Some dude 'fixed' the Bible

[kyuuei]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-scholar-completes-mission-fix-bible-063009279.html

For the past 30 years, Israeli Judaic scholar Menachem Cohen has been on a mission of biblical proportions: Correcting all known textual errors in Jewish scripture to produce a truly definitive edition of the Old Testament.

His edits, focusing primarily on grammatical blemishes and an intricate set of biblical symbols, mark the first major overhaul of the Hebrew Bible in nearly 500 years.

Poring over thousands of medieval manuscripts, the 84-year-old Cohen identified 1,500 inaccuracies in the Hebrew language texts that have been corrected in his completed 21-volume set. The final chapter is set to be published next year.

The errors have no bearing on the Bible's stories and alter nothing in its meaning. Instead, for example, in some places the markers used to denote vowels in Hebrew are incorrect; or a letter in a word may be wrong, often the result of a centuries old transcription error. Some of the fixes are in the notations used for cantillation, the text's ritual chants.

Most of the errors Cohen found were in the final two thirds of the Hebrew Bible and not in the sacred Torah scrolls, since they do not include vowel markings or cantillation notations.

Just thought it was interesting. Talk about a stickler for grammar..

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

Wow, how do you get that job?? You get to sit alone in a room and go about your work without worrying about meetings or telephones or anything.

 

[KDude]

Technically, it isn't the "whole" Bible as the west would refer to it. This is referring to the Old Testament/Tanakh. Half of the Christian bible. It's traditionally been preserved as the "Masoretic" text. Relatively speaking, it's already well preserved. Compared to the New Testament, there are less variations in the manuscripts.

 

[kyuuei]

Wow, how do you get that job?? You get to sit alone in a room and go about your work without worrying about meetings or telephones or anything.

I know right? Though I think I'd get distracted too easily for it.. I can barely work a stay-at-home job.

Technically, it isn't the "whole" Bible as the west would refer to it. This is referring to the Old Testament/Tanakh. Half of the Christian bible. It's traditionally been preserved as the "Masoretic" text. Relatively speaking, it's already well preserved. Compared to the New Testament, there are less variations in the manuscripts.

Yeah, but the title of the article was "Bible" and it was catchy, so I just stuck with it.

 

[swordpath]

I'd blow my brains out.

 

[KDude]

I know how to get that job btw.. lol

Well, not really.. but I know where to shoot. It's the field called Textual Criticism. Pretty interesting actually.

 

[garbage]

Does "inerrant Word" apply to grammar and spelling or just to meaning?

 

[KDude]

Does "inerrant Word" apply to grammar and spelling or just to meaning?

Well, it doesn't matter anyways.. the bible never uses that word. It was an idea that took full swing from Protestants during the enlightenment. The "Word of God" is mentioned being flawless in some texts and other things that could amount to "inerrancy", but it doesn't necessarily mean the bible itself. It's referring to the word of God in the abstract/spirit sense. Like a Psalm might have lyrics saying the "Word of God endures forever". Some people can be so literal as to think it applies to their King James Bible. That even a translation is "inerrant".

 

[Ginkgo]

Wow, how do you get that job?? You get to sit alone in a room and go about your work without worrying about meetings or telephones or anything.

Sounds like playing World of Warcraft.

 

[Usehername]

Well, it doesn't matter anyways.. the bible never uses that word. It was an idea that took full swing from Protestants during the enlightenment. The "Word of God" is mentioned being flawless in some texts and other things that could amount to "inerrancy", but it doesn't necessarily mean the bible itself. It's referring to the word of God in the abstract/spirit sense. Like a Psalm might have lyrics saying the "Word of God endures forever". Some people can be so literal as to think it applies to their King James Bible. That even a translation is "inerrant".

I'm not from a geographical area where people say this phrase. So when I moved here, I kept going to churches, going to their information table, and asking what this phrase meant, and no one could explain it to me. I didn't know how literal to take it. Thanks.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

Sounds like playing World of Warcraft.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I want to change my answer!

 

[Ginkgo]

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I want to change my answer!

We'll just cover that up by saying he was playing as a priest.

 

[Lark]

He maybe did not fix it but I think that Erich Fromm and Feurbach did some interesting interpreting of the bible.

 

[Magic Poriferan]

Wow, how do you get that job?? You get to sit alone in a room and go about your work without worrying about meetings or telephones or anything.

It seems that one of the crucial steps is not living in the USA.