Tag Archives: NA28

Revelation 19;6 Variant

Rev. 19:6b txt κυριος ο θεος ημων ℵ² P 046 91 93 469 1424 1611 1854 1888 2053 2062 2065 2074 2329 2344 𝔐Κ it-ar,c,dem,div,(gig),haf vg-am,fu syr-h cop-sa> geo arab-e Oec Apr Beat ps-Ambr Tyc2 TR-Compl HF BG RP TH ECM NA28 [ημων] {C} ‖
κυριος ο θεος A 792 911 1006 1734 1841 2070 2846 it-t vg-ms syr-phc cop-sams,bo Cypr TR-Scriv,Elz,Bez,Steph,Eras4,5 AN SBL ‖
ο θεος ημων 051 2081 arab-s Andr ‖ ο θεος ο κυριος ημων ℵ* 2080 ‖
ο θεος ο κυριος 1778 ‖
ο θεος 1678 2814 eth TR-Eras1,2,3,Ald,Col ‖
κυριος ημων Prim ‖
κυριος syr-ph* cop-boms ‖
lac C 0229 1828 2050 2351.

This is one of the most difficult variants for me to decide.  The NA28 has [ημων] in square brackets and for good reason.  Family 052 is split 3 ways.  The TR editions are split 3 ways.  The Latin, Syriac and Coptic versions are split.

Even though I highly esteem MSS A and 2846, I decided to go with the RP/TH reading with ημων not in square brackets, for 3 reasons.

1.) The phrase κυριος ο θεος ο παντοκρατωρ without ημων, as found here in A 2846 and the KJV, is also in 4:8, 11:17, 15:3, 16:7, and 21:22. Since this phrase is common and familiar in the Apocalypse, scribes might tend to write it unconsciously automatically, rather than the phrase with ημων added.

2.) MS 1734 is almost always found backing the RP text, not as here. This makes me suspect that the MSS without ημων are random scattered ones that accidentally omitted it, and not according to their usual clusters.

3.) The general tendency of scribes to more often accidentally drop a small word rather than add one.

If not for the presence of these factors, I would be loathe not to go with the TR phrase, since it is in the famous Hallelujah chorus in G. F. Handel’s oratorio The Messiah.

How various English translations have rendered the aorist verb ἐβασίλευσεν: 

Tyndale reigneth
KJV reigneth
ASV reigneth
NKJV reigns
CSB reigns
ERV rules
ESV reigns
Ehteridge (from Syriac) reigneth
ISV is reigning
NET reigns
NIV reigns
Murdock (from Syriac) reigns
WEB reigns
Mounce reigns
NASB reigns
NRSV reigns

And ones that rendered it non-gnomic:
Wycliffe hath regned
Douay hath reigned
Geneva: hath reigned
EMTV: has begun to reign
CJB has begun to reign
CEV now rules
GW has become king
JB Phillips has come into his kingdom
NAB has established his reign
Young’s reign did

You can download my latest revision of the Apocalypse of John here.

ECM Revelation

I have been using my printed ECM of Revelation for some time now, and I inform you that you need both the printed and the online editions. For example, a footnote I worked on today is πληρωσωσιν in 6:11. πληρωσωσιν is the Majority and the ECM reading, πληρωθωσιν is the NA28 reading, and the TR reading is πληρωσονται. However, the printed edition does not list the witnesses supporting the majority for this variant, but only those supporting the minority readings. The online edition, however, does list those. The problem is that Hoskier lists GA2256 as supporting the TR, but if you had only the printed edition of the ECM, you would not know that the online edition lists 2256r as supporting πληρωσωσιν. The small letter “r” after a MS number means that though it is misspelled or misformed, it supports the reading it is listed with. I looked at the fine image of 2256 online, and Hoskier is incorrect. GA2256 reads πληρώσοσιν, which most certainly does not support the TR. That leaves the TR reading with support only from 296 and 2049, which are handwritten copies of the TR itself.

But I have also found places where Hoskier was correct and the NA28 apparatus was wrong, like Revelation 5:9, where Hoskier correctly shows that GA2329 omits τω θεω ημας εν τω αιματι σου εκ πασης φυλης και γλωσσης και λαου και εθνους, but the NA28 and UBS5 list it as supporting the Majority.

Download free my critical edition of Revelation as PDF here.

Ambiguity of No Spaces

A Greek textual variant in Revelation 17:3 shows the ambiguity of ancient manuscripts having no spaces between words. This particular variant has caused the Editio Critica Major (ECM) to change its reading away from the NA28 text to that of the Robinson-Pierpont.

txt γεμοντα ονοματα Avid P 2053 2062 2329 SBL TH NA28 (γεμον[τα]) {\} ‖ γεμον ονοματα ℵ² 046 93 911 922 1611vid 1678 1734 1778 1828 2070 2814 2846 AN HF RP ECM ‖ γεμων ονοματα 469 792 1006 1852 ‖ γεμον ονοματων 051 2074 2344 2723 Hipp TR BG ‖ γεμον τα ονοματα ℵ* ‖ lac C 2050 2080.  The ECM says the MSS that I show reading γεμοντα ονοματα read instead γεμον τα ονοματα with ℵ*, and then shows no MSS support for the SBL/TH reading.  (We know Sinaiticus reads γεμον because it uses a high line, which is a final form of NU. And the dots above the letters TA indicate a corrector saying “delete.”)  As for Codex A, it certainly had room for γεμοντα τα ονοματα.  It would make sense in Textual Criticism that when there are two τα in a row, one would get accidentally dropped.

Codex Alexandrinus (GA 02):

GA 2053:

GA 2062:

GA 2329:

Codex Sinaiticus (GA 01):

The Catholic Letters

Announcing a new upload of a PDF, and also an Amazon printed version of same. It is the General Epistles (also known as the Catholic Letters) translated from an eclectic Greek Text; alternating verse by verse with a new English Translation by David Robert Palmer; with the readings of 7 Greek New Testament editions and Greek manuscript variant readings given in the footnotes. The editions cited are the Scrivener TR, the Antoniades 1904 Greek Patriarchal edition, the Byzantine Greek NT (family 35) edition, The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Text Stream edition, the SBL edition, the Tyndale House GNT, and the NA28 (or ECM2– Editio Critica Major). This PDF file contains the epistles of James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude; eclectic Greek text source; free download; 3.74 MB. The printed edition on Amazon is here.

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Papyrus 39 John Variant

In John 8:14 there is a textual variant between Η in the NA28 versus ΚΑΙ in the Byzantine text:

ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ οἴδατε πόθεν ἔρχομαι  Η ποῦ ὑπάγω

ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ οἴδατε πόθεν ἔρχομαι, ΚΑΙ ποῦ ὑπάγω.

Now concerning Papyrus 39, the Münster Institute and the NA28 say 𝔓³⁹ reads Η, while the IGNTP says it reads ΚΑΙ.  The NA28 does not even put a “vid” with it.  But only the right edge of the last letter of the word is visible to me.  It is rounded, not a straight up and down line like it would be for H or I. But the scribe’s Epsilon is round, and it seems more likely to be an E than Η or I, thus perhaps ΟΥΔΕ.  Is the theory that there is only room there for one letter, like H?  However, it certainly does not look like an H. (Image posted below, the 2nd line ΠΟΥ ΥΠΑ with the letter in question barely visible before that.)

The NA28 text in English is “but you do not know where I came from or where I am going.”
The Byz text in English is “but you do not know where I came from and where I am going.”
𝔓³⁹ if ΟΥΔΕ in English is “but you do not know where I came from nor where I am going.”

Papyrus 39, John 8:14

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.

Revelation Apocalypse in Print

I have published the Apocalypse of John in paper and ink:

• large size – 8.25 x 11 inches
• large font – 12 point font
• 168 pages
• 518 footnotes
• 82 endnotes
• 3 tables
• Bargain price! $7.59, €6.93

A new English translation from the ancient Greek, the English text alternating verse by verse with the Greek text; with footnotes pertaining to translation issues and pertaining to Greek textual variants.  This latter “critical apparatus” cites 86 Greek manuscripts,  6 Greek New Testament editions, as well as early versions and Fathers.  The editions collated are the NA28, SBL, TH (Tyndale House), Robinson-Pierpont, Byzantine Greek, Antoniades, and the Textus Receptus.  When the dozens of editions of the Textus Receptus disagree, this is noted.  At the end of the book are several tables, including a list of all  handwritten Greek manuscripts of the Apocalypse of John.

1 Timothy 3 Verse 16

There is a famous Greek textual variant in 1 Timothy 3:16, where the “critical text,” SBL TH NA28 reads

 Ὃς ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί  “Who/he was manifested in the flesh.” (relative pronoun)

and the “majority text,” TR RP reads

θεὸϛ ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί  “God was manifested in the flesh.”

The difference originally in the most ancient manuscripts was much less clear in appearance.  Because there was a custom of contracting or abbreviating sacred names and concepts, by shortening them to fewer letters and putting a line over the whole group of letters, as can be seen in the correction in Codex Claromontanus (D- 06).  (These contractions were called “Nomina Sacra” or NS for short.)  Observe that the two-letter NS for God ΘΕΟC, which is just ΘC with a line over it, as seen in the correction of Codex Claromontanus, looks very similar to the relative pronoun OC in Codex Sinaiticus.  Note that Sinaiticus did not have an overline originally, and a late third hand made a correction toward the majority text.

What could have contributed to the problem is that scribes such as the one for Codex A used a caligraphy type pen tip, which was wide in a down stroke and very thin in a horizontal stroke. Thus the cross-bar in the capital letter Theta, Θ, could be very faint and therefore look like a capital Omicron, Ο.

Codex Claromontanus (D – 06) below:

Codex Sinaiticus (01) below:

Codex Alexandrinus (02) below: