the bible and how old it is?

Question

Ok this is not a question of is the bible the word of god or any kind of argument to support one way or the other


but how old is the book there has to be sientific data showing its atleast 200 years old or 2,000 years old. how old would you say

Answer 1

The origin of the English Bibles of today can be traced to a time when men, supposedly under the divine inspiration of God, first wrote the books of the Bible. Before the fourth century CE, there were more that 30 different gospels, some of which can be found on the Gnostic & Apocrypha page. Many were officially outlawed during the Council Nicaea in 325 CE and the Council of Laodicea in 364 CE. These councils eventually agreed on what is now considered the "word of God", under the direction of Constantine, collating the accepted teachings into a single comprehensive book.

Most of what we now know as the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the New Testament largely in Aramaic or common (koine) Greek. Since no printing press existed until 1450 AD, all of the original compilations of the Bible were done by hand.

The history and development of the English Bible can be divided into 3 sections; ancient versions, in other languages, early English versions, and New English versions (since 1901). Brief descriptions of the significant versions in those time periods follows.

Ancient Versions in
other Languages

· The Septuagint Version (285 BC) - This was a translation of the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. Probably done in Alexandria.

· The Samaritan Pentateuch (BC?) - A copy of the Hebrew text done in Samaritan characters.

· The Peshito or Syriac (1st or 2nd century AD) - A common language translation of the entire Bible used in parts of Syria.

· The Codex Sinaiticus (330 AD) - A manuscript that contained the Greek Bible. It was purchased from Russia in 1933 by Great Britain and is now housed in the British Museum.

· The Codex Vaticanus (340 AD) - This manuscript is currently housed in the Vatican library in Rome. It originally contained the whole Bible plus the apocrypha, but parts have been lost.

· The Vulgate (400 AD) - A Roman Catholic scholar in Bethlehem by the name of Jerome translated the entire Bible into Latin. This Bible became the standard in the Catholic church for well over 1,000 years.

· The Codex Alexandrinus (425 AD) - This Bible is another Greek translation. Currently housed in the British Museum, it is complete except for 40 leaves.

Early English Versions

All of the earliest attempts at translating the Bible into English were fragmented. For example, Bishop Aldhelm of Sherbourne translated the Psalms into Old English around 709. Venerable Bede, a monk at Jarrow, translated a portion of the Gospel of John. By 900 AD all of the Gospels and most of the Old Testament had been translated into Old English.

· John Wycliffe (1380) - John Wycliffe was the first to plan a complete English translation of the Bible from Latin. His translation was based on the Latin Vulgate. He completed the New Testament prior to his death, and his friends completed the work after his death.

· PRINTING PRESS INVENTED - 1450

· William Tyndale ( 1525-1530) - Driven from England by persecution, William Tyndale, shared Wycliffe's desire to produce a Bible that the common English-speaking person could understand. Using the Latin Vulgate and other ancient sources, Tyndale was able to translate the New Testament and Pentateuch before he was martyred.

· Miles Coverdale (1535) - A friend of Tyndale's, Coverdale was able to publish a complete Bible. It is generally believed Coverdale used Tyndale's work in producing his New Testament. This Bible was done to honor King Henry the VIII.

· Matthews Bible (1537) - Despite the name, it is widely accepted that a friend of Tyndale, John Rogus, did most of the work on this Bible. Based largely on Tyndale's previous work, it also contains evidences of Coverdale's work as well. This might well be considered an updated Tyndale Bible.

· The Great Bible (1539) - This Bible takes its name from its great physical size. Based on the Tyndale, Coverdale, and Matthews Bibles, it was used mainly in churches. Often chained to a reading desk in a church, people would come to listen as a minister read from the Great Bible.

· The Geneva Bible (1560) - Produced in Geneva by scholars who had fled persecution in England under Queen Mary, this Bible was based not only on the Great Bible, but also on the other English translations of that day. Though very scholarly, it was a popular Bible because of its small size.

· The Bishops Bible (1568) - This was a revision of the Great Bible and Geneva Bible done under the direction of the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth.

· Douay-Rheims Bible (1582-1610) - The New Testament was published in Rheims in 1582 and the Old Testament in Douay in 1610. A revision of the Latin Vulgate, this has become the generally accepted English Version for the Roman Catholic Church.

· King James Version, KJV (1611) - The most popular translation ever produced, this Bible was done during the reign and at the urging of King James the I of England. 47 scholars, divided into 6 groups, worked on this translation. Based largely on the Bishop's Bible, many Hebrew and Greek texts were also studied as well as all the other available English translations, to insure the best results. By choosing men of many different theological and educational backgrounds, it was hoped individual prejudices of the translators could be minimized. Printed in a handy size and in clear type, the KJV was suppose to please clergy and congregation alike. Despite initial resistance, the KJV became and still is the largest selling translation of the Bible.

· Revised Version (1881-1884) - Designed to be a revision of the KJV, the Revised Version, had the advantage of being able to access some of the ancient manuscripts. Although this revision was sponsored by the Church of England, many American scholars were invited to participate.

New English Versions
(1901 to Present)

· American Standard Version, ASV (1901) - This revision of the Revised Version incorporates many of the readings first suggested by the American members of the Revision committee of 1881-1885.

· Complete Bible: An American Translation (1939) -Often referred to as the Goodspeed version, this translation was done by Edgar J. Goodspeed and J.M. Powis Smith. Using as many ancient texts as possible, Smith and Goodspeed produced a very readable and yet accurate translation. Also included in this translation was the Apocrypha.

· Revised Standard Version, RSV (1952) - The National Council of Churches of Christ procured the copyright to the 1901 ASV Bible in the 1920's. Work began on a revision to the ASV, but was abandoned in favor of an entirely new translation. Since many more Hebrew and Greek manuscripts were available to these scholars than were available in 1901, the RSV is considered to be much more accurate. A Very readable translation, the RSV is used in many Protestant denominations today. The revision committee continues to meet at regular intervals and in 1971 a new release was made of the RSV. This has been dubbed the RSV II edition.

· New Testament in Modern English (1958) - First published in 1958 and revised in 1973, this translation done by British writer J. B. Phillips is one of the best readings of the New Testament. It is published today by MacMillan Publishers fo New York.

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Answer 2

The original books were from several sources, and from different time periods, in different languages, copied (verbatum) and handed down for many ages. I believeThe Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest know semi-complete works. Several thousand years old?
There are 22 basic versions of these 'books'(Not including some annotated versions, and in 120 some dialects)
The King James being the most excepted.
15 of the Books not found in the King James version will be found in the back of the Catholic Bilble.
The Bible itself, mentions 7 other books that are to this day un-found.
The Sixth and seventh Book of Moses has to do with Witchcraft, Talisman, and Utterance of vowel sounds. These were left out because they sound like PooPoo, because few understand their meaning.
Many of the Original works were puposely left out on purpose, by the 'prieisthood'!
This is a facinating subject to research. Time consuming!

Answer 3

The collection itself was more or less considered finalized by the 4th century, though technically the canon was settled by the Council of Trent. The individual works it collects contain traditions and re-tellings of tales like Noah (derived from the Gilgamesh tale) and Moses ( a re-telling of the tale of Sargon) that go back to the Akkadians (3rd millenium BC in teir original and non-Biblical form) and possibly further. The first collections of the OT documents would include those Babylonian tales re-written possibly by Ezra and his scribes to serve as a tradition for a people that had none of their own at that point. Then we have ex-post facto "prophecies" like Daniel that likely date from the Maccabean times and are really written as political polemic for that time disguised as history, a technique apocalyptic literature as a whole employs. NT documents, we have fragments of manuscripts perhaps going back to 54CE certainly to the period between 90-120CE and new bits being added as late as the 5th century long after the deaths of the original authors, though I think these have all been clearly identified as redactions based on documentary analysis. As far as it being the word of God, if so, then "God" can't keep his story any straighter than a three year old.

Answer 4

The Bible is the Word of God written by chosen men inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament books were written starting about 1500 BC and the New Testament books were written from approx. 60-100 AD.

Answer 5

It was not all written at once!

People need to know that, it's rather important and obvious.

That's why prophecy is so prominent in Christian knowledge. Things were written before they happened throughout the Bible that cannot be explained. Isaiah, for instance, wrote about Jesus here:
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Which means, 'God is with us.'

Isaiah wrote that about 742 B. C. (Oxford Bible) .
Jesus wasn't even born until about 3 or 4 A.D.

The Council of Nicea didn't meet to put it all together until 325 A.D.

Answer 6

First: It fairly is not going to topic to homosexuals if men and women condemn them, they will have to be worried approximately what God thinks. (Actually, that is going for every body) Second: We are underneath Grace and now not the Law. Jesus fulfilled the Law and in telling Peter to not name any meals unclean, freed us from Old Testament meals laws. Third: Scripture within the New Testament speaks approximately homosexuality, e.g. one million Corinthians 6:nine Fourth: The Bible was once written through guys underneath the suggestion of the Holy Spirit, God selected the phrases.

Answer 7

Much of the bible was written 20 to 325 years CE and voted on as to what was to be included at the council of Nicea in 325 CE. Most of it was destroyed in about 400 CE and at the council of Constantinople in 525 CE they re-wrote and re-voted on what they wanted to include. But every person with an attitude and a quill pen has added their own 2 cents over the centuries.

Answer 8

there are numerous translations of the bible, even differing from church to church, let along from time to time. There have been 1000 year old manuscripts of the bible found in latin from eourpe which have extra passages and omit others all together. if you believe that the bible is the true word of god, you must believe that it has been changed by his will through the ages because it has undoubtedly been changed. there have been scrolls found (dead sea scrolls) which have bible passages from about 300AD, so yes it is very old. Who knows how much of it is really that old though. If you want to talk old testament though, that is waaaay older. There have been found sumarian texts which detail the stories of genisis much more percisely than our modern version and those texts are well over 4000 years old. who knows if those were the first versions anyway. its pretty darn old.

Answer 9

In it's current format about 1,600 years old although it has been translated, edited, and rewritten several times since. So you should be asking how old is the most commonly used version of the bible?

Answer 10

King James Bible comes from around 1611

Answer 11

well, the old testament was being written more than 2,000 years ago.. i think the book of daniel is from around 600 B.C. and he was one of the later prophets. about 4,000 years old, i would say.