testament Division

The New Testament books are divided by the Christians in the same way as
gospels, historical, didactical, and prophetical. Gospels are the 4 gospels.
Historical book is Acts of the apostles, Didactic-'1'books are the 14 letters of
Paul and the 7 general letters (the letter of James, the 2 letters of Peter, the 3
letters of John, the letter of Jude), Prophetical book is the Revelation of John.
Moreover, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahcdo Church accepts 8 more "bocks of
church order which are included of the 27 books of the New Testament.

a. The order of Zion

b. Commandment (Tizaz)

c. Gitzew

d. Abtils

e. 1st books covenant

f. 2nd books of covenant

g. Clement

h. Didascalia

The Synod (the order of Zion, Commandment. Gttzew and Abtilis) is a book of
church order comprising an extensive collection of canons, prayers, and
instructions. The book is attributed to Clement of Rome. Clement is a book in
seven parts. The book of Covenant counted as two parts: the first part of 60
sections comprises mainly on church orders; section 61 is a discourse of

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the Lord to his disciples after his resurrection The Ethiopic Didasclia is a book
of church order which is divided in to 43 chapters. The 12 apostles, the 72
disciples, St. Paul, Jacob Jesus' brother, have spoken and written and gave ii
to Clement the 43 sections of Didasclia being gathered in Jerusalem. This is
happened after the teachings of Jesus to the people on church orders and the
establishment of the church at Philippians that is after 22 years of Jesus'
resurrection.

From the whole Bible the Ethiopian orthodox Tewahedo church accept a longer
canon containing 46+35-81 books while the Catholics 46+27=73. Jewish and
most Protestants have a shorter canon consisting of 24 or 39 books from the
O.T and for Protestants 27 from the New Testament.

1.7 The Chapter and Verse Divisions of the Bible

Within the books of the Bible, there was originally no division, except in the
case of the Psalms, which were- always indicated as separate poems. The
first indication of divisions within the books is seen regarding the New
Testament books.

In the 2nd cent. A.D. Tatian wrote marginal notes in the New Testament book.
So also, a system of paragraphing was developed for the Gospels, known as
"titloi" in Greek (Title). Several such paragraphs were put under a descriptive
heading called "Kephalaion" (Chapter). The present division of the New
Testament books into chapters is attributed to Stephen Langton, professor of
Paris University and later archbishop of Canterbury, about 1216 A.D. Still
smaller division of the books of the New Testament was that of the “stichoi”
(lines or vesicles). These marks were introduced to help the reader by
indicating where he might pause. They were shorter than our present verses.
The chapters were divided into versifies in 1550 A.D. by Robert Stephen. His
son Henry Stephen published the first New Testament in Greek with the
division into vesicles in As regards the Old Testament books. Hen Asher made

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a certain division in the 10th cent. A.D., but our modern usage was devised
Rabbi Nathan in 1448, first being printed in 1524. The verse division in the
Old Testament is attributed to Sanctes Pagninus. Thus 1'rorri I6"centurv on
wards we have the complete Bible divided into chapters and verses.

1.8. The Printed Bible

Johann Gutenberg of Mainz (Germany) was the inventor of printing. Bible was
the first printed book. The first printed Bible was in Latin and the printing
was done around the year 1456. In the period between 1456 and 1500 there
appeared nearly one hundred editions of the Latin bible. The complete Hebrew
Bible was published in I488.

1.9. How Did the Bible Originate or come to be?

Bible is the word of God in human words, God's communication to humans.

When God speaks to humans it does not just fall from the sky. God does it
through time, space, and culture. Bible grew out of a long process of God's
people recounting from generation to generation, the stories of their experience
of God, and God's relationship and communication with them. The biblical
literature is believed to have been written from the time of Moses (ca. 1400
B.C.) until the time of John (ca. I00 A. D.). It covers a history of growth and
development for about 1500 years.

Tradition, church teachings, and scripture are all important in Christianity.

The church acknowledges the twofold reality the scripture and tradition.
Snored tradition and sacred scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the
word of God which is entrusted to the church. Our church does not restrict
divine revelation to the text alone. Divine revelation the source of both
tradition and scripture. Most of the Bible grew out of a three way process:

Oral Tradition: is the process of transmission of the church beliefs, doctrines,

rituals, and scriptures from the original bearers of the biblical writers with the

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assistance of the Holy Spirit. People recounted the experiences and stories of
their experiences with God and passed them to their children and grand
children, who likewise passed them on to the next generation-by word of mouth
when writing was not very common. It can be apostolic and post apostolic, it
can be written and unwritten. It is the sum of all that has been handed down
and as to its function in the church tradition can act both as memory of the
past and as anticipation of the future.

Written Tradition: When eventually, crises arose that threatened to destroy

the faith heritage (Tradition) of the chosen people, trained scribes (people who
knew the of writing), combined and wrote down those experiences and stories
of faith to preserve them for all time.

Edited Tradition: is what in the course of time, the scribes and literary
people, collected the various written traditions and sources, and grouped them
together in various categories, and edited them to apply them to their own
time and situation.

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 CHAPTER TWO

2.1 INSPIRATION AND REVELATION

2.1 Inspiration
Inspiration is a term which drives from Lateen “inspirer” means “two breath upon or into
something. Some Scholars understand the word inspiration as referring to the spirits action in the
lives of biblical writers such as the prophets, apostles and others, so that what the writes become
the word of Guard as the basis of this understanding the scholars appeal to texts which speak of
Gods profits resaving message from the Lord which the subserviently rout down Ger 36: 1-2,
Eze, 11: 5, Mic. 3:8,2pet, 1:21,).
Other Scholars build form the Pauline declaration, “All scriptures is inspired by God” (2 Tim
3:15). Based on this they assert that “inspiration” refers to a quality of the biblical writings
themselves. Generally one could distinguish within the one act of inspiration as an active sense (
the action of God), and a passive sense (the effect of god’s action on the human author). In
keeping with in this distinction we may define “inspiration” as primarily an activity, and
secondarily as a deposit or effect writings.

2.1.1.. Biblical Description of inspiration

Inspiration as applied to the bible refers to the God given authority of its teaching for the thought
and life of the believer, inspiration in the Bible approaches in double authorship” God is the
author of the Bible (not mean He dictates it or written it but it means he willed it into existence),
and God is the originator.

2.1.1.1. Inspiration in the Old Testament

It is true that there is no explicit mention inspiration in the page of the Old Testament. However,
there are many passages which hint at it. We learn, for example, that it was God who has caused
Mosses to record certain events and laws (ex. 17:14,24:: 3-4,;34: 27). Hence it may be supposed
that written texts existed and were attributed to mosses and ultimately to God’s authority. We
also find references to prophets writing down the word of the Lord which they had received

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(Isa.30:8, Jer. 30: 2, 36: 2, Hab. 2:2). Such writing had a special claim to be considered sacred
and to be regarded as the word of God.
The people of the Old Testament believed that God guided them through his
spirit. The action of the spirit is .seen in different ways in the Old Testament. In
the first place there is an inspiration to act (Judges 3:10) and an inspiration to
speak, especially in the case of the prophets (2 Sam 23:2; Isa. 59:21; Ez. I 1:5).
Then (here is an inspiration to write (Ex. 1 7:14).

Thus we come to three forms of inspiration. The inspiration to act may be

described as pastoral inspiration : which moved the pastors or leaders of the
people ol God. Then there is prophetic inspiration, enjoyed by the speakers of
the word: prophets and apostles. Finally comes scriptural inspiration, the
prolongation end completion of the other two. All three together form what we
might describe as biblical inspiration.

2.1.1.2 Inspiration in the New Testament

There are two most important texts in the New Testament (2 Tim. 3:16-17 and
2 Pet. 1:20-21), which with reference to the Old Testament, consider
respectively the extent and the nature of inspiration.

2 Tim 3:16-11: "All scripture (pasa graphe) is inspires by God (theopneustos)

and profitable for reaching, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work".

The Greek expression 'pasa graphe: most likely means 'every passage of
scripture. The Greek adjective theopneustos is composed of theos, from theos,'
'"God", and pneustos, from pneo, “to breathe”, it is generally understood in the
passive sense, meaning that the scripture is "breathed out by God", “God
breathed"', that is, the scripture is the product of the creative breath of God. In
other words, what is declared by this important passage is that the biblical
books are a divine product, without indicating how God has operated in
producing them. In the Bible, the "breath of God" is the symbol of his almighty

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power, which is expressed through his creative word. In Ps. 33:6 we read: "By
the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their entire host by the breath of
his mouth". Here God's breath is seen as the irresistible outflow of his power.
When Paul declares that every scripture is the product of the divine breath; he
asserts that scripture is the product of a specifically divine operation. The spirit
in the Old Testament is the creative power of God as expressed in the lives and
words of Israel's great prophets. Hence 2 Tim would be affirming that every
passage in The Old Testament is God-breathed, or inspired; as a consequence
these scriptures are useful for leaching, reproof, correction, and training in
righteousness.

2 Pet 1:19-21: 'And we have the prophetic word made more sure 1. You will
do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the
day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts. First of a l l you must
understand this that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own
interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man. but
men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.'

What Paul tells us about the divine origin of the scripture is confirmed and
complemented by 2 Pet 1:19-21. In this letter the author is confronting the
troublemaking false teachers who claim that the traditional teachings about
Jesus' Parousia are not heavenly revelations but only human creations (cf. 2
Pet 3:1-4; 1:16). Peter is assuring his readers that what had been known to
them of "The power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 pet 1:16b) was
not based on cleverly devised myth (1:16a). He gives them the testimony of
eyewitnesses of Christ's glory (l: 16c-18). Then he tells them that they have
better testimony than even that of eyewitnesses. "We have the prophetic word";
and this, he says, is "more sure", and therefore should certainly be heeded.
The reason why every prophecy of scripture should be heeded to is that it
does not come "'by the impulse of man"; that is, it is not the result’ of human
investigation nor the product of the writer's own thinking, but it is the result of

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God's action.

2.1.2. Support for the biblical claim of Inspiration

There are two lines of evidence to be considered on the inspiration of the bible:
the evidence flowing from within scripture (internal evidence) and that coming
from outside (external evidence).

2.1 2.1. Internal/evidence

The bible claims to be and proves to be the word of God. There are general
claims for the bible as whole and more specific claims for sctykuis and even
individual books. This is true of both Old and New Testaments. Support for
bible's claim to be the written word of God comes from many sources. First,
from the very nature of the bible, it gives every appearance of having come
from God. Not only does in claim to have a divine origin, but also a
supernatural character. Second, the witness of the spirit to the heart of the
believer adds further confirmation to the bible's inspiration. Third, (he
transforming ability of scripture is indication of its divine origin. Fourth, the
very unity of the bible itself is another internal evidence for the inspiration of
the bible.

2.1.2.2. External evidence

The internal evidence of inspiration is mostly subjective in nature. It relates to

what the believer sees or senses in his experience with the bible. All the
internal evidences are available only inside Christianity. The nonbelievers does
not sense the witness of the Holy 'Spirit, nor experience the edifying power of
scripture .in his life. Unless he steps by lath to the inside, these internal
evidences may have convincing effect on his life. This is where the external
evidence plays a crucial role. It indicates where the 'inside' really is. The
following are the external evidences:

First, evidence from the historicity the bible: much of the bible is historical

21
and as such is subject to historical investigation. The most significant area of
confirmation in this regard has conies from the field of archaeology. The
renowned archaeologist William F. Albright said, "There can be no doubt that
archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of the Old Testament
tradition." Nelson Gluek adds, "It may be stated categorically that no
archaeological discovery has ever controvert a biblical reference. Scores of
archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or
exact detail historical statements in the bible." Clifford A. Wilson has added
still more support to the historical reliability of the Bible. No historical
discovery is a direct evidence of any spiritual claim in the bible, such as the
claim to be divinely inspired; nevertheless the historicity of the bible does
provide indirect verification of the claim of inspiration.

Second, Evidence from prophecy: another forceful external testimony to the

inspiration of scripture is the fact of fulfilled prophecy. According to mosses,
"a prophet was false if he made predictions that were never fulfilled" (deut.
1 8 ) No unconditional prophecy of the bible about events to the present day
has gone unfilled. Hundreds of predictions, some of them given.

Hundreds of years in advance, have been literally fulfilled. The time (Dan.
9:25). The city (Mic. 5:2). And nature (Isa. 7:14) of Christ's birth were foretold
in the Old Testament, as were dozens of other things about his life, death,
and resurrection (lsa.'53). Numerous other prophecies have been fulfilled,
including the destruction of Edom (Obad. J), the curse on Babylon (Isa. 13),
the destruction of Tyre (Eze. 26). And Neneveh (Neh. 1-3) and the return of
Israel to the Land (Isa. 11:11). Other books claim divine inspiration, such as
Quran, the book of Mermon and parts of the veda. But none those books
contains predictive prophecy. As a result, fulfilled prophecy is a strong
indication of the unique, divine authority of the Bible.

Third, Evidence from the influence of the bible: no book has’ been more
widely disseminated and has more broadly influenced the course of world

22
events than office bible. The bible has been translated into more languages,
been published in more copies, influenced more thought, inspired more art,
and motivated more discoveries than any other book in history. The bible has
been translated into over OIIQ thousand languages representing more than
ninety percent of the world's population.

Fourth. Evidence from the apparent indestructibility of the bible: despite its
importance, the bible has suffered more vicious attacks than would be
expected to be made on such a book. But the bible has withstood ail its
attackers. Biblical critics once regarded much of it as mythological, but
archaeology has established it as historical. Antagonists have attacked its
leaching as primitive, but moralists urge that its teaching on love be applied
to modern society. Skeptics have cast doubt on its authenticity, and yet more
men are convinced of its truth today than ever. An attack on the bible
continues to arise from science, psychology, and political movements, but the
bible remains undaunted. The bible remains just as strong after the attack.
Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass
away" (Mark 13:31).

Fifth, Evidence from miracles: another support for the inspiration of scripture
comes from miracles. A miracle is an act of God and confirms the word of God
by a prophet of God. The bible is a prophetic book. Every book in it was
written by a prophet or apostle. And since there were miracles to confirm the
prophetic message given by authors of scripture, then the bible is confirmed to
be the word of God by acts of God (miracles).

2.1.3. Theological Description of Inspiration

The theological description of inspiration may be derived from three way of

process. Divine Casualty: The prime mover in inspiration is God: "No prophecy
was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit
spoke from God" (2 Pet 1:21). In other words, God moved, and (he prophet

23
mouthed the truths; God revealed, and man recorded Hid word. The Bible is
God's word in the sense that it originates with him and authorized by him,
even though articulated by men.

Prophetic agency: The prophets played an important role in the overall

process of inspiration they were the means by which God spoke, The word of
God was written by men of God God used persons to convey his propositions,
In other words, God exercised his operation in, with, and through the free
working of man's own mind.

Scriptural authority: is the final product of God's causality and the prophetic
agency. Hence the Bible is a divinely authoritative book. God moved the
prophets in such a way as to breathe out their writings. In other words god
spoke to the prophets and is speaking in their writings.

Therefore, this definition of inspiration is suggested in this way: inspiration is

that mysterious process by which the divine causality worked through the
human prophets without destroying their individual personalities and styles to
produce divinely authoritative and inerrant writings.

2.1.4. Characteristics of inspiration

Once the bible is approved as the breath or inspired word of God, it has its
own different characteristics. The following are some characteristics of
inspiration:

- It is infallible

- It is unbreakable

- It is irrevocable (unchangeable)

- It is plenary on complete

- It has complete inerrancy

24
 2.2. Revelation

The English word revelation conies from the Latin “revelo” or from Hebrew
“galah” or from the Greek “apokalypto” which is mean to uncover and to unveil
something hidden, so that it may be seen and known for what it is.
Accordingly when the bible speaks of revelation the thought intended is of God
the creator actively disclosing to men His power and glory, nature and
character, will, way, plans, and in short himself in order that men may know
him. The revelation in both testaments is a wide one covering the ideas of
making: obscure things clear, bringing hidden things to light, showing signs,
speaking words and causing the persons addressed to see, hear, perceive,
understand and know.

The concept of revelation lies at the heart of the Christian faith. We believe
that God has uniquely revealed Himself to humanity in the arena of human
history. We believe that God chose to reveal Himself to us and Christianity is a
response to God's self disclosure in history. It is important to note that the
content of revelation is not information or data, hut God Himself. It is a self-
revelation, self-disclosure, not revelation about things or ideas. Scripture itself
is a direct revelation by God. God reveled Himself through scriptures. God is
the one who reveled himself and scripture tells us towards that revelation.

2.2.1. The necessity of revelation

The Bible assumes throughout that God must first disclose himself before men
can know him. The Aristotelian idea of an inactive God whom man can
discover by following out an argument is quite unbiblical. A revelatory
initiative is needed, first, because God is transcendent. He is so far from man
in his mode of being that man cannot see him (Jn. 1:18, Tim. 6:16. Ex. 33:20),
nor find him out by searching (cf. Jb. 11:7, 23:3-9), nor read his thoughts by
shrewd guesswork (Is.55:8f). Now, however, there is a second reason why
man's knowledge of God must depend on God's revelatory initiative. Man is

25
sinful. His powers of perception in the realm of d iv in e things have been so
dulled by Satan (2 Cor. 4:4) and sin (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14), and his mind is so
prepossessed by his own fancied wisdom which runs contrary to the true
knowledge of God (Rom. 1:2I, 1 Cor. 1:21), that it is beyond his natural powers
to apprehend God, however presented to him. In fact according to St. Paul God
presents himself constantly to every man through his works of creation and
providence (Rom. l:19, Acts 14:17, Ps. 19:1).

Generally speaking Revelation has two local points: God's purposes and God's
person. This is mean:

A). on the one hand, God tells men about himself who he is, what he has
done, what he is doing, and will do, and what he requires them to do. Thus he
took Noah, Abraham and Moses in to his confidence, t e l l i ng them what he
had planned and what their part in his plan was to be (Gen. 6:13-21, 12:1,
Gen15:13-21, 17:15-21,18:l7, Ex. 3:7-22). Again, he declared to Israel the
laws and promises of his covenant (Ex. 20-23, Dt. 4:13, 28, Ps. 78:5, 147:19).
He disclosed his purpose to the prophets (Am. 3:7). Jesus Christ told his
disciples 'all that I have heard from my father' (Jn. 15:15), and promised them
the Holy Spirit to complete his work of instructing them (Jn. 16:21). God
revealed to Paul the 'mystery' of his eternal purpose in Christ (Ephe.1;9, 3:3-
11. From this stand point, as God's own precise disclosure of his saving
purpose and work, Paul calls the gospel 'the truth', in contrast with, error and
falsehood (2Thes. 2:1 1-13, 2Tim. 2: I8). Hence the use of the phrase 'revealed
truth' in Christian theology to denote what God has told men about himself.

B. On the other hand, when God sends men his word, he also confronts them
with himself. The bible does not think of revelation as a mere broadcasting of
information, but as God's personal coming to individuals to make himself
known to them (Gen. 35:7; Ex. 6:3).

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2.2.2. The Biblical process of Divine Revelation

God spoke to the prophets in many and varies ways (Heb. 1:1, Num. 12:6). The
following are the different ways that God has revealed to humankind.

A. He spoke to prophets by angels, as he did to Lot (Gen. 19)

B. In dreams as he did to Daniel (Dan. 7:1)

C. In visions as he did with Isaiah and Ezekiel (Isa. 1:1, Eze. 1:1)

D. By using miracles eg. Moses and the burning bush (Ex. 3:2)

E. Nature was used to speak to the Psalmist (Ps. 19:1)

F. Sometimes God spoke in an audible voice (I Sam. 3:4)

G. The inner voice of the individual's conscience and communion with God

H. The priests discovered the w i l l of God by means of the Urim and

Thumim (Ex. 28:30, Num.27:21)
I. Causing lots was designated as a means by which God indicated his will
(Prov. I6\33)

2.3. The Relation B/n Inspiration, Revelation, & Interpretation

Revelation concerns the origin of truth (1 Cor. 2:10). Revelation involves

disclosure rather than discovery. Revelation refers to the divine disclosure of
the scripture. Sometimes it can be a disclosure of a person (Christ).

Even though the three concepts (inspiration, revelation, and interpretation) are
interrelated in the total process of God's communication, they are quite
distinguishable. God revealed truth to men who received and recorded it; and
Inspiration becomes the means God. Used to achieve His revelation in the
bible. Inspiration involves man in an active sense, where as revelation is solely
the activity of God. Interpretation focuses on the apprehension and
understanding of the truth. The Greek term hermeneuein is applied to the

27
interpretation of the scripture in the study of hermcncucics. In revelation God
unveils truth; by interpretation man understands that truth. The three
concepts (inspiration, revelation, and interpretation) (bun three necessary links
in the communication chain "from God to us”

- Revelation is the fact of divine communication

- Inspiration is the means of divine communication

- Interpretation is the process of understanding that divine communication.

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CHAPTE THREE

3. The Language and Versions of the Bible

3.1. The Biblical Languages

The Bibles we use are al l translations and readers often enquire about the
original languages of the two testaments. The original languages of the Bible
are only three:

Hebrew: it is the language of the Hebrews, the Canaan, the Israelites, and the
Judah. The designation Hebrew occurs for the first time in the prologue. To the
book of Ecclesiasticus or Sirach. The OT is originally written in Hebrew this
was. Done at a time when Hebrew was a living langrage roughly between 950-
1000 B.C. The Language was written originally without vowel points, (t was
from 5th -9th Century that the Massorets safeguard the traditional transmission
by adding the proper vowels.

Hebrew was the language of the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel and
Judah respectively. It was used by the Jews until the time of the Babylonian
captivity, when the language of the court, Aramaic, came more and more to
replace it. When the Jews people returned from the Babylonian captivity
around 536 B.C. the Hebrew language had undergone some significant
changes. Aramaic words had been added to the vocabulary, and the alphabet
was changed from the old Hebrew characters to the newer square Aramaic
script-which is the form still in use today.

Aramaic: This was the language that was spoken by the nomadic tribes that
began to penetrate into West Asia around 1000 B.C. It was the language of the
Arameans and slowly employed by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians.
The language has at times been called inaccurately Hebrew. The Aramaic
language split into the western dialect (Jewish Aramaic, which was Jesus'
language), and the eastern dialect (Syriac is an east Aramaic dialect).

29
Aramaic should not be confused with the language spoken by the Arabs today
which is called Arabic is a Semitic language used by the neo-Babylonians of
the time of Nabuchadnezzar 11 (cf. book of Daniel). It became the major
language of the ancient Near East and was spoken and written by most
nations of the area until the rise of Islam subjugated it and replaces it by
Arabic. The language most commonly spoken in Israel in Jesus" day was
Aramaic and in last it is the language that Jesus himself spoke. A few snatches
are recorded in the New Testament, but most of what remains are translations
of his words into Greek. The following are the few Aramaic words or phrases
which are directly mentioned in the bock of the New Testament: Golgota (place
of skule Matt. 27:3), Elohe Elohe Lama Sabachtani (My Lord My Lord why have
you forsaken me Matt. 27:46), Thalitha cum (little girl get up Mk. 5:41).

Greek: This language is the original language for the book of the New
Testament. The basic language of the New Testament has gone through a
series of changes similar to the other languages. There are five basic periods of
Greek:

 Homeric (the period of dialects, before 450 B.C)

 Attic (Classical period, 450-300 B.C)
 Koine (common language, 300 B.C. 550 A.D.)
 Byzantine (A.D.550-1450)
 Modern (A.D. 1450 onwards)
The first two belongs to the Semitic family of languages, and the last to the
Indo-European one. The term Semitic comes from Sera, the name of one of
Noah's sons, who according to biblical tradition, was the ancestor of the people
of Israel (Gen. 11:30-32). The language from which all the Semitic dialects of
historical times evolved is called Proto-Semitic, and while there are in
existence no documents written in it, it can, to a certain extent, be
reconstructed.

We do not know where exactly was the home of the Proto-Semites, but in the

30
third millennium we find their descendants settled in Mesopotamia (the cast),
in Syria-Palestine (the Northwest), and in Arabia and Ethiopia (the Southwest).
On the bases of this geographical distribution of the Semites, we can divide the
languages of the Semitic families into four divisions.

3.1.1. The Semitic Families

The Semitic families of languages do not include the oldest known languages
that honor goes to Sumerian, a unique language which is part of no known
language family and bears no resemblance to any oilier known language; it was
written with Cuneiform characters. The following are the four divisions of the
Semitic languages:

A. The Eastern Division. Acadian, called Assyrian in the periods of the oldest
texts, and later Babylonian are spokesmen of this division. Acadian was the
common language of all southwest Mesopotamia during the time of the old
Babylonian and Assyrian empires, this is a fact evidenced by the Amarna
Letters. These languages are not used in the Old Testament.

B. The Southern Division. This division has two major languages: Arabic and
Ethiopic. Ethiopic is the language of Ethiopia (Cush), a country referred to
in each section or the Old Testament. And Arabic is the language of Arabs.
Neither of those languages is used in the Old Testament.

C. The Northern Division. Amorite and Aramaic, which was the language of
Jesus and the disciples, is representative of the Northern Division. The
Amorites inhabited Palestine before and during Israel's occupation (Gen.
10:16; 15:16; Duet. 7:1; Josh. 10:6; 2Chron. 8:7) r but their language was
not used in the writing of the, Old Testament. Aramaic, the language of the
Syrians, appears in all three sections of the Old Testament either in writing.
or in place names (cf. Gen. 10:22; 31:47; 2kings 18:26; Ezra 4:7-6:1; 7:12-
26; Isa. 36:11; Jer. 10:11).

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D. The Northwest Division. This division of the Semitic families includes four
dialects: Ugaritic. Phoenician. Meabite, and Hebrew. Ugaritic is not used
in the Old Testament, but it was the language of the Northern Syria.
Phoenician is another important language that was not used in the Old
Testament. The contribution of the Phoenicians is a major one, because it
was they who introduce the alphabet to other languages. Lot's
descendants developed two dialects of Hebrew: Moabite by way of his
oldest daughter and Ammonite by way of the younger. Neither of these
languages was used in the Old Testament. This was the most important
language of the Old Testament. It was in this language that the. Whole of
the Old Testament written. It also called the language cf the Judean
(2Kgs. 18:26), and the language of the Canaan (lsa. 19:18). During its
long history, Hebrew has developed into the Biblical, Mishnaic, Rabbinic,
Medieval, and Modem dialects.

3.1.2. The Indo-European Families

Tocharian (Chinese), IIittite lndo-Iranian, Armenian, Slavic, Celtic:, Germanic,

Albanian. Latin and Greek are some of the Indo-European languages. The
languages which are more prominent among the Indo-European families are
Latin and Greek. Since Latin was used in the Eastern Roman Empire mostly by
the legions, it made its influence felt in Rabbinic Hebrew, Spoken Aramaic, and
in Greek writings. Its influence in the book of the New Testament is found
mainly in 'loan words e.g. centurion (Mk. 15:39; 44:45), tribute (Matt. 17:25),
legion (Matt. 26:53). In addition to that the inscription on the cross was written
in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.

3.1.3 The Text of the Old Testament

Before the Babylonian Exile (587-538) the written text of the Bible had no
significant role to play in the life of the people of Israel. But, during and after
the exile the Jewish became the people of the book. The text was consonantal

32
(a consonant without vowels). It was the massorets group who arranged the
vocalization, and made the language complete, (consonants + vowels). The
Massorets also added on the marigins of biblical manuscripts known as
massorah marginalis. There were three types of massorah marginalis:

Masorah Parva:' this is a small massorah (shorter annotation), which will be

written on the left and right" sides or margins of the text some times in the
Babylonian Bible it can be written between the lines.

Massorah Magma: this is the big massorah (longer annotation), which will be
written on the top and bottom of the page: (Palestine) beside and beneath
(Babylonia).

Massorah Fiealis: this is an annotation to be written at the end of individual

books and of the entire Old Testament.

3.1.4. The Samaritan Pentateuch

In the heart of Palestine there were a group of people who were regarded by the
Jews as worse than the heathen, although they worship the same God as they,
honored the same scripture (the Pentateuch), and accepted Mosses as the
supreme legislator. But still, they were not part of Gcd's people. The origin of
this antagonism can be dated from 965 B.C. when the United

Kingdom was split into two: Samaria (Shechem as its capital), and Judea
(Jerusalem as its capital). The Nuithern king, Jeroboam, with the purpose of
stopping pilgrimages to Jerusalem, restored worship in two ancient holy
places; Bethel in the south. Dan in the North. The altars of Jeroboam were
sullied by the golden calves; the prophet Elijah opposed himself to the
idolatrous Queen Jezebel. Samaria their new capital built by king Omri in
about 880 (l Kgs. 16:24) was seen as a rival to. The holy city, and it's
destruction by the Assyrians in 722. Even after the exile the other group of
Israelites did not allow the assistance of the Samaritans in reconstructing the

33
temple and this descended into pure hatred (Neh. 3:34: 4:2). One began to
speak of them as excommunicated (Ezra 4:4). These tensions led to schism.
Under the government of Alexander the great, about 333 BC, Manasseh,
brother of the high priest and son-in-law of the governor of Samaria, obtained
permission to build a temple on mount Gerizim,'

As the name implies; the Samaritan Pentateuch contains only the Pentateuch
(Torah) as it was preserved by the Samaritan community. As a group, they
recognized only the Pentateuch as their authoritative (canonical) scripture.
Therefore, it is the only portion of the Old Testament that they copied and
preserved throughout their history.

In Jesus time a real hatred ruled between the two groups the Jews and the
Samaritans. An expression, mentioned in the Talmud, declares that a pieace
of bread from a Samaritan is more impure than Pork. Jesus was howled
down as a Samaritan and possessed of the Devil (Jn. 8:48). When Jesus
Christ wishes to shame the Jews for their hardness and ingratitude, He
presents Samaritans as examples: the Good Samaritan who is presented as
exemplar of brotherly love (Lk. 10:25-57). Jesus spoke to Samaritan woman;
a Samaritan is the only one to thank Jesus Christ among 10 lepers healed by
Him (Jn. 4; Lk. 17:1),

3.2. Ancient Versions of the Bible

In the above discussion we were discussing the original languages in which the
texts of the bible written, but here we are going to deal with its versions in a
variety of languages other than the original languages. A version is a
translation from the original languages of a literary text into another language.
In order for succeeding generations to share in this revelation the scriptures
had to be translated and retranslated. These versions help, the people to
understand the Bible in their vernacular languages. There are numerous
versions of the Bible, of which we are going to see only the principal ones

34
dating from pre-Christian and Christian antiquity.

Versions of the Old Testament

3.2.1 The Greek Versions

The Septuagint (LXX): Septuagint is a Greek version of the Hebrew Old
Testament made in Alexandria for the Jews living in Egypt during the reign of
Ptolemy II Philadelphia (2S5-246 B.C). Septuagint mean in Greek seventy. , The
title arose from the history of Ptolemy. It was during the reign of Ptolemy
Philadelphia that full political and religious rights were granted to the Jews.
The translation was made by seventy scholars, who were selected from each of
the 12 tribes, and the translation was completed in just seventy-two days, and
all Produced identical translations. Among all the versions of the Old
Testament, the Septuagint occupies the first place, and it is based on a pre-
Massoretic Hebrew text. At the beginning of the Christian era there was in
existence a complete Old Testament text in Greek language including the
Deutero- Canonical books.

We have also three another Greek versions of the Old Testament. When the
Jews abandoned the Septuagint and Christians began citing it in their
disputes with them, the Jews people immediately issued three new versions in
the course of the second century A.D. which are known by the names of their
authors:

The Version of Aquila (ca. 130): was a new translation of the Old Testament
into Greek. It is a very literal translation, and only fragments of his version
survive.

The Version of Symmachus (ca. 170): The purpose of Symmachus was to

make an idiomatic Greek version and, as a result he was al the opposite pole
to Aquila. It is an elegant, bul Iree translation; his Greek is pure and
idiomatic.

35
Theodotion's Revision (ca. 180-190): occupies the next place of interest in
Greek translations of the Old Testament. The exact place of, this work is
disputed, but it appears to have been a revision of an earlier Greek version:
either of the LXX, possibly of Aquila's, or of another Greek version.
Nevertheless, many scholars they use to insist that it is a thorough revision of
the Septuagint. These versions have not survived for a long time and only
fragments are available of Aquila and Symmachus, Theodotion’s Daniel is now
extent.

The Hexaphla of Origen (ca. 240-50): When the Septuagint text gradually
became corrupt. Origin, with the intension of supplying the Christian
community with the correct text, compiled a six-column an addition of the Old
Testament, which is known as Hexapla (it is Greek, hex-six + ploos-fold; hence,
six fold). In six parallel columns he arranged the Old Testament text in the
following order:-
 The Hebrew text

 The Hebrew text transliterated Into Greek letters

 Aquila's translation

 Symmachus' translation

 The Septuagint as revised by Origen himself

 Theodotion's translation

The whole page ran to nearly 7000 pages. This great Origen's work was kept in
the library at Caesarea, but now only fragments of the entire work are
available. The other above versions is also fragments extant.

3.2.2. The Aramaic Version

The Targums are Aramaic books of larger sections of the Old Testament. As a

36
general rule, Targums tend to be more periphrastic than literal. They owe their
origin to the time when Hebrew fell out of common use among the Jews people
in Palestine. Because the ordinary Jew came to speak Aramaic instead of
Hebrew, synagogue readings had to be given in Aramaic to be understood. At
first this was done orally, but in the course of time these translations came to
be written down (during the; lime of Jesus first century A.D.). The Targum fall
into three groups, corresponding to the three sections of the Hebrew Bible:
A, Targum on the .Pentateuch: The Palestinian Targum (which is found in
Vatican library), The Jerusalem Targum I, The Jerusalem Targum II, The
Targum Onqelos;
B, Targum on the Prophets: The Targum Jonathan; C, The Targum on the
Writings: varies unofficial Targums available, but for Danial and Ezra-
Ntianityehemia there is no Aramaic paraphrase. The Samaritan Pentateuch has
its own Targums.

3.2.3. The Syriac Version (Peshitta)

The Peshiitta is a translation of the Old Testament in to Syriae which is a
dialect of Cast Animate the Syriac 'versions of the Old Testament are the oldest
to be made into a vernacular. The common Bible of the Syriac-speaking
communities is the Peshitta. "Peshina" means "simple", that is the text in
common use. It was the common language of the market. The Peshitta
language was comparable to Koine-Greek and to Vulgate-Latin. The Peshitta
Old Testament dates back to the mid-second or early-third century A.D. The
Peshitta New Testament was in existence in the 5 th century A.D.

The Palestine Jews in nearby Syria of our Lord's time before staging Syriac
language they spoke Aramaic. Christianity next to Palestine was spread to Sy
was there that the followers of Jesus for the first time called Christians (Acts
11:26). From Antioch Christianity spread into Central Asia, India, and as far
as China. The basic language of this branch of Christianity was Syriac (or
Christian Aramaic that differed from the Aramaic of the Palestinian Jews).

37
Once the church began to move out from Syria in a missionary effort the need
for a version of the Bible manifested. Finally the bible translated into Syriac
Peshita. And possibly it was done in the area at or near Edessa by many
hands. It was translated from the Hebrew language, though it was rater
revised in conformity with the Septuagint.

3.2.4 The Latin Versions (Vulgate)

Dining the second and the third centuries the faithful in Rome were speaking
Greek, and even the well-known Roman scholars were writing their works in
Greek. Although Latin was the official language of the time but all the
scriptures were written in Greek. Greek was, the literary-language until the 3 rd
century. However, Christians In Africa were Latin-speakers; the Latin version
made for them from the Septuagint is called Venis Latina. "the old Latin". As
early as the 2nd century the Old Latin version were existing in North Africa and
Europe.

The Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible prepared by St. Jerome who was
commissioned by the Bishops of Rome between 392-405 AD. Is known as
Vulgate, i.e. the popular version. The Vulgate became the Bible of the church of
the west, and the council of Trent declared it to be the. juridical authentic text
to be used in the liturgy. Vulgate remained the official bible of the Latin Church
until the II Vatican Council.

3.2.5. The Ethiopic version (Ge'ez)

The time and circumstances of the planting of the church in Ethiopia is
difficult to ascertain. Many scholars they use to say that by the conversion of
the Ethiopian Chamber line of the Candace (queen) Christianity introduced to
Ethiopia based on the account in Acts 8:26-39. And still others suggest that
there were many different apostles namely Mathew, Bartholomew, and Andrew
Who come 10 Ethiopia and preached time gospel. But, here whatever the case,
as Christianity moved into Ethiopia, a need arose for another translation of the

38
Bible. The Old Testament appears to have been translated from Hebrew into
Ethiopic, but the New Testament is translated beginning in the fourth century
from Greek to Ethiopic. This translation seems to have been completed by the
7lh century. The complete translation made by the Syrian Saints who moved to
Ethiopia during the Monophysite controversy.

3.2.6. The Coptic Version

Coptic is the latest form of ancient Egyptian writing. The name Coptic derivate
from Arabic ‘Kibt’ which gave rise to the European form of the name. This
system of writing came to be called Coptic, and the Bible was translated into its
several dialects.

3.2.7. The Armenian Version

As the Assyrian churches carried out their work of evangelization in the early
centuries, they contributed to several secondary translations of the Bible. They
are called a secondary translation because they were not from the original but
it is from the translations of the Originals. One of the foremost is the
Armenian. There are two basic traditions concerning the origin of the Armenian
version. One attributes it to St. Mesrob (d. 439), a soldier turned missionary
who created a new alphabet to assist Sahak (39.-439) in translating the Bible
from the Greek text. The other view claims that Sahak translated it from the
Syriac text. The Armenian Old Testament was first translated in the early 5 th
century.

3.4.8. English Versions

As we know at present we have many English versions all over the world. But
here we shail try to mention some of the important and popular versions.

i. Rheims-Deuay version (or Douay-Rheims Version): The first Catholic

English Bible is known as Rheims-Douay Version. The work of translation
was done mainly by Gregory Martin who published the New Testament first

39
 at Rheims (1582) and then the OT at Douay (1609- 1610). U is also known
as Douay Version. This translation is based on Latin vulgate.
ii. King James9 Version (K.JV) or Authorized Version (AV) of the bible
appeared in 1611. This version enjoyed enormous prestige for 350 years.
The main reason's tor this are probably the beauty any rhythm of its
language.
iii. The Revised Version: King James* Version had two revisions: One in
England and the other in U.S.A. The British revision of the KJV is called
Revised Version: The NT of RV was published in 1881 and the OT in
1885.
iv. American Standard Version (ASV): The American Scholars, who were
invited to lake part in the production of the Revised Version, suggested
extensive changes. But their Suggestions were not agreed upon. Later in
1901, the American revision was published as the American Standard
Version. , .
v. The Revised Standard Version (RSV): The American Standard Version
was again revised by a Committee of Protestant scholar and there
appeared what is known as the Revised Standard Version (RSV). The New
Testament appeared in 1946 and the Old Testament in 1952, and the
Apocrypha (Deutero-canonical Books) in 1957. A second edition of the
New Testament appeared in 1957. A second edition of the New Testament
appeared in 1971 with minor changes. Later the entire Bible was
completely revised and published in the year 1989 as the New Revised
Standard Version (NRSV).

A Catholic edition of RSV with a full ecclesiastical approval was published in

1966. In 1973 a new edition, known as "'the Common Bible", was published. It
was authorized by Roman.

Catholic authorities as the RSV Committee. In 1993 a Catholic Edition of NRSV

with full ecclesiastical approval was published. Since the publication of RSV,

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twenty-six other English and revisions of the bible were produced by
committees and by individual scholars. We give below important English
translations of the Bible:

1. The New English Bible (NEB NT 1961. OT 1970); revised in 1989

with the title 'The Revised English Bible 1.

2. The Good New or Today's English Version (GNB or TEV: NT: J 966;
OT 1976)

3. The New International Version (NIV NT/in 1973, OT in 1978)

4. The Jerusalem Bible (JB: 1966; The New Jerusalem Bible in 1985)

5. The New American Bible (NAB: 1952-70; New Translation of the

NT in 1987

6. Christian Community Bible (CCB), under the auspice of Catholic

Bishops' Conference of the Philippians, II Edition 1988. An Indian
version of the Christian Community Bible is in preparation. Rev. Fr.
Paul Kall.

7. The Living Bible paraphrased (by K. Taylor, 1972).

3.3. Ethiopian Manuscripts

Ethiopia can be given a prominent place among the ancient civilizations of the
world because of its possession of a written language which has enabled’ it to
keep records. Ethiopians have been masters for centuries in the preparation of
manuscripts embellished with beautiful illustrations, and excellently bound.
Initially, principal events and records were inscribed or cut upon stone, clay,
wood, metal and other objects. Later the recording of events reached a more
advanced stage with the use of manuscripts on parchment in a style unique ro
Ethiopia.

Although the wonderful gigantic stelae of Aksum do not bear any inscriptions,
some of the small - stelae, such as those of Anza and Metera, and, in Aksum

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that of the great Emperor Ezana bear detailed records written in Geez, the
ancient language of Ethiopia or in Greek as found in Aduiis. These describe
conquests and the extension of the empire and they also bear dedications to
their God: a clear example that our forefathers used stone to keep records. The
tools used in incising the characters on stone, metal, etc. might have been
instruments similar to the chisels found in certain excavations. Gold, silver
and bronze were also inscribed, upon, a good example of which are the
inscriptions found on various Aksumite coins.

Inscriptions were also made on pottery as has been attested by the discovery of
artifacts of clay around Aksum and Yeha on which were words of description in
Geez. On some of these objects depictions old weren’t animals such as lions,
goats, etc. are found. Another material used for. Writing was wood: certain
writings on wood were found in the monastery of Debere Damo. Wood was also
used for carved ceilings at Debre Damo, about sixty kilometers east of Aksum.

Nevertheless, the most important of all the writing materials used was the
parchment manuscript. Parchment is one of the oldest writing materials
employed in Ethiopia and nobody knows exactly when it came into use.
However it is believed the parchment was used during Aksumite times
and particularly it came. Into wider use after the introduction of Christianity in
the 4th century A.D. Parchment was preferred probably for its softness, easy
handling. lighiness and also the availability of the source material. There being
large numbers of livestock.

Hides of various animals, such as goats, cows, calves, oxen, sheep, lions,
leopards and antelopes were used to prepared parchments. The hides of goats,
sheep, calves, horses, wild goat, and antelopes are better than the rest.
However, because of their whiteness and absorption of ink the hides of goats
and wild-goats have higher preference. The hide of a goat is particularly soft
and strong and pajrmients made from go3t skin were highly prized and many
of the important manuscripts were made of this material. Most of these

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manuscripts were of a religious nature; that is, the Holy Scriptures, the Acts of
the Apostles, the Hymns of St. Yared, the Miracles of the Virgin Mary and of
Jesus the Lives of the Saints, but there were also’ legal books such as the
"Fetha Negest" (Laws of the Kings which was the Ethiopian civil, penal and
canon code) and historical books such as the Kibre Negest. And the Royal
Chronicles. Many other manuscripts also dealt with traditional Ethiopian
medicines.

The parchment was prepared at the residence of the scribe. The hide was first
cured by soaking it in water to facilitate the separation of skin from flesh. This
soaking could last for one or two days if the hide was fresh, otherwise several
more days were needed to soften it. The hide was then stretched on a wooden
frame and any pieces of fat or meat were removed.

Then the hair was shaved off from the hide with a special scraper, after which
the hide was washed lo make certain that no hair remained upon it. The cured
hid was then placed against a wall and left there rill it became completely dry.
To facilitate the process, this preparation of parchment took place during die
dry season. The dried hide was then cut and folded to the required size and
was read to be written upon. Ethiopian scribes prepared black and red ink
from various materials such as leaves, charcoal, soot, red pepper, yolk of egg,
red soil and gum. These wage thoroughly mixed with water, their combination
depending on the desired color and the mixture was left in a pot and
continually stirred for many days till ready for use. Besides the materials
mentioned above, there were other sources, such as dried flowers, colored
stone. And roots, used in the preparation of ink. These were reduced to a
powder, mixed and boiled in water. This solution was then filtered through a
piece of clean cloth. As with the preparation of the parchment, the production
of ink required considerable knowledge, skill and patience. The finished
product was then placed in a horn or similar container.

The ancient scribes used as a writing pen reed or quills of large birds. The

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reed was cut and stored in a clean dry place. The scribe then checked its
dryness and, if quite dry, sharpened the point to the required size. According
to the size of the letters, the tips would range from needle sharp to blunt.
However, most of the Ethiopian manuscripts were written in bold letters. Holy
names such as that of Jesus Christ, St. Mary, Angels and Saints were written
in red ink so that they would catch the eye. This same method was also used
in the middle of sentences and the manuscripts were embellished too with
black and red ink and painted pictures.

In writing the manuscripts, a half or a fill I page was often left blank for
appropriate illustrations. The paintings were handsomely executed in
harmonious color which captivated the viewer. The borders of the pages were
decorated with various motifs. Grasses, leaves and geometrical designs were
painted individually or in different combinations the pages were then bound
initially in batches often these in turn were tied together using leather thongs
to form a whole manuscript book. The inside cover pages in many cases were
decorated with colored cloth. A single manuscript volume might contain more
than one book. The whole work was bound by wooden boards. Important
books were covered with embossed gold or silver plate. Many were covered
with morocco leather standard with elaborate cross designs. Less important
books were covered with cotton cloth. The size of the manuscripts could vary
from small to very large. A medium size book of manuscripts might contain
about 1:20 pages. As a rule the name of the scribe and of the patron who had
commissioned the work were written inside.

Many of these priceless manuscripts are believed to have been lost either
through destructive wars or were collected by European missionaries,
travelers and explorers. In North America such as Chicago,. Texas, Canada &
Origen there are about 710 manuscripts. In England alone there are about
500 such manuscripts.

Emperor Tewodros is said to have collected about one thousand manuscripts

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and kept them in Mekdalla. Most of these were looted by the British
Expeditionary Force but one of the most important books, the Kibre Negest.
was returned later at the request of Emperor Yohannes IV (1871-1889) made
to Queen victual return it. Today the major manuscripts are to be found in
places such as the church of Sion Mari:m at Aksum. the monasteries of Oebre
Damo Gunda Gunde, Debre Bizen, Debre Libanos and the churches found on
the islands of Lake Tana Of the many manuscript works of the famous
Ethiopian sage St. Yared, the Dugua. Tsome Dugua. Mearaf. Mewasit and
Zimare are the most prized. These and other manuscripts prepared by the
ancient Ethiopians using parchments and their own home-made ink, reed and
feather pen. bear witness to the creative technology of our forebears. Therefore,
they should be guarded with care for posterity.

3.4. The Text of the New Testament

The books of the New Testament were all written roughly between. A.D. 50-
110. And immediate]) after their publication most of them were recognized as
inspired and canonical. Though we do not have the autographs of the sacred
writers, we are in possession of their authentic of The Greek New Testament as
we have it now is substantially unchanged and uncorrupted and is critically
certain.

The Versions of the New Testament

Our discussions can be quite brief, for the New Testament versions do not
have a complicated history like that of the Old Testament versions. This is
something easily understandable, because the New Testament is a tiny
volume in comparison with the Old Testament.

Around 175 A.D. Tatian, a disciple of St. Justin the Martyr, compiled a
harmony of the Gospels in Syriac, the Diatessaron, which was soon
translated into Greek. The unfortunate thing is that the it’s original is no
more extant. There are also other versions of the New Testament such as the

45
Vulgate, Coptic, Ethiopic, the Armenian and others.

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