Omissions in the Text of the Bible 1

And he said unto Abram. Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.[1]

The statement “and shall afflict them four hundred years,” and another similar statement contained in verse 14 of the same chapter, which is, “When they shall serve and afterwards shall they come out with great substance,” both clearly denote that the land referred to here is the land of Egypt, because those who afflicted the Israelites and made them their servants and then were punished by God were none but the Egyptians. It was from Egypt that they came out with great wealth. This description does not fit any other place. However, Exodus 2:40 contradicts the above statement:

Now that sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.

The period of sojourn is different in the two verses. Either the word “thirty” has been omitted from the first verse or added to the latter. Besides, the period described by both verses is certainly not correct for the following reasons.

Firstly, the Prophet Moses was the grandson of Levi on his mother’s side, and great grandson on his father’s side. On his mother's side he is the son of Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, while on his father's side he is the son of Amran, son of Kohath, son of Levi. This implies that Amran married his aunt, the sister of his father as is indeed understood from Exodus 6, and Numbers 26. Kohath, the grandfather of Moses was born before the Israelites came into Egypt, a fact which can be ascertained from Genesis 26:11. The period of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt cannot therefore exceed 215 years.

Secondly, almost all the Christian commentators and historians are unanimous on the point that the period of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt is 215 years. The Arabic book Murshid at-Talibeen, written by a Protestant scholar and printed in 1840, contains the chronology of the events from the beginning of the creation to the birth of Jesus. Each event is preceded and followed by a year. The preceding year denotes the number of years from the creation of the world while the following year signifies the number of year.’ from that event to the birth of Jesus. On page 346 of this book, describing the stay of the Prophet Joseph and his father and brother; in Egypt, it says:

2513: Crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites and the Drowning of Pharaoh: 1491.

Now a deduction of either of the smaller numbers from the greater ones gives us 215, thus:

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one. And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect. [2]

This statement is in clear contradiction of the statement found in Exodus, where the total period from the promise to the revelation of the Torah is described as four hundred and thirty years, while this promise to Abraham was made much earlier than the coming of the Israelites to Egypt, and the Torah was revealed to Moses long after their exodus from Egypt. This implies that the total period of their stay in Egypt was much less than 430 years.[3] Since this statement was erroneous it was corrected in the Greek and Samaritan versions with these words:

And the sojourning of the children of Israel and their forefathers who dwelt in Egypt and Canaan was four hundred and thirty years.

That is, the word “forefather:” and “Canaan” were added to the above text in both the versions. Adam Clarke under his comments on this verse said on page ’369 of volume one:

There is unanimous agreement on the fact that the meanings of this verse are obscure and doubtful.

We may be allowed to contend that the contents of this verse are not obscure and doubtful but they are certainly wrong, as we intend to show very soon. The author further quoted from the Samaritan version and said:

The reading of the text of Alexandrinus is similar to that of the Samaritan version. Many learned scholars have decided that the Samaritan version is the most reliable, as far as the five books of the Pentateuch are concerned. And it is an established fact that the text of Alexandrinus is older and the most authentic of all the Greek translations and Paul’s statement is not doubted by any one. Now this matter has been decided by the witness of the above three versions. Besides, there are historical evidences to favour this opinion. Isaac was born 25 years after Abraham’s coming to Canaan and Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob was born to him, and Jacob 130 years of age when he came to Egypt. All this adds up to 215 years, which is the total period of stay of the Israelites in Egypt, in this way the total number of years becomes 430 years.

Henry and Scott’s compilers also acknowledge that the total period of the stay in Egypt is 215 years. Quoting from the Samaritan version they said:

There is no doubt that this text is correct and explains the difficulties raised by the text.

The above shows that Christian scholars can find no explanation for the above text of Exodus and have to admit its being erroneous. Paul’s description as quoted above is also not free from error, because he counted the period from the time of the promise, which is one year prior to the birth of Isaac, as is known from Genesis 17:21 referred to above:

But my covenant will I establish with Isaac which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

The Torah was given to them three months after the exodus from Egypt as is described in chapter 19 of Exodus. Now according to calculations of Adam Clarke this total period comes to 407 years and not 430 years. The same calculations are found in the books of history by Protestant writers which is contrary to what Paul claimed, that is 430 years.

Omission No. 2

And Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him.[5]

The Samaritan. Greek, and other ancient translations describe it in these words:

And Cain said unto Abel his brother, Rise let us go into the field, and it came to pass that they were in the field etc.

The phrase, “let us go in the field” is omitted in the Hebrew version. Home said on page 193 of vol. 2, of his commentary:

This is present in the Samaritan, Greek, and Syrian versions, as well as in the Latin edition printed in Vulgate and Walton. Kennicott decided that it should be included in the Hebrew version. No doubt this is a good description.

Sometimes the text of Greek version is more correct but it is not found in the current Hebrew translations. For example the Hebrew translations, printed or handwritten manuscripts, are defective with regard to this verse. And the translator of the English authorised version could not understand this verse. He therefore translated, ’and Cain talked to his brother Abel.’ This defect has been made up in the Greek version. This version became similar to the Samaritan, Latin, Syrian and Akola translations, and also to the two commentaries in the two Chaldean languages, and according to the sentence copied by Philo.

Adam Clarke said the same as was said by Home. This passage was included in the Arabic translation of 1831 and 1848.

Omission No. 3

And the flood was forty days and nights upon the earth. Horne said in his first volume:

Omission No. 4

And it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land that Rueben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine and Israel heard it.

The Jews admit that something from this verse has been certainly omitted. The Latin version has supplemented the words with, ”he was evil in his sight,” to compensate for the omission.

This is clear example of omission in the text as admitted by the Jews which is hardly surprising in view of their normal practice of changing their holy texts.

Omission No. 5

Horsley commenting on Genesis 44:5 said on page 82 of volume one of his commentary:

At the beginning of this verse in the Greek translation the following sentence has been added, ”Why hast thou robbed me of my measure.”

Omission No. 6

The Samaritan, Latin and Greek translations and other old versions have it in these words:

Mr. Boothroyd has inserted these omitted words in his new translation of the Bible and he has done right.

[1] Gen. 15:13

[2] Gal. 3:16,17.

[3] The total period of stay described by Exodus 12:40 is 430 years.

[4]The left side numbers denotes Adam’s appearance on Earth while the rights number denotes the year before Christ.

[5]Gen. 4:8.

Ommisions in the the Text of the Bible

Omission No. 1: The Length of the Israelites’ Stay in Egypt

Omission No. 2

Omission No. 3

Omission No. 4

Omission No. 5

Omission No. 6