The oldest existing Hebrew manuscript of the Scriptures is the Aleppo Codex which dates to the 10th century (the Aleppo is now partially destroyed due to Muslim rioting in 1947, the Codex Leningradiensis from the 11th century is now the oldest more or less complete text) and the oldest Greek is the Codex Vaticanus dating to the 4th century.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a piece work of different editions of different books spread over a long time period and do not present a complete text.
If this book turns out to be a reasonably complete text of the Vulgate dating to the 8th century and transcribed by a different group of monks that the Amiatinus, it will be extremely useful for recovering an even more accurate reconstruction of Jerome's Vulgate.
This is important because Jerome had access to Hebrew and likely Greek manuscripts that were older than the surviving texts. An even more accurate Vulgate could help to reconstruct those sources in a way the DSS cannot.
I don’t have my bible here. Is the 83rd Psalm accurate in this found text?
Hmmm... what about the Book of Kells? It’s got at least the gospels from the Vulgate, though I’m not sure what else it includes, and it dates from the 790s if I remember right.
‘The reason why this article is describing this discover as “more important than the Dead Sea Scrolls” is that the oldest existing manuscript of the Latin Vulgate of Jerome is the Codex Amiatinus from Northumbria which dates to the 8th century.’
True. There’s a fair gap between this manuscript and the Greek Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus.
“The Dead Sea Scrolls are a piece work of different editions of different books spread over a long time period and do not present a complete text.”
The Dead Sea Scrolls, like the Irish Psalm found, have suffered from time and conditions. Neither are a complete text. Yet all the books of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) with the exception of Esther are included in multiple copies of each chapter in the Dead Sea Scrolls. A stunning find that gives us a look at the Bible as it was in Yeshua HaMachiah’s (Jesus Christ’s) time and as we read it today. Not much difference.
Other documents were found there as well, such as Tefflin, marriage contracts (very important to the Jewish women at the time), and other items.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are over 2,000 years old and are in Hebrew. The Irish Psalm is 1,200 years old and is in Latin.
Thank you for the posts.