Final answer:
The Old Testament text was written in the Square, Aramaic characters of the Hebrew alphabet, an evolution of the influential Phoenician alphabet.
Step-by-step explanation:
The text of the Old Testament was written in the Square, Aramaic characters of the Hebrew alphabet.
This script, also known among scholars as the Jewish or Biblical script, evolved from the Phoenician alphabet, which greatly influenced the development of writing systems across the ancient world, including the writing systems of the Hebrews.
The Phoenician alphabet itself was an important step because it simplified the complex scripts of earlier systems, allowing more people to become literate.
The Hebrew alphabet’s square script that we see in the Old Testament was adapted from the Aramaic script, which the Jewish people adopted during their exile in Babylonia.
The adaptation process involved refining earlier characters into a more standardized form that is now associated with Hebrew writing.
Over time, this script became the standard form for writing Hebrew and was used to create the enduring manuscripts of the Old Testament.