Has God’s Written Word Been Changed?
Some people wonder if God’s written Word has been changed. The prophet Isaiah stated that God’s word “endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:8) How can we be sure that God’s promises have been preserved accurately?
God has the power to preserve his Word and to prevent it from being corrupted. In ancient times, when handwritten copies were made, careful copyists counted every letter of the holy text to be certain nothing was added, changed, or omitted. Still, humans are imperfect, and some copyists made slight errors.
How can we be sure that today’s Holy Scriptures contain God’s original message?
There are thousands of copies of ancient manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures. If one copy has even the slightest difference, it can be compared with other copies to establish the truth.—To learn more, see the article “Has the Bible Been Changed or Tampered With?” on jw.org.
Consider, for example, the ancient documents called the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered by bedouins in caves near the Dead Sea in 1947. These ancient writings contain parts of the Holy Scriptures dating back over two thousand years. Experts compared these ancient manuscripts with the Holy Scriptures we have today. What did they find?
Scholars found that the contents of God’s Word that we have today reflect the original writings.* A careful examination of older manuscripts confirms that what we read in the Holy Scriptures is God’s original message. We can be sure that God has diligently preserved the accuracy of his Holy Writings for us today.
[Footnote.] *The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, by Geza Vermes, page 16. [End of Footnote.]
Picture on page 7: [Image:] Part of the book of Isaiah from the Dead Sea Scrolls above a modern translation of Isaiah in Arabic.
Caption: A portion of the book of Isaiah from the Dead Sea Scrolls pictured above a modern translation of Isaiah in Arabic. The message of God’s Word survives unchanged
We can, therefore, read God’s Word with complete trust and confidence in its accuracy. With that in mind, let us next examine what we can learn about God from his prophets.