JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book." That was in 1513 B .C. It is the first divine command to write, and it indicates Jehovah's purpose to have important matters recorded. Memorial of them was not to be entrusted to oral transmission subject to corruption by fallible human memory. The finished product of this divine purpose is God's Word, the
Bible. Its sixty-six books have a common origin, being inspired by God ; yet they were written by more than thirty-five men over a period of more than sixteen centuries. Moses started its writing no later than 1513 B.C., and the apostle John penned its last book around A .D. 98. These historical dates give rise to two questions . Since Moses in the Bible's first book, Genesis, wrote of creative works and historical events that happened thousands of years before his lifetime, how did he get reliable information?And since nearly nineteen centuries have passed since the last Bible book was written, how do we know all of this has reached us in accurate and reliable form?

Jehovah could have revealed the information in Genesis to Moses. God's spirit or active force could have accomplished that. His spirit did work in the Bible's production, as the writers themselves are quick to acknowledge. David said: "The spirit of the LORD spake by me ." Luke declared : "He, through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, has spoken." Peter added to the testimony : "No prophecy of Scripture springs from any private release . For prophecy was at no time brought by man's will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit." Paul left no room for further doubt or exceptions when he sweepingly said : "All Scripture is inspired of God ." (2 Samuel 23 :2 ; Luke 1 :70; Acts 1 :16; 2 Timothy 3 :16, 17 ; 1 Peter 1 :10, 11; 2 Peter 1 :20, 21, NW) So Moses, one of God's "holy prophets from of old", could have received the Genesis record word for word in direct revelation ; but there is nothing to indicate that such was the case . Or he could have received the information by oral tradition, handed down by word of mouth . Only five human links were needed to connect Moses with Adam (Methuselah,
Shem, Isaac, Levi and Amram) . But the Bible does not indicate this either .

Modern archaeological discoveries in Bible lands indicate that the art of writing existed before the Flood, and lead us to conclude that Moses compiled Genesis from earlier written records . At Ur of the Chaldees Sir Leonard Woolley found seals belonging to men that lived before the Flood, and often included the owner's name in the cuneiform writing of that time . Thousands of clay
tablets with cuneiform writing have been found that existed in Noah's time . Statements made by Ashurbanipal (called Osnappar
in the Bible) indicate writing before the Flood. He said : "I had my joy in the reading of inscriptions on stone from the time before the flood." And going right back to mankind's beginning and indicating that Adam wrote or possessed written records, we have the statement at Genesis 5 :1 : "This is the book of the generations of Adam ."

This expression "the generations of" and its use are highly significant . It occurs first at Genesis 2 :4: "These are the generations
of the heavens and of the earth ." But it is evident that unintelligent heavens and earth do not generate or beget offspring, and it indicates that it is incorrect to translate as "generations" the original Hebrew word toledoth. It should be translated "history", or "historical origins" . Darby's translation renders the word "histories" at Genesis 2 :4, but not in later occurrences . At Genesis 2 :4
Moffatt's translation uses "story" and An American Translation uses "origins" ; but neither follows through consistently thereafter . After Genesis 2 :4 and 5 :1, this expression "the generations of" occurs nine times, and in each case is followed by a proper name or a designation of certain individuals, namely Noah, sons of Noah, Shem, Terah, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau (twice) and Jacob.-Genesis 6 :9; 10 :1; 11 :10, 27 ; 25 :12, 19; 36 :1, 9 ; 37 :2.

Another misconception most Bible scholars have of this expression is that it introduces what follows, whereas actually it concludes what precedes it. Hence An American Translation is wrong in inserting the word "following" in its translation of Genesis 2 :4 : "The following are the origins of the heavens and the earth ." It is obviously wrong because the story of origins preceded this verse. Moffatt recognized this, so he lifted Genesis 2:4 right out of its place and put it ahead of Genesis 1 :1. But this is an unnecessary violation of the writing style of that time . In Moses' day, and in the centuries preceding him, it was the literary style for a historical document to be concluded with the words, "These are the generations," or, better translated, "This is the history," of So-andso, and thereby indicate who was the writer or owner of the document . In a modern book this information would come at the beginning, on the title page; in Moses' day and prior thereto it was put at the end. Modern archaeology has firmly established these facts.

Moses himself used this type of conclusion to certain sections of his own writings . The last verse of Leviticus reads : "These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai ." He was obviously concluding
the instructions given at Mount Sinai, and not introducing the account of travels in the book of Numbers that followed . He ended the book of Numbers with the words : "These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho." These words did not introduce the book
of Deuteronomy that followed . Hence in both the above verses An American Translation reads : "These WERE the commands ."
From all of the foregoing it is clear that Moses compiled the material for Genesis, down to chapter 37, verse 2, from eleven earlier written documents. Adam doubtless wrote the first one about creation, he is identified as the writer of the second, and the writer or owner of the remaining ones is in each case identified by the conclusion. By inserting these conclusions or colophons, as they are called, Moses stuck to the writing style of the time and showed his written sources, establishing as authentic his compilation of Genesis . From Genesis 37 :3 forward the expression "These are the generations of" occurs no more, indicating that Moses himself composed the remainder of Genesis and the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) . For this purpose he could gather information about events before his time through his father Amram from Joseph's brother Levi .

After Moses' death other faithful Hebrews wrote under inspiration, until more than a thousand years later the last of the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Scriptures was written by Malachi, around 442 B.C. Nearly five centuries elapsed, without further Bible writing. Christ came, preached, died, and ascended to heaven to later pour out holy spirit upon his followers . It brought vital truths to their remembrance, truths that must be preserved for future generations, along with facts about Christ and his earthly sojourn as a man, about many fulfilled prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures, and new prophecies . So the spirit once again operated upon faithful Hebrews to write. Matthew wrote his history concerning Jesus Christ, likely between 41 and 50 (A.D.) .
Other Hebrew writers added their books and letters, until the apostle John wrote the last of the twenty-seven books of the Christian Greek Scriptures around A .D. 98.-John 14 :26; Romans 3 :1,2.

PRESERVING THE RECORD UNTIL NOW

None of the original Bible writings are known to exist today, but their message was preserved by the making of many copies . The Hebrews kept Scripture manuscripts with the ark of the covenant at their central place of worship . (Deuteronomy 31 :26 ; 2 Kings 22 :8) When the first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 607 B .C. Bible manuscripts were preserved ; Daniel studied them while in captivity. (Daniel 9 :2) After the return from captivity Ezra is found reading the Law to the people, showing the preservation of Bible manuscripts through that perilous period . (Nehemiah 8 :1-3) It is believed that Ezra compiled and put into final form the Hebrew Scripture canon, with the exception of the books of Nehemiah and Malachi. Then followed a period
of intense activity in making many manuscript copies of the Hebrew Scriptures, for not all the Jews returned to Jerusalem after release from captivity. Many remained where they were and set up synagogues for worship there, and these synagogues scattered far and wide had to be supplied with copies of Scripture . About 1,700 ancient manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures are extant today.

The professional Hebrew scribes used the most scrupulous care in the copying of these manuscripts. They counted not only the words but the letters also . To write a single word from memory was considered gross sin . Before and during the time of Christ these Hebrew copyists were called scribes or sopherim, and while shunning mistakes they did take liberties in making textual changes, such as many times substituting "God" or "Lord" for "Jehovah". But after them came trained Jewish scholars called "Mas'oretes", and they exercised great care and fidelity in copying manuscripts, making absolutely no changes, but compiling
notations that called attention to the changes made by the sopherim. They produced what is now known as the Masoret'ic text, on which our present copies and translations of the Hebrew Scriptures are based . The oldest dated copy of the Masoretic text is the Codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus of A .D. 916 .

A recent Bible manuscript find has strikingly confirmed the accuracy of the Masoret'ie text . In 1947 the now famous Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah was found, and it is believed to have been written in the second century before Christ, or more than a thousand years before the oldest dated copy of the Masoret'ic text. Nevertheless, scholars were astonished to find that aside from certain admittedly minor variations in spelling this Isaiah scroll is identical with the accepted Masoret'ic text . A thousand years of copying with no appreciable change! Remarkable testimony to the Bible's preservation!

Just as in the case of the Hebrew Scripture manuscripts, so it was found necessary to make numerous copies of the original Greek Scripture writings, first in order to circulate the message widely and quickly, and later to preserve it against use and the ravages of time. Some 4,000 manuscript copies of the Greek Scriptures are extant today in the original language (plus 8,000 in
Latin and 1,000 in other languages) . The accuracy of the professional Hebrew scribes was passed on to a good degree to the nonprofessional copyists of the Greek Scriptures . Of course, despite painstaking care copyist errors crept in, but these were
largely insignificant as far as meaning is concerned .

Just as the find of the very old Isaiah scroll confirmed confidence in the Masoret'ic text of the Hebrew Scriptures, so the comparatively recent finds of Greek Scripture papyrus manuscripts written in the second and third centuries establish beyond question the accuracy of this part of the Bible. Note the conclusion of the outstanding English scholar, Sir Frederic Kenyon : "The
interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written
has now been removed ."-The Bible and Archaeology, pages 288, 289 .

There are some who would try to preserve as a part of the inspired Bible certain books known as "Apocryphal" . The Roman Catholic Church got its start in the fourth century after Christ, and at its Council of Carthage in 397 it adopted an enlarged Bible canon that included apocryphal books; but this move was widely opposed even in Catholic circles, and opposition continued by Hierarchy members down to the Protestant Reformation. How do we know these books do not belong to the Bible? Because for the first four centuries of the Christian era none of them was in the catalogues of inspired books accepted by Christian congregations. Because none of them was ever quoted from or even alluded to by Christ or his followers, as shown in the Christian Greek Scriptures. And because none of them was included by the Jews in their Greek Septuagint translation as
it first appeared. Apocryphal books made their appearance in the Septuagint only in later copies . Inspired canonical books of the Hebrew Scriptures were openly displayed for reference on the library shelves of the Jewish scribes, but other books not inspired by God were hidden away from the public and came to be called "Apocrypha", which means "hidden".

Mention of the Septuagint brings up the matter of Bible translation. Bible translation was necessary to preserve the Bible's message. After the return from Babylonian captivity, when the scribes read from the Hebrew Scriptures they had to paraphrase the meaning in Aramaic . (Nehemiah 8 :8) Hebrew became a dead language . Soon koine or common Greek became an international language. It was for Greek-speaking Jews in Egypt that the Septuagint translation was made. It was started around 280 B.C., and eventually contained the entire Hebrew Scriptures in Greek . When after Jesus' death more Scripture writing was to be done, Jehovah's spirit caused it to be recorded in the language most widely understood at that time, the koine Greek. He did not venerate and count specially sacred the dead language of Hebrew, like the Roman Catholic Church today does the dead
language Latin . Jehovah was preserving the Bible to be read and understood by all, and not by merely a religious hierarchy .

Not only is Bible translation necessary to keep it in a living tongue, but also it is vital to make it available in as many tongues as possible, to facilitate the reading and preaching of it in all nations. (Matthew 28 :19, 20 ; Acts 1 :8) Very early in their existence the Greek Scriptures were translated into Latin and other languages . Outstanding was the Latin Vulgate produced by Jerome, from 382-404 . This version contained the entire Bible translated into Latin from the original Hebrew and Greek languages . It became the basis of Biblical scholarship for a thousand years . Today Bible translation has proceeded rapidly, until there are versions of the Bible, all or part, in more than 1,125 languages.

However, this work of translating the Bible to keep it in living languages and make it understandable to the common people of many nations did not progress unopposed . History is emphatic that the chief opponent was the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, despite her claims of being the Bible's preserver. She seemed intent on preserving it only in a dead language that the common people could not understand . It was after the production of the Latin Vulgate that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy grew to tremendous power . She did not like for the people to be able to read the Bible in their own speech, and she rejoiced when Latin ceased to be understood by the people generally. In the eleventh century Pope Gregory VII expressly thanked God for this circumstance . But she could not keep the Bible in the dark shrouds of a dead language. The first to complete the Bible in English were John Wycliffe and his associates, toward the end of the fourteenth century . Other translations followed, as the Hierarchy fumed and persecuted. Her record of hunting down possessors of Bibles in the common tongue as if they were wild beasts, of burning them at the stake with their Bibles tied around their necks, makes some of the bloodiest pages in
history.

Through the fifteenth and most of the sixteenth century the Hierarchy vented its rage against the Bible in the vernacular, but it finally became apparent that she had lost her fight . Unable to stop it, she sought to counteract it . That she did by belatedly bringing out an English translation of her own, known as the Douay Version . She published the Greek Scripture part in 1582,
and the Hebrew Scripture portion not until 1610 . It was a stiff, awkward rendering, using many unintelligible words ; and the Catholic Encyclopedia says that this was done so that "an ordinary reader, finding the word unintelligible, would pause and inquire its meaning". The good Catholic would of course make this inquiry of the priest, who could give the text the desired twist.

Probably the most valuable Bible manuscript is the Vatican 1209 . It was written in the fourth century. Neither this manuscript nor any other really old and valuable manuscripts have been found in territories under Hierarchy domination . She came into possession of Vatican MS . 1209 in the fifteenth century. Who preserved it until that late date? Not the Hierarchy. And when she did get her hands on it she would let no non-Catholic scholars carefully examine it . Only after another f a m o u s fourth-century manuscript, the Codex Sinaiticus, was found in the nineteenth century did the Hierarchy publish facsimile copies of her manuscript, to prevent it from being eclipsed . She may defend her burning of Bibles on the grounds that they were non-Catholic translations . Then why did she not make a Catholic translation in English, and properly fill the need, instead of trying to suppress other versions and keep the Scriptures in the dark of a dead language? For the same reason she kept her Vatican MS . 1209 under wraps. The facts are overwhelming that she goes only as far as she is forced to in letting light shine on the Bible. And it is only in the more advanced and democratic countries today that she poses as favoring Bible reading ; she does not do so in backward, solid-Catholic countries .

But despite opposition, God's Word will endure forever, and it will allow him to be found true . He is its preserver . The Jewish sopherim tried to alter it, but their changes are known . The Roman Catholic copyists and theologians maneuvered spurious
passages into it, but modern scholarship is exposing such. An outstanding example is the spurious trinitarian text at 1 John 5 :7. Modern translations, benefited by advancing knowledge of the original languages in which the Bible was written and by recent discoveries of older manuscripts, are bringing us ever closer to the true meaning of the originals. The evidence is now overwhelming that the record that has been transmitted to us from Adam's day is the true Record .-Isaiah 40 :8; 1 Peter 1 :25.