Oldest Bible Manuscripts

Start your 14-day free trial with MyHeritage:

Watch the Who Wrote the Bible Series:

View Codex Vaitcanus online:

View Codex Sinaiticus online:

View the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible online (in English):

CREDITS

[soloexperiencer]

I am not at all religious, but I always enjoy these "biblical" videos immensely, simply due to the amount of careful research put into them, and the precise and calm manner it is presented in. Science at its best. Excellent work, Mr Baker, as always!

[harrisonshone]

The sheer amount of historical information that has been lost and will likely never be found again is depressing. Even preserving the smallest fragment surviving from a source over 1700 years old is an absolute treasure.

[spellman]

10. Masoretic Text (Codex Leningradensis)
9. Four Great Uncials (Codex Vaticanus)
8. Bodmer Papyri (p66 &p75 )
7. Chester Beatty Papyri (p46)
6. Magdalen Fragments (p64 & p67)
5. Oxyrhynchus Papyri (p90 & p104)
4. Rylands Papyri (p52)
3. Nash Papyri
2. Dead Sea Scrolls
1. Ketef Hinnom Scrolls

[freakout]

8:59 Something I'd like to share because I feel like people might be curious.

The process employed by the Nestle-Aland to determine what is most likely to be original is called textual criticism and hinges on the base assumption that text is important.

And because text is important, it has a tendency to grow. It is assumed that ancient scribes would be hesitant to strike words out of what for them would be the holy word of God. Rather their tendency would be towards expanding the text to make something more clear.

So if you have a section of text with multiple versions, the one you would assume to be the original is the one that's shortest and most difficult to understand. Because a scribe coming to that section to copy it would, if anything, add words onto it to clear up a possible misunderstanding, rather than taking a long, easy verse and cutting words out until it's difficult to read.

For example if you have a section where Jesus is quoted as saying "If you can do *this*" but it's not clear if he is referring to something earlier in the text or to the instruction he is just about to give. You might add in the verb you think he meant after "this" to make sure the reader doesn't misunderstand. (This example is a little unwieldy but I promise it makes sense in Greek)

That's the big one. But of course, you also consider which versions have the most textual evidence. So a variant of a verse that you find on a single papyrus and nowhere else, while not guaranteed to be an error, it'd be questionable why this papyrus is the only one with this variant version if it really was the original everybody else copied from.

You also consider textual families, or text-types. As scribes from specific regions keep copying off of the same manuscripts and then later scribes copy their copies, they inherit certain errors or quirks and by tracking these inherited errors across multiple manuscripts, you can begin to understand how two texts might be related.
So for example there's a family of 600+ minuscule manuscripts that Nestle-Aland tends to value fairly low in terms of how original they are. As all these manuscripts are products of organized, institutionalized Byzantine copying schools. So while they represent the dominant text used in the Middle Ages by the Byzantines, they're all dependent on one another, so their sheer number adds little to support their originality.

Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus for example are considered to be part of the Alexandrian family of texts. Whereas the Codex Alexandrinus uses the Byzantine text type in its Gospels but the Alexandrian in the rest of the books. Usually something that will be a good indicator of a verse's originality is if multiple text families agree on its wording.


Those are the big ones, I think.



EDIT: Thought of one more thing.
There's certain sources of error that are so commonly seen that if you can make an argument that a textual variation is the result of that type of error, you've pretty much already won the argument.

The big one I remember is if you have a bit of text in a manuscript where on a page two lines end on the same word, there's a fair chance that a scribe might skip the lines between. Because if the scribe just finished a sentence that ended in "called" for example, when he looks back up his eyes will be scanning for "called" starting at the bottom of the page. So if a later line also ends with that word, he might just keep going from there and skip everything inbetween the two instances of that word.

Another one is copying a version from a different gospel. So especially within the Synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, their wordings often differ and sometimes in really benign ways on really benign things. So if the scribe has had a lot of Matthew read to him throughout his life, even when copying Luke he might slip up and go "Okay i Know how this line ends" and end up inserting Matthew's version into Luke.


TL;DR: The most originalest variant of any given verse, according to Nestle-Aland, will be the one that is old and well documented by reliable independent manuscripts and which is shorter and more difficult to fully understand than the other documented variants without being the result of an error.

[rickandbonnie]

Since the Church Fathers quoted books in the NT, it would be nice to have a chart of their manuscripts.

[easyguyitsajoke]

No Christian apologists actually question the content of other historical documents as you supposed, it's just points to the authenticity of the bible. The bible and its contents are (I believe unfairly) scrutinized much more than the other historical texts in an effort to dismiss them theologically.

[giordy]

I really couldn't ever get bored of those videos about biblical history, hope you'll do many more, like this on biblical and apocrypha scrolls or about a specific book just like a deeper presentation of what you already did with the series who wrote the bible, you're really good at explaining and entertaining

[BlastedRodent]

The Priestly Blessing is also used in lutheran services. I’m non-religious but grew up in a lutheran culture, so those words are almost a meme to me, but I always thought they were just something someone made up in the 1600s. To find out that they are the oldest preserved bible manuscript is king of mindblowing

[GizmoFromPizmo]

Update on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Esther. The Book of Esther is indeed included in the Dead Sea Scrolls but it wasn't until they could read it with enhanced photographic equipment that they discovered what it was. Someone in antiquity had spilled wine on it and so the text was obscured. The modern equipment they used was able to read through the staining and it revealed the Book of Esther.

Edit: Correction. This claim has been debunked. Esther has not been found in the Dead Sea scrolls.

[rachel_sj]

I can watch Useful Charts talking about genealogy charts, timelines, and then pivot to talking about ancient manuscripts for hours!

Such a fascinating topic and I think more people (esp people who read the Bible) need to watch this video!!

[mortenpedersen]

Not that it is missing from this video, but a separate video on the Nag Hammadi library would be very interesting. As always great video 👍

[Echowhiskeyone]

The history of the Bible has always fascinated me. As a child I always questioned it. Not the theological meaning, but the history of when, where and how it was written. As well as the sources from other ancient writings.

This series is a wonderful collection of the Bible's history.

[alangervasis]

There are many important points overlooked here. Papyrus (Plant material) Manuscripts would hardly last even 200 years under normal conditions but due to Egypt's dry condition somehow it survived other adversities like wars, termites and fire. While the Vellum Manuscripts made out of animal skin can last 1000s of years but it was very costly. So to write something the size of the complete bible on vellum was a grand project which only the imperial roman empire could afford. That's why all the complete Bible manuscripts comes after 313 AD when constantine legalized christianity. Before that the Diocletian Persecutions of 303 AD damaged many House Churches and the Papyrus manuscripts kept within them. This also has led to the destruction of a number of manuscripts before 303 AD.

[emmanuellaurens]

Regarding the 'existence of Julius Caesar' tangent: we also have roman coins bearing the portrait of Julius Caesar, with his name written on them. Struck while he was alive, and, pretty obviously, in charge, or he wouldn't have gotten his face and name on these coins. You know, in case any one still has any doubt after that masterful video :)

[SnowyLynn]

11:40 Fun bit of trivia: The Oxford and Cambridge colleges of Magdalen and Magdalene respectively are pronounced “Mawd-lin” which causes some confusion in the cities, as Oxford also has an unrelated St MaryMagdalen Church and Magdalen Street which are often mispronounced as “mawd-lin” but should actually be pronounced “mag-da-lin”

[maximilianborst]

I study history and religious education at a university in germany and what you presented in your video is 100% congruent to what professors tell us. I'm happy to see such high quality content.

[ingriddurden]

found your channel accidentally, immediately subscribed. Very interesting, very well done, and not dogmatic. Grew up catholic but dropped out age 14 (when pastor called me a heretic for questioning the trinity). Now belong to an episcopal church, but not practicing. Prefer to study on my own. With help from people like you. Thank you.

[karmacalleduvebeenbad]

Your awesome! Why couldn’t 90’s education be this comprehensive!! You rock and I love your coverage of this topic and tons of others! Your one of the most professional YouTuber I’ve watched!

[coreyschlaak]

I would like to see something on scripture quoted by the early church fathers, and the dates given. These would not necessarily be manuscripts, but would have direct quotes from both the Old and New Testament. It might even be older than the manuscripts presented for the NT.

[MyMy-tvfd]

brilliantly done. You might add something on how ancient manuscripts were copied, from master copy on parchment to working copies on cheaper materials, etc. For instance, Middle Kingdom Egyptians took about 200 years to wear out an original master parchment by the mere act of copying to preserve the texts and records. Master copyists would make the master parchments, lower scribes would make the lesser copies.