History of the Bible 2 studies
Historical notes 5 studies
History of the Bible
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BIB004
The Translation of the Septuagint
The article deals with the translation of the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible made in the 3rd century BC for Greek-speaking Jews. Produced in Alexandria, the Septuagint greatly influenced the first Christians. It includes various biblical books and was initiated by King Ptolemy II.
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BIB005
The Search for Manuscripts
The article explores biblical codices, key manuscripts in the preservation of the biblical texts. It reviews important examples of codices, their impact on the transmission of the Scriptures, and the absence of historical information about the earliest manuscripts.
Historical notes
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INF029
The Apocryphal Writings
The apocryphal books are religious writings excluded from the official biblical canon. A distinction is made between the Old Testament apocrypha (Tobit, Judith, Maccabees, Sirach…), recognized as deuterocanonical by Catholics and Orthodox, and those of the New Testament (the Gospels of Thomas, Philip, Mary Magdalene…), often with a Gnostic coloring. Their study sheds light on the religious history and debates of the first Christian centuries, without placing them on the level of the canonical Scriptures.
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INF048
The Codex Sinaiticus
The Codex Sinaiticus is a Greek biblical manuscript dating from the 4th century, discovered at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai by Tischendorf in 1844. It contains the entire New Testament, a large part of the Old Testament in Greek (Septuagint), as well as the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. An Alexandrian-type text, it is crucial for textual criticism. Divided among the British Library, Saint Petersburg, Leipzig and Sinai, it is fully digitized and can be consulted online.
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INF050
The Codex Vaticanus
The Codex Vaticanus, dated between AD 300 and 325, is one of the oldest complete biblical manuscripts in Greek. Held in the Vatican Apostolic Library in Rome, it contains the Old and New Testaments, as well as the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. Of the Alexandrian type, it is very close to the original texts and is a major reference for textual criticism. Digitized in 2019, it is now accessible online to all researchers.
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INF060
The Nash Papyrus
The Nash Papyrus is a set of four Hebrew papyrus fragments dating from about 150 to 100 BC, acquired in Egypt in 1898 and kept in Cambridge. It contains the Ten Commandments, combining Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, as well as the beginning of the Shema Israel. Before the Qumran manuscripts, it was the oldest known Hebrew biblical manuscript, and it remains a valuable witness to the transmission of the Scriptures.
Exodus 20.2-17 (King James Version) :I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.Thou shalt have no other gods before me.Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.Thou shalt not kill.Thou shalt not commit adultery.Thou shalt not steal.Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.King James Version (1769), domaine public — texte : eBible.org -
INF068
The Vulgate
The Vulgate is a Latin translation of the Bible made by Saint Jerome at the end of the 4th century at the request of Pope Damasus I. Translated mainly from the Hebrew for the Old Testament and revised from the Greek for the New Testament, it became the standard version of the Roman Catholic Church for more than a thousand years. The Council of Trent officially made it the authentic edition in the 16th century. Its influence on Western culture, theology and liturgy is considerable.