Today in various libraries of the world there are 1,700 handwritten copies of various parts of the Hebrew Scriptures. Until recently there were no copies, save a few fragments, older than the tenth century. But starting with the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, many far older Hebrew Scripture scrolls have come to light. The most valuable of these is the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah, which, as already noted, experts date as being written before our Common Era.

The Samaritan Pentateuch is actually a transliteration rather than a translation. That is, the Hebrew words were simply put in the characters of the Samaritan alphabet, making it possible for Samaritans to read but not necessarily understand it. It was produced during the fourth century B.C.E., although extant copies go back only to the tenth century C.E.