LECTURE THREE TRANSLATION ISSUE: MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - 1 Another issue that must be addressed by translators is what original manuscript(s) should be used as the source material for the translation. The overriding issue is the fact that some manuscripts do not have the same wording or verses as other manuscripts. Some manuscripts are incomplete. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - 2 All English versions of the Bible use multiple manuscripts of the gospels to create their specific New Testament. Partly this technique must be done because the oldest manuscripts are not complete and often have holes, missing pages, and indecipherable sections and words. Multiple manuscripts allow a translator to fill in the holes and blanks. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - 3 However, multiple manuscripts require an editor(s) and/or translator(s) for any Bible version to choose what to include or exclude. Even the complete manuscripts do not have all the same verses or wording. Selection can create controversy. Consider the following examples from each of the Canonical Gospels. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 1-1 1. JOHN8 The woman caught in adultery. This story is NOT in the oldest and best manuscripts that exist today. It is also found in different locations in John and Luke depending on the source manuscript. Many scholars feel that it was added during later centuries by editors and copiers for some unknown reason. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 1-2 1. It was present when St. Augustine wrote his tractate in 416 A.D. Manuscripts of John do not have it prior to that (or even after that). However, Papias quotes the story somewhere between 115 A.D. to 140 A.D. and declares the source as the Gospel of the Hebrews of which no copy exists today. The story is found in many manuscripts of later Latin translations and has also been found to be located in manuscripts of Luke after the chapter/verse 21:38 or at the end of the manuscript itself.
MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 2-1 2. Mark 16:9-20 has been called a later addition to the Gospel of Mark by most New Testament scholars in the past century. The main reason for doubting the authenticity of the ending is that it does not appear in some of the oldest existing manuscripts, and it is reported to be absent from many others in ancient times by early writers of the Church. Moreover, the ending has some stylistic features which also suggest that it came from another hand. BIBLERESEARCH.COM MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 2-2 2. It is found in many manuscripts but is omitted in two of the earliest complete copies of the Bible known as the Vaticanus (AD 350) and Sinaiticus (AD 375). By the 5th century, these verses are found in almost all the future manuscripts of Mark. This fact has created a non-ending debate about their authenticity. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 2-3 2. One argument about keeping the last chapter of Mark is that out of 887 manuscripts, only 2 do not have the last part of the last chapter of Mark. While not true, over 700 to 800 do have these verses. The debate centers on the fact that all of the 800 are merely copies of previous older manuscripts that contained the verses. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 2-4 2. If one was to copy Vaticanus or Sinaiticus a thousand times, one could stuff the ballot box and claim that these manuscripts are correct because more copies do not have the verses now. What is more important is why did the verses show up in old manuscripts after 400A.D. but not before. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 3-1 3. LUKE9:55-56 Older manuscripts generally say: But Jesus turned and rebuked them and they went on to another village. Later manuscripts have the following added: And Jesus said: You don t realize what your hearts are like. For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men s lives but to save them. No one is sure of its origins.
4. MATTHEW 17:21 MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 4-1 BUT THIS KIND (DEMON) DOES NOT GO OUT EXCEPT BY FASTING AND PRAYER. The verse is not included in many of the newer Bible translations because the older manuscripts do not have this verse. It was added to later manuscripts by copiers who took it from Mark (or so it assumed that this is the source). 5. MATTHEW 23:14 - MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 5-1 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you devour widows' houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; for this [reason] you will receive the greater condemnation. The verse is not included in many of the newer Bible translations but it is in the older, more conservative translations. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 5-2 5. (cont.) MATTHEW 23:14 - It is considered quite anti-jewish and the verse has been used historically to rally anti-semitic rhetoric. Its omission is supported by the fact that it is not in older manuscripts. Some scholars claim it was added to manuscripts by copyists after the 4th and 5th centuries. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 6-1 6. Please refer to the handout for MARK1:41. Which is correct, the word pity or anger? The various manuscripts have either of these two different Greek words splagchnizomai (pity) or orgizō (anger). The reason for these differences may have to do with a copyist changing Jesus anger to be compassion because of the image that they wish to portray. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 6-2 6. (cont.) The large majority of Bibles will have the word pity or compassion but that is a CHOICE by the translator(s) because many manuscripts have the word anger or indignant. Is the translation influenced by the desire to show Jesus of Nazareth as only a caring healer?
MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 6-3 In the fifth-century C.E. Codex Bezae, an early edition of the New Testament written in Greek, the Gospel of Mark describes Jesus anger before healing a leper (Mark 1:41). While later scribes changed Jesus anger to compassion, it is likely that Codex Bezae preserves the original reading. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 7-1 7. Please refer to the handout for Matthew24:36. Here the phrase nor the son is included in 10 out of 21 versions of the Bible. Many manuscripts do include those words while a majority do not. If the son is co-equal or the same substance of the Father, how could he not know the day or the hour of the second coming. (Lost Christianities Arianism). Is it possible that these words were intentionally deleted from some manuscripts? MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 7-2 7. (cont.) These words were used by the supporters of Arianism is justify their belief that the Son was subservient to the Father. When translating for a Bible version today which should be used? That is a decision that the translator (or Editor) must make, either by choosing to use a certain manuscript or just modifying the one that is being used. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 7-3 7. The words nor the Son are lacking in the majority of the manuscripts of Matthew, including the later Byzantine texts. On the other hand, the best manuscripts of the Alexandrian, the Western, and the Caesarean types of text contain the phrase. The age of the manuscripts varies across the centuries. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 8-1 8. Please refer to the handout for Mark14:24. Although it is possible that the word "new" was accidentally omitted due to a mistake of the eye (the Greek words for "the," "new," and "covenant" all end in the same two letters), it is much more likely that it was added here by copyists from the parallel accounts in Luke 22:20 and I Corinthians 11:25. (From website on textual variants.) MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 9-1 9. Please look at the handout for Matthew19:9. and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery. To add to the divorce debate exceptions is the above phrase which is not in about half of the various Bible versions. It is not in many older manuscripts and is left out for that reason.
MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 9-2 9. However, it places a restriction on men that has been already placed on women. In recent years, it has been suggested by some scholars (and theologians) that the rule should be gender neutral. Other scholars claim that it should only be included if one believes it was actually said by Jesus. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 10-1 10. Please look at the handout for Matthew19:29. brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields... The words or wife are missing from many manuscripts. This particular phrase has been used as one source for the justification of celibacy by some Christians denominations. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 10-2 Without these words, it could be argued that Jesus specifically did not want a man to abandon a wife as the sole exception, thus encouraging married men to follow him with their wives. Keeping or not keeping these words could become a decision influenced by doctrinal beliefs. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 11-1 11. Please refer to the handout for Matthew18:11- For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. For some versions of the bible, this verse is not even in the accepted translation. There are a number of old manuscripts that do not have this verse. Many Biblical scholars feel that a copyist at some point in time borrowed from Luke19:10, modified it slightly and added it into Matthew. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 11-2 11. (cont.) Then, what criteria is used to determine by a translator whether a given verse should stay in or not??? The person(s) doing the particular version of the Bible are the ones making that decision based on his/her/their protocols and rules. MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 11-3 11. (cont.) From the Chief Editor of NIV: In 1609, when the KJV was created, scholars only had less than ten Greek manuscripts, none from before 1000 A.D. When putting together the NIV, the editors had thousands of manuscripts some as old as 350 A.D. The manuscript evidence to support the NIV makes this translation considerably more accurate than the KJV.
MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES - # 11-4 11. (cont.) From the Chief Editor of NIV: The creators of the NIV did not take away from the word. It was an early copyist of the New Testament in Greek who added to the word. You should trust your NIV and distrust your KJV in general, although there are occasional exceptions to this rule. SUMMARY OF MANUSCRIPT DIFFERENCES These eleven examples are just a few of the many differences among the manuscripts from which a translator will have to choose. There is no CORRECT answer. There are traditions, dogmas, doctrines, and other motives to include, exclude, or even modify the contents of manuscripts for inclusion or exclusion from any Bible. SUMMARY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS AND TRANSLATION FACTS & ISSUES THE TRADITION - 1 A QUOTE FROM BIBICAL SCHOLAR JAMES DUNN: Few scholars today will say that the written sources, e.g. the Gospels, will take the reader back directly to the Jesus who worked and taught in Galilee at least three or four decades earlier. The question is whether this earlier tradition fully or partially bridges the period between Jesus and our present sources. THE TRADITION - 2 Much of our understanding of Jesus today comes from the traditions that are contained in the written sources (Gospels) which in turn are derived from earlier oral and written traditions. The purpose of this course was to show the difficulties that even presenting these written sources entail. THE TRADITION - 3 Too much is assumed to be TRUE from a tradition rather than a literal fact. Anyone presenting a Gospel to be read by the GENERAL PUBLIC today should understand that there is no single answer or interpretation, NO ABSOLUTE TRUTH. THE TRADITION - 4 As I pointed out in the course LOST CHRISTIANITIES, one person s divinely inspired written sources are another person s heresies. AND VICE VERSA. Who can say which is RIGHT and which is WRONG? This is where we must be very careful about tradition (and opinion).