GA 2080 in Acts

In Acts 12:25, there is a famous variant that gave both copyists and translators trouble apparently.

εις ιερουσαλημ – ℵ B H L P 049 056 𝔐 HF BG RP SBL TH ECM NA28 {C}
εξ ιερουσαλημ – 𝔓⁷⁴ A 33 Chrys TR AN
απο ιερουσαλημ – D Ψ
εις αντιοχειαν – 2080
απο ιερουσαλημ εις αντιοχειαν – E
εξ ιερουσαλημ εις αντιοχειαν – 35¹ 104 945 1739 1891 2200 2298

The problem is solved simply by translating εις in the Majority Text as “in/at” instead of “to.”

9:26 when he arrived in Jerusalem – εἰς / εν Ἰερουσαλὴμ
9:28 So he was with them at Jerusalem – εἰς Ἰερουσαλήμ
15:12 Apostles and elders in Jerusalem – εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ
15:4 And when they arrived in Jerusalem – εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ
20:16 hurrying to be in Jerusalem – εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα
21:13 die in Jerusalem – εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ
23:11 declared the things about me in Jerusalem – εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ
25:15 when I was in Jerusalem – εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα

GA 2080 was for myself, and also for the ECM, a consistently cited witness in Revelation, but not in ECM Acts. I intend to continue citing 2080 in Acts. I don’t know if it’s different in Acts, but in Revelation, GA 2080 was a descendant of the uncial 052, which appears to be an older text in Revelation than is Sinaiticus, since Sinaiticus sometimes conflated the readings of 2080 and A- 02.

Errata in ECM Revelation

I, David Robert Palmer, having completed my 2nd Edition of Revelation, then sent my list of proposed errors in the ECM of Revelation to the appropriate person, Professor Martin Karrer in Germany. He vetted them, and also pointed out an error in my list (below). My corrected list of the errors in the Editio Critica Major of Revelation you can download here.

For any of you who purchased my printed edition of Revelation from Amazon, dated April 07, 2025, here are the errata Prof. Karrer pointed out. Go to page 93, the footnotes on Rev. 19:17 numbered 438 and 439, cross out the manuscript 2814 where shown as omitting δευτε συναχθητε εις το δειπνον το μεγα του θεου, and then in footnote 438, add MS 2814 to the list of those omitting only συναχθητε.

(In GA 2814, I forgot that the Bible text is separated by commentary, and the passage in question resumed below some commentary text.)

Both the printed edition of Revelation on Amazon (which now says Produced April 24, 2025) and the electronic PDF edition of Revelation downloadable on this website and in this sentence, are now corrected.

Tyndale Acts 7-16

From what source manuscript did Tyndale translate this verse?

The Majority Text and Textus Receptus say that Abraham bought a tomb from the sons of Hamor OF Shechem. (various translations supply either “father” or “son,” but the Greek does not say that. The KJV says “father” in italics.
The NA28 text says Abraham bought the tomb from the sons of Hamor IN / AT Shechem.
But the Geneva Bible translates the Vulgate, which says “from the sons of Emmor, SON of Shechem.”

But what is interesting is William Tyndale. His translation reads the same as the NA28. What was his source text? The critical apparatus is below:

εν συχεμ 𝔓³³ ℵ* B C 94 181 307 1175 1678 1739 1891 cop-sa,bo,fay eth SBL TH ECM NA28 {C} ‖ του συχεμ 𝔓⁷⁴ D H P Ψ 049 056 33 93 1611 1735 2080 𝔐 cop-meg Chrys TR AN RP ‖ του εν συχεμ ℵ² A E ‖ “from the sons of Emmor, the son of Shechem” vg ‖ omit syr (says “the sons of Hamor”) ‖ lac 𝔓⁴⁵ L 81. 
In the OT, Shechem was both a man and a place, and the differing readings here reflect that: from Hamor, in Shechem; or, from Hamor of Shechem; or, from Hamor the father of Shechem.  And the author, acc. to the TCGNT, is combining two accounts, one, where Abraham bought a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite in Machpelah, (Gen. 23:3-20), where Jacob was burried (Gen 49:31; 50:13), and two, where Jacob bought one from Hamor the father of Shechem (Gen. 33:19, Josh 24:32), where Joseph was buried. This is because Stephen abbreviated all of the fathers’ deaths together, by saying, “And he (Jacob) and our fathers died…”  It would have been more accurate to say “And Joseph and our fathers died, and were transferred to Shechem…”  But that would leave out Jacob who had just been the subject.  The fact that both Luke and all subsequent scribes did not whitewash this, shows we can rely on Luke’s accounts to be accurate recordings of what was said.

You can read my translation of Acts here: https://bibletranslation.ws/trans/DRPbiblesofar.pdf

TR New Testament Printed

I just published in paper and ink: The New Testament from the Textus Receptus; A new translation of the New Testament part of the Holy Bible, translated from the Textus Receptus Greek text by David Robert Palmer (except Romans through Hebrews, which is an updated KJV) price $10.55 (Sorry, this is basically my Amazon cost of printing the 444 pages.) also £8.82 €10.13 13.95 CAD $20.31 AUD
Order here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1958612138

Revelation 2nd Edition

I have finished and published my 2nd edition of Revelation. Almost every footnote has been expanded, revised, or corrected. Mainly because I purchased the Editio Critica Major, but also because I have looked personally at lots of manuscript images myself. There are also an increased number of footnotes, now 542 of them. The critical apparatus, including the endnotes, cite 86 Greek manuscripts, 17 Greek New Testament editions, as well as early versions and Fathers. The main editions collated are the ECM, NA28, SBL, TH (Tyndale House), Robinson-Pierpont, Byzantine Greek, Antoniades, and the Textus Receptus. When the dozens of editions of the Textus Receptus disagree with Scrivener 1894, this is noted, for 5 Erasmus editions, Stephens 1550, Beza, Elzevir, Aldus, Colinaeus, Bengel, and the Complutensian Polyglot. At the end of the book are several tables, including a list of all handwritten Greek manuscripts of the Apocalypse of John, now updated to include more than 330. Another thing that is new is I have added the readings of the Arabic text found in Walton’s Polyglot, though not in all variants. Further, I downloaded and possess my own copies of the main Vulgate texts, and so now their readings are included in many more footnotes than before. I did not put “2nd Edition” in the book title or cover, because then Amazon would make me use a new and different ISBN, and a new link to the book would generate, and all my old links to Amazon on the PDFs that have been downloaded for years, would not lead to the 2nd Edition. However, inside the book in the first couple pages, it says “Produced April 7, 2025.” That’s how you can know it is the 2nd Edition.
Free PDF: https://bibletranslation.ws/trans/revwgrk.pdf
Paper and Ink edition on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1958612103
Download free or purchase the Apocalypse of John

Mary and Enoch

My translation of the song of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Luke chapter One verses 49-50 is different from all others.  First, here are the main translations:

NIV 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

NKJV 49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

ESV 49 – for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

NKJV 49 “For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name.
50 “And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him.

NLT 49 For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.
50 He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him

Here is the Greek text below: (ignoring punctuation, capitalization and verse numbers, since those were not in the original manuscripts.)
καὶ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰς καὶ γενεὰς τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν ὅτι ἐποίησέν μοι μεγάλα ὁ δυνατός καὶ ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ

Here is my English translation: 
because the Mighty One did great things for me. And holy will be his name,
and his mercy to those who fear him, into age after age.

There is not one verb in this whole sentence in the Greek: “And holy will be his name, and his mercy to those who fear him, into age after age.”  Therefore, which English tense the translator puts it into, has to be his/her own interpretation.  I made both the end of verse 49 and all of verse 50 a statement about the future, and combining the two.

It is quite similar to Enoch 9:4 where we find:
ὁ θρόνος τῆς δόξης σου εἰς πάσας τὰς γενεὰς τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τὸ ἅγιον καὶ μέγα καὶ εὐλογητὸν εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας.
Enoch says His name will be holy into all the ages.

Mary was certainly influenced by Hannah’s words in the beginning of book of 1 Samuel, but she may well have also been influenced by the book of Enoch.  Jesus Christ himself certainly had read Enoch and he alluded to it, as did the apostles.
Download my translation of Luke with the Greek text: https://bibletranslation.ws/trans/lukewgrk.pdf

Itacism Example

The term itacism refers to the process of change in the Greek language, whereby a great many of its dipthongs and vowels changed to become indistinguishable in sound from the letter eeta, η. The “points of articulation” moved forward in the mouth and more closed. Even the letter η itself had changed from what it sounded like in ancient Greek toward the “ee” sound. And the term “iotacism” refers to the process of the letter η changing to become pronounced the same as iota, along with all the dipthongs and vowels previously mentioned.

Thus we see some changes (errors) in some later Greek manuscripts of the New Testament that can be attributed to the scribes hearing the wrong word because it sounded the same as the correct word. Here is an example in the book of Revelation:

2:25 txt αχρι ου αν ηξω ℵ C 2329 2351 SBL TH ECM ‖ αχρι ου εαν ηξω 1611 2053 ‖ αχρις ου αν ηξω P 792 1828 1888 2065 2070 2074 2081 2814 TR AN HF BG RP NA28 αχρι[ς] {\} ‖ αχρισου αν ηξω 922 ‖ αχρις αν ηξω 1678 1778 2050 ‖ εως ου αν ηξω A 241 2681 ‖ αχρις ου ελθω 469 2846 ‖ αχρις οταν ηξω 2080 ‖ αχρις ου ανοιξω 046 91 93 911 1006 1424 1734 1841 ‖ ου 1854 ‖ lac 051 2062 2344.  The ανοιξω 046 reading means “until such time I will open.”  The HF edition, Hodges & Farstad, would normally align with 046 1424 1734, which they footnote as Ma.

Thus, αν ηξω, “I will come,” came to sound the same as ανοιξω, “I will open,” as found in the majuscule 046. The οι in ανοιξω came to sound the same as the η in αν ηξω. So both readings came to be pronounced “aneexo.” The letter η in modern Greek is called “eeta.”  This is where the term “itacism” came from. “Iotacism” is the umbrella over that, how the vowels and dipthongs including η came to be pronounced that same as iota.

Download Revelation with Greek here.

Revelation Progress

I am still working on my 2nd edition of Revelation. I decided to add in the TC footnotes the readings of all TR editions, that is, Scrivener 1894, Erasmus Eds 1-5, Aldus, Colinaeus, Stephens 1550, Elzevir, Beza, Bengel, and the Complutensian Polyglot. I am adding also the readings of the Arab text in Walton’s Polyglot, where applicable. Furthermore, I am indicating where possible the readings of the following important Latin Vulgate manuscripts or editions: Codex Amiatinus, Codex Fuldensis, Codex Harleianus, and the editions Stuttgart, Wordsworth-White, and Clementine. This is tedious and time-consuming, and I am burnt out on it. It’s not as pleasurable as translating. So, I do not expect to be finished and publish my 2nd Edition in paper and ink until late March 2025. But I am uploading the updated PDF usually around twice a week, and you can always download the updated PDF of Revelation with Greek here.