Naskah Alkitab: Perbedaan antara revisi

[[Aleppo Codex]] (~ 920 M) dan [[Leningrad Codex]] (~ 1008 M) merupakan naskah tertua [[Perjanjian Lama]] dan [[Alkitab Ibrani]] ([[Tanakh]]) lengkap yang ditulis dalam [[bahasa Ibrani]]. Pada tahun 1947 di [[Qumran]] ditemukan Gulungan-[[gulungan Laut Mati]] dan setelah diteliti ternyata ditulis sekitar seribu tahun sebelum dua codex lengkap tersebut. Sebelum penemuan ini, naskah tertua [[Perjanjian Lama]] ditulis dalam bahasa Yunani, yaitu termuat di dalam [[Codex Vaticanus]] dan [[Codex Sinaiticus]] (yang juga memuat [[Perjanjian Baru]]). Dari sekitar 800 naskah yang ditemukan di Qumran, 220 dari Tanakh. Setiap kitab dalam Tanakh ditemukan potongannya, kecuali [[Kitab Ester]], tetapi tidak ada yang benar-benar utuh kecuali dua gulungan [[Kitab Yesaya]] dimana satu di antaranya berisi lengkap ([[Gulungan Besar Kitab Yesaya|Gulungan Besar Kitab Yesaya atau 1QIs^a]]), dan yang lain sekitar 75% lengkap ([[1QIs-b|1QIs^b]]). Naskah-naskah ini umumnya bertarikh antara 150 SM sampai 70 M.<ref>[[F. F. Bruce]]. [http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/kenyon/storyofbible/2ck11.htm "The Last Thirty Years"]. ''Story of the Bible''. ed. [[Frederic G. Kenyon]]. Retrieved June 19, 2007</ref>

The difficulty is in where the manuscripts are coming from. Often, especially in monasteries, a manuscript cache is little more than a former manuscript recycling center where imperfect and incomplete copies of manuscripts were stored while the monastery or scriptorium decided what to do with them.<ref name="Ehrman 2005">Ehrman 2005</ref> There were several options. The first was to simply "wash" the manuscript and reuse it. This was very common in the ancient world and even up into the [[Middle Ages]]; such reused manuscripts are called [[palimpsest]]s. The most famous palimpsest is probably the [[Archimedes Palimpsest]]. If this was not done within a short period of time after the papyri was made, then washing it was less likely since the papyri might deteriorate and thus be unusable. When washing was no longer an option, the second choice was burning (since they contained the words of Christ, they were thought to have had a level of sanctity).<ref name="Ehrman 2005"/> Burning them was considered more reverent than simply throwing them into the nearby garbage pit, although that was not unheard of as in the case of [[Oxyrhynchus 840]]). The third option was simply to leave them in what has become known as a manuscript gravesite. When scholars come across manuscript caches, for example that at [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]] in the [[Sinai]] (source of the [[Codex Sinaiticus]]), or Saint Sabbas Monastery outside [[Bethlehem]], they are not finding libraries, but storehouses of rejected texts<ref name="Ehrman 2005">Ehrman 2005</ref> (sometimes kept in boxes or back shelves in libraries due to space constraints). These texts were unacceptable because of their scribal errors and contain corrections inside the lines<ref>http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/</ref> possibly evidence that monastery scribes were comparing it to what must have been a master text. In addition, texts thought to be complete and correct but which had deteriorated due to heavy usage and/or had missing [[wikt:folio|folios]] would also be placed in these [[Treasure trove|caches]]. Once in a cache, [[insects]] and [[humidity]] would often contribute to the continued deterioration of the documents.<ref name="Ehrman 2005" />

Teks lengkap dan yang disalin dengan benar biasanya segera dipakai dan karenanya cepat menjadi aus, sehingga harus dibuat salinan yang baru. Lagipula, pembuatan salinan memakan biaya dan waktu yang lama, sebab membutuhkan juru tulis yang ahli serta pemeriksaan yang saksama, maka suatu naskah Alkitab hanya dibuat bila ada pesanan khusus, dan ukuran kertas, jenis tulisan, hiasan (meningkatkan ongkos kerja), cara penjilidan (satu buku atau kumpulan buku) ditentukan oleh pemesan yang membiayai produksi naskah tersebut. Ide untuk menyimpan cadangan salinan mungkin dianggap pemborosan dan tidak perlu karena bentuk dan penampilan suatu naskah seringkali disesuaikan dengan selera estetik pembelinya. Ini merupakan sebagian alasan mengapa lebih sering ditemukan potongan-potongan naskah yang tidak lengkap, dan kadang kala mengandung sejumlah ketidak sesuaian isi (varian bacaan), dan jarang sekali didapatkan karya yang utuh dan konsisten.<ref name="Ehrman 2005">Ehrman 2005</ref>

* {{cite book|last=Aland|first=Kurt|authorlink=Kurt Aland|coauthors=Barbara Aland|others=Translated by Erroll F. Rhodes|title=The Text of The New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism|edition=2nd ed.|year=1995|publisher= [[Wm.William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]]|location=Grand Rapids, MI|isbn=0-8028-4098-1|pages=40f, 72f}}