The Hindu / Arabic Numerals (decimal system) originated around 1500-500 BC. Cite : History of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system - Wikipedia
The Roman Numerals originated in Ancient Rome (753 BC–476 AD). Cite : Roman numerals - Wikipedia
For the most ancient preserved subject holy books, which of the above two numeral systems are used to mark chapters, pages, etc ?
Chapters and verses weren’t numbered in the older texts. While early biblical texts were divided into sections, those sections weren’t numbered. The numbering of chapters and verses didn’t come along until the late Middle Ages.
I was under the impression the chapters were on individual scrolls. Wouldn’t the people of the Mideast use hebrew numbers?
Here are some old fragments of Genesis and of Deuteronomy. Also Psalms. I don’t see any external numerals anywhere.
At least for the last two links, there appears to be chapter titles or page numbers. I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Can you ?
Agreed. The Wikipedia article has no mention of page numbers. Were there any ? How do we know the Bible has the right sequence ?
I don’t see them. Could you please describe where they appear? All I see is text formatted into paragraphs.
I uploaded screenshots to here copy 1 - Album on Imgur
and highlighted what I believe are chapter / headings / page numbers / etc. occurring on top of the text.
The first image is from your Deuteronmy link while the last two are from the Psalm link.
To answer the OP’s original question, Hebrew numerals were used.
This system is based on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, not on a different notation, that’s why it may not be obvious when you glance at a text.
Define “right”. AIUI the Bible is a collection of different texts by largely unknown authors written at different times, that has been through different editions in different languages at different times over millennia to suit the beliefs and wishes of different authorities.
I see three images labelled “copy 1”.
The first one reads
את הדברים האלה דבר יהוה אל כל קהלכם בהר מתוך האש
…
[These are the things that Yahweh said to your whole congregation on the mountain from within the fire…] i.e. Deuteronomy 5:22, and you have circled the words “אל כל קהלכם”. They don’t seem to stand out from the rest of the line, though?
The second circled image is the last line of Psalm 144: אשרי העם שככה לו אשרי העם אשר יהוה אלוהיו [Happy is the people that is such, happy is the people whose god is Yahweh.] The interesting feature here is that everything is written in the Aramaic script, as Hebrew is today (and evidently already was 2000 years ago), except the word “YHWH” is written in the older Hebrew script, which is why it looks different, but it’s just a different font, not a heading or any other interruption to the text.
The last image is the final two words (שכרכם בעתו) of Psalm number ? (Ben Sira 51), then a space, then the beginning of Apostrophe to Zion (אזכירך לברכה ציון בכול מודי…), so, again, a horizontal space to indicate a section break but no numbering, heading, or other apparatus.
I’m sure whoever penned the scrolls knew all about Greek, Roman, and Hebrew numerals, but can you provide an example where they show up?
The Psalms scroll fragment pictured above is a good example, since it goes Psalm 139, Psalm 137, Psalm 138, then a couple of psalms not in the traditional Hebrew bible, then 93, 141, 133, 144, and yet another bonus psalm.
Nitpick: This claim is somewhat misleading. While it’s true that some early civilizations, including Egypt’s Early Dynastic Period, used a “decimal system,” the early Vedic system used words rather than symbols and wasn’t a “place-value” system. There were earlier digit symbols, but this source traces the Hindu digits back no further than to the Brahmi numerals circa 250 BC. And these were still not used in a place-value system, nor was there a zero symbol. The Indian decimal place-value system with ten digits that resembles our own is clearly attested only from the 7th century AD.
I didn’t say there were numbers in those particular texts. Early copies of the Bible were divided up by unnumbered ‘portions’ or parashah rather than numbered chapters.
Here’s an example of verse numbering in the modern Hebrew text of the Bible.
And a list of Hebrew chapter and verse numbers and their English equivalents.
Thank you DPRK. For the first one, I think I saw faint characters in the top part of the circle but I could be wrong. Nevertheless thank you.