Shemaryahu Talmon, who summarized the amount of consensus and genetic relation to the Urtext of the Hebrew Bible, concluded that major divergences which intrinsically affect the sense are extremely rare. As far as the Hebrew Bible referenced by Old Testament is concerned, almost all of the textual variants are fairly insignificant and hardly affect any doctrine. Professor Douglas Stuart states: "It is fair to say that the verses, chapters, and books of the Bible would read largely the same, and would leave the same impression with the reader, even if one adopted virtually every possible alternative reading to those now serving as the basis for current English translations." COUNT 4
QSN1 How common are variations in text that alter the meaning of the Urtext of the Hebrew Bible? ANS1 extremely rare QSN2 To what degree do variations in the Old Testament alter the meaning? ANS2 hardly affect any doctrine QSN3 Who claims that the Old Testament is essentially the same throughout all variations? ANS3 Professor Douglas Stuart QSN4 How many variations of the Old Testament offer the same meaning? ANS4 virtually every possible alternative reading