How We Got Our Translations�The difficulty in doing it right

Dr. Tim Tatum

Chaplain (Colonel) US Army Ret.

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The Old Testament

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Determining the original text

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Rules for scribes copying the Old Testament:

1. The parchment must be made from the skin of clean animals; must be prepared by a Jew; the skins must be fastened by strings taken from clean animals.

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• Each column must have no less than 48 nor more than 60 lines. The entire copy must be first lined, and if three words were written in it without the line, the copy was worthless.

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• The ink must be of no other color than black and it must be prepared according to a special recipe.

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Rules for scribes copying the Old Testament:

4. No word nor letter could be written from memory; the scribe must have an authentic copy before him, and he must read and pronounce aloud each word before writing it.

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• He must reverently wipe his pen each time before writing the word for “God,” and he must wash his whole body before writing the name “Jehovah,” lest the holy name be contaminated.

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• Strict rules were given concerning the forms of the letters, spaces between letters, words, and sections, the use of the pen, the color of the parchment, etc.

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Rules for scribes copying the Old Testament:

7. The revision of a roll must be made within 30 days after the work was finished; otherwise it was worthless. One mistake on a sheet condemned the sheet; if three mistakes were found on any page, the entire manuscript was condemned.

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• Every word and every letter was counted, and if a letter were omitted, an extra letter inserted, or if one letter touched another, the manuscript was condemned and destroyed at once.

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The Effect of the Dead Sea Scrolls

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The Leningrad Codex: The oldest complete copy of the Old Testament – about 1008 A.D.

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Qumran

Cave #4

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Column I

The Great Qumran Isaiah Scroll

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The New Testament

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A Different Story

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ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ

1 Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.

 2 οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

 3 πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν

 4 ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων·

 5 καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

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1.   Manuscripts. About 5,366 of all kinds, excluding those in category E.

A.   Papyri are the oldest. There are about 100 of them, many mere scraps. Most date from before 300 AD. Most belong to the Alexandrian family, being from Egypt.

B.   Manuscules were usually written on sheepskin parchment in capital letters called uncials. Most are from before the 9th century. There are some 274 majuscules and about 80% of them are from the Byzantine family, 10% from the Alexandrian and the rest from the Western and Caesarean families. The most important ones: Codex Sinaiticus (discovered near Mt. Sinai), Codex Vaticanus, Codex Bezae, Codex Alexandrinus. Some are palimpsests - a parchment was erased by scraping and then written over, but by careful study we can read the original writing.

C.   Miniscules were written in cursive handwriting in small letters, some on parchment but most on paper. They usually date from after the 9th century and are by far the largest number of manuscripts (2,795). About 90% are from the Byzantine family.

D.   Lectionaries are collections of the N.T. for public reading in Church services, usually numbered sections of the Gospels. Of the 2,209, some 245 are uncial majuscules and 1,964 are in cursive miniscule script. Most are Byzantine.

E.   Miscellanoius portions have been found among ancient inscriptions on the walls of the Catacombs, or on ostraca (some 1,624 small scraps of pottery) or amulets.

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Codex Sinaiticus AD 350 British Museum

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Codex Bezae AD 350

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The Rylands

Fragment

John 18:31-33, 37

AD 125

Manuscript evidence for the canonical gospels

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Codex Sinaiticus (350 AD)

Codex Vaticanus (350 AD)

Alexandrian Codex (350 AD)

Codex Bezae (300 AD)

Chester Beaty Papyrus (200 AD)

John Rylands Papyrus (125 AD)

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Church Father Quotes

• Ignatius d. AD 115 Quotes from Matthew, John and Luke.

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• Polycarp, writing to the Philippians in AD 120 quotes from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, 1,2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1,2 Thessalonians, 1,2 Timothy, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and 1,3 John

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• Clement of Rome AD 95 or 96 quotes from ten of the twenty-seven New Testament books.

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• Nearly the entire New Testament can be reconstructed from quotes of the church fathers in the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries.

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Why Variant Readings?

1. We have over 6,000 copies of the New Testament, either the entire New Testament or small fragments.

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• These copies were made, in many cases, by traveling businessmen, not trained scribes.

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• It was easy for them working under candlelight and with a limited schedule to make copying errors.

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• If the primary document had an error, chances are copies of their copy would have the same error.

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• About 97% of the New Testament is in agreement, but that leaves us with thousands of small mistakes.

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Common errors:

1. Repetitions.

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• Omissions.

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• Transposition of letters, syllables, or words.

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• Difference in spelling.

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• Similarity of letters.

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• Mistaken abbreviations.

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• Insertions.

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• Wrong division of words. The older manuscripts had no pauses, nor even divisions between words.

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• Eye wandering. Taking up and inserting a word or a part of a word from a neighboring line or a neighboring column.

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WESTERN

BYZANTINE

CAESAREAN

ALEXANDRIAN

FAMILY OF MANUSCRIPTS BASED ON COMMONALITY

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Mark 1:2

1. ΕΝ€ΤΩ ΗΣΑΙΑ ΤΩ ΠΡΟΦΗΤΗ -- "in Isaiah the prophet" --   B (D Θ f¹ 700 1071 1243 pc  ^{253  844  2211} Epiphanius omit ΕΝ) L Δ 33 565 892 1241 2427 al a aur b c d f ff² l q am ful pesh hark^marg sa bo arm geo Irenaeus Origen [UBS WH Tischendorf Soden Merk Bover Vogels NEB Souter Greeven]
2. ΕΝ€ΤΟΙΣ ΠΡΟΦΗΤΑΙΣ -- "in the prophets" -- A E F H P W Γ Σ f¹³ 28 579 1006 1010 1342 1424 1505 1506 1546 Byz (r^1-vid "in Isaiah and in the prophets"!) hark^text bo^ms-marg eth slav [Hodges-Farstad TR]

The preferred reading is #1. This reading (except for the question of including or excluding ΕΝ, which is relatively trivial) can be resolved based on either internal or external evidence. The external evidence overwhelmingly favors the reading "Isaiah the Prophet;" it is supported by the Alexandrian (  B L Δ 33 892 1241 2427 sa bo), "Western" (D it vg), and "Cæsarean" (Θ f¹ 565 700 arm geo) texts. In favor of "in the prophets" we have only the Byzantine text.

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New Testament Manuscript Errors

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There are only four significant controversial passages in the New Testament

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• John 7:53-8:11

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• Acts 8:37 and 1 John 5:7

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• Mark 16:9-20

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Considerations in making a translation:

1. Theological makeup of the translation team (hopefully conservatives).

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• Language skills of the translators and advanced skills in textual criticism.

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• Hebrew and Greek text used by the translators.

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• Contemporary English, modern English, historical English, British English, American English.

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• Word flow or accuracy (word for word, phrase for phrase, thought for thought).

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• Who is the intended audience.

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ACCURACY

WORD FLOW

WORD FOR

WORD

MEANING FOR

MEANING

NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE

AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE 1901

ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION ESV

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION NIV

REVISED STANDARD VERSION RSV

NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

THE MESSAGE (PETERSON)

KING JAMES

Dr Plummer, Southern Seminary, on modern English translations.

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NASB

ESV

NIV

NLT

MORE READABLE

CLOSER TO THE

ORIGINAL GREEK

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Tim’s personal recommendations:

1. For detailed verse by verse study – New American Standard Version

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• Reading for content (by chapter, by section, or by book) – NIV

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• For all ages, general understanding, and great word flow – The Message