When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, Bible students compared these ancient copies of the Old Testament with the newer copies they had. In a thousand years of copying and recopying, there were no major differences found. How can this be? — Cassandra of Marrero, LA

Dear Cassandra,

Thanks for your question about the Dead Sea Scrolls. You are right. Ancient copies of the Old Testament and newer copies differed very slightly. Most differences had to do with the spelling of names and places. There were no major differences.

How could this be? As you know, back then they did not have copying machines or printing presses. They had to copy everything by hand. There were people called "scribes" who made a living by copying written documents. When scribes copied books of the Bible, they were given strict rules to follow. When they finished a page, they had to count each column and each line to make sure they were the same as the original. If they were off, even by one letter, they had to destroy that copy and start all over again. Because of the great care these scribes took in copying the books of the Bible, their copies were always very close to the originals. That's why, Cassandra, there were no major differences between the copies of the Old Testament books found in caves near the Dead Sea and the copies that we already had. This shows us that the Bible is the way God wanted it to be.