The Bible as We Have It Worksheet

Starting Question #1: How do we know that the Bible we have is the Bible that God
wants us to be reading?

Starting Question #2: Which do you think is the correct Bible to read? Why?

The Bible
1) The three original languages
______________, ______________, and _____________
2) The two divisions of the Bible
______________ and _____________
Old Testament
3) In your Bible, we call the first part the _________________
a) There are ______ sections with _____ books
b) Pentateuch (Law)- Genesis-Deuteronomy
c) History- Joshua- Nehemiah
d) Poetry- Job -Song of Songs
e) Major Prophets- Isaiah-Daniel
f) Minor Prophets- Hosea-Malachi
g) Malachi is the last book of the Christian OT canon. What is the
significance of Malachi for Christians? (What does it talk about at the end
of the book?)

4) In the Jewish Bible, they call it the _____________

a) There are _____ sections with ____ books (many are combined together)
b) The Torah (Law)- Genesis- Deuteronomy
c) The Prophets (Joshua-2 Kings, Isaiah-Ezekiel, Hosea-Malachi)
d) The Writings (All poetic books and stories without prophets, Daniel, ends
with 1-2 Chronicles)
e) 2 Chronicles is the last book of the Hebrew OT canon. What is the
significance of 2 Chronicles for Hebrews? (What does it talk about at the
end of the book?)
5) Earliest Versions of the Old Testament
a) There are ____ existing original Old Testaments from the original writers
 b) Septuagint- c. 200BC Greek-speaking Jews living in Egypt wanted God’s
word
c) Dead Sea Scrolls- c. 100BC Multi-lingual Jews living near the Dead Sea
(reason unknown)
d) Targums- c. 300AD Aramaic speaking Jews living in Mesopotamia wanted
God’s word
6) Exercises with your new knowledge from the powerpoint
a)

i) What do the other versions say?

ii) Which sounds better to you? Why?

b)

i) What do the other versions say?

ii) Which sounds better to you? Why?

c)

i) What do the other versions say?

ii) Which sounds better to you? Why?

d)

i) What do the other versions say?

ii) Which sounds better to you? Why?

 New Testament
7) There are ____ books in the New Testament divided into ____ sections
a) Gospels Matthew-John
b) History Acts
c) Pauline Epistles (longest to shortest) Romans-Philemon
d) General Epistles (longest to shortest) Hebrews-3 John
e) Apocalyptic literature Revelation
8) Earliest copies of the New Testament
a) Earliest parchment scrap
i) Piece of John 18- 125 AD
ii) Why is this discovery important?

b) Earliest complete New Testament

i) Codex Sinaiticus- 4th Century AD
ii) Codex Vaticanus- 5th century AD
iii) Codex Alexandrinus- 5th century AD
iv) Why are these discoveries important?

9) Chapters and Verses added to the Bible

a) Chapters were added in __________
b) Verses were added in ________
10)Versions, Translations, and Paraphrases
a) Version-
i) Example
b) Translation-
i) Example
c) Paraphrase
i) Example
 11)Create your own Paraphrase below
New International Version Mark 4:21-23
21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed?
Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to
be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the
open. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Your Paraphrase below
21

22

23

Ending Questions:
1) Is the Bible that we have the old, original document that the Bible
writers gave us?

2) How can we have faith that the Bible we have is from God?

3) How can we have rational thinking that the Bible we have is quality?