1. How We Got the Bible Part One: From Moses to the Canon Part Two: From Jerome toWycliffe Part Three: From Erasmus to Tyndale, and Onward

2. Part I: From Moses to the Canon Moses begins writing the Old Testament ca. 1400 B.C. Paul begins writing the New Testament ca. A.D. 49 The Canon is complete by A. D. 100

3. O.T. Hebrew Hebrew Text Stone, Clay, Papyrus, Leather

4. Preserving the Hebrew Scriptures The Massoretes, ca. A.D. 500, “sought ways and methods by which to eliminate scribal slips of addition or omission. this they achieved through intricate procedures of count- ing” (Neal Lightfoot, How We Got the Bible, 2003, p. 132). Pre-Massoretes, Talmud regulations reflect infinite care in the preservation and transmission of the text of the Hebrew Scriptures. Evidence from the Cairo Genizah, discovered late 19th century, indicated damaged or inferior manuscripts taken out of circulation -- later buried.

5. The Dead Sea

6. Qumran Community Miqveh (Baptistry) Dining Area Scriptorium

7. Dead Sea Scrolls, ca. 250 BC Isaiah Scroll Shrine of the Book Cave 4

8. On the Nile Delta Antiochus IV, r. 175-64 BC Rosetta Stone ca. 196 BC Septuagint Version, ca.250 BC

9. Antiochus IV, Epiphanes r. 175-164 B.C. Attempted to destroy the Hebrew Scriptures

10. Alexandria, Egypt

11. The Septuagint (LXX) Version ca. 250 B.C. O.T. in Greek translation produced in Alexandria, Egypt.

12. Rosetta Stone, ca. 196 B.C. Alexander the Great sowed Greek language throughout the classical world -- the koine (common) dialect was the lingua franca of the Roman Empire by New Testament times.

13. New Testament, Koine Greek Papyrus P 52, Oldest N.T. portion, A.D. 110-130

14. Preserving the Greek N. T. Of CAESAR’S GALLIC WARS from A.D. 900 10 Copies Of THUCYDIDES (History) from A.D. 900 8 Copies Of HERODOTUS (History) from A.D. 900 8 Copies Of ARISTOTLE (Philosophy)from A.D. 1100 5 Copies Of NEW TESTAMENTfrom A.D. 110-30 onward, over 5000 portions or com- plete copies.

15. Preserving the Greek N. T. “To be skeptical of the resultant text of the New Testament books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as The New Testament.” J.W. Montgomery, Barrister/Scholar

16. Do We Have the Bible? “It is reassuring at the end to find that the general result of all these discoveries and all this study is to strengthen the proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures, and our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God.” Sir Frederick Kenyon, Dir. British Museum, dec.

17. About Textual Variants “We possess so many MSS., and we are aided by so many versions, that we are never left to the need of conjecture as the means of removing errata.” S. P. Tragelles, Greek New Testament, Prolegomena

18. O.T. Canon Finalized, Council of Jamnia, A.D. 90?

19. N.T. Canon Finalized, Council of Carthage, A.D. 397?

20. The Indestructible Word of God “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.” Matthew 24:35