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Bible Trivia: Manuscripts and Translations — printable

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Bible Trivia: Manuscripts and Translations — printable

Name: ______________________________ Date: ____________ Score: ______

  1. 1. What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? Easy

    1. A Ancient Jewish manuscripts found near the Dead Sea
    2. B Medieval Hebrew Bibles from Cairo
    3. C Greek translations made in Alexandria
    4. D Letters of the early church

  2. 2. The Septuagint is a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into which language? Easy

    1. A Latin
    2. B Syriac
    3. C Aramaic
    4. D Greek

  3. 3. What is the Vulgate? Easy

    1. A The Greek text of the New Testament
    2. B Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible
    3. C An Aramaic paraphrase of the Torah
    4. D The oldest complete Hebrew Bible

  4. 4. Roughly when was the King James Version first published? Easy

    1. A 1525
    2. B 1769
    3. C 1611
    4. D 1382

  5. 5. What is a codex, as opposed to a scroll? Medium

    1. A A translation with commentary
    2. B A scroll written on both sides
    3. C A book with leaves bound at one edge
    4. D A collection of letters

  6. 6. Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus are manuscripts of roughly which century? Medium

    1. A Second
    2. B Fourth
    3. C Seventh
    4. D Tenth

  7. 7. What is P46? Medium

    1. A A Qumran cave number
    2. B An early papyrus codex of Pauline letters
    3. C A Latin manuscript family
    4. D A Syriac gospel harmony

  8. 8. Which book does Jude quote by name as prophecy, though it is outside the biblical canon? Medium

    1. A The Wisdom of Solomon
    2. B Jubilees
    3. C The Testament of Levi
    4. D 1 Enoch

  9. 9. The Comma Johanneum is an addition to which passage? Hard

    1. A John 8:1–11
    2. B Mark 16:9–20
    3. C Luke 22:43–44
    4. D 1 John 5:7–8

  10. 10. What does the term 'textual apparatus' refer to in a critical edition? Hard

    1. A The record of variant readings and the manuscripts supporting them
    2. B The index of proper names
    3. C The system of chapter and verse numbers
    4. D The translator's preface

  11. 11. Which discovery is the reason the Great Isaiah Scroll matters for textual criticism? Hard

    1. A It is written in Greek
    2. B It contains a commentary on every verse
    3. C It preserves chapter divisions
    4. D It is a nearly complete copy about a thousand years older than the previous oldest Hebrew Isaiah

  12. 12. In manuscript studies, what is a 'pesher'? Hard

    1. A A running commentary applying a text to the interpreter's own community
    2. B A scribal correction mark
    3. C A list of variant spellings
    4. D A liturgical instruction

Answer key — teacher’s sheet

Print pages separately: hand out the worksheet, keep this one.

  1. 1. A — Ancient Jewish manuscripts found near the Dead Sea

    Manuscripts found from 1947 onwards in caves near Qumran and other sites. They pushed the earliest Hebrew biblical manuscripts back by roughly a thousand years.

  2. 2. D — Greek

    Greek, made in Egypt from the third century BCE onwards. It is the version most New Testament writers quote, which is why their citations sometimes differ from the Hebrew text in modern Bibles.

  3. 3. B — Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible

    Jerome's Latin Bible, produced from the late fourth century. It was the standard Bible of western Christianity for more than a thousand years, which is why so many later disputes are really disputes about Latin.

  4. 4. C — 1611

    1611. The 1769 revision is what most modern printings actually reproduce, which is why quotations attributed to 'the 1611' usually are not.

  5. 5. C — A book with leaves bound at one edge

    A bound book. Early Christians adopted the codex much earlier and more thoroughly than the surrounding culture did, and that preference is itself a piece of historical evidence.

  6. 6. B — Fourth

    The fourth century. They are the earliest near-complete Greek Bibles and are central to modern critical editions of the New Testament.

  7. 7. B — An early papyrus codex of Pauline letters

    A papyrus codex of the Pauline letters, usually dated to around 200 CE. It is the earliest substantial witness to most of Paul's letters — and it does not contain the Pastoral Epistles, though the codex is damaged at the end.

  8. 8. D — 1 Enoch

    1 Enoch, in verses 14–15, introduced with a formula of prophecy. Aramaic fragments of 1 Enoch were found at Qumran, and the complete text survives in Ge'ez. Jude's own canonical status was questioned in antiquity partly on this ground.

  9. 9. D — 1 John 5:7–8

    1 John 5:7–8. The trinitarian formula found in older English Bibles is absent from every Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century. It entered the printed Greek text through Erasmus's third edition, after a manuscript containing it was produced — one now generally thought to have been made to order.

  10. 10. A — The record of variant readings and the manuscripts supporting them

    The notes recording where manuscripts disagree and which witnesses support each reading. Without it, a reader cannot tell which words are firmly attested and which are an editor's judgement — which is why this site treats the edition as part of a citation, not a convenience.

  11. 11. D — It is a nearly complete copy about a thousand years older than the previous oldest Hebrew Isaiah

    It is a near-complete Hebrew Isaiah from the last centuries BCE, roughly a millennium older than the medieval manuscripts that had been the basis of the text. Its overall agreement with them, and its specific differences, are both informative.

  12. 12. A — A running commentary applying a text to the interpreter's own community

    A commentary genre found at Qumran, most famously on Habakkuk, that reads a prophetic text as referring to the commentators' present. It is direct evidence of how prophetic texts were being applied in the first century BCE.

Every question, with the answer and the reason

The interactive module above runs in a sandbox of its own, which means its text is not part of this page. So here is the whole thing in full: all 12 questions, the options as they appear, the answer, and why that answer and not the one beside it. Nothing is held back to make you play first.

Easy

These turn on something stated outright in the text. If you have read the book, you have met the answer.

  1. What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

    • Ancient Jewish manuscripts found near the Dead Sea — correct
    • Medieval Hebrew Bibles from Cairo
    • Greek translations made in Alexandria
    • Letters of the early church

    Answer: Ancient Jewish manuscripts found near the Dead Sea

    Manuscripts found from 1947 onwards in caves near Qumran and other sites. They pushed the earliest Hebrew biblical manuscripts back by roughly a thousand years.

  2. The Septuagint is a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into which language?

    • Latin
    • Syriac
    • Aramaic
    • Greek — correct

    Answer: Greek

    Greek, made in Egypt from the third century BCE onwards. It is the version most New Testament writers quote, which is why their citations sometimes differ from the Hebrew text in modern Bibles.

  3. What is the Vulgate?

    • The Greek text of the New Testament
    • Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible — correct
    • An Aramaic paraphrase of the Torah
    • The oldest complete Hebrew Bible

    Answer: Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible

    Jerome's Latin Bible, produced from the late fourth century. It was the standard Bible of western Christianity for more than a thousand years, which is why so many later disputes are really disputes about Latin.

  4. Roughly when was the King James Version first published?

    • 1525
    • 1769
    • 1611 — correct
    • 1382

    Answer: 1611

    1611. The 1769 revision is what most modern printings actually reproduce, which is why quotations attributed to 'the 1611' usually are not.

Medium

These need a detail held in place — a name, a sequence, a number that only means something next to another number.

  1. What is a codex, as opposed to a scroll?

    • A translation with commentary
    • A scroll written on both sides
    • A book with leaves bound at one edge — correct
    • A collection of letters

    Answer: A book with leaves bound at one edge

    A bound book. Early Christians adopted the codex much earlier and more thoroughly than the surrounding culture did, and that preference is itself a piece of historical evidence.

  2. Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus are manuscripts of roughly which century?

    • Second
    • Fourth — correct
    • Seventh
    • Tenth

    Answer: Fourth

    The fourth century. They are the earliest near-complete Greek Bibles and are central to modern critical editions of the New Testament.

  3. What is P46?

    • A Qumran cave number
    • An early papyrus codex of Pauline letters — correct
    • A Latin manuscript family
    • A Syriac gospel harmony

    Answer: An early papyrus codex of Pauline letters

    A papyrus codex of the Pauline letters, usually dated to around 200 CE. It is the earliest substantial witness to most of Paul's letters — and it does not contain the Pastoral Epistles, though the codex is damaged at the end.

  4. Which book does Jude quote by name as prophecy, though it is outside the biblical canon?

    • The Wisdom of Solomon
    • Jubilees
    • The Testament of Levi
    • 1 Enoch — correct

    Answer: 1 Enoch

    1 Enoch, in verses 14–15, introduced with a formula of prophecy. Aramaic fragments of 1 Enoch were found at Qumran, and the complete text survives in Ge'ez. Jude's own canonical status was questioned in antiquity partly on this ground.

Hard

These turn on what the evidence actually supports, which is not always what the story is remembered as saying.

  1. The Comma Johanneum is an addition to which passage?

    • John 8:1–11
    • Mark 16:9–20
    • Luke 22:43–44
    • 1 John 5:7–8 — correct

    Answer: 1 John 5:7–8

    1 John 5:7–8. The trinitarian formula found in older English Bibles is absent from every Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century. It entered the printed Greek text through Erasmus's third edition, after a manuscript containing it was produced — one now generally thought to have been made to order.

  2. What does the term 'textual apparatus' refer to in a critical edition?

    • The record of variant readings and the manuscripts supporting them — correct
    • The index of proper names
    • The system of chapter and verse numbers
    • The translator's preface

    Answer: The record of variant readings and the manuscripts supporting them

    The notes recording where manuscripts disagree and which witnesses support each reading. Without it, a reader cannot tell which words are firmly attested and which are an editor's judgement — which is why this site treats the edition as part of a citation, not a convenience.

  3. Which discovery is the reason the Great Isaiah Scroll matters for textual criticism?

    • It is written in Greek
    • It contains a commentary on every verse
    • It preserves chapter divisions
    • It is a nearly complete copy about a thousand years older than the previous oldest Hebrew Isaiah — correct

    Answer: It is a nearly complete copy about a thousand years older than the previous oldest Hebrew Isaiah

    It is a near-complete Hebrew Isaiah from the last centuries BCE, roughly a millennium older than the medieval manuscripts that had been the basis of the text. Its overall agreement with them, and its specific differences, are both informative.

  4. In manuscript studies, what is a 'pesher'?

    • A running commentary applying a text to the interpreter's own community — correct
    • A scribal correction mark
    • A list of variant spellings
    • A liturgical instruction

    Answer: A running commentary applying a text to the interpreter's own community

    A commentary genre found at Qumran, most famously on Habakkuk, that reads a prophetic text as referring to the commentators' present. It is direct evidence of how prophetic texts were being applied in the first century BCE.

What this quiz draws on

Books in play: 1 John, 2 Peter, Isaiah, Jude. Each of those leads to what the book contains, who has been proposed as its author, and how it is dated.

Themes: Authorship, Manuscripts.

Answers here are drawn from the biblical text and, where an external record bears on the question, from the artefact or publication that carries it. How this site reads a text and how this site is written set out the rules, so you can check the reasoning rather than take the answer on trust.