Several people have asked for information on the manuscripts used for Ancient Roots Translinear Bible (ARTB). 

The work was influenced by two strands of scholarship:  that around the King James Version, and that around the New International Version.  The major Hebrew text, the Masoretic Text as published in the latest editions of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, was used.  Additional early versions are also included:  the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, the Targums and Jerome’s Juxta Hebraica as accessed through Pradis software (6.0 and earlier versions from Zondervan).  (Go to Library tab, NIV to BHS/UBS4 tab).    

However, the Pradis software and the NIV translation tools exclude reporting of ancient words that don’t have a match in English which is a major caution for anyone using that software.  The second major resource was JP Green’s The Interlinear Hebrew-Aramaic Old Testament which was based upon the Masoretic text plus editorial corrections.  The author estimates that there are 200 discrepancies between the Pradis database and the Interlinear Bible which were documented in the ARTB process.  Plans are to list that data online at a future date for examination.

Because the author started with the NIV scholarship “package” the initial work was done using the Goodrick/Kohlenberger numbers (G/K).  However, that was quickly abandoned when it was recognized that the NIV adds multiple additional G/K numbers (10779 vs. 8674 for Strong’s) for each Hebrew/Armaic word.  That direction is the opposite direction of ARTB.  So, the Strong’s numbers were derived from The Strongest Concordance series which was based upon the data from the original Portland Index project.  The masterful review on the KJV corrected errors in James Strong’s original numbering system and was used to correct errors in the Strong’s numbers in Interlinear Bible.  (The 1984 edition contained many errors, and could not be relied upon for Strong’s numbers.) 

The Strong’s numbers for Ancient Roots Translinear Bible (ARTB) have been validated by computer check of all the nouns, verbs and adjectives.  Any project of this size requires computer validation, no matter how careful the effort.  The pronouns (he, she, I, me, this, these etc.) and articles (the, in, for) have not been computer verified at the date of this blog but will be in the future. 

Because there were no vowels in the original manuscripts, the author has taken the liberty on certain series to utilize the word most appropriate after the remainder of the sentence was identified.  In particular, this affects two major series:  Strongs number 2007, 2008, and 2009: “they, these”, “here” and “behold”.  The second series is Strong’s numbers 408 through 412:  “no”, “God”, “into,at” and “these/those”.  

ARTB is open for correction and comment.  The text has some areas which do not make obvious sense.  It has been the authors intention to LEAVE IT THAT WAY, to hopefully trigger insights you may have which may come from alternate manuscripts. You can register on the site and submit your comments in a blog, or corrections to the text.

I'm still looking for a good NRSV resource which has and exhaustive listing of Strong's numbers and Hebrew text.  Does anyone know where it can be found?