Where today reside the oldest texts (or most reliable copies of the
originals) of the chapters in the Bible?

---

Request for Question Clarification by digsalot-ga on 03 Nov 2005 20:01 PST

That is actually quite a large question as various texts exist for
both Old and New Testaments and they are housed in numerous locations.
 Do you have something specific in mind?

Also, are you asking about the Christian Bible with two testaments or
the Jewish Bible with one?

There are controversies about the actual age of some of these texts
with various religious and secular institutions making contradictory
claims based on both scientific evidence and/or "tradition."

What would you find acceptable?

Cheers
Digs

---

Clarification of Question by amsterdam-ga on 03 Nov 2005 22:29 PST

Humm, I see this is more complicated than I realized.  My more precise
interest is: What survives as the closest to the original of the New
Testament books of 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy?  I am more just
curious about where they they are now kept.

There are three texts that are generally considered to be the oldest
*complete* (or almost-complete) copies of the Bible containing the New
Testament - these are Codex Alexandrius (5th Century AD), Codex
Vaticanus (4th Century AD) and Codex Sinaiticus (4th Century AD).
There are, however, various fragments of the New Testament that are
(tentatively) dated all the way back to about AD 100.

The oldest Hebrew manuscripts are the Dead Sea Scrolls, generally
dated to about 250-100 BC.