Our original King James Bible was written many years ago, in 1611 A.D., and very few today would ever understand the English of that day, if spoken today. However the Massoretic Manuscripts in the fifth century, by Ezra and Nehemiah, is the only true reflection of God's Word. There are some people that have the ability to go back to those writings, and bring forth to us the exact meaning of each word and phrase. That ability is an example of tongues referred here by Paul, the transforming from one language to another, to give the exact meaning of what was written, or said.
We here at The American Wisdom Series feel confident that the official 1611 King James version of "The Companion Bible" is the most accurate and unaltered Bible still available and being sold today.
"The Massorah"
Readers of The Companion Bible are put in possession of information denied to former generations of translators, commentators, critics, and general Bible students. Because of "The Massorah".
All
the oldest
and best manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible contain on every page, beside
the Text (which is arranged in two or more columns), a varying number
of lines of smaller writing, distributed between the upper and lower
margins. This
smaller writing is called the Massorah Magna or Great Massorah,
while that in the
side margins and between the columns is called the Massorah Parva or
Small Massorah.
The illustration given below is a reduced facsimile of a Hebrew
Manuscript (16.25 x 12.375), written in a German hand, about the year
A.D. 1120.
The small writing in the margins in this particular
Manuscript is seen to occupy seven lines in the lower margin, and four
lines in the upper; while in the outer margins and between the three
columns is the Massorah Para.
The
word Massorah is from the root masar, to deliver something into the
hand of another,
so as to commit it to his trust. Hence
the name is given to the small writing referred to, because it contains
information necessary to those into whose trust the Sacred Text was
committed, so that they might transcribe it, and hand it down correctly.
The
Text itself had been fixed before the Massorites were put in charge of
it.
This had been the work of the Sopherim (from
saphar, to count,
or number). Their work, under Ezra and Nehemiah, was to set the Text in
order after the return from Babylon; and we read of it in Nehemiah 8:8
1(compare Ezra 7:6,11). The men of "the Great Synagogue"
completed the
work. This work lasted about 110 years, from Nehemiah to Simon the
first, 410-300 B.C.
The Sopherim were the authorized revisers of the Sacred Text; and,
their work being completed, the
Massorites were the authorized custodians of it. Their
work was to preserve it. The Massorah is called "A Fence
to the Scriptures," because it locked all words and
letters in their places.
It does not contain
notes or comments as such, but facts and phenomena.
It records the number of times the several letters occur in the various
books of the Bible; the number of words, and the middle word; the
number of verses, and the middle verse; the number of expressions and
combinations of words, etc. All
this, not from a perverted ingenuity, but for the set purpose of
safeguarding the Sacred Text, and preventing the loss or misplacement
of a single letter or word.
This Massorah is not contained in the margins of any one
Manuscript.
No Manuscript contains the whole, or even the same part. It is spread
over many Manuscripts, and Dr. C.D. Ginsburg has been the first and
only scholar who has set himself to collect and collate the whole,
copying it from every available Manuscript in the libraries of many
countries. He has published it in three large folio volumes, and
only a small number of copies has been printed. These are obtainable
only by the original subscribers When the Hebrew Text was
later printed, only
the large type in the columns was regarded, and small type of the
Massorah was left, unheeded, in the Manuscripts from which the Text was
taken. Therefore; When translators came to the printed
Hebrew Text, they were
necessarily destitute of the information contained in the Massorah; so
that the Revisers as well as the Translators of the Authorized Version
carried out their work without any idea of the treasures contained in
the Massorah; and therefore, without giving a hint of it to their
readers.
The Companion Bible,
is the first time, an edition of the Authorized Version has been
given
containing any of these treasures of the Massorah, that affect so
seriously the understanding of the Text. A vast number of the
Massoretic notes concern only the orthography, and matters that pertain
to the Concordance. But many of those which affect the
sense, or throw any additional light
on the Sacred
Text, are noted in the margin of The Companion Bible.
Some
of the important lists of words which are contained in the Massorah are
also given, videlicet, those that have the "extraordinary points"
(Appendix 31); the "eighteen emendations" of the Sopherim (see Appendix
33); the 134 passages where they substituted Adonai for Jehovah (see
Appendix 32); and the Various Readings called Severin (see Appendix
34). These are given in separate Appendixes; but other words of any
importance are preserved in our marginal notes.
Readers of The Companion Bible are put
in possession of
information denied to
former generations of translators,
commentators, critics, and
general Bible students.
For further information on the Massorah see Dr. Ginsburg's Introduction
to the Hebrew Bible, of which only a limited edition was printed; also
a small pamphlet on The Massorah published by King's Printers.
NOTE
1
The Talmud explains that "the book" meant the original text;
"distinctly" means explaining it by giving the Chaldee paraphrase;
"gave the sense" means the division of words, etc. according to the
sense; and "caused them to understand the reading" means to
give
the traditional pronunciation of the words (which were then without
vowel points).
IF
you don't have a Companion
Bible you
can
Download
a
Companion Bible free at: http://www.companionbiblecondensed.com/
When you open the site click unto and download one book at
a time unto your disk or hard drive.
and
the appendix at: http://www.markfoster.net/rn/companion_bible_appendices.pdf