Different Versions of the Same Book Differ.
No two versions of the same book are alike. The Samaritan Pentateuch does not agree with the Hebrew Pentateuch; the Septuagint Pentateuch agrees with neither.
The Hebrew and the Septuagint have both been accepted by Christians as authoritative. In a single chapter may be found a dozen important variations:
Hebrew.—“And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years and begat Salah” (Gen. xi, 12).
Septuagint.—“And Arphaxad lived a hundred and thirty-five years and begat Cainan.”
Hebrew.—“And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years” (13).
Septuagint.—“And Cainan lived a hundred and thirty years and he begat Salah, and he lived after the birth of Salah three hundred and thirty years.”
Hebrew.—“And Salah lived thirty years and begat Eber” (14).
Septuagint.—“And Salah lived a hundred and thirty years and begat Eber.”
Hebrew.—“And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years” (15).
Septuagint.—“And Salah lived after he begat Eber three hundred and thirty years.”
Hebrew.—“And Eber lived four and thirty years and begat Peleg” (16).
Septuagint.—“And Eber lived a hundred and thirty-four years and begat Peleg.”
Hebrew.—“And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years” (17).
Septuagint.—“And Eber lived after he begat Peleg two hundred and seventy years.”
Hebrew.—“And Peleg lived thirty years and begat Reu” (18).
Septuagint.—“And Peleg lived a hundred and thirty years and begat Ragad.”
Hebrew.—“And Reu lived two and thirty years and begat Serug” (20).
Septuagint.—“And Ragad lived a hundred and thirty-two years and begat Serug.”
Hebrew.—“And Serug lived thirty years and begat Nahor” (22).
Septuagint.—“And Serug lived a hundred and thirty years and begat Nahor.”
Hebrew.—“And Nahor lived nine and twenty years and begot Terah” (24).
Septuagint.—“And Nahor lived a hundred and seventy-nine years and begat Terah.”
Hebrew.—“And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years” (25).
Septuagint.—“And Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hundred and twenty-five years.”
Hebrew.—“And Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife” (31).
Septuagint.—“And Terah took Abram and Nahor his sons, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai and Melcha, his daughters-in-law, the wives of his sons Abram and Nahor.”
The early Christian versions and manuscripts contain an immense number of different readings, at least 150,000. Dr. Mill discovered 80,000 different readings in the New Testament alone.
Origen, writing in the third century, says: “There is a vast difference betwixt the several editions of the scripture, happening either through the carelessness of the transcribers, or else the forwardness of some who pretend to correct and adulterate the scripture” (Commentary on St. Matthew).
Modern versions do not agree. The readings of the Catholic and Protestant versions are quite unlike: The Protestant versions themselves contain a great variety of readings. The New Version is supposed to be simply a revision of the Authorized Version. The committee that prepared it was governed by this rule: “To introduce as few alterations as possible into the text of the Authorized Version consistent with faithfulness.”
How many alterations were made? More than one hundred thousand!
The following are some of the changes made in the New Testament:
Old Version.—“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,” etc. (2 Tim. iii, 16).
New Version.—“Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching,” etc.
Old.—“And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him” (Luke ii, 33).
New.—“And his father and his mother were marveling at the things which were spoken concerning him.”
Old.—“These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan” (John i, 28).
New.—“These things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan.”
Old.—“God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. iii, 16).
New.—“He [Christ] who was manifested in the flesh.”
Old.—“No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place” (Luke xi, 33).
New.—“No man, when he hath lighted a lamp, putteth it in a cellar.”
Old.—“Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life” (Matt, vii, 14).
New.—“For narrow is the gate and straitened the way that leadeth unto life.”
Old.—“Our Father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matt, vi, 9–13).
New.—“Our father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
One would suppose that if Christians preserved any part of the Bible free from corruption it would be the prayer of their Lord, a little prayer containing but a few lines. And yet they have not. The so-called Lord’s Prayer that our mother’s taught us is not the Lord’s Prayer. The prayer we learned contains sixty-six words. The Lord’s Prayer contains but fifty-five. The revisers have expunged fifteen words, added some, and altered others.
The last twelve verses of Mark, the first eleven verses of John viii, and 1 John v, 8, three important passages, are all admitted to be forgeries.