Tag Archives: Luke

Updates September 2024

I updated the Gospel of Luke with the Tyndale House diamonded readings, as also the Gospel of John. Luke is also updated in the printed versions on Amazon: Gospel of Luke eclectic; Gospel of Luke Byzantine.

I also updated the Textus Receptus whole Bible on Kindle. The Textus Receptus whole Bible PDF is also updated, as are the eclectic whole Bible, and the Robinson-Pierpont whole Bible.

I am continuing working on Revelation, updating it from the ECM, and also plan to add the Tyndale House diamonded readings in the Gospel of Matthew.

Papyrus 141

Recently a new papyrus from Oxyrhynchus has been transcribed and published and been given a Gregory-Aland number. The Gregory-Aland number is Papyrus 141, as opposed to P. Oxy 5478 or its library shelf ID at the Sackler Library in Oxford. This new papyrus is dated from the III century, and contains fragments of the gospel of Luke chapters 2 and 24.

So this is to announce that I have added it to my “Table of NT Greek Manuscripts arranged by date” page. I have also added its reading in one footnote in my translation of the gospel of Luke, chapter 2 verse 33.

There is a textual variant in Luke 2:33 where the UBS/NA28 text has “And the child’s father and mother were marveling at the things being said by him.” The Textus Receptus and the Robinson-Pierpont texts say “And Joseph and his mother were marveling…” Our new Papyrus 141 supports the UBS/NA28 reading.

Erasmus has πατηρ “father” in all 5 of his editions.  He said, “In some Greek manuscript I read ‘Joseph’ instead of ‘father’; in my opinion it has been changed by someone who feared that Joseph be called Jesus’ father” (“In Graecis aliquot codicibus lego pro pater, Ioseph; quod arbitror immutatum a quopiam, qui vereretur Ioseph vocare patrem Iesu…”; ‘aliquot’ added in 1519—ASD VI–5, p. 484 ll. 42–44; similarly in Resp. ad annot. Ed. Lei, ASD IX–4, p. 126 ll. 506–509).  So we see that Erasmus figured that copyists changed the original “father” to Joseph, for the very same reasons that KJV Onlyists prefer the reading “Joseph.”  But they forget that the KJV calls Joseph Jesus’ father in several other passages.  Erasmus was correct, but the KJV does not follow him here.

You can download my updated gospel of Luke with Greek text here, and the Manuscripts listed by date page is here. I also updated the printed edition of Luke on Amazon.

July 21 update

Hello brothers and sisters, here is what has been happening in the last two weeks.

Roughly a dozen people in China, using the search engine Baidu, downloaded the PDF of 1 Peter with Greek. In the last few months it is apparent that China loosened their Internet censorship somewhat, because for years I got no traffic from Baidu. It opens up only intermittently. Anyway, there must have been a co-ordinated study of the First Epistle of Peter going on there.

There were several downloads of the gospel of Luke in north African countries. Speaking of Luke, that is the favorite Bible book in the country of Iran, judging by the history of downloads from my site.

I started a Facebook page for Bibletranslation.ws. Please visit it and “like it” if you will.

The document I am hard at work on is the Revelation with Greek file. I am perfecting the table of manuscripts of Revelation, and have expanded the footnotes. UPDATE: This now published in paper and ink in paperback form on Amazon. I tell you, my free PDF of this document which you can download, represents a tremendous amount of work over the years that you are getting for free. You should download it while you can.

Gospel of Luke Robinson-Pierpont

Gospel of Luke Printed Editions

I have published new printed editions of my translation of the gospel of Luke, with the Greek text alternating verse by verse with my English translation thereof; one edition with an eclectic Greek text, and another of the Robinson-Pierpont 2018 text which I received by email directly from Dr. Maurice A. Robinson.

There are a few minor improvements since the previous publication: I added the Tyndale House reading to many of the TC footnotes, using the abbreviation TH, and I corrected a few typographical errors. The Table of Witnesses is now more full, giving the full names and dates of the major manuscripts and versions.

The eclectic edition is $5.89, ISBN: 978-1-958612-01-9

The RP edition is $11.90, ISBN: 978-1-958612-02-6 (Amazon has not lowered the price as I requested.)

Kindle edition also available for the Robinson-Pierpont edition, $0.99, and the eclectic edition for Kindle, $0.99.

The Gospel of Luke

Printed Edition of Luke

You can now purchase a printed edition of my translation of the Gospel of Luke, with the Greek text alternating verse by verse with my English translation. It is available on Amazon for $5.89.
Update June 16, I have published a new improved edition of Luke Robinson-Pierpont on Amazon.  It is priced at $11.90, the lowest Amazon would allow for the expanded distribution plan.  This one also comes in a Kindle edition. $0.99

Luke Ch 2 verse 22

There is a textual variant in Luke 2:22, where the Textus Receptus Greek text reads “her purification,” but all other Greek editions read “their purification. The TR reading is found only in the Catenae, but in no Greek manuscript, or other language version, or in any Church Father writings. The Bishops’ Bible, the Douay Rheims Bible, the Geneva Bible and the King James bibles read “her purification,” but Tyndale reads “their purification,” so they departed not only from the Greek and Latin manuscripts, but also from their predecessor English translation. Wycliffe reads “the daies of the purgacioun of Marie.”

Here is the footnote from my translation of Luke:

txt αυτων 76 rell. Gk. it-q syr-p,h cop-sa,bo-pt AT RP NA28 ‖ αυτου D 118 205 209 it-a,aur,b,c,d,e,f,ff²,g¹,l,r¹ vg syr-s cop-sa-ms arm Ir-lat (Adv. Haer 3.10.5.157-9) ‖ αυτον Θ* ‖ omit cop-bo-pt Chrys Diatess-Pers. ‖ αυτης TR ‖ lac 𝔓⁴⁵ 𝔓⁷⁵ C F N P Q T.

You can download my translation of Luke here.

αὐτοῦ versus ἑαυτοῦ in Luke’s Gospel

I am now fully annoyed by the recurring variant in the gospel of Luke between αὐτοῦ and ἑαυτοῦ.  The UBS and RP texts alternate sides back and forth.

The latest is Luke 15:5, ἐπὶ τοὺς ὤμους ἑαυτοῦ (BYZ) or ἐπὶ τοὺς ὤμους αὐτοῦ (UBS).  He places it upon his shoulders.  The KJV does not render this “his OWN shoulders” as do some recent translations of the BYZ text.  There is no real reason to.

15:26 πατέρα ἑαυτοῦ v. πατέρα αὐτοῦ (BYZ)
Again, there is no reason to render this “his OWN father.”

14:27 σταυρὸν ἑαυτοῦ (UBS) v. σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ (BYZ)
His OWN cross v his cross, this one may be meaningful.

15:20 πατέρα ἑαυτοῦ (UBS) vs πατέρα αὐτοῦ (BYZ)

Complicating this, and perhaps explaining the rise of this, is the contraction of ἑαυτοῦ which is αὑτοῦ. Note the rough breathing mark, which is the only thing that distinguishes it from αὐτοῦ.  The early papyri and uncials may not show this, so they could read either way.

Luke 2;15 Textual Variant

Luke 2:15a txt οἱ ποιμένες ℵ B L W Θ Ξ 1 565 700 1071 1582* it-a,aur,b,β,e,f,ff²,l,r¹ vg syr-s,p,pal copsa,bo arm geo Or-lat Eus NA28 ‖ καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ ποιμένες A D E F G H K M P S U Y Γ Δ Λ Ψ Ω 053 ƒ¹³ 2 28 33 118 157 892 1009 1010 1079 1195 1216 1230 1241 1242 1344 1424 1546 1582c 2148 2174 ? Lect-m it-(e),d,q syr-h Diatess-a,n,t TR RP ‖ καὶ οἱ ποιμένες 579 1365 ‖ lac ?⁴⁵ ?⁷⁵ C N Q T Π

This variant was footnoted with a [D] rating of certainty in the UBS3, and now in the UBS5 is not footnoted at all.

The Byzantine text presents an odd style, which the UBS commentary says is Lukan.  The biggest difficulty with the Byz reading is the word και.  Most of the translations from the Byz text translate και as “that,” (a Semitism?) while the KJV did not translate it at all.  The other major difference is the addition of οι ανθρωποι.  The main translations treat οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ ποιμένες as a pleonasm and translate it simply as “the shepherds.”  This latter is indeed Lukan style.  But και as “that,” not so much Lukan style.  I’ve seen it in John.

First the UBS text and translation:

Καὶ ἐγένετο, ὡς ἀπῆλθον ἀπ’ αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν οἱ ἄγγελοι, οἱ ποιμένες ἐλάλουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους

DRP: And it came about that when the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds were saying to one another

Now the Byz text and some translations thereof:

Καὶ ἐγένετο, ὡς ἀπῆλθον ἀπ’ αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν οἱ ἄγγελοι, καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ ποιμένες εἶπον πρὸς ἀλλήλους

MLV: And it happened, as the messengers went away from them into heaven, and the men, the shepherds, said to one another,

ALT: And it happened, when the angels departed from them into heaven, that the men, the shepherds, said to one another

Geneva: And it came to passe whe the Angels were gone away from them into heauen, that the shepheards sayde one to another,

EMTV: So it was, when the angels had departed from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another,

KJV: And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another,

Download the Luke document containing this data in a footnote.