When was the Bible written?

The 39 Old Testament books were written during a period of thousand years, beginning about 1100 B.C. The 27 New Testament books were written in less than a hundred years, between about A.D. 50 and 150.

They were hand written in ink, usually with a reed pen, on scrolls made of leather or papyrus. Often a written dictated a professional scribe, as Jeremiah dictated his prophesies to Baruch (Jeremiah 36:4)

There are two original languages of the Bible – Hebrew and Greek. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, except for four chapters of Ezra, six chapters of Daniel, and Jeremiah 10:11. These were written in Aramaic. The entire New Testament was written in Greek, the language commonly spoken and written through out the Roman Empire in the 1^st and 2^nd centuries A.D.

Aramaic is a Semitic language related to Hebrew somewhat as Italian is related to Spanish. Aramaic had become the everyday language of Palestine by the time of Jesus, who undoubtedly preached in Aramaic. His sayings and teachings were probably first recorded in this language, for traces of Aramaic remain in the Gospels (Mark 5:41; 15:34). Though Aramaic documents were doubtless used by the Gospel writers, they recorded the story of Jesus’ life in Greek.

Septuagint means of “of seventy”. The name may refer to the 72 scholars, 6 from each of the 12 tribes, who are said to have translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek in the 3^rd century B.C. According to legend, 72 scholars went from Palestine to Egypt where each man worked independently for 72 days, during which time they produced 72 identical Greek translations. The Septuagint is often indicated by roman numbers, LXX. This Greek version of the Old Testament was the Bible of the early Christians most of whom spoke Greek (Acts 18:28; 2 Tim 3:16)

Some fragments from the book of Samuel found in Cave 4 at the Dead Sea date probably from 200 B.C. and earlier. These are thought to be the oldest manuscripts so far discovered. The oldest complete manuscript of any book of the Bible is the scroll of Isaiah, copied about 100 B.C. It was found in 1947 sealed in a jar in one of the Dead Sea Caves.

A version is a translation of the original languages of the Bible. The early Greek version of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint. The 4^th century Latin version of the entire Bible is called the Vulgate. Other early versions of the Bible are in such languages as Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Armenian. Old manuscripts of ancient versions are important because they give of the Bible before many copying errors were made.