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Is There a Verse Missing In Psalm 145 of the KJV?Question (In the form of a statement):The Hebrew has 22 letters in the alphabet. In Psa 145 David writes an acrostic starting each verse with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet… However, a problem arises because there is only 21 verses?!?!? Actually the 14th verse, which is the 14th letter, is missing in the KJV. In many other manuscripts which have been found, such as the dead sea scrolls DO CONTAIN the 14th letter verse. 14 The lord is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. This is totally missing in the KJV. What happened was a scribe scipped over the 14th letter, hence only 21 verses. (Signed--name withheld. Spelling, abbreviations, etc., left as submitted.)
ANSWER:Dear (name withheld),The evidence bears out differently (completely opposite) to what you have been taught. Dead Sea Discovery: Rare and RECENT First, the so-called "missing verse" was not found until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. This discovery was reported only recently by the Canadian Press when reporting about the DSS Conference held inVancouver, BC, Canada on October 13, 2007: (begin quote) "Peter Flint in the article states the following: "Some pieces of the puzzle that has confounded researchers are being cracked to shed light into biblical texts that originated 2,000 years ago and confirm the reliability of the Bible people read today," he said. They include a missing verse in Psalm 145, in which each line begins with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. "Flint, who holds the Canada Research Chair into Dead Sea Scrolls Studies, said verse 14 of the psalm, culled from the Dead Sea Scrolls, reads: "God is faithful and glorious in all His deeds." "That's a verse that's been lost for 2,000 years. We now have it back, thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls," said Flint, who co-authored the "The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English." " (end quote) The Canadian Press report above makes it clear that the discovery of this so-called "missing verse" is RECENT. And there are FEW sources attesting to it's very existence.
Any claim that "many other manuscripts which have been found, such as the dead sea scrolls DO CONTAIN the 14th letter verses," is bogus on several levels:
1. There are not "many other manuscripts". (http://christiancadre.blogspot.com/2006/11/dead-sea-scrolls-are-chinese.html) And when you dismiss the illegitimate claims made by those citing the Dead Sea Scrolls, you have NO evidence of the so-called “missing verse” in Psalm 145.
Jewish authorities do not question the fact that Nun is not represented in the Psalm 145 acrostic. It is clear that others (albeit, possibly well-meaning) corrupted the text by ADDING a verse beginning with Nun in order to fill what they saw as a void. In doing so, they violated Scriptures warnings: Proverbs 30:6, "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Deuteronomy 12:32, "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it."
The explanation is clear to those who compare Scripture with Scripture, as given in one reference from a Jewish source: (begin quote) "R. Johanan says: Why is there no Nun in (Ashre)? [Because the fall of the enemies of Israel begins with it [Nephilim]. For it is written: Fallen is [nefal - Nun Pey Lamed Hey] the virgin of Israel, she shall no more rise (Amos 5:2). R. Nachman b. Isaac says: Even so, David refers to it by inspiration [Literally the Holy Spirit. The meaning is, David knew by inspiration that Amos was going to prophesy the downfall of Israel, and he refers to that verse and prophesies their being raised up again, though their downfall is not mentioned by < David] and promises them an uplifting. For it is written: The Lord upholdeth all that fall (Psalm 145:14). (Berachot 4b)." (end quote)
It must be understood that the quotation above is from the Babylonian Talmud. You have Jewish rabbis defending what would become the standard Masoretic text reading and would become the KJV reading as it stood in the text that existed during the first two centuries of Christianity! It is clear that by the time the New Testament is written, the Old Testament text is established and Psalm 145 does NOT have a Nun in the "Shema". Textual science is to be based on the hard facts of the case, not on the wishful thinking of scholars who want to lay claim to some discovery that will make them semi-famous and establish them as an authority among the "scholars union". The "Nun" verse was never in the Bible used by believing Jews and has never been in the Bible of true Christians throughout the 2,000 years history of Christianity. It is incredible to think that Jews had a standard text (later called Masoretic) and Christians have used a standard Bible (Antioch text as found in our KJV text) which did not have a "Nun" in the Shema (Psalm 145). Yet, we are to believe that true believers have had it all wrong all along and we should submit to a text found in the dead sea scrolls? That's just not logical, at all. The zealots at Qumran were known to ADD to God's word, adding laws that Moses and even the Pharisees never held. Common sense says they thought God had left something out and added the "Nun" to their own manuscripts which were NEVER used by true believers.
The mass majority of "scholars" handling God's word are NOT believers. And according to God's word, they are NOT able to understand what they are reading: 1 Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The Jewish explanation pre-dates the writing of the New Testament and, in accordance with Paul's clear statement in Romans 3:1-2, God used the Jews to establish and preserve His words as found in the Masoretic Hebrew Text:
"What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? The Bible Believer will NOT relinquish God's Book to today's reprobate scholars. We will NOT allow them to add words. We will NOT allow them to take away words. We will NOT allow them to change the words. And the damnable Dead Sea Scrolls (originating from who-knows where, written by who-knows-who) can BURN as far as we are concerned. And Psalm 145 will remain as it stands in our Authorized Version.
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