Textual variants in the Book of Revelation
Textual variants in the Book of Revelation are the subject of the study called textual criticism of the New Testament. Textual variants in manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to a text that is being reproduced. An abbreviated list of textual variants in the Book of Revelation is given in this article below.
Most of the variations are not significant and some common alterations include the deletion, rearrangement, repetition, or replacement of one or more words when the copyist's eye returns to a similar word in the wrong location of the original text. If their eye skips to an earlier word, they may create a repetition (error of dittography). If their eye skips to a later word, they may create an omission. They may resort to performing a rearranging of words to retain the overall meaning without compromising the context. In other instances, the copyist may add text from memory from a similar or parallel text in another location. Otherwise, they may also replace some text of the original with an alternative reading. Spellings occasionally change. Synonyms may be substituted. A pronoun may be changed into a proper noun (such as "he said" becoming "Jesus said"). John Mill's 1707 Greek New Testament was estimated to contain some 30,000 variants in its accompanying textual apparatus[1] which was based on "nearly 100 [Greek] manuscripts."[2] Peter J. Gurry puts the number of non-spelling variants among New Testament manuscripts around 500,000, though he acknowledges his estimate is higher than all previous ones.[3]
Legend
A guide to the sigla (symbols and abbreviations) most frequently used in the body of this article.[4][5]
- General sigla
- # beginning with 0: uncial
- # not beginning with 0: minuscule
- * superscript: original reading
- c superscript: scribal correction
- ms superscript: individual manuscript
- mss superscript: multiple manuscripts
- pt superscript: partial attestation
- vid superscript: uncertain reading
- arab: Arabic versions
- arm: Armenian versions
- 𝔐 or Byz: Byzantine text-type
- cop: Coptic versions
- sa: Sahidic version
- bo: Boharic version
- eth: Ethiopic versions
- ƒ: Greek manuscripts family
- geo: Georgian versions
- goth: Gothic versions
- it: Italic/Vetus Latina
- lat: most Italic and Vulgate
- latt: all Italic and Vulgate
- 𝔓: papyrus
- 𝑙: individually numbered lectionary
- Lect: most or all numbered lectionaries
- parenthesized (): approximate reading
- rell: all other extant manuscripts
- slav: Slavic versions
- syr: Syriac versions
- vg: Latin Vulgate
- ς: Textus Receptus
- Uncial sigla
- א: Codex Sinaiticus (01)
- A: Codex Alexandrinus (02)
- B: Codex Vaticanus (03)
- C: Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (04)
- Dea: Codex Bezae (05)
- Dp: Codex Claromontanus (06)
- Ke: Codex Cyprius (017)
- Kap: Codex Mosquensis I (018)
- Le: Codex Regius (New Testament) (019)
- Lap: Codex Angelicus (020)
- Papr: Codex Porphyrianus (025)
- S: Codex Vaticanus 354 (028)
- V: Codex Mosquensis II (031)
- W: Codex Washingtonianus (032)
- Z: Codex Dublinensis (035)
- Γ: Codex Tischendorfianus IV (036)
- Δ: Codex Sangallensis 48 (037)
- Θ: Codex Koridethi (038)
- Ξ: Codex Zacynthius (040)
- Π: Codex Petropolitanus (New Testament) (041)
- Φ: Codex Beratinus (043)
- Ψ: Codex Athous Lavrensis (044)
- Ω: Codex Athous Dionysiou (045)
- ff1: Codex Corbeiensis I
- ff2: Codex Corbeiensis II
- g1: Codex Sangermanensis I
- k: Codex Bobiensis
- Critical editions
- T8th: Tischendorf's 8th Edition of Editio Octava Critica Maior
- WH: Westcott and Hort (1881)
- NA: Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle–Aland)
- UBS: United Bible Societies
- ECM: Editio Critica Maior
Textual variants
Revelation 2:1
Revelation 3:1
Revelation 4:1
Revelation 5:9
- ἠγόρασας τῷ θεῷ ('redeemed to God') – A, eth
- ἠγόρασας τῷ θεῷ ἡμας ('redeemed to God us') – 046, 1006, 1611, 1859, 2020, 2042, 2053, 2065, 2081, 2138, 2432, copbo א
- ἠγόρασας ἡμας τῷ θεῷ ('redeemed us to God') – 94, 1828, 2073, 2344, copsa
- ἠγόρασας ἡμας ('redeemed us') – 2065*, 2814, Cyprian
Revelation 6:1
Revelation 7:1
Revelation 8:13
- αετου – א, A, P115, 046, 1424, 1841, 1862, 93, 456, 627, 920, 1611, 2329, 2351, Byz, Philoxenian, Harklean, Vulgate, Old Latin, Boharic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Ansbert, Bede, Oikoumenios, Primasius, Caesarius, Tyconius
- αγγελου – P, 2074, 104, 241, 256, 2059, 2081, 620, 922, 2186, 2286, 2814, ByzA, Armenian, Slavonic, Andreas, Victorious
- αγγελου ως αετου — 42, Oikoumenioscomm
Revelation 9:1
Revelation 10:1
Revelation 11:17
- ο ων και ο ην και ο ερχομενος — Boharic, Tyconius, Beatus, 1841, 051, 2074, 35, 1006, 911/2040, 1740, 469, 757
- ο ων και ο ην και — P47, Sinaiticus, 0308, C, 2344
- ο ων και ο ην — Byz, 2814
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Uncial_0308_POxy_4500_recto.jpg/200px-Uncial_0308_POxy_4500_recto.jpg)
Revelation 11:18
- τοις δουλοις σου και τοις προφηταις ('thy servants and prophets') – 𝔓47, א, 0308
- τοις δουλοις σου τοις προφηταις ('thy servants prophets') – A, Byz
Revelation 12:1
Revelation 13:18
- εξακοσιοι εξηκοντα εξ ('six hundred sixty-six') – א A P 046, most minuscules, Byzpt lat syr cop arm eth Irenaeus Hippolytus Origen Victorinus Gregory Primasius Andrew Beatus Arethas
- χξϲ ('666') – 𝔓47 051 Byzpt
- εξακοσιοι εξηκοντα πεντε ('six hundred sixty-five') – 2344
- εξακοσιοι τεσσαρακοντα εξ ('six hundred forty-six') – itar
- εξακοσιοι δεκα εξ ('six hundred sixteen') – C vgms Irenaeusmss Tyconiuspt Caesarius
- χιϲ ('616') – 𝔓115
Revelation 14:1
Revelation 15:1
Revelation 16:1
Revelation 17:1
Revelation 18:20
- αγιοι αποστολοι — C, 051, 2329, 35, 2059, 2081, 2344, 2186, 2286, 2814, VgCl, itgig, ByzA
- αγιοι και οι αποστολοι — Sinaiticus, A, P, 046, 1424, 1841, 1862, 82, 93, 456, 627, 920, 1611, 2074, 2053, 2062, Byz
- αγγελου και οι αποστολοι — Hippolytus, syrhar
Revelation 19:1
Revelation 20:1
Revelation 21:1
Revelation 22:14
- ποιουντες τας εντολας αυτου ('those who do His commandments') – 046 94 205 209 1611supp 1854 1859 2030 2042 2065 2073 2138 2329 2377 2432 2814 Byz itgig syr copbo (Tertullian) Cyprian Tyconius (Caesarius) Andrew (Beatus) Arethas
- τηρουντες τας εντολας αυτου ('those who keep His commandments') – arm
- πλυνοντες τας στολας αυτων ('those who wash their robes') – א A 1006 1841 2020 (2050) 2053 2062 itmss vg copsa eth Ambrose Apringius Fulgentius (Primasius) Haymo
See also
- Alexandrian text-type
- Biblical inerrancy
- Byzantine text-type
- Caesarean text-type
- Categories of New Testament manuscripts
- Comparison of codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus
- List of New Testament verses not included in modern English translations
- Textual variants in the New Testament
- Western text-type
References
- ^ Adam Fox, John Mill and Richard Bentley: A Study of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament 1675–1729 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954), pp. 105–115; John Mill, Novum Testamentum Graecum, cum lectionibus variantibus MSS (Oxford 1707)
- ^ Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154
- ^ Peter J. Gurry, "The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate" New Testament Studies 62.1 (2016), p. 113
- ^ Metzger, Bruce Manning; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 54, 62–86, 102–103. ISBN 0-19-516667-1.
- ^ J.P. van de Giessen (2003). "Legenda tekstkritische notities". bijbelaantekeningen.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 May 2022.
Further reading
- Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine, ed. E. Nestle, K. Aland, Stuttgart 1981.
- Bruce M. Metzger & Bart D. Ehrman, "The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration", OUP New York, Oxford, 4 edition, 2005
- Bart D. Ehrman, "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture. The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament", Oxford University Press, New York - Oxford, 1996, pp. 223–227.
- Bruce M. Metzger, "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament", 1994, United Bible Societies, London & New York.
External links
- The Comparative Critical Greek New Testament Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine
- Variantes textuais (in Portuguese)
- Varianten Textus receptus versus Nestle-Aland