Kid Explanation

Each story in it has its own cool history. For the Hebrew Scriptures (the ones before Jesus), the Masoretes in the 9th century CE were like language masterminds. They put together the basis for Hebrew scripture translations and added vowels to Hebrew! The oldest version of the Hebrew Scripture stories in Greek (which is not the same language as Hebrew) is called the Septuagint.

Fast forward to the 20th century (way back in the old days of the 1900s) – The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in caves near the Dead Sea. They're like ancient time capsules with biblical texts that match pretty closely with what the Masoretes had.

So, that's a bit about the epic history of the Hebrew Scriptures – the backbone of our Bible adventures!

History of Hebrew Scriptures

Different copies of scripture were passed around from place to place. There was a group of Jews in Tiberias and Jerusalem. They were known as the Masoretes and in the 9th century CE they put together what is now the primary basis of Hebrew scripture translations. (These included the Tanak which is the additional explanation for Jewish writings.) They even added vowels to the Hebrew language.  

The oldest version of the Hebrew Scriptures in Greek is called the Septuagint.

Between 1947 and 1956 CE, 900 documents were discovered in caves next to the Dead Sea. These manuscripts, The Dead Sea Scrolls, generally date between 150 BCE and 70 CE.  Many of these scrolls included biblical texts. These texts, even though much earlier than the Masoretes, almost matched what had been used.