I don't know much about the Dead Sea scrolls. Can somebody inform me?
102984
Dead Sea Scrolls—The Prized Find\n\nABOUT 15 miles [24 km] southeast of Jerusalem, Wadi En-Nar, a desolate, dry watercourse runs eastward down to the Dead Sea. A broken line of cliffs stretches behind the shoreline plain. On this plain, in the hot days and contrasting cold nights of autumn, the Ta‘amireh Bedouin tend their flocks of sheep and goats.\n\nIn the year 1947, while tending the flocks, a young Bedouin shepherd threw a stone into a small opening in the crumbling face of a cliff. He was startled by the noise it caused, apparently by shattering an earthenware jar. He fled in fear, but two days later he returned and climbed some 300 feet [100 m] to enter through a larger, higher opening. As his eyes became accustomed to the darkness, he saw ten tall jars lining the walls of the cave, and a mass of broken pottery amid fallen rocks littered the floor.\n\nMost of the jars were empty, but one contained three scrolls, two of which were cloth-covered. He took the manuscripts back to the Bedouin camp and left them there for about a month, hanging in a bag on a tent pole. Finally, some Bedouin took the scrolls to Bethlehem to see how much they would fetch. The Bedouin were unceremoniously turned away from one monastery, being told that the scrolls were of no value whatever. Another dealer said that the manuscripts had no archaeological merit, and he suspected that they had been stolen from a Jewish synagogue. How wrong he was! Eventually, with a Syrian cobbler acting as broker, their worth was rightfully established. Soon, other manuscripts were evaluated.\n\nSome of these ancient writings opened up a whole new insight into the activity of Jewish religious groups about the time of Christ. But it was a Bible manuscript of Isaiah’s prophecy that excited the world. Why?\n\nThe Great Prize\n\nThe newly discovered scroll of Isaiah was originally about 25 feet [7.5 m] long. It was made up of 17 sheets of carefully prepared animal skin, nearly as refined as parchment. Composed in 54 columns averaging 30 lines each, it had been carefully ruled. On these lines the skilled penman had placed the letters of the text, written in paragraphs.—See photograph.\n\nThe scroll had not been rolled around sticks, and it was much darker in the center where many hands had held it for reading. It was well-worn, with skillful repairs and reinforcements in evidence. Its fine preservation was due to its having been carefully sealed in a jar. How valuable is it to the Bible scholar, and, by extension, to all of us?\n\nThis manuscript of the prophet Isaiah is some one thousand years older than any other surviving copy, yet its contents are not greatly different. Said Professor Millar Burrows, the editor of the text that was published in 1950: “The text of Isaiah in this manuscript, with significant differences in spelling and grammar and many variant readings of more or less interest and importance, is substantially that presented considerably later in the MT [Masoretic Hebrew Text].” Also noteworthy is its consistent use of the Tetragrammaton, ????, God’s holy name, Jehovah, in Hebrew.\n\nOther Valuable Manuscripts\n\nThe divine name also appears in another manuscript from this same cave, now known as Cave 1. In a commentary on the book of Habakkuk, the Tetragrammaton appears four times in paleo-Hebrew letters, an older style that contrasts with the more familiar square Hebrew lettering.—See the footnote to Habakkuk 1:9, Reference Bible.\n\nThe cave yielded portions of another Isaiah scroll, along with leather fragments from the Bible book of Daniel. One of these preserves the change from Hebrew to Aramaic at Daniel 2:4, just as found in manuscripts of a thousand years later.\n\nSmall parts of the scrolls that are well preserved are now exhibited in Jerusalem, in the museum known as the Shrine of the Book. This museum is underground, so as you visit there, you have the impression of entering a cave. The upper part of the museum is in
663086
This could be the strongest point about the 'hidden agenda' of those who perpetrated to TWEAK the compilation of the Holy Bible by simply ignoring the so-called "missing years" of Yeshua ibn Joseph.\n\nIf you study about the ESSENES --the Brotherhood, a clustered community of prophets, visionaries and scribes that banded together since the time of Elijah-- they were the third largest group among the Jewry. The largest groups were the Pharisees, followed closely by the Sadducees, and then by the Essenes. Yet there is NOT ONE SINGLE mention about the Essenes in the Bible. Why is that so??\n\nSimply because that was the very group targeted by the early church [the RCC, who gained power from Constantine] to be OBLITERATED COMPLETELY from the face of the Earth and all historical and recorded references made about them as well as all their writings. The Essenes were the same ones who followed The Law for generations and who "separated" themselves from the rest of the Jewish cities to honor their Nazarite's Vows, which had been institued since the time of Moses...\n\nIt was through them that the maiden, Mary --daughter of Anna and Joachim-- was chosen to be the vessel for arrival of the Promised Messiah. There were two known communities of Essenes during that time: one in Nazareth, located at the foothills of Mt. Carmel; and the other in Qumran, high atop the cliffs overlooking the Dead Sea.\n\nMary, the young maiden, and Joseph, a respected elder and builder of their community both belonged to the community in Nazareth. Her first cousin Elizabeth, and husband Zecheriah --high priest/in-charge of the incense at the Temple in Jerusalem-- lived in Qumran where John the Baptist was born.\n\nAs the proclaimed MESSIAH, Savior and King of the Jews, since the time of Anunciation ['the Announcement'] it was already widespread among the Essene communities about His arrival. His Nativity in Bethlehem --House of David, family line of Joseph and Mary-- was well protected by members of the Brotherhood at all times, up to and including their departure to Egypt and safe return back to their town of Nazareth.\n\nI would venture to conjecture the following:\n\nYeshua's early childhood, or at least His first seven years, were spent with His mother and He obeyed all her laws at home. Between seven years to fourteen years old, He learned His father's trade as a carpenter and began to learn all the Sacred Scriptures [about Him, the Elect One] from the Masters in Mt. Carmel-- the original headquarters of Prophet Elijah and other 100 prophets that followed him since. This would explain why Yeshua/Jesus, at 12, began questioning the practices of the Pharisees and Sadducees at the Temple since, by then, He had already learned the Scriptures for at least five years...\n\nBy fourteen years old, He began His own ministry within the community of the Brotherhood and preached to the youth and the new members who were made welcome to join their open communities. By twenty-one years old, He had chosen the few "elects" among His early disciples and was by then known as The Master among the Brotherhood. Between twenty-one and twenty-eight, it is conceivable that He too was happily married as was the Jewish tradition among sons of men. This could also account for the various travels that He has been credited to have made in various places, learning their ways and bringing His message of the SEVENFOLD TEACHING that was given by the Ancient Great Ones who have seen the face of God...\n\nAnd by the time He was thirty, He began His public ministry to the rest of the Jews outside the Brotherhood.\n\nPresumably, being surrounded by disciples, scribes and elders of the Essene communities, the ENTIRE LIFE OF YESHUA was chronicled and written by at least hundreds, maybe even thousands of those whom The Master had affected... before He began to "choose" His "twelve [public] Apostles" soon after meeting
770858
Dead Sea.\n\nBedouin shepherds accidentally stumbled upon one of the most important religious discoveries of all time -- The Dead Sea Scrolls.\n\nSeven ancient scrolls, written in Aramaic, Herbrew, and Greek, discovered by Bedouin shepherds in 1947, 13 miles east of Jerusalem, turned out to be from the period between 200 B.C. and A.D. 68. The scrolls held information about the Old Testament, including material never seen before in modern times.
1056904
66 books from Gen. to Reve.\n39 books are the Hebrew Scriptures (OT)\n\nGod is the author/ and it shows about 40 different human secretaries or scribes. God's finger began the writing by craving out the ten commandments on stone tablets.\n All types of men were used -shepherd, farmer,tent maker,fisherman,tax collector,physician,priest,prophet,king and so on.\n it has one basic theme from beginning to end and very connected even though written \nages apart.\n Copyists have preserved it for centuries. On finding the Dead Sea Scrolls other than some wording little has been changed the meaning was still correct.\n\nThe so called lost books (book of Judah and such) are not part of cannon as all the other books harmonized with each other from beginning to end-these did not. Remember even in Jesus day others wrote to dispute his teachings.
693555
On the contrary my friend...\n\nThe writings you mention date from after the time of Christ (and after the writings of the NT gospels).\n\nThe NT gospels were authenticated by immediate disciples of Jesus Christ.\n\nLater writings from 150-1000 years after Jesus were NOT authenticated by the disciples of Jesus Christ (the ones who had actually spent time with Jesus, and so were eyewitnesses of the things he said and did).\n\nCordially,\nJohn
621746
http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/nw/kt/\n\nmight find it here... that's not a lot of information to go on (or ask the person who's website it is. :) )
688295
Sparky First let me say I appreciate the 10 pts. I don't know what I did to piss you off though. I told you to look up the work "Qumran" because it is one of the best documented archaeological finds in the world and I knew that there would be plenty of info online (which would be convenient for you). Would you rather me refer you to the dozens of books that I know of offhand or to an infinite # of archaeological reports that are incredibly boring to read? I studied Qumran under Jodi Magness at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and she is the foremost American Archaeologist in the world concerning the "holyland." In particular, she is definitely the foremost authority on Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  In case you don't know, archaeology is SCIENCE, not religion, and archaeological reports and finds are scientific and are not at all connected to the Church or any religion.  \n\nNothing in my answer to you dealt with religious dogma, I simply tried to answer your question as to why SOME Christians see a threat in the DaVinci code. Now, as for your claim that the bible was written 200 years after Christ, well that's true for some of the later NT books, but not of the Gospels. Some of the gnostic texts were much later than the gospels, which is part of the reason they were rejected by the church. \n\nAnd lastly, you claim that the bible has changed so many times that it's all crap. What do you have to support this? Go see the Dead Sea Scrolls some time, which were written between 2500-2000 yrs ago (as I visited a DSS exhibit about a month ago in Charlotte, NC). And then compare that to the KJV or the American Standard Bible.  The Old Testament found in the 1950s in the Caves near Qumran is nearly word for word with what we have today.  It is amazing that in 2000 or more years the Jewish text has changed so little!  This means that we should all reexamine the amount of credit we have granted the Jewish oral tradition that was so important to the early Christian Church.  IT IS ACCURATE, whether you want to admit it or not. SCIENCE and HISTORY support that.\n\nAgain, I answered your question rather well... Let me try one more time in FIVE SIMPLE SENTENCES that will be very easy for you to comprehend this time:\n\n1.  It wouldn't be so bad if Jesus was married.\n\n2.  Christians are NOT offended or threatened by the possibility that Jesus could have been married.\n\n3.  It's simply not historically true or believable, from the bible and from the writings of two Roman historians Tacitus and Josephus.\n\n4.  However, Some Christians ARE offended by the notion that Christ was not Divine; and the "The DaVinci Code" claims his having a child is proof that Jesus was NOT divine.\n\n5.  Such a claim can be damaging to the mission field because people like you believe anything and everything you read in a novel or see on TV and are therefore hostile toward Christianity.\n\nSo, that's why some Christians are offended by the DaVinci Code and by the notion that Christ might have been married to and had a child with Mary Magdalene.  Because of the hostility towards Christianity that such false belief creates.  People like you work directly against anyone trying to bring people to Christ.  \n\nPS.. the whole "MM was a whore" lost in translation thing.. do your history research man, you don't know what you are talking about at all.  You speak fiction and pass it off as truth. \n\nAnd you wonder why people would be offended?  maybe some people just like the truth?\n\nLet me ask you a question.  Why are you so offended by Christianity?  What are YOU afraid of?  The Truth?
869726
well since you probably cannot afford TheTorah Scroll. since they are very expensive. i would not recommend you purchase any of their altered versions. since after readiing TheTorah, and some other origional scrolls. i can tell theirs have been altered. and it is against TheCommand of G-D, to alter anything in scripture, or use any altered scripture.
1022221
Well, first off, though they have historical importance, they are not Biblical. They don't claim to be scripture themselves (generally) and often contain doctrinal fallacies.
1034564
Well Its to bad they don't understand. I don't like to see any walk in darkness. What they should understand is there has been a steady attack on the scriptures for as long as they have been around and by much better scholars than most or maybe any who have ever visited this site. Higher Criticism subjected it to all kinds of scholarly attack along with most of today's "institutions of higher learning". No book has been examined more closely than the Bible and no work could ever stand under that kind of attack. Yet the Word stands and carries on and the old saying that the shovel always verifies the Word remains true.
60517
I believe the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in Israel.
974328
Old Testament\nHow do we know the Bible has been kept in tact for over 2,000 years of copying? Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, our earliest Hebrew copy of the Old Testament was the Masoretic text, dating around 800 A.D. The Dead Sea Scrolls date to the time of Jesus and were copied by the Qumran community, a Jewish sect living around the Dead Sea. We also have the Septuagint which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament dating in the second century B.C. When we compare these texts which have an 800-1000 years gap between them we are amazed that 95% of the texts are identical with only minor variations and a few discrepancies.\n\nNew Testament\nIn considering the New Testament we have tens of thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament in part or in whole, dating from the second century A.D. to the late fifteenth century, when the printing press was invented. These manuscripts have been found in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, making collusion unlikely. The oldest manuscript, the John Rylands manuscript, has been dated to 125 A.D. and was found in Egypt, some distance from where the New Testament was originally composed in Asia Minor). Many early Christian papyri, discovered in 1935, have been dated to 150 A.D., and include the four gospels. The Papyrus Bodmer II, discovered in 1956, has been dated to 200 A.D., and contains 14 chapters and portions of the last seven chapters of the gospel of John. The Chester Beatty biblical papyri, discovered in 1931, has been dated to 200-250 A.D. and contains the Gospels, Acts, Paul's Epistles, and Revelation. The number of manuscripts is extensive compared to other ancient historical writings, such as Caesar's "Gallic Wars" (10 Greek manuscripts, the earliest 950 years after the original), the "Annals" of Tacitus (2 manuscripts, the earliest 950 years after the original), Livy (20 manuscripts, the earliest 350 years after the original), and Plato (7 manuscripts).\n\n\nThousands of early Christian writings and lexionaries (first and second century) cite verses from the New Testament. In fact, it is nearly possible to put together the entire New Testament just from early Christian writings. For example, the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (dated 95 A.D.) cites verses from the Gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews, and 1 Peter. The letters of Ignatius (dated 115 A.D.) were written to several churches in Asia Minor and cites verses from Matthew, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. These letters indicate that the entire New Testament was written in the first century A.D. In addition, there is internal evidence for a first century date for the writing of the New Testament. The book of Acts ends abruptly with Paul in prison, awaiting trial (Acts 28:30-31 (1)). It is likely that Luke wrote Acts during this time, before Paul finally appeared before Nero. This would be about 62-63 A.D., meaning that Acts and Luke were written within thirty years of ministry and death of Jesus. Another internal evidence is that there is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Although Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus' prophecy that the temple and city would be destroyed within that generation (Matthew 24:1-2 (2),Mark 13:1-2 (3), Luke 21:5-9,20-24,32(4)), no New Testament book refers to this event as having happened. If they had been written after 70 A.D., it is likely that letters written after 70 A.D. would have mentioned the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. As stated by Nelson Glueck, former president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and renowned Jewish archaeologist, "In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written between the forties and eighties of the first century A.D."\n\nWith all of the massive manuscript evidence you would think there would be massive discrepancies
920378
Dude, I don't know where you get your views, but they are not a reflection of God as revealed in the Holy Bible.  Have you ever read it?  Ever had a serious discussion with real people who have also studied it and could have dismissed it all as bunk, but instead they "bet the farm", their lives, reputations, livelihoods on it.  Talk to some real Christians in person.  Anonymity on a yahoo answers forum is not going to get you the real answers you're seeking.
590422
Read an article on this. It was rather interesting, it gave examples from both the New Testament and the Old as well as other Jewish texts.
554734
Yes indeed! there are the Holy Scripts, they were found between Jordan and Isreal somewhere below the Dead Sea..
781032
There are a lot of good suggestion already written here, and frankly I don't think which version you use will make a lot of difference when you read it. It may down the road when you start to study and look for teaching in it. Then you will want to get an accurate version and stay away from paraphrases versions like the NIV.  The important thing is that you allow God to teach you while you read. In James 1:5 it says, "...if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." This is a promise from God that if you ask Him He will give you wisdom as you read. So, when you read it, pray in your heart and ask God to open it up to you. It is a spiritual book and needs the Spirit of God to direct you.
876014
This website is just someones personal interpretation of the verses in the Bible.  Read the bible for yourself and then ask God  himself for any needed explanation. He just might answer you !\n\nGood luck with your spiritual journey!