How the Old Testament Books Came to Us:

– The Old Testament records God’s initial revelation of Himself and His relationship with humanity, and how man should relate to Him. Some key facts that help us understand the Old Testament more clearly are: – The Old Testament was written over a period of more than 1,000 years. – It was written by around 30 different authors. – It contains 39 books. – It was primarily written in Hebrew, with some small parts in Aramaic. – The original copies of the Old Testament were carefully copied by hand from the original manuscripts and passed down from generation to generation. – The most important translations of the Old Testament include the Greek Septuagint (LXX), completed around 250 BC, and the Latin Vulgate, translated between 383-405 AD, which was used as the Bible for about 1,000 years. – The first English translation was completed around 1384 AD by John Wycliffe, and another well-known translation, the King James Version (KJV), was published in 1611 AD and became the standard for subsequent translations. – The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in 1947 confirmed the authenticity of the Old Testament as we have it today. – The Old Testament was miraculously preserved by the Lord Himself for over three thousand years.