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More about NT Manuscripts

New Testament Manuscripts

The number of New Testament manuscript available for study is far greater than for the Old Testament and they date from a time much closer to the original authors.

In total there are thousands of manuscripts – the number usually cited is 5000 originating from the 2nd to 16th century, when the production of manuscripts abated with the advent of printing.  The majority of these are lectionaries from the Greek-speaking Eastern church after the 5th century when Western church adopted the Latin Vulgate as their official Bible. These later manuscripts are important because these were largely the ones available to Erasmus and other early scholars. The number of variants appears, at first, to be huge – over eleven thousand have been catalogued in detail – but only about 6% of them make any difference to the meaning of the text.

Which manuscript is best?

There are two main approaches to evaluating variant readings. Some scholars count up the number of manuscripts which contain a variant to find the “majority” text. Other scholars give greater consideration to the older manuscripts and try to consider the reasons for changes. For example it is more likely that a scribe would change an uncommon spelling into a more ‘correct’ one, or change a difficult word into an easier one.

Attempts to build a family tree of manuscripts back to a single original have been recently aided by powerful computer analysis. The present consensus is that this project is impossible for two main reasons. First, we have too few of the manuscripts from the earliest centuries, so that the gaps are too large and critical branch-points in the tree have been lost. Second, the copiers did not work unthinkingly, but were corrected errors as they found them.

Augustine, in whose day there were hardly two completely identical manuscripts, said that it was usually obvious which reading was correct, and in cases of doubt one could consult a copy which was known to be good.[1] This implies that even by the 5th century there were still many poorly made copies, probably written by people for their own use, and that there were also professionally copied exemplars which were used to correct poor copies. 

Families of Manuscripts

After the 5th century manuscripts tended to follow local traditions. This is perhaps because Christian scribes had become a disciplined profession so there were fewer personal copies and fewer accidental variants. Gradually some changes were sanctioned by local church custom, so that three (or four) families of manuscripts emerged.

  • Alexandrian family (sometimes known as Neutral). Produced mainly by churches in North Africa and perhaps Palestine. They tend to contain fairly rough Greek and a larger number of difficult or obscure passages.
  • Western family. Produced mainly in Italy and Western Europe. They often contain additional phrases which help to explain difficulties.
  • Byzantine family. Produced mainly in Eastern Europe. They have generally smoother Greek and fewer obscure phrases.
  • Caesarian family. Based on the text of Origen and produced by some Palestinian churches. This is a small group and most scholars do not regard it as a true family of texts.

The Western text became the traditional version of the Catholic church, while the Orthodox church followed the Byzantine text tradition. After the 5th century, most Catholic Bibles were produced in Latin, translated from the Western text, though the Orthodox churches continued to read the Bible in Greek. Therefore the vast majority of surviving Greek New Testaments from the 6th century onwards were produced by the Orthodox church and follow the Byzantine text. The demise of the North African churches meant that few copies of the Alexandrian family were made, though some important exemplar copies have survived, such as Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus which are named after the libraries where they were rediscovered in the 19th century.

Which family is best?

Traditionally the Western family of manuscripts has been preferred by Catholic scholars and the Byzantine by Orthodox scholars. Most modern scholars prefer Alexandrian texts which are generally earlier, with rougher and more problematic Greek. This family appears to be close to the texts which were edited in separate ways by the Western and Byzantine churches.

Therefore modern editions of the Greek New Testament (since the edition of Westcott & Hort) follow mainly Alexandrian manuscripts while older editions tended to rely on a mixture of Byzantine and Western manuscripts. For example, Erasmus’s first edition was based on a small number of manuscripts, though his notes indicate that he was aware of many others, including Vaticanus. There has been a recent revival of interest in the Byzantine family as the source of a “Majority” edition because this is closer to the text of Erasmus which has enjoyed great popularity since the King James version was based on it.

Which variant is best?

No single family of manuscripts and no single manuscript can be said to be the most reliable or contain the earliest version. Scholars attempt to discern the earliest reading by examining all the available variants in each instance, on a case-by-case basis. They try to find a reason why the variants might have arisen. If words which occur between two similar-sounding words are missing in some manuscripts, it is likely that one or more scribes accidentally omitted them. If words which explain a difficulty are absent from some manuscripts, it is likely that they were added by scribes in order to help the reader. If some manuscripts have perfect Greek where other have slightly ungrammatical Greek, this is probably due to scribal correction. 

Often it is difficult to decide why a specific change has occurred. The decision depends on the evidence of the sources on each side – their age, their relative trustworthiness (whether they are generally known to be careful copies or sloppy ones) and the geographical spread of the readings – because a variant which is found in only one area is likely to be due to a late change. Most modern editions of the Greek text are produced by this type of reasoning, and there has been very little disagreement about these broad conclusions in the last century. The resultant text published as the Nestlé-Aland edition and the United Bible Society (UBS) edition are virtually identical, differing only in their punctuation and the amount information they give concerning manuscript evidence.[2] 

Information recorded about variants

All variants which may  result in a different translation are recorded. Most variants result in no difference in translation or in translations which have the same meaning. For example, in Mark 1:16 where Jesus saw Simon and Andrew “casting a net into the lake”, many manuscripts omit “a net”, but the word is clearly implied.

Sometimes such variant are important are important because they help us understanding the reason for differences between translations. In such cases, instead of listing all the sources these variants are merely recorded as Maj (as found in the Majority text which is followed by most older translations) or as UBS (as found in the UBS/NA editions which are followed by most modern translations).

Variants which result in a different meaning are given with a full list of sources. This list consists of all manuscripts, ancient translations and quotations by ancient authors before originating before about 600 AD. After this time the manuscripts started to coalesce into families. These sources are:

New Testament Manuscripts 

  • Papyri (p1, p2 etc.) – written on papyrus and preserved mainly in the dry soil of Egypt, often written by ordinary believers for their own use. They contain a lot of accidental errors, and include the oldest copies of NT manuscripts. They are therefore very valuable for finding the earliest text, but must be used with care. From a total of 122, 85 papyri can be dated before the 6th century. The most important are the third century p45, p46, & p47 which cover most of the NT between them.
  • Uncials (01, 02 etc.) – written completely in upper case (‘uncial’ letters) mainly on parchment. These are mostly produced by experienced or professional scribes. Occasionally a manuscript has been corrected at an early date – this is marked as 01a while the main manuscript is marked as 01. From a total of 352, 74 uncials can be dated before the 6th century. The most important are the fourth century Codex Sinaiticus (01) and Codex Vaticanus (03) which contain all or most of the NT. One 6th C manuscript has been included – number 06 known as D or Claromontanus – because it is very closely related to Codex Bezae (also known as D but numbered 05) and because it is the best early witness to the Greek Western text of the Epistles.
  • Miniscules (1, 2 etc.) – written mostly in lower case (‘miniscule’ letters). These were written mainly by professional scribes in Eastern churches. None of the 2900 miniscules are early enough to be included in the options.
  • Lectionaries (L1, L2 etc.) – i.e. sets of daily readings. These were written mainly by professional scribes for use in Eastern churches and for daily devotions by those rich enough to afford one. From a total of 273, only two can be dated before the 6th century.

Ancient Translations of the New Testament

Those translated before the 6th century are:

  • Old Latin (Lt) – translated into the common language of Italy, which was also the official language of the Western church. They were often translated and copied by ordinary believers for their own use, so they are of mixed quality. From a total of 74 manuscripts, 15 can be dated before the 6th century.

  • Vulgate (Vg) – Jerome’s 4th century translation into Latin, which became the official Bible for the Western church. He carefully followed the Western Greek texts (except perhaps in Acts and James to Revelation).

  • Coptic (Cp) – a third or fourth century translation into the native language of Egypt.

  • Gothic (Gt) – a fourth century translation into the native language of Germany.

  • Old Syriac (Sy) – a first to third century translation into the native language of Syria, as found in Curetonian Gospels (SyrC)

  • Peshitta (Pe) - an official translation by the Syriac church (sometimes abbreviated as SyrP)

  • Armenian (Ar) – a fifth century translation into the native language ofArmenia, probably based on the Syriac.

  • Georgian (Gg) – a fifth century translation into the native language ofGeorgia, probably based on the Armenian.

Each ancient translation is likely to represent one Greek source of the whole New Testament,[3] so they are very important. However, when different versions of the same translation disagree with each other, their evidence at that point is discarded because we cannot be sure what the original Greek was that they translated from. An exception to this is the Latin translations which consist of a large number of separate translations of different Greek sources. This means that “Lt” may be cited as evidence for two different readings of the same text. 

Ancient Quotations from the New Testament

  • Quotations (Q1, Q2 etc.) – mainly from the writings of church Fathers and a few ancient works of unknown authorship which quote the NT text.

There are about 215 such sources which can be dated before the 6th century, some of which have just one or two quotes while others are commentaries on large portions of the text. The abbreviations are chronological, so that the lowest number (Q1) is the earliest. They should be used with care because the same author may quote different versions at different times, and they may quote inaccurately from memory. Many of these are not written in Greek, so the text is cited in translation.

The Diatessaron is an important member of this group, though it is difficult to classify because it more like an ancient version. The Diatessaron is a harmony of the Gospels which was compiled by Tatian in the second century in Greek or possibly in Syriac. His ingenious interweaving of gospel stories employed all but a few verses of all four gospels with little overlap. This was so popular that it was translated into several languages and copied widely, though most of the copies were destroyed when Tatian was declared a heretic in the fifth century.

Later Manuscripts and Modern Editions 

Almost all manuscripts later than the 5th century conform to the Byzantine family, and even when early manuscripts and later manuscripts are counted together, the larger number of later manuscripts means that the majority of manuscripts always follow Byzantine readings. This is recorded as:

  • Maj – the edition based on the majority of manuscripts. 

The modern edition called the “Majority Text” is based on the readings in this largest number of manuscripts, though very occasionally it uses readings from earlier manuscripts which are not found in the majority.

The other important modern edition is that produced by the United Bible Society text and the identical Nestle-Aland text. This edition is very similar to the previous scholarly editions of Westcott & Hort, Tischendorf and Weiss, who all followed broadly similar principles. It is used as the basis of most modern translations, and is noted as:

  • UBS – the edition based on the earliest manuscripts.  (This includes text marked with [single brackets] but not text marked with [[double brackets]] in USB editions) 

Abbreviating the Abbreviations: 

The arcane and confusing abbreviations for these sources which are found in a normal scholarly critical apparatus cannot be completely avoided, because there are so many sources. However the options present this in a relatively straight-forward manner. For example:

Mark 1:1 the Messiah (01 Ar Gg Q19 Q141 Q175 Q197 Q211 Q235 Q241 Q331 Q347 Q385).
Prob. the Messiah, the Son of God (01a 02 03 05 032 Lt Vg, Sy, Cp Gt Q77 Q131 Q259 Q285 Q327 Q347 Q355 Maj [UBS]).

In this case, some manuscripts read “the Messiah” while others add “the Son of God”. The sources which provide the evidence are listed for both sides. Although the abbreviations appear a little daunting, they are simple to understand. The numbers which do not start with a letter are manuscripts; the two-letter abbreviations are ancient translations; and the Q numbers are quotations in ancient works. Hovering over them gives more information about each one.

The abbreviations in the options encapsulate a large amount of information which would normally be presented in a much more complex and confusing way. Even if the late sources were edited out (as in the options), the normal presentation of this same information would look like this:

Mark 1:1 Χριστο – א* copsa(ms) arm geo1 Origengr Origenlat Victorinus-Pettau Asterius Serapion Titus-Bostra Basil Cyril-Jerusalem Severian Jerome3/6 Hesychius. Χριστο υο θεο – אa A B D W geo2 ita itb itd itff2 vg syrp copsa(mss) copbo goth Diatessaronp Irenaeuslat2/3 Faustus-Milevis Ambrose Chromatius Jerome3/6 Augustine

Abbreviations for Sources of the New Testament

The following abbreviations are based on standard ones used in other works, with a few differences. Uncials are normally known by their old abbreviations of single letters (A, B etc) but these have been officially replaced by numbers starting with zero (01, 02 etc) because too many have been discovered. Lectionaries normally have a lower case ‘l” but this is indistinct, so upper case is used. The sources of quotations have no official form of abbreviation, and are normally written out in full. The abbreviations used here (Q1, Q3 etc) are based on a combined chronological and alphabetical order of these Fathers and anonymous documents. Only odd numbers have been used because this will allow newly discovered entries to be inserted in their correct position. 

Papyri from the 5th century or earlier

 

Date/century

Contents

p1

III

part of Matthew 1

p4

III

part of Luke

p5

III

part of John

p6

IV

part of John 10-11

p7

III/IV?

part of Luke 4

p8

IV

part of Acts 4-6

p9

III

part of 1 John

p10

IV

part of Romans 1

p12

III

Hebrews 1:1

p13

III/IV

part of Hebrews

p15

III

part of 1 Cor. 7-8

p16

III/IV

part of Philippians 3-4

p17

IV

part of Hebrews 9

p18

III/IV

part of Revelation 1

p19

IV/V

part of Matthew 10-11

p20

III

part of James 2-3

p21

IV/V

part of Matthew 12

p22

III

part of John 15-16

p23

early III

part of James

p24

IV

part of Revelation 5-6

p25

late IV

part of Matthew 18-19

p27

III

part of Romans 8-9

p28

III

part of John 6

p29

III

part of Acts 26

p30

III

part of 1Thess 4-5

p32

II/III

part of Titus 1-2

p35

IV?

part of Matthew 25

p37

III/IV

part of Matthew 26

p38

III/IV

part of Acts 18-19

p39

III

part of John 8

p40

III

part of Romans

p45

III

part of Matthew 20-26;  Mark 4-12; Luke 6-14; John 4-11; Acts 4-17

p46

II/III

part of Romans - Hebrews

p47

late III

part of Revelation 9-16

p48

late III

part of Acts 23

p49

late III

part of Ephesians 4-5

p50

IV/V

part of Acts 8, 10

p51

IV/V

part of Galatians 1

p52

c. 125

part of John 18

p53

III

part of Matt.26 & Acts 9

p57

IV/V

part of Acts 4-5, 8-10

p62

IV

part of Matthew 11

p64 = p67

II/III

part of Matthew 3-5

p65

III

part of 1Thess 1-2

p66

II/III

part of John

p69

III

part of Luke 22

p70

III

part of Matthew 2, 11, 24

p71

IV

part of Matthew 19

p72

III/IV

part of 1&2 Peter & Jude

p75

early III

part of Luke & John

p77

II/III

part of Matthew 23

p78

III/IV

part of Jude

p80

III

part of John 3:34

p81

IV

part of 1 Peter 2-3

p82

IV/V

part of Luke 7

p85

IV/V

part of Revelation 9-10

p86

IV

part of Matthew 5

p87

III

part of Philemon

p88

IV

part of Mark 2

p89

IV

part of Hebrew 6

p90

II

part of John 18-19

p91

III

part of Acts 2

p92

III/IV

part of Eph.1 & 2 Thess.1

p93

V

part of John 13

p95

III

part of John 5

p98

II?

part of  Revelation 1

p99

IV/V

most of 2Cor, Gal, Eph

p100

III/IV

part of James 3-4

p101

III

part of Mathew 3

p102

III/IV

part of Matthew 4

p103

II/III

part of Matthew 13-14

p104

late II

part of Matthew 21

p106

III

part of John 1

p107

III

part of John 17

p108

III

part of John 17-18

p109

III

part of John 21

p110

IV

part of Matthew 10

p111

III

part of Luke 17

p112

V

part of Acts 26-27

p113

III

part of Romans 2

p114

III

part of Hebrews 1

p115

III/IV

part of Revelation 2-15

p117

IV/V

part of 2 Corinthians 7

p118

III

part of Romans 15-16


Uncial Manuscripts from the 5th century or earlier

 

Date/century

Contents

01 = א, Sinaiticus
01a = א, first corrector

IV
IV-V

all of New Testament

02 = A, Alexandrinus

V

Most of Mat.25 – Acts 22, 2Cor. 4-12

03 = B, Vaticanus

IV

most of Matthew - Jude

04 = C, Ephraemi

V

most of NT with gaps

05 = D, Bezae

V

Matthew – Acts

06 = D, Claromontanus

VI

most of Romans to Hebrews

016 = I, Washington

V

most of 1Cor 10 - Hebrews

026 = Q, Wolfenbiittel

V

parts of Luke & John 12-14

029 = T,Rome

V

parts of Luke & John

032 = W, Freer

V

Matthew – John

048

V

parts of Act 26 – 3 John

057

IV/V

part of Acts 3

058

IV

part of Matthew 18

059

IV/V

part of Mark 15

061

V

parts of 1Timothy

062

V

parts of Galatians 4-5

068

V

parts of John 13 & 16

069

V

parts of Mark 10-11

077

V

parts of Acts 13

0113

V

= section of 029

0125

V

= section of 029

0139

V

= section of 029

0160

IV/V

part of Matthew 26

0162

III/IV

part of John 2

0163

V

part of Revelation 16

0165

V

part of Acts 3-4

0166

V

part of Acts 28

0169

IV

part of Revelation 3-4

0171

III/IV

part of Matt.10, Luke 22

0172

V

part of Romans 1-2

0173

V

part of James 1

0174

V

part of Galatians 2

0175

V

part of Acts 6

0176

IV/V

part of Galatians 3

0181

IV/V

part of Luke 10

0182

V

part of Luke 19

0185

IV

part of 1 Corinthians 2-3

0188

IV

part of Mark 11

0189

II/III

part of Acts 5

0201

V

part of 1 Corinthians 12, 14

0206

IV

part of 1 Peter 5

0207

IV

part of Revelation 9

0212

III

part of Mt.27, Mk.15 Lk.23 Jn.19

0214

IV/V

part of Mark 8

0215

IV/V

part of Mark 15

0216

V

part of John 8-9

0217

V

part of John 11-12

0218

V

part of John 12

0219

IV/V

part of Romans 2-3

0220

III

part of Romans 4-5

0221

IV

part of Romans 5-6

0226

V

part of 1 Thessalonians 4-5

0227

V

part of Hebrews 11

0228

IV

part of Hebrews 12

0230

IV

part of Ephesians 6

0231

IV

part of Mathew 26-27

0236

V

part of Acts 3

0240

V

part of Titus 1

0242

IV

part of Matthew 8-9

0244

V

part of Acts 11-12

0252

V

part of Hebrews 6

0254

V

part of Galatians 5

0258

IV

part of John 10

0261

V

part of Galatians 1, 4

0264

V

part of John 8

0267

V

part of Luke 8

0270

IV/V

part of 1 Corinthians 15

0274

V

most of Mark 7-10

0301

V

part of John 17

0308

IV

part of Revelation 11

0312

III/IV

part of Luke 5, 7

0313

V

part of Mark 4

0315

IV/V

part of Mark 2-3

Lectionaries from the 5th century or earlier

 

Date/century

Contents

L1043

V

Mark 6 & Luke 2

L1604

IV

fragments

Ancient Translations from the 5th century or earlier

 

Date/century

Contents

Ar = Armenian

V

Whole NT

Cp = Coptic

III/IV

Whole NT

Gg = Georgian

V

Whole NT

Gt = Gothic

IV

Whole NT

Sy = Old Syriac

II-IV

Fragments

Pe = Syriac Peshitta

late IV

Whole NT

Lt = Old Latin

II-IV

Fragments

Vg = Latin Vulgate

IV

Whole NT


Quotations by Church Fathers and other writings
from the 5th century or earlier

Number

NAME

Date/century

Language

Q1

Jacobus-Justus

I

Greek

Q3

Gospel-of-the-Hebrews

I/II

Greek

Q5

Ignatius

110

Greek

Q7

2Clement

before 150

Greek

Q9

Polycarp

156

Greek. Latin trans.

Q11

Justin

165

Greek

Q13

Julius-Cassianus

c. 170

Greek

Q15

Celsus

c. 178

Greek

Q17

Hegesippus

180

Greek

Q19

Theophilus

180

Greek

Q21

Polycrate

196

Greek

Q23

Diatessaron (missing original)

II

(Syriac – when all agree)

Q25

Diatessaron in Arabic

II

Arabic

Q27

Diatessaron in Armenian

II

Armenian

Q29

Diatessaron fromFulda

II

Latin

Q31

Diatessaron in Italian

II

(when Italian MSS agree)

Q33

Diatessaron fromTuscany

II

Italian

Q35

Diatessaron fromVenice

II

Italian

Q37

Diatessaron in Old Dutch

II

(when Dutch MSS agree)

Q39

Diatessaron from Liège

II

Old Dutch

Q41

Diatessaron fromStuttgart

II

Old Dutch

Q43

Diatessaron in Persian

II

Persian

Q45

Diatessaron in Syraic
when different from the Armenian

II

Syriac

Q47

Aristides

II

Greek

Q49

Athenagoras

II

Greek

Q51

Basilidians

II

Greek

Q53

Carpocrates

II

Greek

Q55

Didache

II

Greek

Q57

Diognetus

II

Greek

Q59

Gospel-of-the-Ebionites

II

Greek

Q61

Gospel-of-the-Nazarenes

II

Aramaic

Q63

Heracleon

II

Greek

Q65

Marcion

II

Greek

Q67

Marcus

II

Greek

Q69

Papias

II

Greek

Q71

Ptolemy

II

Greek

Q73

Theodotus

II

Greek

Q75

Theodotus-Gnostic

II

Greek

Q77

Valentinians

II

Greek

Q79

Valentinus

II

Greek

Q81

Docetists

II/III

Greek

Q83

Naassenes

II/III

Greek

Q85

Papyrus-Egerton

II/III

Greek

Q87

Perateni

II/III

Greek

Q89

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 405
= Irenaeus’ Adversus Haereses

[II/III?]

Greek

Q91

Irenaeus

202

Greek

Q93

Clement

215

Greek

Q95

Tertullian

220

Latin

Q97

Ippolytus

235

Greek

Q99

Africanus

240

Greek

Q101

Heraclides

c. 245

Greek

Q103

Origen

254

Greek

Q105

Cyprian

258

Latin

Q107

Rebaptism

258

Latin

Q109

Dionysius

265

Greek

Q111

Letter-of-Hymenaeus

c. 268

Greek

Q113

Gregory-Thaumaturgus

c. 270

Greek

Q115

Manes

277

Coptic trans.

Q117

Archelaus

278

Latin & Greek

Q119

Acts-of-Thomas

III

Syrian

Q121

Didascalia

III

Greek

Q123

Fayum-fragment

III

Greek

Q125

Manicheans

III

Syriac

Q127

Methodius

III

Greek

Q129

Novatian

III

Latin

Q131

Ps-Clement

III

Greek

Q133

Theotecnus

III

Greek

Q135

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 655
= Gospel of Thomas

[III?]

Greek

Q137

Porphyry

301-304

Greek

Q139

Hieracas

302

Greek & Coptic

Q141

Victorinus-Pettau

304

Latin

Q143

Pierius

309

Greek

Q145

Pamphilus

310

Latin

Q147

Peter-Alexandria

311

Greek

Q149

Liber-Graduum

320

Syrian

Q151

Alexander

328

Greek

Q153

Jevencus

330

Latin

Q155

Arius

336

Greek

Q157

Eustathius

337

Latin

Q159

Jacob-Nisibis

338

Syriac

Q161

Eusebius

339

Greek

Q163

Asterius

after 341

Greek

Q165

Ps-Asterius

after 341

Greek

Q167

Pachomius

346

Greek

Q169

Maternus

348

Latin

Q171

Hegemonius

350

Syriac

Q173

Julius

352

Latin

Q175

Theodore-Heraclea

355

Greek

Q177

Eusebius-Emesa

before 359

Greek

Q179

Serapion

after 362

Greek

Q181

Victorinus-Rome

after 363

Latin

Q183

Basil-Ancyra

c. 364

Greek

Q185

Acacius

366

Greek

Q187

Aphraates

367

Syrian

Q189

Hilary

367

Latin

Q191

Caesarius-Nazianzus

369

Greek

Q193

Lucifer

370

Latin

Q195

Diatessaron in Ephraem

373

(Armenian=Syriac)

Q197

Diatessaron in Ephraem trans.

373

Armenian

Q199

Diatessaron in Ephraem orig.

373

Syriac

Q201

Athanasius

373

Greek

Q203

Ephraem

373

Syrian

Q205

Marcellus

c. 374

Greek

Q207

Titus-Bostra

before 378

Greek

Q209

Basil

379

Greek

Q211

Apostolic-Constitutions

c. 380

Greek

Q213

Orsiesius

c. 380

Greek

Q215

Meletius

381

Greek

Q217

Priscillian

385

Latin

Q219

Cyril-Jerusalem

386

Greek

Q221

Gregory-Nazianzus

390

Greek

Q223

Apollinaris

c. 390

Greek

Q225

Tyconius

after 390

Latin

Q227

Pacian

392

Latin

Q229

Gregory-Elvira

after 392

Latin

Q231

Phoebadius

after 392

Latin

Q233

Diodore

394

Greek

Q235

Gregory-Nyssa

394

Greek

Q237

Eunomius

c. 394

Greek

Q239

Amphilochius

after 394

Greek

Q241

Ambrose

397

Latin

Q243

Didymus

398

Greek

Q245

Evagrius

399

Greek

Q247

Acts-of-Pilate (4th C version)

IV

Greek & trans.

Q249

Adamantius

IV

Greek

Q251

Ambrosiaster

IV

Latin

Q253

Ammon

IV

Greek

Q255

Ammonas

IV

Greek

Q257

Apostolic-Canons

IV

Greek

Q259

Arians

IV

Greek

Q261

Caelestinus

IV

Latin

Q263

Eusebian-Canons

IV

Greek

Q265

Faustinus

IV

Latin

Q267

Faustus-Milevis

IV

Latin

Q269

Macrobius

IV

Latin

Q271

Optatus

IV

Latin

Q273

Philo-Carpasia

IV

Greek

Q275

Ps-Clementines

IV

Greek

Q277

Ps-Cyprian

IV

Latin

Q279

Zeno

IV

Latin

Q281

Josippus

IV?

Greek

Q283

Eunomians

IV/V

Greek

Q285

Hyperechius

IV/V

Greek

Q287

Macarius/Symeon

IV/V

Greek

Q289

Petilianus

IV/V

Latin

Q291

Ps-Eustathius

IV/V

Greek

Q293

Ps-Ignatius

IV/V

Greek

Q295

Ps-Justin

IV/V

Greek

Q297

Ps-Vigilius

IV/V

Latin

Q299

Timothy-Alexandria

IV/V

Greek

Q301

Teaching-of-Addai

400

Syrian

Q303

Epiphanius

403

Greek

Q305

Flavian-Antioch

404

Greek

Q307

Gaudentius

406

Latin

Q309

Chromatius

407

Latin

Q311

Chrysostom

407

Greek

Q313

Severian

after 408

Greek

Q315

Rufinus

410

Latin

Q317

Asterius-Amasea

c. 410

Greek

Q319

Theophilus-Alexandria

412

Greek

Q321

Niceta

414

Latin

Q323

Synesius

414

Greek

Q325

Hesychius-Salonitan

418

Greek

Q327

Orosius

after 418

Latin

Q329

Pelagius

after 418

Latin

Q331

Jerome

420

Latin

Q333

Sulpicius

c. 420

Latin

Q335

Maximus

423

Latin

Q337

Maximinus

428

Latin

Q339

Theodore

428

Greek

Q341

Augustine

430

Latin

Q343

Marcus-Eremita

430

Greek

Q345

Nilus

c. 430

Greek

Q347

Polychronius

c. 430

Greek

Q349

Nonnus

431

Greek

Q351

Palladius

431

Greek

Q353

Paulinus-Nola

431

Latin

Q355

Paul-Emesa

after 432

Greek

Q357

Eutherius

434

Greek

Q359

Cassian

435

Latin

Q361

Isidore

c. 435

Greek

Q363

Acacius-Melitene

c. 438

Greek

Q365

Socrates

after 439

Greek

Q367

Cyril

444

Greek

Q369

Arsenius

445

Greek

Q371

Varimadum

445-480

Latin

Q373

Proclus

446

Greek

Q375

Flavian-Constantinople

449

Greek

Q377

Sozomen

450

Greek

Q379

Hesychius

after 450

Greek

Q381

Nestorius

after 451

Greek

Q383

de Promissionibus

453

Latin

Q385

Quodvultdeus

c. 453

Latin

Q387

Julian-Eclanum

c. 454

Latin

Q389

Apringius

after 455

Latin

Q391

Arnobius

460

Latin

Q393

Valerian

460

Latin

Q395

Leo

461

Latin

Q397

Teodoret

466

Greek

Q399

Diadochus

468

Greek

Q401

Gennadius-Constantinople

471

Greek

Q403

Gelasius-Cyzicus

475

Greek

Q405

Salvian

c. 480

Latin

Q407

Vigilius

484

Latin

Q409

Victor-Vita

after 489

Latin

Q411

Faustus

490-500

Latin

Q413

Euthalius

V

Greek

Q415

Fastidius

V

Latin

Q417

Marius-Mercator

V

Greek

Q419

Nestorians

V

Greek

Q421

Possidius

V

Latin

Q423

Ps-Dionysius

V

Greek

Q425

Ps-Jerome

V

Latin

Q427

Speculum

V

Latin

Q429

Theodotus-Ancyra

V

Greek

Q431

Victor-Antioch

V

Greek






[1] Augustine. De Doctrina Christiana Bk.2.57: “if there is any uncertainty in the various Latin versions, [it] should without doubt give place to the Greek ones, especially those found in the more learned and diligent churches.”

[2]  They have had an identical text since NA26 (i.e. 26th edition of Nestlé-Aland), NA27, UBS3 and UBS4 have identical texts (as highlighted in the introduction to UBS3 p. viii), though NA28 has introduced a handful of minor differences.

[3] It is possible that the Boharic Coptic version was translated from a different Greek text, but it nevertheless appears to be strongly influenced by previous Coptic translations.

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