New Testament: There are over 5,800 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and thousands in other languages (e.g., Coptic, Syriac), totaling over 20,000 manuscripts. This is far more than for any other ancient text (e.g., Homer’s Iliad has ~1,800 manuscripts, the next most attested).
Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible is preserved in the Masoretic Text (c. 7th–10th century CE), Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 250 BCE–68 CE), and Septuagint (c. 3rd–2nd century BCE), with thousands of fragments and copies.
Statistical Insight: The sheer number of manuscripts allows for statistical comparison to identify variants. Scholars estimate that the New Testament is 98–99% textually accurate, with most variants being minor (e.g., spelling, word order). For example, of ~400,000 textual variants in the New Testament, only ~0.5% (2,000) affect meaning, and none alter core doctrines or teachings (e.g., Jesus’ death, resurrection, or teachings like the Sermon on the Mount).
