0:01
along the shores of the Dead Sea three
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Bedouin shepherds were tending their
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flocks when one of their goats strayed
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from the herd thinking it had wandered
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into a cave one of them threw a stone to
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the unexpected sound sparked their
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curiosity and inside the young shepherds
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uncovered clay jars that contained one
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of the greatest archeological
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discoveries of the 20th century the
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oldest biblical texts ever found the
0:39
first of the Dead Sea Scrolls the
0:45
scrolls were handwritten some 2,000
0:47
years ago on durable animal skin
0:50
coachman with a few written on papyrus
0:53
they were mostly composed in Hebrew from
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right to left with sheets written in
0:58
columns then sewn together creating a
1:01
single scroll for safekeeping some of
1:05
them would be wrapped in linen and
1:07
encapsulated in tall jars the scroll was
1:12
eventually replaced by the Codex as the
1:14
format for Christian manuscripts they
1:17
were made by folding sheets of papyrus
1:19
and stitching them together as time
1:23
passed courtesies began to grow larger
1:25
and more complex during the medieval
1:30
period books were reproduced by hand
1:34
monks spent their days copying text in
1:37
Latin and Greek while others illustrated
1:47
it was a grueling process that required
1:50
great skill and training
1:55
the books were very expensive to
1:58
illuminate the text they used various
2:00
pigments and goldleaf and the pages
2:04
could require the hides of hundreds of
2:06
sheep or calves but it was the
2:12
introduction of the printing press that
2:14
transitioned the Bible in the Middle
2:16
Ages into the early modern world
2:19
this invention revolutionized book
2:22
production ultimately making the Bible
2:24
available to the masses today it is the
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best-selling book of all time inside its
2:34
pages you can find the stories of the
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creation of the world Noah's Ark in the
2:41
Moses receiving the Ten Commandments the
2:44
construction of Solomon's Temple the
2:47
birth of Jesus his crucifixion and
2:51
resurrection the Holy Spirit coming to
2:54
the Apostles and many more large
2:59
portions of these biblical stories are
3:02
represented in 400 of the oldest
3:04
manuscripts studied so far although a
3:08
few are complete most are either
3:10
incomplete or fragments today the search
3:15
for more manuscripts continues what
3:19
other treasures like the Dead Sea
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Scrolls are yet to be found
