What Archeologist Have To Say

The interval between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed.

Sir Frederic G. Kenyon—Director of the British Museum

The geography of Bible lands and visible remains of antiquity were gradually recorded until today more than 25,000 sites within this region and dating to Old testament times in their broadest sense have been located.

Donald J. Wiseman: Biblical Scholar, Archaeologist, Kings College London

The overwhelming impression … is that the Bible, in its broad outlines of historical events, is in harmony with the results of archaeology.”
(The Land of the Bible)

Yohanan Aharoni—Professor of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; director of excavations at Hazor, Arad, Beersheba

On the whole … archaeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the Scriptural record. More than one archaeologist has found his respect for the Bible increased by the experience of excavation in Palestine. Archaeology has in many cases refuted the views of modern critics.”

Millar Burrows, Professor of Archaeology, Yale University

Archaeology has greatly illuminated the background of biblical history and in many cases confirmed the accuracy of the details of biblical tradition.

James B. Pritchard—Professor of Religious Thought, University of Pennsylvania; excavator at Gibeon, Shechem, Tell es-Sa‘idiyeh

It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever contraverted a biblical reference.

Nelson Glueck Archaeologist, President of Hebrew Union College 1947 until Death

The excessive scepticism shown toward the Bible by important historical schools of the eighteenth-and-nineteenth centuries, certain phases of which still appear periodically, has been progressively discredited. Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details, and has brought increased recognition to the value of the Bible as a source of history

William F. Albright— Pioneered The American School of Oriental Research, Jerusalem

Archaeology has confirmed countless passages which had been rejected by critics as unhistorical or contrary to known facts.

Joseph P. Free— Founder of Near East Archaeological Society

As to the main facts, then, we are in agreement: Joshua destroyed Jericho about 1400 B.C. The walls fell down flat. The city was burned with fire.

John Garstang—Professor of Archaeology, University of Liverpool; excavator of Jericho and Mersin

Archaeology has in many cases refuted the views of modern critics. It has shown in a number of instances that these views rest on false assumptions and untenable hypotheses.

Millar Burrows—Professor of Archaeology, Yale University; authority on the Dead Sea Scrolls

Archaeology has not produced anything that is in real conflict with the Bible. On the contrary … it has added confirmation to the substantial historicity of the Old Testament.”
(The Archaeology of the New Testament)

E.M. Blaiklock—Professor of Classics, University of Auckland, New Zealand; New Testament historian

The writings of the Old Testament … in terms of general reliability, are outstandingly better than, for example, the early history of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, or Greece, where we are dealing with hundreds of copies or fewer.(On the Reliability of the Old Testament)

Kenneth A. Kitchen—Professor Emeritus of Egyptology, University of Liverpool

The work of archaeology has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the Scriptural record.

Jack Finegan—Professor of New Testament History and Archaeology, Pacific School of Religion; author of standard works on biblical archaeology

The biblical tradition is more reliable than the critics have supposed; and often it has been borne out by the results of archaeology.

Roland de Vaux—Director, École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem; principal excavator of Qumran

Nothing discovered by archaeology has shaken the major outlines of Old Testament history.

Alan Millard—Nothing discovered by archaeology has shaken the major outlines of Old Testament history.”
(Discoveries from the Time of Joshua)

The Bible Has Textual Evidence Than Any Other Ancient Work

The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.

F. F. Bruce—Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, University of Manchester

The textual tradition of the New Testament is, by far, the most abundant and the best preserved of any work from antiquity. There is simply nothing that even begins to compare.

Eldon J. Epp—Harkness Professor of Biblical Literature

In contrast with these figures [about non-Christian Roman writers], the textual critic of the New Testament is embarrassed by the wealth of material. Furthermore, the work of many ancient authors has been preserved only in manuscripts that date from the Middle Ages (sometimes the late Middle Ages), far removed from the time at which they lived and wrote. On the contrary, the time between the composition of the books of the New Testament and the earliest extant [existing] copies is relatively brief . . .

Bruce M. Metzger: The Text of the New Testament; Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration

The wealth of material that is available for determining the wording of the original New Testament is staggering: more than fifty-seven hundred Greek New Testament manuscripts, as many as twenty thousand versions, and more than one million quotations by patristic writers. In comparison with the average ancient Greek author, the New Testament copies are well over a thousand times more plentiful. If the average-sized manuscript were two and one-half inches thick, all the copies of the works of an average Greek author would stack up four feet high, while the copies of the New Testament would stack up to over a mile high! This is indeed an embarrassment of riches.

Daniel B. Wallace-Founder Of The Center For The Study Of New Testament Manuscripts

The vast array of manuscripts has enabled textual scholars to recover the original words of the New Testament with a high degree of certainty.

A. T. Robertson—Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; one of the foremost NT Greek scholars of his era

We have more than 1,000 times the manuscript data for the New Testament than we do for the average Greco-Roman author.

Dan Wallace—Executive Director Center for Study of New Testament Manuscripts

The Bible is the most textually supported piece of literature from the ancient world. This is because thousands of biblical manuscripts offer scholars the best opportunity (in numbers of manuscripts, accuracy of the transmitted text, and earliness of manuscript dates to reconstruct the English editions of our Old and New Testaments

Joseph M. Holden, Norman Geisler: Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible

To be skeptical of the resultant text of the New Testament books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament

John Warwick Montgomery—Lawyer and Professor

There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament.

FF Bruce: The Books and the Parchments

The Dead Sea Scrolls Validate Accuracy Of Bible

It may now be more confidently asserted than ever before that the Dead Sea discoveries have enabled us to answer this question of the reliability of the Old Testament text in the affirmative with much greater assurance than was possible before 1948.

F.F. Bruce: British Biblical Scholar; University of Cambridge

No one could consistently argue that the Bible’s authenticity is in doubt unless he is willing to doubt all other works of antiquity, because they are far less substantiated

Josh McDowell and Bill Wilson, A Ready Defense

Some of the Qumran biblical texts are dated hundreds of years before Christ and closely parallel the corresponding portions of the Masoretic Text, which dates from AD 800 to 1000. The differences found are only minuscule and do not alter the meaning of the text in any way.

The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and of the Bible Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture

Scholars have estimated that approximately 95-plus percent of the Isaiah text is identical to the later Masoretic Text, from which the English Old Testament is translated. The remaining 5 percent disagreement is attributed to minor scribal mistakes and differences that affect no major doctrine.

John C. Trever PhD Archaeology Yale University

On the whole such evidence as archaeology has afforded thus far, especially by providing additional and older manuscripts of the books of the Bible, strengthens our confidence in the accuracy with which the text has been transmitted through the centuries. (Burrows, WMTS, 42)

It is a matter of wonder that through something like a thousand years the text underwent so little alteration.

FF Bruce—British Biblical Scholar on Comparison of Dead Sea Scrolls and Masoretic Text

The Meticulous Preservation And Copying Of The Bible

In spite of thousands of textual variants, scholars have concluded that the wording of the New Testament is 99% reliable. No essential Christian doctrine is affected by any viable variant.”
(Encountering the Manuscripts)

Philip W. Comfort—Professor of Greek and New Testament, Trinity Episcopal Seminary; specialist in early papyri

The New Testament has not only survived in more manuscripts than any other book from antiquity, but it has survived in a purer form than any other great book—a form that is 99.5% pure.

Norman L. Geisler & William E. Nix —Geisler: Distinguished Professor of Apologetics, Veritas Evangelical Seminary Nix: Professor of Bible and Theology, Southern Evangelical Seminary

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the vast majority of the textual variations found in the New Testament are trivial and insignificant. The amount of what can in any sense be called substantial variation is but a small fraction of the whole.

Bruce M. Metzger—Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Princeton Theological Seminary

The overwhelming majority of textual variants are insignificant, involving spelling differences or word order that does not affect meaning. Only a very small fraction are both meaningful and viable.

D. A. Carson—Research Professor of New Testament

In the entire tradition of the New Testament, no single variant has ever been able to dislodge the textus receptus of the Christian message.

Kurt Aland—Professor of New Testament Research, University of Münster; director of the Institute for New Testament Textual Research

The New The New Testament is the most accurately copied book from the ancient world. For it survives in more copies, earlier copies, and more reliable copies than any other work from antiquity

Joseph M. Holden, Norman Geisler: The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible

The real concern is with a ‘thousandth part of the entire text

A.T. Robertson: New Testament Scholar; Word Pictures In The New Testament

The work of the copyists of the NT [New Testament] was, on the whole, done with great care and fidelity

Jack Finegan: Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Archeology; Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California , Encountering New Testament Manuscripts (Eerdmans, 1974)

The amount of what can in any sense be called substantial variation, is but a small fraction of the whole residuary variation, and can hardly form more than a thousandth part of the entire text [of the New Testament]

We desire to make it clearly understood beforehand how much of the New Testament stands in no need of a textual critic’s labors.

Westcott and Hort: The New Testament in the Original Greek, Macmillan, 1881, vol. 1. p2

The vast majority of textual variants are wholly uninteresting except to specialists. Almost anyone who has spent time with the textual apparatus is amazed at how little the vast majority of variants affect the meaning of the text.

Daniel Wallace: Director of the Center for the Study Of New Testament manuscripts

The interval then between the dates of original compostition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed.

Sir Frederic Kenyon: British paleographer and classical scholar

It is reassuring at the end to find that the general result of all these discoveries and all this study is to strengthen the proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures, and our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God

Sir Frederick Kenyon

Of the variant readings there are only 50 of real significance, and there is no “article of faith or a precept of duty which is not abundantly sustained by other and undoubted passages, or by the whole tenor of Scripture teaching

Philip Schaff: Theologian and Ecclesiastical Historian

 I conclude from my studies that there is not a single important Christian doctrine at stake in the very minor textual issues.

John Oakes: Evidence For Christianity

The proof that the copies of the original documents have been handed down with substantial correctness for more than 2,000 years cannot be denied. That the copies in existence 2,000 years ago had been in like manner handed down from the originals is not merely possible, but, as we have shown, is rendered probable by the analogies of Babylonian documents now existing of which we have both originals and copies, thousands of years apart, and of scores of papyri which show when compared with our modern editions of the classics that only minor changes of the text have taken place in more than 2,000 years

Dr. Robert Wilson: Princeton University Liguist ;A Scientific Investigation of the Old Testament

Textual criticism has shown that the original wording of the New Testament can be reconstructed with more than 99% accuracy. No essential Christian doctrine hangs on any of the disputed readings.

Craig L. Blomberg—Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary

Rules and Standards for Copying Hebrew Scriptures

Preparation of the Scribe and Materials

1. Ritual Purity – Scribes had to be ceremonially clean before beginning their work. Some would bathe and put on clean garments.
2. Qualified Training – A scribe had to be formally trained and recognized; not just anyone could attempt copying sacred texts.
3. Special Materials – The scroll had to be written on parchment made from the hide of a ritually clean animal.
4. Ink Requirements – Ink had to be prepared according to a special recipe, never using everyday or common ink.
5. Writing Instrument – A scribe’s pen (reed or quill) was cut to a precise shape and reserved for Scripture writing.

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Rules Regarding the Text

6. Copy Only from an Authentic Source – A scribe could not copy from memory; he must always work from an approved manuscript.
7. No Guesswork – If a word was illegible in the exemplar, the scribe could not write it until he consulted another correct text.
8. Each Word Read Aloud – Before writing a word, scribes were to pronounce it aloud, ensuring attentiveness and accuracy.
9. Letter by Letter Copying – Every letter had to be copied individually; no word or phrase could be written as a whole by memory.
10. Spacing Between Letters and Words – There had to be a precise space between each letter, and a wider space between words.
11. Spacing Between Books – A new book of the Bible required a set number of blank lines (often three to four) before beginning.
12. Exact Form of Letters – Each Hebrew letter had to be written in a specific shape and size; ornamental “crowns” (taggin) were added to certain letters.
13. Columns and Line Length – The scroll had to be divided into uniform columns, with a set number of lines (commonly 48–60).

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Rules for the Divine Name (YHWH)

14. Purification Before Writing – Before writing the divine name (YHWH), scribes often washed their hands or even immersed in a mikveh (ritual bath).
15. Special Pen/Brush – A separate pen was sometimes used exclusively for writing the covenant name.
16. No Corrections Allowed – If a mistake was made in writing YHWH, the sheet could not be corrected — it was invalid and had to be set aside.

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Checking and Verification

17. Word Counting – Scribes counted every word in a book and compared it with the master copy.
18. Letter Counting – They also counted every letter, noting the middle letter of the Torah and of each book.
19. Margin Notes (Masora) – The Masoretes added notes in the margins giving counts of words, unusual spellings, and rare forms to preserve tradition.
20. Exact Middle Checks – For example, Leviticus 11:42 was known to contain the “middle letter” of the Torah, which scribes used as a checkpoint.
21. Peer Review – After completion, another scribe or proofreader had to carefully check the manuscript against the exemplar.
22. Discard if Too Many Errors – If more than three mistakes were found on a single sheet, the whole sheet was discarded.

What Historians Have To Say

I referred your inquiries to our staff archaeologist, Dr. George Stuart. He said archaeologist do indeed find the Bible a valuable reference tool, and use it many times for geographical relationships, old names, and relative chronologies. On the enclosed list you will find many articles concerning discoveries verifying events discussed in the Bible.

Letter from Smithsonian Institute Department of Anthropology

For Acts the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming. . . . Any attempt to reject its basic historicity must now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted.”

A.N. Sherwin-White, Academic, Ancient Historian. President of Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

With modern scholarship making more and more advances in the field of Old Testament studies, a wealth of evidence has been discovered that corroborates the historical reliability of the Old Testament at many levels

Popular Handbook of Archaeology and The Bible; Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of the Bible

I began with a mind unfavorable to it [Acts], for the ingenuity and apparent completeness of the Tubingen theory had at one time quite convinced me. It did not then in my line of life to investigate the subject minutely; but more recently I found myself often brought into contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne in upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth.

Sir William Mitchell Ramsay Scottish Archaeologist, Authority on History of Asia Minor

Thanks to modern research we now recognize the Bible’s substantial historicity. The narratives of the patriarchs, of Moses, and the exodus, of the conquest of Canaan, of the judges, the monarchy, exile and restoration, have all been confirmed and illustrated to an extent that I should have thought impossible forty years ago.

Dr. William F. Allbright: American archaologist, philogist, and expert on ceramics

There are 26 kings mentioned in the Hebrew Old Testament, and the spelling of the names of all but three are virtually identical to what has been deciphered in inscriptions written by the kings themselves.

Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture

Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy…this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians….Luke’s history is unsurpassed in respect of it’s trustworthiness

Sir William Ramsay: Scottish Archaeologist, Foremost authority of his day on history of Asia Minor

The evidence for truthfulness and historicity of the Bible continues to mount up as never before. Just when skepticism seems to be making the most noise, we are being flooded with an overwhelming amount of real, hard evidences that demand a verdict…Never has any previous generation seen the amount and significance of evidences that are now available to us today

Walter Kaiser Jr: Old Testament Scholar, Distinguished Old Testament Professor and Former Preseident Gordon-Conwell

Over 40 kings of Israel and Judah are mentioned in the prophetic and historical books of the Bible, and all of these have been verified and found to be listed in the correct order when checked against historical records of surrounding nations

Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture

Prophecies Prove The Bible Is A Supernatural Book

According to PhD astrophysicist and qualified American Science professors, the odds of the more than 2,500 prophecies in the Bible being fulfilled by chance are 1 with 2,000 zeros after it. According to the mathematical science of probability, if a number has more than 50 zeros after it, the odds of that happening by chance is impossible. This is irrefutable proof that the Bible is inspired by God.

Hugh Ross—Astrophysicist and Trotter Prize Winner

The Bible is the only book that hangs its entire credibility to write history in advance without error.

Chuck Missler—International Author

If you took 100 million silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas they would cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly…Blindfold a man and tell him he must pick up the marked silver dollar…What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have of writing eight prophecies and having them come true in any one man. (Science Speaks)

Peter Stoner—Chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy, Pasadena City College; Professor Emeritus of Science, Westmont College

One of the most remarkable evidences that the Bible is the Word of God is the phenomenon of fulfilled prophecy. No other book in the world has consistently predicted future events centuries in advance without a single error.

Norman L. Geisler—Distinguished Professor of Apologetics,

The Old Testament contains over 300 prophecies about the Messiah, all fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. The probability of their fulfillment by chance is beyond all mathematical possibility.(Evidence That Demands a Verdict)

Josh McDowell—Evidence That Demands a Verdict; lecturer at more than 1,200 universities

The phenomenon of predictive prophecy is a striking indication of the divine origin of the biblical writings. It is not just probability, but historical reality, that validates the Scriptures.

John Lennox—Professor of Mathematics (emeritus), University of Oxford

No other book has ever dared to stake its credibility on its ability to write history in advance — and do so with perfect accuracy. Yet the Bible has done it again and again.

Hal Lindsay—Best-selling Christian author of The Late Great Planet Earth

The approximately one thousand prophecies in the Bible, of which about half have already been fulfilled literally, give indisputable evidence of the supernatural origin of the Scriptures.(The Prophecy Knowledge Handbook)

John F. Walvoord—President of Dallas Theological Seminary; leading 20th-century authority on biblical prophecy

The surest way to demonstrate the inspiration and reliability of the Word of God is through the study of prophecy and its fulfillment.”
(Things to Come)

Dwight Pentecost—Professor of Bible Exposition, Dallas Theological Seminary

The Bible is unique in its record of predictive prophecy, which is found in no other religious writings. These prophecies, literally fulfilled, are incontrovertible evidence that the Bible alone is the inspired Word of God.

Henry Morris—Hydraulic engineer; founder of the Institute for Creation Research

The Holy Scriptures contain hundreds of prophecies which have been fulfilled in detail and in history. This fact alone attests to the divine origin of the Bible.

Gleason L. Archer—Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; Harvard Law graduate

When the Bible is compared with other so-called sacred books, the feature that immediately distinguishes it from all others is its prophetic element. There is nothing like it in all human literature.”
(The Incomparable Book)

Wilbur M. Smith—Professor of English Bible, Fuller Theological Seminary; prolific writer on prophecy

The Bible alone demonstrates the phenomenon of fulfilled prophecy, which cannot be explained by chance or human foresight. It requires divine revelation

Edwin Blum—Senior Professor of Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary; general editor, Holman Christian Standard Bible

Some Examples of Historically Verified Prophecy…Go Figure

(1) Some time before 500 BC, the prophet Daniel proclaimed that Israel’s long-awaited Messiah would begin his public ministry 483 years after the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25-26). He further predicted that the Messiah would be “cut off,” killed, and that this event would take place prior to a second destruction of Jerusalem. Abundant documentation shows that these prophecies were perfectly fulfilled in the life (and crucifixion) of Jesus Christ. The decree regarding the restoration of Jerusalem was issued by Persia’s King Artaxerxes to the Hebrew priest Ezra in 458 BC, 483 years later the ministry of Jesus Christ began in Galilee. (Remember that due to calendar changes, the date for the start of Christ’s ministry is set by most historians at about AD 26. Also note that from 1 BC to AD 1 is just one year.) Jesus’ crucifixion occurred only a few years later, and about four decades later, in AD 70 came the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10⁵.)

(2) In approximately 700 BC, the prophet Micah named the tiny village of Bethlehem as the birthplace of Israel’s Messiah (Micah 5:2). The fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of Christ is one of the most widely known and widely celebrated facts in history.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10⁵.)

(3) In the fifth century BC, a prophet named Zechariah declared that the Messiah would be betrayed for the price of a slave—thirty pieces of silver, according to Jewish law-and also that this money would be used to buy a burial ground for Jerusalem’s poor foreigners (Zechariah 11:12-13). Bible writers and secular historians both record thirty pieces of silver as the sum paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus, and they indicate that the money went to purchase a “potter’s field,” used—just as predicted—for the burial of poor aliens (Matthew 27:3-10).

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10¹¹.)

(4) Some 400 years before crucifixion was invented, both Israel’s King David and the prophet Zechariah described the Messiah’s death in words that perfectly depict that mode of execution. Further, they said that the body would be pierced and that none of the bones would be broken, contrary to customary procedure in cases of crucifixion (Psalm 22 and 34:20; Zechariah 12:10). Again, historians and New Testament writers confirm the fulfillment: Jesus of Nazareth died on a Roman cross, and his extraordinarily quick death eliminated the need for the usual breaking of bones. A spear was thrust into his side to verify that he was, indeed, dead.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10¹³.)

(5) The prophet Isaiah foretold that a conqueror named Cyrus would destroy seemingly impregnable Babylon and subdue Egypt along with most of the rest of the known world. This same man, said Isaiah, would decide to let the Jewish exiles in his territory go free without any payment of ransom (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; and 45:13). Isaiah made this prophecy 150 years before Cyrus was born, 180 years before Cyrus performed any of these feats (and he did, eventually, perform them all), and 80 years before the Jews were taken into exile.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10¹⁵.)

(6) Mighty Babylon, 196 miles square, was enclosed not only by a moat, but also by a double wall 330 feet high, each part 90 feet thick. It was said by unanimous popular opinion to be indestructible, yet two Bible prophets declared its doom. These prophets further claimed that the ruins would be avoided by travelers, that the city would never again be inhabited, and that its stones would not even be moved for use as building material (Isaiah 13:17-22 and Jeremiah 51:26, 43). Their description is, in fact, the well-documented history of the famous citadel.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10⁹.)

(7) The exact location and construction sequence of Jerusalem’s nine suburbs was predicted by Jeremiah about 2600 years ago. He referred to the time of this building project as “the last days,” that is, the time period of Israel’s second rebirth as a nation in the land of Palestine (Jeremiah 31:38-40). This rebirth became history in 1948, and the construction of the nine suburbs has gone forward precisely in the locations and in the sequence predicted.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10¹⁸.)

(8) The prophet Moses foretold (with some additions by Jeremiah and Jesus) that the ancient Jewish nation would be conquered twice and that the people would be carried off as slaves each time, first by the Babylonians (for a period of 70 years), and then by a fourth world kingdom (which we know as Rome). The second conqueror, Moses said, would take the Jews captive to Egypt in ships, selling them or giving them away as slaves to all parts of the world. Both of these predictions were fulfilled to the letter, the first in 607 BC and the second in AD 70. God’s spokesmen said, further, that the Jews would remain scattered throughout the entire world for many generations, but without becoming assimilated by the peoples or of other nations, and that the Jews would one day return to the land of Palestine to re-establish for a second time their nation (Deuteronomy 29; Isaiah 11:11-13; Jeremiah 25:11; Hosea 3:4-5 and Luke 21:23-24).

This prophetic statement sweeps across 3,500 years of history to its complete fulfillment—in our lifetime.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10²⁰.)

(9) Jeremiah predicted that despite its fertility and despite the accessibility of its water supply, the land of Edom (today a part of Jordan) would become a barren, uninhabited wasteland (Jeremiah 49:15-20; Ezekiel 25:12-14). His description accurately tells the history of that now bleak region.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10⁵.)

(10) Joshua prophesied that Jericho would be rebuilt by one man. He also said that the man’s eldest son would die when the reconstruction began and that his youngest son would die when the work reached completion (Joshua 6:26). About five centuries later this prophecy found its fulfillment in the life and family of a man named Hiel (1 Kings 16:33-34).

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10⁷).

(11) The day of Elijah’s supernatural departure from Earth was predicted unanimously—and accurately, according to the eye-witness account—by a group of fifty prophets (2 Kings 2:3-11).

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10⁹).

(12) Jahaziel prophesied that King Jehoshaphat and a tiny band of men would defeat an enormous, well-equipped, well-trained army without even having to fight. Just as predicted, the King and his troops stood looking on as their foes were supernaturally destroyed to the last man (2 Chronicles 20).

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10⁸).

(13) One prophet of God (unnamed, but probably Shemiah) said that a future king of Judah, named Josiah, would take the bones of all the occultic priests (priests of the “high places”) of Israel’s King Jeroboam and burn them on Jeroboam’s altar (1 Kings 13:2 and 2 Kings 23:15-18). This event occurred approximately 300 years after it was foretold.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 10¹³).

Since these thirteen prophecies cover mostly separate and independent events, the probability of chance occurrence for all thirteen is about 1 in 10¹³⁸ (138 equals the sum of all the exponents of 10 in the probability estimates above). For the sake of putting the figure into perspective, this probability can be compared to the statistical chance that the second law of thermodynamics will be reversed in a given situation (for example, that a gasoline engine will refrigerate itself during its combustion cycle or that heat will flow from a cold body to a hot body)—that chance = 1 in 10⁸⁰.