Chapter Two – Archaeology and Biblical Manuscripts

LANGUAGES OF THE BIBLE    p. 83

• Semitic Languages    p.83
• Cuneiform Script   p. 83

Fig 17 The Sumerian pictograph tablet

• Ebla Tablets    p. 84 (See Bonus Material 10)
  
• Mari Tablets    p. 84 (See Bonus Material 14)
  
• History of Hebrew    p. 85

Fig 18 Seal (bulla) with the 8th cent. BC inscription “Belonging to Ahaz (son of) Yotham King of Judah”
Fig 19 The Siloam inscription

Paleo-Hebrew    p. 86

Fig 20 Gezer tablet (10th cent. BC)

Classical Biblical Hebrew   p.  87
Late Biblical Hebrew    p. 87
Qumran Hebrew    p. 88

Fig 21 Dead Sea storage jar
Fig 22 Dead Sea Scroll reproduction
Fig 23 Qumran Cave number 4

Writing Yahweh    p. 89

Fig 24 Dead Sea Scroll Messianic Testimony (4Q175)

Mishnaic Hebrew    p. 90

Fig 25 Codex Leningradensis
Fig 26 Library of Celsus in Ephesus

Masoretic Text (MT)    p. 91

• History of Aramaic    p. 92
• History of Greek    p. 92

The Septuagint (LXX)    p. 93
Origin of the Septuagint    p. 93

ORAL TRADITION    p. 94

PROFESSIONAL SCRIBES    p. 95

• OT Scribes    p. 95

Fig 27 Egyptian scribes

• NT Scribes    p. 96

Fig 28 Qumran benches
Fig 29 Qumran scriptorium
Fig 76 Scriptorium room at Qumran

• Scribes’ Toolbox    p. 96

Fig 30 Wooden writing board
Fig 31 Qumran inkwell
Fig 32 Ostracon bearing the name “ben Yair”
Fig 33 Papyrus plant

KINDS OF MANUSCRIPTS    p. 99

• Uncial    p. 100
• Minuscule    p. 100

IMPORTANT BIBLICAL MANUSCRIPTS    p. 100

• OT Pseudepigrapha    p. 100
• Oxyrhynchus Papyri    p. 101 (See Bonus Material 75).
  

Fig 34 Papyrus 1228 manuscript (P22 Gen 1026/13) Contains John 15:25–16:2 and 16:21–32

• The NT Papyri    p. 102

Fig 35 Rylands Papyrus P52 (Gr.P.457) Contains John 18:31-33
Fig 36 P. Chester Beatty P46 Contains 2 Corinthians 11:33-12:9

• Nag Hammadi Library    p. 104 (See Bonus Material 9)
  

NEW TESTAMENT CODICES    p. 105

• Codex Sinaiticus (א)    p. 105 (See Bonus Material 6)
  

Fig 37 St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Monastery in front of Jebel Musa, Egypt

READING THE MANUSCRIPTS   p.  105

Bonus Material

CHART 1: MANUSCRIPT DISCOVERIES

1.    Magdalen Papyrus (P64)
2.    Rylands Papyrus (P31, P32, and P52)
3.    Chester Beatty Papyri (P45, P46, and P47)
4.    Martin Bodmer Papyri (P66, P72, P73, P74, and P75)
5.    Codex Vaticanus (B)
6.    Codex Sinaiticus (א)
7.    Codex Alexandrinus (A)
8.    Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C)
9.    Nag Hammadi Papyri