09-19-2014, 07:01 AM
Dead Sea Scrolls- These are the oldest manuscripts/fragments of the Tanach and they are written in Hebrew. They have every book except for Esther and several apocryphal books (including I Enoch). Esther was very controversial among the various Jewish sects. Some scholars have speculated that it was rejected because it tells of a Jewish woman marrying a Gentile king, it was uninteresting because it had a female protagonist, and/or that because of it's small size, it was lost to the ages or simply hasn't been discovered. So the oldest text of Ezra might be the Septuagint. According to Wikipedia, these date from 408 BC-318 AD.
Septuagint- The Greek translation of the Old Testament and Apocrypha made in Alexandria by seventy or seventy-two Jewish scholars for the use of Hellenistic Jews from as early as 200 BC.
Targumim: These are ancient Aramaic paraphrases of the Tanach which were passed down orally until they were finally written down. These paraphrases were probably being spoken in synagogues before and during the time that our Lord walked the earth. These reveal a lot about how the Jewish people interpreted the Tanach in antiquity. A targum of Job was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The most important of these are Targum Onkelos (the Torah) and Targum Jonathan ben Uzziel (Nevi'im, or the Prophets). There are some targums of some of the Ketuvim (Writings), but they were not official like the ones mentioned previously and were deemed unnecessary since they were had no strict liturgical role.
Peshitta: Some believe this translation of the Tanach into Aramaic was done in Edessa by Jewish scholars around the time of the commencement of Christianity, but some also believe that it was translated in the late 1st century or early 2nd century by Messianic Jews. It's older than the standard Masoretic text.
Masoretic Text- The standard text of the Hebrew Tanach for both Christians and Jew from at least the 9th century. I don't konw what sources they used to "reconstruct" the Old Covenant writings.
Septuagint- The Greek translation of the Old Testament and Apocrypha made in Alexandria by seventy or seventy-two Jewish scholars for the use of Hellenistic Jews from as early as 200 BC.
Targumim: These are ancient Aramaic paraphrases of the Tanach which were passed down orally until they were finally written down. These paraphrases were probably being spoken in synagogues before and during the time that our Lord walked the earth. These reveal a lot about how the Jewish people interpreted the Tanach in antiquity. A targum of Job was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The most important of these are Targum Onkelos (the Torah) and Targum Jonathan ben Uzziel (Nevi'im, or the Prophets). There are some targums of some of the Ketuvim (Writings), but they were not official like the ones mentioned previously and were deemed unnecessary since they were had no strict liturgical role.
Peshitta: Some believe this translation of the Tanach into Aramaic was done in Edessa by Jewish scholars around the time of the commencement of Christianity, but some also believe that it was translated in the late 1st century or early 2nd century by Messianic Jews. It's older than the standard Masoretic text.
Masoretic Text- The standard text of the Hebrew Tanach for both Christians and Jew from at least the 9th century. I don't konw what sources they used to "reconstruct" the Old Covenant writings.