Tag Archives: Revelation

Current Activities

Though I still have a job doing something I don’t want to do, I now have a little more spare time than I did the last few years. Also, I moved to the state of Florida. I am currently working on 3 projects at once:

1.) Revising and updating my translation of the Apocalypse of John, or the Book of Revelation. My original edition I did about 15 years ago, and it still refers to the UBS4 and NA27. I am updating the GNT editions cited to include the SBL and Tyndale House editions, and of course UBS5 and NA28, as well as the BG, family 35 and Antoniades here and there. In addition, I am eliminating the accentuation of the Greek in the textual variant footnotes, since the direction of the accents would be technically incorrect when outside of the sentence and punctuation of the actual Bible text, and the early manuscripts did not contain them. This is what the Nestle-Aland editions do in their footnotes. This is all in preparation for publishing on Amazon.

2. Revising and updating my translation of the gospel of Matthew, since, again, my original was done 20 years ago or more, and I have learned much since then, and also become less closed to the Byzantine text stream. Like with Revelation, I am adding citation to the SBL and TH editions, but also adding many more textual variants in comparison to the Robinson-Pierpont text, as I am simultaneously creating a Robinson-Pierpont (RP) edition. This is all in preparation for publishing on Amazon.

3. Still slowly translating the Acts of the Apostles, currently in chapter 25.

Audio Files


I am making audio files of my translations.  Here are links to a page where it will read out loud for you my translation of Acts and of Revelation.  Click the link, and when on the page, click the play button.  This is good for if you are sick in bed, or driving, etc. After it finishes reading with a premium voice, you can switch to a free voice, and also control the speed.

Acts:

https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V1bf743109-0e5b-4415-8191-6e8b56d58804/personweb/doc/b0c970dc-80fe-11ec-9731-45fa0f69faf3.pdf&t=ActsReader.pdf

Revelation
https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V1bf743109-0e5b-4415-8191-6e8b56d58804/personweb/doc/271daedf-78ee-11ec-a1b4-3b46d56ebeed.pdf&t=RevelationReader.pdf

Textus Receptus Revelation

I have completed and uploaded editions of the Revelation of John based on the Robinson-Pierpont Greek text, and also another one based on the Textus Receptus.  In addition, my previous eclectic edition of Revelation has added to it many more footnotes.  There are now 508 footnotes in these editions, showing the textual variants, and the ancient witness support for each.
Here you can download the Textus Receptus edition of the Apocalypse of John or the Robinson-Pierpont edition of the Apocalypse of John

Accidental Scribal Addition

An Accidental Scribal Addition in DRP translation of Revelation

I finished translating the Apocalypse of John in April, 2006.  And now in August 2016, as I am making my TR and RP editions, I discovered a scribal error on my part.  In Rev. 16:11, I wrote in English “they reviled the name of the God of heaven.”  But the Greek only says ἐβλασφήμησαν τὸν θεὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, they reviled the God of heaven.  So, I made a scribal addition of the words “the name of.”  Even though my exemplar had the correct text.  Why did I accidentally do this?  Because two verses prior, the same word ἐβλασφήμησαν was followed by τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ, “they reviled the name of God,” and I was familiar with that phrase from just having translated that verse.  See immediately below my translation as it stood from April 2006 to August 2016.

16:9 καὶ ἐκαυματίσθησαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι καῦμα μέγα, καὶ ἐβλασφήμησαν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἔχοντος τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐπὶ τὰς πληγὰς ταύτας, καὶ οὐ μετενόησαν δοῦναι αὐτῷ δόξαν.
⁹And the people were burned a very bad burn, and they reviled the name of God, the one having authority over these plagues; yet they did not repent to give him glory.

16:11 καὶ ἐβλασφήμησαν τὸν θεὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐκ τῶν πόνων αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἑλκῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐ μετενόησαν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν.
¹¹and they reviled the name of the God of heaven, because of their pains and because of their ulcers, yet they did not repent of their works.

I looked in Hoskier’s apparatus to find out if any ancient scribes made the same mistake which I did, and lo, two of them did indeed make the same addition.

The minuscule 1957 reads in v. 11, ἐβλασφήμησαν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ, an exact duplication of the previous phrase in v. 9, even without the τοῦ οὐρανοῦ of v. 11.

The Philoxenian Syriac in v. 11 reads ἐβλασφήμησαν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.  My translation was an exact translation of the Philoxenian Syriac, without my knowledge or intent.

So, when you see the UBS Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament speculate that a phrase found in the BYZ text but not found in the UBS text, and they say it was added because of scribal familiarity with that phrase a couple verses prior, I can personally attest how that can and does happen.

Textual Variant Revelation 11:10

In Revelation 11:10, the Byzantine text says people will “give gifts” to each other, whereas the TR and NA28 says they will “send gifts.”  Which turns out to be the more accurate prediction of gifting in the future?

Revelation 11:10- txt πέμψουσιν ℵ² A C ƒ052 922 1006 1841 2040 2053txt vg it-gig Tyc1,3 Prim Ps-Ambr syriac coptic-bohairic arab TR SBL NA28 {\} ‖ πεμπουσιν ℵ* P coptic-sahidic arm2,3,4 Tyc2 Beat ‖ πεμψωσιν 2329 ‖ π̣[εμψου]σιν ?⁴⁷ ‖ π̣[εμψουσιν] ?¹¹⁵  ‖ πεμπειν 2053com ‖ δώσουσιν 046 1828 eth RP ‖ hiat 051 2050 2062.  Both Papyrus 47 and Papyrus 115 read words that start with π, so they are some form of the word “send.” To download my document that contains this:  https://bibletranslation.ws/trans/revwgrk.pdf

Revelation 8:7 Homoioteleuton

A case of homoioteleuton in the Textus Receptus

Will one third of the earth be burned up or not?  Revelation 8:7.  This is a variant between Bible versions based on the Textus Receptus, and all others.  The Textus Receptus and the King James Version omit the first of the three phrases below, which means, “and one third of the earth will be burned up.”

καὶ τὸ τρίτον τῆς γῆς κατεκάη
καὶ τὸ τρίτον τῶν δένδρων κατεκάη
καὶ πᾶς χόρτος χλωρὸς κατεκάη

Only three late Greek manuscripts (out of 300+-) omit the first phrase, and it is a clear case of “homoioteleuton” that happened in the Greek copying process.  That means, the lines end the same, so a copyist, having left off his work for a break, then resumed doing his work, and he remembers, “I resume, at the line ending with κατεκάη,” but he resumed with the wrong line ending with κατεκάη.  Skipped one line by accident.  Homoioteleuton.

Or, it could have been a case of “homoioarcton,” that is, all three lines BEGIN the same, with καὶ, and the scribe having left off, resumed, thinking, “I resume with the line beginning with καὶ, but he picked the wrong line beginning with καὶ.

Interestingly, the scribe of manuscript 620 wrote the phrase in question two times, which is another kind of parablepsis from homoioteleuton.

As long as I am on this verse, let’s look at a Bible version.  As you can see, the word κατεκάη is used 3 times, the exact same word and same form of the word, and it means “burned up.”

NLT:  One-third of the earth was set on fire, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was burned.

So why does the New Living Translation render one of the occurrences of κατεκάη as “set on fire”?  This is simply unacceptable.  Just one of thousands of translation errors in the NLT.  I would never recommend the NLT, or the Message.  If you want a paraphrase, the Philips NT is much better, or the NIV.  I consider the NIV a mild paraphrase.

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Codex Sinaiticus Correctors

I have in August 2015 adopted the sigla conventions of the NA28 for the correctors of Codex Sinaiticus in Revelation, and updated my apparatus accordingly:

ℵ*           4th century
ℵ¹            4th – 6th century (only one occurrence- in 21:4
ℵ²            7th century
ℵ²a          7th century
ℵ²b          7th century
אc            12th century

To download my translation of Revelation.

Hands and Feet

In Hebrew, and ancient Greek as well, the words for foot πούς and hand χείρ originally meant the whole limb, not just the foot and hand; that is, πούς could mean the whole leg, and χείρ the whole upper limb, from the finger tips to the shoulder. In Revelation, we can see that the writer uses these words that way, from Revelation 10:1, where he says (ESV), “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.”

Certainly, legs are like pillars, and feet are not like pillars. The ESV correctly renders πούς as legs, and not feet. Those translations that render it “feet” are just plain wrong.

Incorrect translations, reading “feet” in Rev. 10:1:

Tyndale
Geneva
Douay Rheims
KJV
ASV
Darby
BBE
Weymouth
WEB
GW (God’s Word)
NASB
LivingBible
NLT
EMTV
JB2000
LEB (Lexam)
NABRE (NAB revised)
NKJV
YLT
OJB

Correct translations, reading “legs” in Rev. 10:1

J.B.Phillips
RSV
GNT (Good News)
ESV
ISV
NET
NRSV
NIV
TNIV
CEV
NCV
CJB (Complete Jewish Bible)
EXB
ICB
Mounce
WE
Voice
HCSB
DRP

The Messianic Ebible has a footnote indicating that “legs” is in the Syriac.
The Amplified Bible says “feet (legs)”

Incorrect translations, reading “hand” in Rev. 13:16

Tyndale
Geneva
KJV
ASV
BBE
Weymouth
J.B.Phillips
RSV
GNT (Good News)
ESV
CEV
NCV
CJB (Complete Jewish Bible)
EXB
ICB
Mounce
WE
Voice
HCSB
WEB
GW
ISV
MessianicEBible
Amplified
NET
NRSV
NASB
NIV
TNIV
EMTV
JB2000

Correct translations, reading “arm” or “upper limb”in Rev. 13:16:

DRP