Discrepancies between verses in Genesis
Genesis 6:19-20 says that Noah took two of each clean and unclean animal onto the Ark, but Genesis 7:2 says he took seven of each clean animal (or possibly 14, depending on how you interpret it) and only two of each unclean animal:
6:19-20: And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
7:2: Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
These differences occur because there are two slightly different biblical Flood stories written by two different sources (the Yahwist and the Priestly Source), cleverly merged together so that a casual reader sees only one rather complex Flood story.
The verses attributed to the Yahwist are: Genesis 6:5-8, 7:1-5, 7:7, 7:10, 7:12,
7:16b-17, 7:22-23, 8:2b-3a, 8:6, 8:8-12, 8:13b, 8:20-22.
The Flood verses attributed to the Priestly author are: Genesis 6:9-22, 7:6, 7:8-9,
7:11, 7:13-16a, 7:18-21, 7:24, 8:1-2a, 8:3b-5, 8:7, 8:13a, 8:14-19, 9:1-17.
Discrepancies between gospel accounts of the empty tomb
Matthew 28:1-5: In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
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Mark 16:1-6: 1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
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Luke 24:1-6: Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
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John 20:1-2: The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
Archbishop Peter Carnley, former Anglican primate of Australia writes in The Structure of Resurrection Belief:
The presence of discrepancies might be a sign of historicity if we had four clearly independent but slightly different versions of the story, if only for the reason that four witnesses are better than one. But, of course, it is now impossible to argue that what we have in the four gospel accounts of the empty tomb are four contemporaneous but independent accounts of the one event. Modern redactional studies of the traditions account for the discrepancies as literary developments at the hand of later redactors of what was originally one report of the empty tomb...
There is no suggestion that the tomb was discovered by different witnesses on four different occasions, so it is in fact impossible to argue that the discrepancies were introduced by different witnesses of the one event; rather, they can be explained as four different redactions for apologetic and kerygmatic reasons of a single story originating from one source.
Discrepancies between manuscript versions
One of the most famous discrepancies of this type occurs in Isaiah 7:14. The Septuagint (LXX) version contains the Greek word parthenos ('virgin), which is carried forward into almost all English translations, including the KJV:
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
The Masoretic text, believed to be unchanged from the original Hebrew, uses the word 'almah, which means 'young woman' and is used only in this sense in 9 other references in the Old Testament. The word for 'virgin' is betulah and is used exclusively in that sense more than 50 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. However, the Septuagint mistranslated 'almah as the Greek parthenos, with the English meaning of 'virgin', and it is this version that Matthew 1:23 refers to.
Discrepancies between modern English language translations
Some Bibles studiously avoid use of the word 'slave' even when the context clearly refers to a slave, preferring instead to use the euphemisms 'servant' or 'bondservants'. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary says that the concept of slavery in the Scripture has been completely hidden to the English reader.
One example is in the Epistle to Philemon, in which the KJV refers to Onesimus as a servant, whereas the NAB refers to him, properly, as a slave:
KJV: Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
NAB: no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man 13 and in the Lord.
The reference to 'servant' in 1 Corinthians 7:21-22 is compared to being a freeman, and clearly a reference to slaves. Once again, we see the KJV use the euphemism 'servant', while the NAB says 'slave':
KJV: Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
NAB: Were you a slave when you were called? Do not be concerned but, even if you can gain your freedom, make the most of it.