When Was the Hebrew Bible Finished?

How the Bible Was Formed E3 — Today, most Bibles are a single book that’s easy to carry and flip through. But the Bible started as an assortment of scrolls, bound together into a collection. The Hebrew Bible—or the Old Testament—went through a centuries-long, iterative development process with a variety of scribes and prophets. It didn’t come into its final form until roughly the time of Jesus. So how does this history interact with a view of Scripture as God’s word? In this episode, Jon and Tim continue exploring the formation of the Bible, discussing how to hold a high view of these sacred texts while also acknowledging the humans who shaped them. 

CHAPTERS

1. An Inspired, Collaborative Work Over Centuries (0:00-12:00)
2. A Final Shaping of the Hebrew Bible After Exile (12:00-26:59)
3. The Second Temple Period’s Flourishing Literary Culture (26:59-43:42)
4. The Tanak’s Standardization as the Masoretic Text (43:42-53:32)
5. Wisdom Literature Designed for Meditation and Formation (53:32-1:00:03)
6. Coming to Peace With the Bible’s Formation (1:00:03-1:05:02)

OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

View this episode’s official transcript.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• The Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origin and Development of the Bible by Paul D. Wegner
• You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

SHOW MUSIC

• “Nice Day ft. Marc Vanparla, John Lee” by Lofi Sunday
•  “Know My Name” by Lofi Sunday, Opto Music
•  “But Hopeful ft. Maddox.” by Lofi Sunday
•  “Forever Yours ft. Cassidy Godwin” by Lofi Sunday
• BibleProject theme song by TENTS

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, and he also edited today's episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie. 

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