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Summary
- No autograph, the first manuscript of a biblical book, survives for any book of the Old or New Testament.
- The oldest biblical text is a form of the priestly blessing (Numbers 6:24–26) on two silver scrolls from Ketef Hinnom, dated to around 600 BC.
- The Dead Sea Scrolls, from the third century BC to the first century AD, include about 230 biblical manuscripts; the Great Isaiah Scroll dates to about 125 BC.
- The fragment widely regarded as the oldest piece of the New Testament is P52 (John 18), dated by its first editor to AD 100–150 and by more recent research nearer to AD 200.
- Codex Sinaiticus, from the middle of the fourth century, contains the oldest complete New Testament.
- Scholars reconstruct the original wording by comparing the copies; evangelical, Reformed, Catholic and Orthodox churches each describe the authority of the original texts in their own way.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version: Numbers 6:24; 1 Samuel 1:24 (with footnote); Psalm 145:13 (with footnote); Jeremiah 36:23–28; Mark 16:8–9 (with note); John 7:53 (with note); Romans 16:22; Galatians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:17. Matthew 6:13 quoted from the King James Version. https://www.esv.org/
- University of Manchester Library, “Papyri: Greek P 457” (the St John Fragment, P52). https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/MS-GREEK-P-00457
- Israel Antiquities Authority, Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, “Introduction.” https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/learn-about-the-scrolls/introduction
- The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, “The Great Isaiah Scroll.” http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/isaiah
- Codex Sinaiticus Project (British Library, Leipzig University Library, National Library of Russia, St Catherine’s Monastery), “About Codex Sinaiticus,” “Date,” “Content” and “History.” https://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/codex/
- “Codex Vaticanus,” Wikipedia, sections on date, contents and omitted passages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Vaticanus
- “Ketef Hinnom scrolls,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketef_Hinnom_scrolls
- “Leningrad Codex,” “Aleppo Codex,” “Masoretic Text,” “Genizah” and “Biblical Aramaic,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leningrad_Codex
- “Psalm 145” and “Lord’s Prayer,” Wikipedia, on the missing nun verse and the doxology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalm_145
- “Novum Testamentum Graece” and “Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novum_Testamentum_Graece
- Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, “Manuscripts 101: GA Numbers” (24 October 2022). https://www.csntm.org/2022/10/24/manuscripts-101-ga-numbers/
- Pius XII, Divino Afflante Spiritu (30 September 1943), paragraphs 16, 17 and 21. https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu.html
- International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978), Article X. https://alliancenet.org/icbi/the-chicago-statement-on-biblical-inerrancy/
- Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1, section 8. Orthodox Presbyterian Church edition. https://opc.org/wcf.html
- Orthodox Church in America, “Septuagint (LXX) numbering of the Psalms.” https://www.oca.org/liturgics/outlines/septuagint-numbering-psalms
