has anyone here ever actually read?

Question

the REAL bible?

as in, before it was altered and edited by king james, the catholic church, etc?

oh yeah, and how many of you are aware of the fact that the version of the new testament found in the king james version was translated from GREEK?

nope. bible was written in Aramaic, first copy was written almost 100 years after the death of christ.

then it was translated to hebrew, then latin, then greek, and so on and so forth. try looking at a modern version in 2 different languages and you'll see how many differences there are .

meh, that's my whole point.

how can we be sure what we're reading now is actually what was written down almost 2000 years ago?

answer: we can't.

Answer 1

The early catholics were the ones who put the bible we see today together (I think in the 3rd century). Before that the books were seperated. These were either written in Greek or Aramaic, but there is a debate over the idea of them being written in Aramaic. It kind of makes sense to me that some woul be since Jesus and his followers spoke Aramaic so why wouldn't they write in it besides to spread their knowledge to other cultures.

But I guess technically no one has ever read the full bible since many writings could have been lost or destroyed.

Answer 2

As far as the New Testament goes, what we now read is a reconstructed Greek text. There are no original manuscripts, copies are fragmented. The manuscripts contain many textual variants. One example of reconstruction is Mark 16. In some bibles Mark 16 stops at verse 8, in others it goes all the way to verse 20.

The King James version of the bible has played a very important part in the roles of English speaking people and institutions. However, it has serious defects. Development of biblical studies and the discovery of biblical manuscripts older than the King James version found that the errors were so abundant that there was need for revision.

You would want to look at a bible that is part of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). I would recommend, The New Oxford Annotated Bible.

Answer 3

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls helped us see how well preserved the Old Testament was. Before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, the Bible scholars had the same questions you asked here. How can we know that the manuscripts we have are accurate? The Dead Sea Scrolls were dated a thousand years earlier than the earliest manuscript we we had at the time.

Remarkably, the manuscripts we had were surprisingly accurate. You can purchase a Bible today and look at the bottom margin and see the variant readings for yourself. They are amazingly small variants that do not change any doctrines. Our Bibles have been very well preserved.

"For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulilled" (Matt. 5:18).

Answer 4

I do not read the bible, but am aware of the translation from Greek.
If this sort of thing interests you, try out the website i listed below! He and his wife actually translate the the scriptures verse by verse from each original text, including but not limited to Hebrew, Greek, Syrian, Latin, etc....
Very Knowledgeable and Interesting for those in search with an open mind and the willingness to be teachable!
Blessed Be

Answer 5

What are you kidding? Most modern translations all come from the King James version. The words of Christ were not put down
til like 100 years after Christ. Do you have access to some ancient authentic version of the bible. I'd like to hear that story.

I would have to say that the answer to your question is "NO".

Answer 6

I would be most surprised if anyone "here" as actually read any version of the bible, given the comprehension level evident by the answers given, the questions asked, and the knee-jerk thumbs down ratings to any answer, no matter how well thought out, that doesn't comport to their narrow point of view. The bible is difficult reading, it is antiquated prose, and somebody that can make heads or tails out of most of the verbiage might also be able to read Shakespeare with a good level of comprehension. This is not evident by what I can sense of the people professing to know the inner secrets of the reason and the workings of creation as "explained" by the good book. And I use Shakespeare merely as a point of comparison in the work one has to do mentally to "get" each sentence, not to sully the good bard's work by comparing it to such fare as the bible proffers.

To answer your question, I have "actually" read parts of the bible. I have also been shown such parts that certain websites will point out that are laughably absurd, unimaginably cruel, sexist, illogical and contraditory of themselves. I don't think translation has much to do with the fatal flaws in the bible's logic.

I invite the thumbs down idiots to do their worst. Like I care.

Answer 7

I got my hands on a Greek bible; got about three chapters through John before giving it up, as I realised I'd have no context, since I didn't have any other Greek texts to compare it against.

Anyone out there want to say the 1611 KJV is the original bible? I know there are some KJV fetishists out there.

Answer 8

There never was any “real bible”. In the first centuries CE there were thousands of diverse Christian writings. The mainstream Roman church picked & chose the ones they liked and called it “the bible”, and outlawed everything else. Christianity is a result of dictatorship, a religion made by force. And people tend to believe things that are popular, that’s why it continued to grow.

Answer 9

Greek, Hebrew and another Language.

Answer 10

I don't read Greek or Aramaic, but it's hard to believe the the Bible could be any more absurd, regardless of the language.