> > However, certainly the Hebrew text must be more "true" to the original words than, say, the King James version which was written around 1611.
>
> You'd think so, wouldn't you? Here's the rub. The oldest text of the Old Testament available is the Septuagint. Naturally, it would seem that the oldest text would be the most reliable, right? Trouble is, the Septuagint is in Greek. The oldest complete Hebrew OT text is eight hundred years more recent than the Septuagint. So it's not an automatic "the Hebrew text is correct," since we don't have an *original* Hebrew text.

Except that it was copied very faithfully by people who would dispose of the scroll rather than leave an error in it. You've probably heard of the Masorites?

Nyperold