DAILY TEXT, Wednesday, August 14, 2024, The truth is the very essence of your word (Ps. 119:160).

DAILY TEXT, Today Wednesday, August 14, 2024, The truth is the very essence of your word (Ps. 119:160).

Let us examine the scriptures every day 2024

Wednesday August 14, 2024

Truth is the very essence of your word (Ps. 119:160).

In our days there is a great crisis of confidence; People don't know who to trust. Many admire politicians, scientists and businessmen, but wonder if they have good intentions. Furthermore, they do not have much respect for the leaders of the Christian Churches. So it's no surprise that they distrust the book these leaders supposedly follow, the Bible. On the other hand, Jehovah's servants are convinced that he is “the God of truth” and that he always wants the best for us (Ps. 31:5; Is. 48:17). We are sure that we can trust what the Bible says. We agree with what a biblical scholar wrote: “In all that God has said, there is not a hint of falsehood nor any probability of its failure. “God’s people can trust what he says because they trust the God who said it.” w23.01 2 paras. 1, 2.

Why do some people think the Bible has been changed?

Jehovah used about 40 faithful men to write the books of the Bible. But none of the original manuscripts exist today.c We only have copies of copies. Because of this, some people wonder if what the Bible says is the same as what those men wrote. How can we be sure that the Bible has not been changed?

How were the Hebrew Scriptures copied? (See cover drawing).

In order to protect the message of his Word, Jehovah ordered that it be copied. He ordered the kings of Israel to make their own copy of the Law and told the Levites that they must explain it to the people (Deut. 17:18; 31:24-26; Neh. 8:7). After the exile of the Jews to Babylon, a group of professional copyists began making many copies of the Hebrew Scriptures (Ezra 7:6, notes). These men were careful. Over time, they began to count the words and even the letters to make sure their work was impeccable. Even so, as they were imperfect, some small errors escaped them. Now, these errors could be detected later, because many copies of the same text had been made. Let's see how they were detected.

How can errors be detected in copies of the Bible?

Bible scholars today follow a very good method of discovering the errors of those who copied the text of the Bible. To understand this, suppose that 100 men are asked to copy by hand a page of certain text, and one of them makes a small mistake. How could it be detected? Comparing all copies. Similarly, experts can find the errors or omissions of copyists by comparing many Bible manuscripts.

How do we know that many Bible copyists did very careful work?

Let's look at an example that shows how careful Bible copyists were. The oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Scriptures is the Leningrad Codex, from the year 1008 or 1009 AD. But a few decades ago many manuscripts and fragments of the Bible were discovered that are about 1,000 years older than the Leningrad Codex. One might think that, after copying and copying the manuscripts over a period of 1,000 years, there would be very few similarities between the Leningrad Codex and those older manuscripts. But it is not like that. What did specialists discover who compared the oldest manuscripts with the most recent ones? That, although the wording is a little different, the essence of the Bible's message has not been changed.

All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2024 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania JW.ORG.