The Bible is a wonderful and amazing book. Today's Bible is made up of 66 books written over a span of about 2000 years. At least 40 authors contributed books, or portions of books, to the Bible. These books were written in countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa by very different men. The a
uthors include both kings and fishermen. With only a few exceptions the authors never knew one another or ever saw the Bible as we see it today. Many critics point to what they consider to be errors and inconsistencies in the scriptures, but considering the facts just mentioned the Bible has amazing integrity and consistency.The Bible is taken by faith by believers to be the word of God; written by men, but inspired by Him. Our faith in scripture is supported by the fact that so many people over so many years were able to collaborate so effectively.
The Old Testament
The First 5 Books of the Old Testament, known as the "Books of Moses" or the "Torah" were originally written in Hebrew in about 1400 BC. There are no existing original manuscripts of these books, although some fragments of later copies have been found. After the conquest of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC, the books were mostly written in Aramaic, the language adopted by the Jews during there captivity in Mesopotamia. The book of Malachi, the final book, was written in Hebrew. Again, no original documents exist, although a complete 2nd century BC copy of the book of Isaiah was found along with fragments of the other Old Testament books among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The exact number of authors is unknown. Some scholars argue that as many as four people contributed to the Books of Moses, and that two or three different authors may have written Isaiah, but these arguements can not be fully proven. The Old Testament was translated into Aramaic in about 400 BC, and into Greek in 250 BC. The Greek translation, known as the Septuagint or LXX, is often quoted by the New Testament authors.
The New Testament
The New Testament was originally written in Greek. The Gospels of Luke and Mark, The Epistles of Paul, and The Acts of the Apostles all date from 45 - 63 AD. Some of these books were written by authors who knew Jesus during the years of his ministry. Many are letters written by Paul to the earliest Christian congregations. The Gospel of John, and Revelation, the final book, were written later; probably about 95 AD. Over 5,000 early Greek manuscripts containing parts of the New Testament exist on papyrus from the 2nd and 3rd century, and complete later parchment copies from the 4th century. As early as the 3rd century The New Testament was translated into Old Latin. In 380 AD The Latin Vulgate, including the Old Testament, translated from Hebrew, and New Testament translated from the Greek, was written and became the standard of the Western Church for centuries. The first bible in English was translated by John Wycliffe from Latin Vulgate in 14th century.
In the Early 16th Century the first printing of the New Testament in Greek, the Textus Receptus, was produced by Erasmus. This text was the source for the English translation of the King James Version of 1611, the standard for 400 years, and the version still favored by many Christians today.