Understanding the Bible: Inspiration, Oracles, Massorates, and Translation

This article provides an overview of various aspects of the Bible, including the meaning of the word Biblia, the definition of inspiration, oracles of the prophets, the process of the Old Testament, views on inspiration, Hebrew Massorates, the Received Text of 1633 A.D., Byzantine texts, uncials, the Hebrew parent text, and the process used by scholars to arrive at the final stage of the New International Version.

ASSIGNMENT 1
1. What is the meaning of the word Biblia?
It is the Latin definition of bible1. It means “the bible”
2. Discuss briefly the definition of inspiration as discussed in this unit
It’s the doctrine theology in which the authors and the educators of the bible were
influence through the Holy spirit by God2 in which they reflected God’s words amongst
Christians.
3. Give examples of the oracles of the prophets which portray them
It all begins with Moses as stated un Deuteronomy 18: 15-16 where he was tasked with
the duty of taking the Israelites from Egypt to cannan. He would give them the ten
commandments in exodus 20: 1-7.
There was also the ministry from books of 2 kings, Ezra and Nehemiah as stated in
Ezekiel 37: 1-14 that 3describes the death and resurrection of Israel.
Th oracles of prophets are written in Isaiah 13:1, 14:28, 15:1, 21:1, 23:1. As well as other
books among them Habakkuk, Malachi and Nahum.
There was the oracle of judgment a written Jeremiah 2:5-9 and oracles of salvation as
shown in covenants in Lev 26: 40-45.
4. Briefly comment on the process of the old testament
The old testament is based on sayings and speeches in the books of Genesis to
Deuteronomy. It also has the covenant books that dictates laws that God instructed to the
people. More to that, there is a detail accounts of the lives of Israelites after the great
passive4. There is also the account of materials used in construction, the accounted
number of people and the amount of money used in construction of temples and arks for
God as detailed in numbers and some of other books like the leadership books like
Samuel.
5. Discuss the passages that were used by the elderly church in the pre-canonical era
1 , 2, 3,4 Chatzitheodorou, I. (2001, October). Bible Translation: Problems of Bible Translation. Retrieved from Translation Journal:
http://translationjournal.net/journal/18bible.htm
2
3
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ASSIGNMENT 1
Leviticus 19:32 : “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man,
and you shall fear your God: I am 5the Lord.
Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land
that the Lord your God is giving you.
6. Comment on the following views on inspiration: Evangelical, Catholic, Modernist and
Neo-orthodox.
The roman Catholics believe that the bible is written as inspired by God but he isn’t the
direct author of the bible.
The protestants believed that the Holy spirit illuminated the writers mind to translate
God’s word to humans6.
Evangelicals hold the writing of the bible to divine involvement that allowed the message
to be written in God’s won communication.
Neo-orthodox view the bible as the word of God only when read by a reader.
7. Discuss the Hebrew Massorates that you know.
Aharon Ben Asher was one of the last Masoretic scholars. His son Nehemiah took after
him and then Asher and then Moshe. His family was based in Tiberias. There were others
like Moshe Gamzuz7, Pinhas Hacohen Birbi beRabi and others like OK Ya’aqov of Kafra
among many others.
8. Who are Massorates.
The massorates are there to guard and preserve the texts in the bible which is handed
down generation to generations. Thy also dictated the right way to translate the bible
9. Discuss the works of Massorates.
 They determined the text of the bible.
 Highly successful in stating the proper way of writing and reading the bible
 They determined how each single letter as paved and made sure to look out for
defective spelling8.
10. Discuss the “Received Text of 1633A.D.
5 , 6, 7, 8 Loba-Mkole, C. J. (2008, March). History and theory of Scripture translations. Retrieved from Scielo South Africa:
http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222008000100015
6
7
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ASSIGNMENT 1
These were words used in reference of the Greek Bible and they meant the text that is
presently possessed by all received. Thus, it gained the name received text.
11. Which are the Byzantine texts?
It is also referred to as majority text, traditional texts or ecclesiastical texts among many
others. It is one f the severally used text types used to describe the Greek new testament
manuscripts textual9 character.
12. Explain the following uncials: Claromantanus, Codex Laudianus and Codex Koridethi.
 Codex means an ancient manuscript in book form.
 Codex Koridethi is a 9th century manuscript of the four gospels.
 Codex Laudianus is diglot Latin Greek manuscript of the new testament assigned
to the 6th century.
 Codex Claromontanus is a Greek Latin diglot manuscript of the new testament
that is written on vellum in an uncial hand10.
13. Discuss the Hebrew parent text.
This involves understanding the Hebrew language of the bible in terms culter and
thoughts to the language and alphabet. It is the original language in which the bible was
written in before it was translated to several languages.
14. Describe the process used by scholars to arrive at the final stage of the New International
Version
The NIV version was published in 197811 by the Biblical or International Bible Society
after scholars wanted a modern translation done using the highest quality manuscripts
available.
References
9 Chatzitheodorou, I. (2001, October). Bible Translation: Problems of Bible Translation. Retrieved from Translation Journal:
http://translationjournal.net/journal/18bible.htm
10 , 11 Loba-Mkole, C. J. (2008, March). History and theory of Scripture translations . Retrieved from Scielo South Africa:
http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222008000100015
11

ASSIGNMENT 1
Chatzitheodorou, I. (2001, October). Bible Translation: Problems of Bible Translation.
Retrieved from Translation Journal: http://translationjournal.net/journal/18bible.htm
Loba-Mkole, C. J. (2008, March). History and theory of Scripture translations . Retrieved from
Scielo South Africa: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-
94222008000100015