Tampering with the Bible Text

◇ The Watchtower has previously said that the text of the Greek Septuagint Version of the Hebrew Scriptures was tampered with from about the third century of the Common Era, resulting in the removal of the divine name. Further evidence that the name was being tampered with at an early date has now come to light in the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered during the years 1947-1953. These scrolls take us back earlier than the time of Christ, and the Isaiah Scroll shows that scribes were making substitutions for Jehovah’s name (YHWH, יהוה in the Hebrew) even at that time. As an example, the text of Isaiah 3:16-20, illustrated on page 1256 of Douglas’ New Bible Dictionary, shows scribal alterations of ’adonay (אדוני) to YHWH (יהוה), and of YHWH to ’adonay. Evidently the text had already been tampered with, and the scribe was in doubt as to whether the divine name should be used in these places. The bulk of testimony of the ancient manuscripts is that Jehovah’s name rightly appears in both instances.