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Voice ofreason 理性的声音 The Story of the Scrolls: The Miraculous Discovery and True Significance of the Dead SeaScrolls. By Geza Vermes. 《古卷的故事：死海古卷的神奇发现和真正意义》。格左维尔麦希著。 Within a century or so of Christianity s emergence, Jews and Christians were having heateddisputes over certain prophetic passages in the Hebrew scriptures. They were arguing notonly over the meaning of those verses, but over their precise wording. Each side suspectedthe other of doctoring manuscripts in order to support its own interpretations. 在基督教出现后一个世纪左右的时间里，犹太教徒和基督徒们就希伯来语圣经中某些预言性的章节进行了激烈的辩论。他们不仅就那些经节的意思，也就那些经节准确的字词进行争论。每一方都怀疑对方篡改了手稿以便支持自己的阐释。 At least until the late 20th century, it was almost impossible for modern scholars to throwany light on the substance of these disputes: in other words, to say which party was correctin its claims as to which wording was the oldest. There are clearly some small but significantdifferences between the Hebrew used by most Jews for at least 1,400 years or sotheMasoretic textand the Septuagint, a translation into Greek made for Hellenistic Jews inEgypt about 800 years earlier, using a Hebrew original which has been lost. But nobodycould really explain the source of these differences. Was it the case that the translatorsdeliberately set out to mislead, or did later editors alter the Hebrew? | 
