The Bible The Believer's Tool
The Bible is the only physical tool that a believer has. A believer is someone who believes in YAHWEH (GOD) through Yahoshua (Jesus).
If a believer doesn't know how to properly study the Bible then how does the believer know if someone else is teaching the bible correctly? It's ok to get help when needed, like finding guidelines to be steered in the right direction, but relying on someone else to constantly interpret through (preaching, books explaining the bible, etc.) the believer is using a secondary source and not the bible itself. The bible is to make sure you and the people you listen to are studying it correctly.
The bible says in 2 Tim. 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself acceptable to YAHWEB (GOD), a worker who is not ashamed, correctly dividing The Word of Truth.
On this page, we will get a little more acquainted with the believer's tool, the bible.
FAQs about the Bible
The bible is a collection of independent books that have been put together. From Genesis to Revelation, each book is a book all by itself. The bible is not one book, but a collection of books, bound together with a beginning and with an end.
Each book has a specific reason and a specific audience for whom it is being written for. Some Bibles will tell you who wrote it (or their best guess), to whom it was written, and the specific reason, but most Bibles will not have that information. It's really not needed because the general theme of scripture stays the same, unless you're driving home a point, or want to explain why it meant something different in the bible days, versus what it means to us today. The more you want to know, the deeper you have to go to get the meaning. The general audience of the Old Covenant is YAHWEH's people, the Hebrews, Israelites (wrongfully called Jews) (no Gentiles), while the New Covenant audience is YAHWEH's people (including the Gentiles) who believe in YAHWEH (God) through Yahoshua (Jesus).
The books are arranged in a specific order, and that order depends on the audience it is trying to reach. For example, the Israelites (Jews) have their way of reading the bible and the English have their way of reading the bible. The Israelites (Jews) like their scripture categorized in a certain order, and the English like their scripture categorized in a certain order. There is no right or wrong categorization order, just a different preference because people are different.
Why are there books in older Bibles that are not in Bibles today? Most of the time, people are talking about the "apocrypha", a section of books in between the Old and New Covenants, but there are more books than that. They are referred to as pseudepigrapha, apocrypha, sacred writings, historical works, and lost books. There are over 150 of them related to the bible. A lot of them were in the first Bibles, but then taken out, and some Bibles added them back in later. Some were never in the bible, and some are deemed to be false, so it all depends on who owns the bible translation and what they want in it. For example, the King James original 1611 had the apocrypha, and today it doesn't. Over time, people change their minds, so they change the bible. There is no scripture or any authoritative representative that can say what books belong and what books don't. You get to decide that for yourself. There are authors in the bible quoting other books not in the bible. I think the Song of Solomon should not be in the bible. It never says YAHWEH (GOD) or anything about HIM. I don't include it in my studies.
Who decided what books would be in the bible? For the Old Covenant, no human is given credit; they have always just been there. For the New Covenant, it started with the early church leaders, then the theologians came in, and then the councils made a finished product around 100 A.D.
It's a Hebrew bible, not an English bible. The Hebrew bible was translated into English. What you are reading is a Hebrew bible written in the English language. If you only look at the Bible from the English standpoint, you will miss a lot of little truths that lead to bigger truths. Without the little truths, you can't see the bigger truths. The little truths are hidden in the Hebrew culture and language, which are in the bible. You don't have to know 100% Hebrew, just enough to better understand the bible. Original Hebrew is the language that scripture began with. It no longer exists today because each time the Hebrews were conquered and turned into slaves, they mingled their culture and language with their new masters' culture and language, and over time, the original Hebrew was changed so much it was lost. With each language change comes new words that don't have the same meaning, and sometimes something said in one language cannot be translated into another language, so then you translate it as close as possible, but it doesn't have the same meaning. With a cultural change, you don't see the stories in the way they were meant to be seen which changes the message and context of scripture. The reason it loses its original meaning is that you see it from your cultural understanding, which has changed it from its original cultural meaning. Today, the Old Covenant is translated from Hebrew, and the New Covenant is translated from Greek. When the Old and New Covenant scriptures are matched up, the readings are not even close, why, cause one is in Hebrew, and one is in Greek, two different languages, two different cultures, but they keep the original meaning. There are other reasons but that is the main one. Don’t be alarmed by this because YAHWEH (GOD) says HE will write HIS instructions on our hearts. Even without the Bible, He can still teach us!!!
If someone claims their bible came from the original Hebrew, then ask them where the original Hebrew manuscripts are, because the whole world would like to know. Back in time, they did not have printing presses or copiers or computers, so they hand copied everything. If there was one single mistake in the copy they had to start all over on a new piece of animal skin or leather or whatever they had to write on. They were not allowed to throw away or burn any of the copies that had errors, so they hid them in caves and in the sand and wherever they thought no one would find them. Proof is in the fact that when manuscripts or even fragments are found, not all of them match 100%, even if they contain the exact page of the bible. Which one is the copy of errors and which one is the perfect copy? Say they find five copies, three say this and two say that. They figure the three that say the exact same thing is the right translation cause three is more than two. Who knows? Don’t be alarmed by this because YAHWEH (God) says HE will write HIS instructions on our hearts. Even without the Bible, He can still teach us!!!
I don't think a lot of things in today's Bible would agree with the original or earlier Hebrew. There are a lot of examples of Greek culture in the bible, New and Old Covenants. For example, angels, no such thing. I have seen a lot of "angels" and "demons", A LOT!!! YAHWEH (God) gave me the gift of seeing into the natural "spiritual" realm. Not one single time have I seen a "wing" or a "baby" or anything like that on an "angel" or "demon". I have even seen them flying, no "wings". If you have, ok, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just telling you what I've seen in the world YAHWEH (God) has shown me. There are other "Greek" influences in the bible as well. On an interesting note, look up Hebrew translations of the New Covenant. Those translations are really different but really cool cause they give you a closer look at how a Hebrew sees the bible.
The original scriptures were written without punctuation. No vowels, chapter, verse, comma, period, question mark, exclamation point, footnote, comment, no study bibles or anything of the sort. It was basically a page with a lot of Hebrew symbols that made up their alphabet. Without the vowels, a-e-i-o-u-y, it's a lot harder to know how to pronounce a word. For example, God's name in scripture, YHWH, has no vowels, so nobody knows exactly how to say it. Vowel pointing started with the Masoretes around 700 a.d because the original Hebrew word pronunciation was lost. Even then, it's what they think it is, not 100% certain. Punctuating the bible started around 200 a.d. and pretty much ended around 1500 a.d., Again, dates are never exact, just a rough time frame. Punctuation tells you how to read, like when to pause, stop, if it's a question or exclamation point, it dictates how scripture is read and what the context is. The context can be changed dramatically by placing a punctuation mark at the wrong place. For example, should it be a question mark or an exclamation point? Totally changes the attitude from a question to a strong statement being made. Studying the bible and its history will give you an idea of when this is happening. Remember, the bible as a whole is not wrong, just parts of it that man changed without YAHWEH's (GOD) permission. If this bothers you, it's because your faith is in the bible and not YAHWEH (GOD). Remember, nothing on this planet is perfect, nothing. Don't worry about it, lean on the Divine Nature for understanding and peace.
The historical documents that make up the bible are manuscripts, scrolls, texts, etc, etc. They are broken down into many groups, but these are the main ones. A manuscript tells you it is a handwritten copy of a book of the bible. A scroll tells you the shape of a manuscript and how it is read. A text is the actual words themselves, like the Septuagint text, which tells you it is a Greek translation, and the Masoretic text, which tells you it's a Hebrew translation. Or, the Antioch text, which is interpreted from the theological, intellectual, literal, and historical point of view, and the Alexandrian text, which is interpreted with allegorical methods which reconciles christian faith with Greek philosophy. Just in those four examples, you have four different points of view; the first two make up the old covenant, and the second two make up the new covenant. The bible is already divided by language and interpretation disagreements, before religion is even mentioned. But that's ok, cause this builds your faith! It teaches you to stand on what you believe, but not with arrogance or pride, unless you are wrong and fall. The only way you can stand is to believe the Divine Nature.
The historical documents are rarely found in one complete piece. The older they are, the more fragments they are in. A fragment is another historical document. The bible did not remain one document throughout history. For example, the bible is pieced together by one fragment from 200 a.d. to another fragment of 600 a.d., or a text or manuscript, whatever kind of fragment it is. Then, when they had enough books pieced together, they started putting them into scrolls and codexs, both of which are like books of today. And that is how the bible of today is pieced together. There are more than 40,000 total historical documents of the bible.
This is the progress of how YAHWEH's (God) word was recorded so it could be passed down from person to person till the end of time.
First, it was remembered by meals and recited by mouth from generation to generation. Each item of food on the table represented a piece of the story to help them remember.
Second, it was written on stone tablets and in caves.
Third, it was written on scrolls. There would be a collection of scrolls that were individually separate. Each scroll would contain what we call one book. For example, instead of carrying one Bible, they carried a scroll for each book of the bible.
Fourth, those scrolls were put together into a codex, which is a lot like today's books. There is no specific codex or date when it started, but most agree it was around 200 bc – 200 a.d.
Fifth- The first printed bible is the 1455 Gutenberg Bible. From then on, multiple Bibles were being translated.
Nothing is accurate. Carbon dating, using language as a time stamp, all dating techniques are just a guess. These dates are a round about time.
1,500 bc - first written words of YAHWEH (GOD)
500 bc - Hebrew manuscripts
150 bc - Septuagint
300 ad - Jerome latin vulgate
900 ad - Saxon New Covenant
1300 ad - Wycliffe bible
1400 ad - Gutensburg's bible printed
1500 ad - Erasmus's New Covenant
1500 ad - Martin Luther's new covenant
1500 ad - William Tyndale's new covenant
1500 ad - Myles Coverdale's Bible
1500 ad - Tyndale - Matthew's bible
1500 ad - The Great bible printed
1500 ad - Geneva bible
1500 ad - The Bishops' Bible
1600 ad - The Douay-Rheims Bible
1600 ad - King James bible
1700 ad - Robert Aikens bible
1800 ad - Noah Webster's Bible
1800 ad - English Hexapla new covenant
1800 ad - English Revised bible
1900 ad - American Standard Version
1900 ad - New American Standard bible
1900 ad - New International Version
1900 ad - New King James
2000 ad - English Standard Version
When it comes to translating the bible, there are a lot of things to learn while studying for the truth, so I will touch on some of them to get you headed in the right direction. The main reason there is so many different religions, which leads to different translations, is because man disagrees with man on the interpretation of scripture. Man does not disagree with YAHWEH (GOD) because he can't, so he disagrees with man to get his own way, which is his religion and his bible translation. All the different historical documents, such as fragments, manuscripts, etc, is proof of that.
The bible is basically translated into three different kinds of bible translations. Word for word, thought for thought, and phrase for phrase. Look up your bible to see which translation it falls under.
The 2 Old Covenant translations that bibles come from are the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text.
The 2 New Covenant translations that bibles come from are the Antioch and Alexanderia text.
DISAGREEMENTS. That is what it all boils down to. One person saying to another-I disagree with you so I will translate it my way to agree with what I think it should be. Same thing with all the different "religions". Is one translation better than another? That question is answered with another question. Is YAHWEH (God) bigger than the translation? YES HE IS!!!! If someone is looking for YAHWEH (God) through Yahoshua (Jesus), no matter where they are looking, YAHWEH (God) and Yahoshua (Jesus) will reveal themselves. I read the other day a muslim found Yahoshua (Jesus) in the Quran. If YAHWEH (God) wants you out of the translation you are in, HE will reveal that to you.
This is not a detailed study of the Old and New Covenant translations. It’s a quick overview of their history, so you have a foundation to build on. The reason I’m not giving you more info is that I hope this encourages you to look further into the background of where scripture came from, so you will be able to make an educated decision on which bible will be the best one for you to study, learn, and grow from. Contrary to popular belief, not all Bibles are created equal because the manuscripts they came from do not give the same message. I am leaving it up to you to decide which message you want to follow. Just so we are clear, you cannot and will not miss out on a relationship with YAHWEH (GOD) through Yahoshua (Jesus) just because you use a certain Bible, but the version you choose will definitely make it easier or harder for you to see the truth. He who has ears to hear, listen!
Another reason there is no original is because of editing. Yes, scripture has been, and is still being edited to this day. Sometime around 200 - 300 a.d., while copying or editing the bible, footnotes or comments started appearing next to scripture. As time went on, the notes started showing up as scripture, not a footnote anymore. Centuries after that, nobody questioned it because they thought it was originally in the bible. That is how man changed scripture to agree with his doctrines. It only takes a verse or two, and the main population will believe it, regardless of what the rest of the bible says. The devil doesn't want to change the bible, just twist it enough to get people on the wrong road. That goes along with the copies of scripture that had mistakes in them. The copies that had mistakes were not allowed to be destroyed, so they were hidden in caves and buried in the sand, hopefully to never be found. Sounds like a movie where that's the devil's plot to bring evil back into the world. But have no fear, adding to scripture is in the bible, but by YAHWEH (GOD). In Jeremiah 36:1-4;32. Proverbs - the first part was written by Solomon, then Agar, then King Lemuel, all who lived apart from each other at different times, so they would not have known each other. The bible started out, then someone added to it, then others added to it, like an onion that grows layer by layer. Back then, they didn't change any of the scripture before them, they just added their own at the end. The editing has gone wrong because they edit the scripture to change the meaning of what is being taught by YAHWEH (GOD), not just adding their own at the end. For some reason, each generation thinks they can improve on the earlier generations' translation of the bible, lol. There is not one single translation that has not been edited. They will say, updated language is the only thing edited, or punctuation marks, things like that. That's not true, but ok.
At the time, I was studying KJV, but now I study the Aleph Tav. The Aleph Tav history is simple: one man, one reason (truth), from the King James. Look up different sources so you can fill in the pieces of your Bible's history. This is what I found researching the King James history.
Followintruth.com
King James 1611- had access to these manuscripts
1-The Complutensian Polyglot
2-Catholic readings in the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus with the use of Douay-Rheims 1582
3-Latin Vulgate
Notes I compiled on my own
To say the KJV translators used 6-10 manuscripts, well, you see what was available and what is known to be used. Just to make sure we are clear on this, let’s break it down a little further.
1516-Erasmus used 6-10 Greek manuscripts for his 1st edition of his Greek NT, but was probably exposed to other manuscripts. He admitted to errors and rushing the translation.
1519-Erasmus first edition-Used in KJV translation process
1522-Erasmus second edition-Used in KJV translation process
1527-Erasmus, third edition-Used in KJV translation process
1534-William Tyndale used the Greek text of Erasmus to make a translation into English- Approximately 70% of KJV words are taken from his translation
1535-Erasmus fourth edition-Used in KJV translation process
1535-The Bibles of Myles Coverdale (The Coverdale Bible) available to the KJV translators
1537-John Rogers Matthews (Matthews Bible) available to the KJV translators
1539-The Great Bible-available to the KJV translators
1539-Richard Tavener’s Bible, available to the KJV translators
Robert Estienne, better known as Stephanus, continued Erasmus's work and produced 4 editions of the Textus Receptus himself.
1546-Stephanus first edition-Used in KJV translation process
1549-Stephanus second edition-Used in KJV translation process
1550-Stephanus, third edition-Used in KJV translation process
1551-Stephanus fourth edition-Used in KJV translation process
1560-The Geneva Bible, available to the KJV translators
1565-1604-Theodore Beza updated the Textus Receptus a total of 9 times-Used in KJV translation process
All of the updated versions of the Textus Receptus from Robert Estienne (Stephanus) and Theodore Beza were done with more care and attention than the first edition of Erasmus.
1568-The Bishops' Bible-available to the KJV translators
1572-Revised Bishops Bible-available to the KJV translators
1582-Rheims-Douai (Douay-Rheims)available to the KJV translators
1602-Revised Bishops Bible-available to the KJV translators
Erasmus used Codex 1 and minuscule 69, including but not limited to writings of the church fathers, including Irenaeus
Beza used Codex Beza, which is dated to around 400 A.D.
Stephanus used Codex Regius (L,019), which dates from the 8th century
The KJV translators did not intend to make a translation from scratch. Good translations were already available. The translators wrote to the reader, 1611 KJV, ninth page,
Truly, good Christian Reader, we never thought from the beginning that we should need to make a new translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one:….but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones one principal good one, not justly to be excepted against; that hath been our endeavor, that our mark.
There are over 5300 manuscripts today and the majority of these, about 95%, agree and support the Textus Receptus.
WIKIPEDIA
Original KJV 1611-
1-Includes 39 books of the Old Testament
2-14 books of the Apocrypha
3-27 books of the New Testament
4-Old Testament-Masoretic Text, some LXX and Vulgate influence
5-New Testament-Textus Receptus, similar to the Byzantine text type, and readings derived from the Vulgate
6-Apocrypha-Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate
7-KJV is the third translation into English by the English Church Authorities
8-The Great Bible (1535) is the first
9-Bishops Bible (1568) is the second
10-Geneva Bible (1560) from the original Greek and Hebrew influenced the translators of the KJV
11-KJV was done in response to the considerations of the puritans(faction of the church of england) who saw problems with the earlier translations
12-King James wanted a version that would conform to the ecclesiology of and reflect episcopal structure of the church of England and its belief in ordained clergy.
13- John Wycliffe's followers made the first English translations of the Christian scriptures in the 14th century. The Wycliffe bible(1409) predated the printing press, was translated from the Latin Vulgate, and had various versions.
14-William Tyndale's Bible is the first printed English bible, had revisions, and became the ultimate basis for all following renditions of the early English bibles.
15-Myles Coverdale slightly edited and adapted the Tyndale bible as his own
16-The Great Bible(England’s first authorized bible) took its basis from Tyndale's New Testament and unfinished Old Testament
17-The Geneva bible came from the English Religious reformers, led by John Calvin, who fled England because Mary 1 took England back to the roman catholic faith. It is a revision of Tyndale’s Bible and the Great Bible on the basis of the original tongues. It became the most used at the time. The main difference was it did not reflect the ecclesiology and episcopal structure of the church of England and its beliefs about ordained clergy.
18-1568 England responded with the Bishop's Bible, a revision of the Great Bible in response to the Geneva bible
19-Douay-Rheims Bible (New Testament of 1582) is derived from the Tyndale Bible, claimed to represent the text of the Latin Vulgate
20-INSTRUCTIONS BY KING JAMES
a-limit the puritan influence
b-Bishop of London added that no marginal notes could be added
c-King James referenced two marginal notes in the Geneva bible that he thought were ideas against civil disobedience to the throne and threats against his mother. Exodus 1:19, II Chronicles 15:16
d-make sure the translation follows the ecclesiology of the church of England
e-certain greek and Hebrew words are to be translated in a way that shows the traditional beleifs of the church of England. Example: church is to stay church and not translated into congregation to keep the episcopal belief and teaching of the church of England about ordained clergy
f- requirements that kept the translation familiar to its listeners and readers
g- Bishop bible text is the primary guide
h-familiar names of all biblical characters will stay the same
i-a pre-approved list to cross-reference and consult any problems in the bishops bible: Tyndale bible,coverdale bible,Matthews bible, great bible, Geneva bible
j-later scholars noticed influence from the Taverner's Bible and the Douay-Rheims Bible
k- the bible states that it is translated out of the original tongues with former translations diligently compared and revised by the king's commandments
21-all 47 translators were members of the church of England and clergy, except one
22-the translators worked in 6 committees, two at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Westminster
23-a general committee of review went over the translations
24-Archbishop Bancroft had the final say, making 14 changes himself
25-the royal printer went into debt printing the translation so he subbed it out to two rival printers and that turned into a financial and litigation dispute among the three printers
26-each of the three printed their own edition of the whole bible
27-1629 the University of Oxford and Cambridge managed to get permission to print the translation, therefore revising it in 1629 and 1638
28-two editions are said to be printed in 1611, which are known by the different reading of ruth 3:15, one reads he went into the city and the other reads she went into the city
29-the translation was meant to replace the Bishop's Bible that was to be read in the church of England
Bibleodyssey.org
There are 16 verses added or subtracted from the bible, depending on which one you read and believe. When the 1611 was translated, it used the oldest manuscripts and the most current translations it had at the time. As the years went by older manuscripts were found that did not include the 16 verses that are in the 1611 and the Bibles of that era. The belief is that marginal notes were accidentally added as verses, and when comparing verses from one book to another a verse was added because it’s in another parallel story of the bible. The 16 added verses:
Matthew 17:21,18:11,23:14,Mark 7:16,9:44,9:46,11:26,15:28,Luke 17:36,23:17,John 5:3b-4,Acts 8:37,15:34,24:6b-8a,Romans 16:24,1 John 5:7b-8a
If you choose to take it further, here are some things to research and study. In your bible translation, you need to find the strengths and weaknesses of your translation. The weakness of your translation will be where it's wrong. If you believe your translation is 100% perfect, stop here. Don't go any further because your mind is clouded and you won't be able to see the truth, which is the whole reason for studying scripture. False doctrines and false theologies come from false scriptures. All Bibles have them. Face the fact and move on. It's hard, I know. I had 15 years of studies in the KJV when I realized something was wrong. I was in a natural (spiritual) coma for three days. For me to not wanna think, study, or meditate on scripture at all, for three days, has never happened. That's who I am. Thats 100% me. I don't know any other way. The third day, I pulled myself out of the natural (spiritual) coma by saying to myself, " Quit crying, you baby, (not physically), if YAHWEH (GOD) showed you this hard truth, it's because HE knew you could handle it. Because HE knows you can handle it, HE will bring you another bible to study from. I finished work that week, and that weekend HE brought me to a website, amarel.com. There was the bible HE wanted me to study from, and that is the one I use now. If I can do it, you can do it. You don't have to change your bible if you don't want to. Know its weaknesses so you don't fall for the false doctrines and theologies that it teaches. Know its strengths. Its strengths will become yours by building you up.