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Scanning Software Deciphers Ancient Biblical Scroll
Associated Press ^ | Sep 21, 2:09 PM EDT | DANIEL ESTRIN

Posted on 09/21/2016 6:36:11 PM PDT by DeltaZulu

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The text discovered in the charred Ein Gedi scroll is "100 percent identical" to the version of the Book of Leviticus that has been in use for centuries, said Dead Sea Scroll scholar Emmanuel Tov from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who participated in the study.

"This is quite amazing for us," he said. "In 2,000 years, this text has not changed."

1 posted on 09/21/2016 6:36:11 PM PDT by DeltaZulu
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To: DeltaZulu
Scholars have believed the Hebrew Bible in its standard form first came about some 2,000 years ago, but never had physical proof, until now, according to the study. Previously the oldest known fragments of the modern biblical text dated back to the 8th century.

The text discovered in the charred Ein Gedi scroll is "100 percent identical" to the version of the Book of Leviticus that has been in use for centuries, said Dead Sea Scroll scholar Emmanuel Tov from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who participated in the study.

"This is quite amazing for us," he said. "In 2,000 years, this text has not changed."


2 posted on 09/21/2016 6:41:37 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: SunkenCiv

PING


3 posted on 09/21/2016 6:42:12 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Obama is more supportive of Iran's right to defend its territorial borders than he is of the USA's.)
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To: DeltaZulu

It is not amazing that the text is 100% identical considering the pains they went through to make sure the scribes went through to ensure accuracy. First, they started with a new scroll and the scribes were told to write one letter. The master scribe would check each scribe’s scroll to ensure they did it correctly. If the scribe made a mistake, the scroll would be destroyed. This wold be repeated for every letter in the scroll. After the scroll was finished, the master scribe would count every letter top to bottom and bottom to top where the numbers must equal a known amount. As a final check, the letters were counted from each end to the center and the count must come out to the same letter. If any of these checks failed, the scroll was destroyed.


4 posted on 09/21/2016 6:49:24 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Conservatives love America for what it is. Liberals hate America for the same reason.)
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To: DeltaZulu; All

Thank you for referencing that article DeltaZulu. Please note that the following critique is directed at the article and not at you.

I think that the term “deciphers” in the article’s title is inaccurate. The problem with reading the brittle scroll is that it couldn’t be unscrolled to read without making it fall apart.

So the scanning software “unrolled” inaccessable writing by conceptually using X-rays instead of deciphering an unknown language for example.

Corrections, insights welcome.


5 posted on 09/21/2016 6:56:33 PM PDT by Amendment10
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To: Amendment10

Maybe ‘re-visualized’ would be a better term.


6 posted on 09/21/2016 7:01:24 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

God preserved his words.


7 posted on 09/21/2016 7:04:58 PM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

That is very interesting and impressive. Thank you for that information.


8 posted on 09/21/2016 7:08:07 PM PDT by laplata ( Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Agreed, that it is not unusual or surprising that the old version of the passage from Leviticus is identical to that which is used today. My brother is a scribe, and he has described in great detail to me the process of writing any kind of document, from the simplest to the most complex. The checking that you described is only a small part of what is done, especially for the Torah itself, but suffice it to say that I would be shocked and surprised to find any differences whatsoever. People have devoted their entire lives to doing one thing and one thing only: transmitting the exact words of the Holy Bible from one generation to another. There is a specific instruction in the Hebrew Bible that one is not permitted to add or subtract or change a single letter. Scribes over the course of thousands of years have striven to adhere to that command, and have succeeded.


9 posted on 09/21/2016 7:09:26 PM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

An Adrian Monk type person would be a near perfect fit.


10 posted on 09/21/2016 7:12:45 PM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

The first block chain?


11 posted on 09/21/2016 7:25:08 PM PDT by Triple (Socialism denies people the right to the fruits of their labor, and is as abhorrent as slavery)
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To: DeltaZulu

1,700 (what the research paper estimated) and 2,000 (what one researcher seems to have rounded to) is a big difference, historically. 2,000 years ago, Jesus was still a minor. 1,700 years ago, the gospels, interpreting prophecies from a significantly different version of the bible, had swept the Roman world.

My bet is that the handwriting analysis is valid (c. 2nd century), and the scroll dates to some time shortly after the destruction of the 2nd temple; the fire messes radiocarbon data up.


12 posted on 09/21/2016 7:37:11 PM PDT by dangus
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To: DeltaZulu

Wow!


13 posted on 09/21/2016 7:38:56 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Go away, Satan! -- Fr.Jacques Hamel (R.I.P., martyr))
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To: DeltaZulu

Of all the books that liberals would have wished would have been different than the one we have today, you couldn’t pick a better one that Leviticus.


14 posted on 09/21/2016 7:41:33 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: DeltaZulu

Bkmrk.


15 posted on 09/21/2016 8:23:11 PM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (<<<<< he no longer IS my 'teddy bear'.)
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To: DeltaZulu

bump


16 posted on 09/21/2016 8:31:34 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (We will be one People, under one God, saluting one American flag. --Donald Trump (standing ovation))
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To: DeltaZulu

Hopefully somebody will use that same technology to read these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum_papyri


17 posted on 09/21/2016 8:35:24 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: wally_bert
An Adrian Monk type person would be a near perfect fit.

Bingo!

18 posted on 09/21/2016 9:17:01 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: UCANSEE2

There are a lot of scrolls from Pompeii and Herculaneum that need this technology.


19 posted on 09/21/2016 9:44:43 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: dangus
...interpreting prophecies from a significantly different version of the bible

You think the Septuagint is a "significantly different version of the Bible"? I thought it is simply a Greek translation of the Hebrew OT with some literary adjustments made for Greek idioms etc.

20 posted on 09/22/2016 5:16:06 AM PDT by nwrep
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