Text And Canon Vocab

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Alexandrinus, Codex

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A 5th-century (c. 450 AD) Greek (uncial) manuscript containing most of the NT and almost the entire OT in Greek (together with Psalms of Solomon and 1&2 Clement). It is abbreviated “A,” and ranks behind only Sinaiticus and Vaticanus as most faithful to the original NT text.
The Gospels are the earliest example of the Byzantine text family, while the rest of the NT follows the Alexandrian text.

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Apocrypha

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The 14-15 Jewish books dating from the intertestamental period which were included in the LXX translation but were not recognized as canonical by either the Jews or Protestants. They were granted “deuterocanonical” status by Roman Catholics at the Council of Trent in about 1546.

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Aramaic

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(= Syriac) The trade language of the Near East from the time of Israel/Judah‟s captivity until Alexander the Great. It remained the commonly-spoken language of the Jews during NT times. Hebrew also adopted the Aramaic alphabet; parts of Daniel and Ezra are written in Aramaic.

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Authorized Version

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(A.V.) Another name for the King James Version, an English translation made in 1611 and based on a Greek text very similar to what was soon to be called the textus receptus (i.e. a Byzantine text family).

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Byzantine Text

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A NT Greek text family which developed around Antioch in the 4th century AD and later was moved to Byzantium. This text is the basis for the textus receptus and favored by the majority text edition, and therefore the KJV/NKJV.

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Canon

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The list of books which are considered to be God‟s Word, and therefore authoritative for faith and conduct.

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Conflation

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A merging or blending of two texts into one.

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Council of Trent

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A post-Reformation Council of the Roman Catholic church held in 1545-1563 which
declared the Apocryphal books to be (“deutero-”)canonical. It also affirmed that the Vulgate (alone)
was authoritative for establishing doctrine.

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Dead Sea Scrolls

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A large collection of scrolls found in caves near Qumran, on the Dead Sea. They
contain at least portions of every OT book except Esther. Dating back as far as the 5th century BC, they were about 1,000 years older than the previously oldest manuscripts. The first of these scrolls were discovered by a Bedouin boy in 1947.

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Dittography

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A copying error which occurs when letters, words, or phrases are acccidentally repeated repeated.

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Eclectic Text

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Wescott & Hort; Nestle-Aland) A reconstituted text which follows not one text family, but through principles of textual criticism, reconstructs a text by comparing the variant readings.

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Erasmus

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1469-1536) A Dutch Roman Catholic scholar who was the first person to publish a printed Greek NT (1516), based on a few relatively late Byzantine manuscripts.

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Essenes

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A reactionary Jewish sect which repudiated mainstream temple worship at Jerusalem from about the 1st century BC until the 1st century AD. They set up an ascetic community at Qumran, where they collected and copied the manuscripts which were recently discovered and are now called the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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Gloss

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A word or words added to explain a difficult text, sometimes copied from a marginal note directly into the text.

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Hagiographa

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Another term for the Kethubim (“Writings”), the third division of the Hebrew canon.

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Haplography

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A copying error which occurs when letters, words, or phrases accidentally omitted.

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Hebrew

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A Semitic language spoken by the Jewish people up until the Babylonian captivity. Nearly all
the OT was written in Hebrew.

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Interpolation

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A later insertion of material into a text.

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Jamnia

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(= Jabneh) A rabbinic academy, founded by Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai shortly before 70 AD was maintained at Jamnia (= Jabneh) until 117. During this time the elders discussed the canonical status
(i.e. books that “defile the hands”) of several OT books.

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Flavius Josephus

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A Jewish historian working for Rome who, in about 100 AD, listed the 22 books of the
Hebrew OT, which correspond to our own 39 books.

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Kethubim

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Writings”) The third main division of the Hebrew OT. The books contained in this section
are Psalms, Job, Prov., Ruth, S.o.S., Ecc., Lam., Esther, Dan., Ezra-Neh., and Chronicles.

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Koine

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The common form of Greek spoken during NT times. The NT itself was written in Koine.

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Majority Text

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A Greek text developed by Zane Hodges and Arthur Farstad which gives highest
preference to the Byzantine family of Greek texts. It is closely related to, but distinct from, the textus
receptus.

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Manuscript

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A hand-made copy of an existing text, though it is often used currently to refer to any copy.

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Marcion

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A convert to Christianity who moved to Rome in 140 AD and argued that Christianity had Judaized. As a result, he maintained that canon should include only a shortened form of Luke‟s Gospel and 10 of Paul‟s epistles (excluding the pastorals).

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Masoretic Text

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The standardized form of the Hebrew text of the OT, done by the Masoretes, Jewish scribes who copied the OT text from 500-900 AD. They were not only extremely scrupulous in copying the text, but also added vowel points and limited commentary and notes in the margin (i.e. “masorah”).
There were actually several, independent systems which centered in Babylon, Tiberias, and Palestine, but the Babylonian received widest acceptance.

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Nebi’im

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Prophets”) The second main division of the Hebrew Bible. It is subdivided into the Former Prophets (Josh., Judg., Sam., Kings) and Latter Prophets (Isa., Jer., Ezek., and the 12 [minor prophets]).

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Origen

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A Christian scholar who completed a six-version OT in about 240 AD called the Hexapla, containing (1) the Hebrew text, (2) Hebrew words transliterated in Greek, (3) Aquila‟s translation, (4)
Symmacus‟ translation, (5) the LXX, & (6) Theodotian‟s translation.

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Paraphrase

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A Bible version which seeks to contemporize the same thoughts and affective responses as
an “original” text in the same language rather than from the biblical languages.

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Pseudepigrapha

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The group of extracanonical books, falsely attributed to important OT characters
which were never recognized as authoritative in either Jewish or Christian traditions.

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Qumran

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The site on the Dead Sea where the Essenes established the community which collected,
copied, and preserved the texts which are now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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Recension

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A critical revision of a text.

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Redaction

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The editing of a document, usually by bringing several source texts into a single, larger
whole.

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Septuagint (LXX)

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The Greek translation of the OT, made in Alexandria, Egypt between 250-150 BC. It
literally means “seventy,” due to legends that there were 70 translators involved. The earliest mss. of
the LXX, dating from the 4th century, also included the Apocryphal books.

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Sinaiticus, Codex

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A Greek uncial text of the Bible made in about 340 AD, preserved at a monastery
near the reputed Mt. Sinai and made known to the world through Count Tischendorf. It contains over half of the LXX and all of the NT, and is abbreviated a (Aleph). It belongs to the Alexandrian text-family and is generally recognized as the most important NT manuscript.

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Talmud

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A written commentary upon the Mishnah (Jewish oral traditions and commentary) which were made between 200-500 AD. Two Talmuds developed separately—the Palestinian and Babylonian, with the Babylonian having gained wider acceptance.

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Targum

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Aramaic paraphrases and commentary on the Hebrew OT which were developed for the Jews following their captivity when they no longer spoke Hebrew. These were first given orally, then later were put into writing.

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Textual Criticism

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The science of comparing variant readings of a text in order to reconstruct as closely as possible its original wording.

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Textus Receptus

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A Greek text (i.e. “received text”) made by Bonaventure & Abraham Elzevir in 1633,
based on the editions of Stephanus and Beza. Drawing upon the Byzantine text tradition, this text was
drawn upon for the Geneva, KJV, & NKJV Bibles.

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Torah

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It literally means “teaching” or “instruction.” Though used of the whole OT, this Hebrew term
came to refer specifically to the 1st main division of the Hebrew OT, also called the Pentateuch (Gen.-
Deut.).

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Translation

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Rendering the communication of one language into another language. Those translations
which prefer word-for-word correspondence are called “formal equivalents,” while those preferring
thought correspondence are called “functional equivalents” or “dynamic equivalents.”

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Transmission

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The process of producing copies of a text.

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Vaticanus, Codex

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A very old (c. 325-350 AD) uncial manuscript of the Alexandrian text-type containing
most of the LXX and most of the NT. Considered a very important Manuscript witness, it is abbreviated
“B.”

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Vulgate

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Literally, “common”) A translation of the Bible from the original languages into Latin, done
by Jerome in the 4th century AD. It became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic church. Jerome refused to translate the Apocryphal books, but grudgingly allowed them to be translated by others and included in the Vulgate.

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John Wycliffe

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1329-1384) The first person to translate the Bible into English, moving from the Latin Vulgate into a very stiff, literal English. He was subsequently pronounced a heretic by the established church.