Editions of the Greek New Testament
Much of what follows is a summary of An Account of the Printed Text of the Greek New Testament by Samuel P. Tregelles. The following list of editions is not exhaustive as it excludes reprints, transcriptions of single manuscripts, portions of the New Testament, Greek texts underlying modern translations, and some minor editions. Links to the original texts are listed below for most editions.
Complutensian Polyglot (1514)
The Greek New Testament included in the Complutensian Polyglot was printed in 1514 alongside the Latin Vulgate. Although it was the first Greek New Testament to be printed, it was not published until approximately 1522, by which time Erasmus had published his first three editions. The Complutensian Polyglot was spearheaded by the Spanish cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros and completed in Complutum, which is the Latin name of Alcala in Spain. The editors of the New Testament were Aelius Antonius Nebrissensis, Demetrius Cretensis, Ferdinandus Pitianus, and Lopez de Stunica, the latter of whom seems to have taken the lead in preparing the Greek text. While it is not known for certain what manuscripts were used to compile the Greek text of the New Testament, some suggest that minuscules 140, 234, and 432 may have been used. Although the text is generally Byzantine in nature, the editors include the Johannine Comma due to the influence of the Latin Vulgate. One interesting feature of the typography is that polytonic accent marks are not used, and breathing marks are used only with the letter upsilon. Instead of polytonic accents marks, an acute accent is used throughout on the tone syllable. The editors defend this practice by arguing that the accents and breathing marks were omitted in the most ancient copies and are not part of the genuine text.
Complutensian Polyglot, Volume 5 (New Testament)
Erasmus (1516–1535)
While the Greek New Testament of the Complutensian Polyglot was the first to be printed, Desiderius Erasmus was the first to publish the Greek New Testament, releasing his first edition in 1516. When Johann Froben, who was a printer in Basel, heard that the Complutensian Polyglot was being prepared in Spain, he wished to be the first to publish an edition of the Greek New Testament, so he asked Erasmus to prepare the volume for him. Froben contacted Erasmus about the project in April of 1515, and the volume was published in March of 1516 alongside Erasmus' own Latin translation of the New Testament. Because the edition was published so quickly, it was full of typographical errors. Erasmus used only seven manuscripts to prepare his edition, namely, Minuscule 1 (Gospels, Acts, Epistles), Minuscule 2 (Gospels), Minuscule 817 (Gospels), Minuscule 2815 (Acts and Epistles), Minuscule 2816 (Pauline Epistles), Minuscule 2817 (Pauline Epistles), and Minuscule 2814 (Revelation). Because the last six verses of Revelation were missing from Minuscule 2814, Erasmus translated the Latin Vulgate into Greek as best he could. He also used the Latin Vulgate to supply what he thought was deficient in his Greek manuscripts in other verses as well. Erasmus did not include the Johannine comma in his first or second editions, because he could not find it in any Greek manuscripts. For this he was attacked by Edward Lee, who later became the Archbishop of York, and Lopez de Stunica, the lead editor of the Greek New Testament included in the Complutensian Polyglot. Erasmus eventually promised to include the Johannine Comma if a Greek manuscript could be found that contained such a reading. In 1519 Erasmus published his second edition, which corrected many of the typographical errors of the first edition. This second edition was used by Martin Luther in his German translation. After publishing his second edition, Erasmus was presented with Minuscule 61, which contained the Johannine Comma. Although he doubted the genuineness of the text, he included it beginning with his third edition to fulfill his earlier promise. It was then included in all the subsequent editions of Stephanus, Beza, the House of Elzevir, and Scrivener. Erasmus' third edition, published in 1522, was used by William Tyndale in his English translation. It was also consulted by the translators of the Geneva Bible and King James Bible. After Erasmus' third edition was published, he was able to review a copy of the Complutensian Polyglot. On the authority of the Complutensian Polyglot, Erasmus amended at least ninety readings in Revelation, publishing his fourth edition in 1527. This fourth edition was unique in that it was the only one of his editions that also included the Latin Vulgate alongside the Greek text and Erasmus' own Latin translation. According to John Mill, Erasmus' fifth edition varied form his fourth edition in only four places.
1st Edition (1516)
2nd Edition (1519)
3rd Edition (1522)
4th Edition (1527)
5th Edition (1535)
Aldine Septuagint and Greek New Testament (1518)
The Greek New Testament appended to the Aldine Septuagint was Erasmus' first edition with many silent corrections.
Aldine Septuagint and Greek New Testament
Simon de Colines (1534)
Simon de Colines was a partner of the well-known French printer Henri Estienne. When Estienne died in 1520, Colines married his widow and ran the printing house until Henri Estienne's son Robert took over the family business in 1526. By that time Colines had established his own print shop nearby. His 1534 edition of the Greek New Testament was based on Erasmus' text, but in some places Colines had amended the text based on his on review of manuscripts. He did not include the Johannine Comma. Colines' edition seems to have had no influence whatsoever on editions by later editors.
Stephanus (1546–1551)
Robert Estienne (known as Stephanus) produced four editions of the Greek New Testament form 1546 to 1551. His first two editions contained a text that blended readings from the Complutensian Polyglot and Erasmus. In his third and fourth editions, he followed Erasmus almost exclusively (although he made a number of minor changes to the text). The third edition, known as Editio Regia or the “Royal Edition,” is a splendid masterpiece of typographical skill. It was also the first printed edition of the Greek New Testament to include text-critical notes in the margins. Stephanus cited the Complutensian Polyglot and fifteen manuscripts. These citations are not exhaustive but merely give a sampling of variant readings. The fourth edition was the first to be divided into modern verses and presented the Greek text alongside the Latin Vulgate and Erasmus' Latin translation.
1st Edition (1546)
2nd Edition (1549)
3rd Edition (1550)
4th Edition, Volume 1 (1551)
4th Edition, Volume 2 (1551)
Beza (1560–1598)
Theodore Beza published five editions of the Greek New Testament between 1560 and 1598. He mostly followed the text of Stephanus but did introduce some minor changes to the text based on his examination of Greek manuscripts. His first two editions were published alongside his own Latin translation, while his final three editions included the Latin Vulgate in addition to his own Latin translation. His fifth edition was the current edition at the time the King James Bible was translated (although the King James translators did not follow Beza's edition exclusively). Each of Beza's editions included extensive marginal notes in which he frequently mentions variant readings.
1st Edition (1560)
2nd Edition (1565)
3rd Edition (1582)
4th Edition (1589)
5th Edition (1598)
Antwerp Polyglot Greek New Testament (1572)
The Antwerp Polyglot, paid for Philip II of Spain, was supervised by the Spanish scholar Benedictus Arias Montanus and printed in Antwerp by a well-known printer, Christophe Plantin. Volume 5, which contains the Greek New Testament, presents the New Testament in Greek and Syrica, each with a Latin translation, and a translation of the Syriac into Hebrew. It follows the same general text as Erasmus, Stephanus, and Beza.
House of Elzevir (1624–1656)
The House of Elzevir continued publishing what had become the standard text of the Greek New Testament. It is not known who was the editor for the three Elzevir editions, as they sometimes agree with Stephanus and sometimes with Beza, while at other times departing from both. The 1633 edition has the distinction of introducing the term Textus Receptus in the preface, stating, “Textum ergo habes, nunc ab omnibus receptum,” (“so you have the text, now received by all”).
1st Edition (1624)
2nd Edition (1633)
3rd Edition (1656)
Walton Polyglot (1657)
Brian Walton was an Anglican priest who produced a six-volume Polyglot. The New Testament was presented in Latin, Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, and Ethiopic. The Greek text follows the 1550 edition of Stephanus. In 1660 Walton was elected Bishop of Chester.
Walton Polyglot, Volume 5 (New Testament)
Curcellaeus (1658)
Stephanus Curcellaeus (Étienne de Courcelles) was a French Protestant minister who produced a Greek New Testament with variant readings in the margin. He did not list the authorities for the variant readings, and those drawn from manuscripts were mingled with his own conjectures. Because many of these conjectures had to do with points of theology, the edition of Curcellaeus turned many away from the study of textual criticism, leading them to think that the discipline was directed against the authority and integrity of Scripture.
Curcellaeus Greek New Testament
Fell (1675)
To allay the concerns that arose in response to the edition of Curcellaeus, John Fell, Bishop of Oxford, published a small edition of the Greek New Testament that had variant readings in the margin along with the authorities supporting those readings. In addition to citing manuscripts, Fell's edition also cited the Coptic and Gothic versions. The conjectures of Curcellaeus were also included, citing an abbreviation of his name as the authority.
Mill (1707–1710)
Dr. John Mill labored at his Greek New Testament for thirty years, completing just two weeks before his death. His edition has been said to “commence the age of manhood in the criticism of the Greek New Testament.” Mill endeavored to bring together all accessible critical materials into one volume, including all variant readings in manuscripts, ancient versions, and quotations of church fathers. While others were later able to expand upon his work, it was Mill who cast the vision for a volume that presented all critical materials in one volume. Although Mill exceeded all who had gone before him in compiling critical materials, he did not produce a new Greek text. Instead, he printed the third edition of Stephanus (with typographical errors corrected). In 1710 a second edition of Mill's Greek New Testament was published under the care of Ludolph Küster, who inserted much of the material in Mills' appendix into the marginal notes of the Greek text, while also adding readings from twelve additional manuscripts and making the way of referencing variant readings more clear.
1st Edition (1707)
2nd Edition (1710)
Wells (1709–1719)
Soon after the publication of Mills' Greek New Testament, Dr. Edward Wells attempted to apply the results of Mills' critical materials to the actual Greek text and also to a revised English translation. Wells thus became the first to prepare a critically revised Greek text.
Volume 1 (1709)
Volume 2 (1719)
Mace (1729)
Daniel Mace was a Presbyterian minister who, like Edward Wells, prepared a critically revised Greek text based on Mills' Greek New Testament published anonymously alongside a new English translation that could be considered a precursor of “dynamic equivalent” translations.
Volume 1 (1729)
Volume 2 (1729)
Bengel (1734)
Johann Bengel was a German text critic who published his edition of the Greek New Testament in 1734. For the text of his edition, he chose not to insert any variant reading that had not already been printed in a previous edition of the Greek text. However, in the book of Revelation, he introduced certain new readings based on manuscript authority because of what he considered to be the corrupt nature of the text. In the lower margin he documented a selection of variant readings, denoting their relative importance by using the first five letters of the Greek alphabet. The letter α marked readings that he judged to be the true readings even though he did not venture to put the readings into his text. The letter β marked a reading that he judged to be better than the reading in the text, the letter γ marked a reading equal to the textual reading, the letter δ marked readings inferior to those in the text, and the letter ε marked a reading that was vastly inferior even though it was approved by some. In his critical apparatus, Bengel gave evidence both for and against each reading, often appealing to the idea that, in cases of equal evidence, the more difficult reading stands on higher ground since it was less likely to have been introduced by scribes. In his review of variant readings, Bengel observed that there were two separate families of manuscripts, which he termed African (Alexandrian) and Asiatic (Byzantine). Bengel is also known for the pains he took to regulate the punctuation of the Greek New Testament and divide it into paragraphs.
Wetstein (1751–1752)
Johann Wetstein was a Swiss theologian whose Greek New Testament added many new critical materials to aid the work of the textual critic. Wetstein followed the practice of printing the common Greek text while indicating his preferred readings in the lower margin. The lower margin is divided into three sections. The upper section documents Wetstein's preferred readings preceded by a tilde (which matches a tilde in the text), the middle section documents variant readings, including many documents that no one had collated prior to Westein. The bottom section contains many passages from classical authors, and Talmudic and Rabbinical extracts, which in Wetstein’s opinion illustrate some passage in the sacred text, elucidate the use of a certain word, or present instances of similar grammatical constructions. Wetstein's notes are so extensive that there is often only one or two lines of the actual text of the Greek New Testament on a page. Wetstein's edition is also noted because of the methodical account he gives of the manuscripts, versions, and church fathers. One peculiarity of Wetstein was that he stigmatized the oldest Greek manuscripts because they often agreed with the Latin versions. He believed that this was a result of interpolating the Latin readings into the Greek manuscripts.
Volume 1 (1751)
Volume 2 (1752)
Griesbach (1774–1806)
Johann J. Griesbach was a German textual critic who disagreed with Wetstein that the oldest Greek manuscripts were interpolated from the Latin. Thus, he sought to give greater weight to these ancient documents after Wetstein had largely discredited them. He also built upon Bengel's division of the manuscripts into families. While Bengel proposed that there were two families, African (Alexandrian) and Asiatic (Byzantine), Griesbach proposed three families, namely, Alexandrian, Western, and Constantinopolitan (Byzantine). Griesbach argued that the Western text was the earliest text in circulation but required much correction due to the many errors of copyists. He also argued that the Alexandrian family was the result of attempts to revise the old corrupt text, and that the Constantinopolitan was later, flowing from the other two families. Griesbach referred to these families as recensions. For Griesbach, individual manuscripts, versions, and quotations from church fathers had value inasmuch as they helped shape the readings of his three recensions, but in making text-critical evaluations, Griesbach placed great emphasis on readings that were supported by more than one of these three recensions. Toward the end of his life, however, Griesbach came to realize that it was impossible to draw an actual line of distinction between his Alexandrian and Western recensions. In both his editions, when he differs from Elzevir, he places the Elzevir reading in the inner margin. In the inner margin he also lists readings considered worthy of special attention. For the readings in the inner margin he includes symbols including the probability, in his opinion, that the reading represents the original text of the Greek New Testament. His lower apparatus gives more details as to the authorities supporting variant readings.
1st Edition, Volume 1 (1774/1777)
1st Edition, Volume 2 (1775)
2nd Edition, Volume 1 (1796)
2nd Edition, Volume 2 (1806)
Matthaei (1782–1807)
Christian Matthaei was a German professor of classical literature, who taught first in Wittenberg and then in Moscow. In Moscow he found a large number of Greek manuscripts that had been brought from Athos and that belonged to the Byzantine family. These manuscripts had never been collated and were almost entirely unknown in Western Europe. He diligently collated approximately seventy of these manuscripts and produced a Greek New Testament issued in twelve volumes from 1782 to 1788 alongside the Latin Vulgate. Because of his meticulous work, his apparatus leaves little doubt as to the readings of the manuscripts he collated. He also includes in his apparatus many biblical citations from John Chrysostom. Matthaei saw little value in the Alexandrian and Western manuscript families, preferring to produce a Greek text based on the Byzantine family. Thus, he became the first to publish a Byzantine Greek New Testament based on the Majority Greek text rather than the Textus Receptus. He published a second edition in three volumes from 1803 to 1807 in which he further refined his Greek text. In the second edition his apparatus does detail differences in the manuscripts he collated, but rather it presents a selection of variant readings along with the letter A, B, C, D, or E, which each represent a different degree of likelihood that the reading represents the original text of the New Testament.
1st Edition, Volume 1 (1788)
1st Edition, Volume 2 (1788)
1st Edition, Volume 3 (1786)
1st Edition, Volume 4 (1786)
1st Edition, Volume 5 (1782)
1st Edition, Volume 6 (1782)
1st Edition, Volume 7 (1783)
1st Edition, Volume 8 (1784)
1st Edition, Volume 9 (1785)
1st Edition, Volume 10 (1784)
1st Edition, Volume 11 (1782)
1st Edition, Volume 12 (1785)
2nd Edition, Volume 1 (1803)
2nd Edition, Volume 2 (1804)
2nd Edition, Volume 3 (1807)
Birch (1788–1800)
Andreas Birch was a professor from Copenhagen who was sent by the king of Denmark, Christian VII, to examine manuscripts in Italy, Germany, and other European countries from 1781 to 1783. After his return he was directed by the king to produce a new edition of the Greek New Testament, drawing also from the manuscripts in the Royal Library, to which Jacob G. C. Adler and professor Daniel Moldenhawer had also contributed. Birch followed the Greek text of Mill's edition. His edition is most notable for being the first edition to publish the readings of Codex Vaticanus (designated by siglum B or 03).
Volume 1 (1788)
Volume 2 (1798)
Volume 3 (1800)
Lloyd (1830)
In 1827 Bishop Charles Lloyd edited a pocket edition of the Greek New Testament, which was printed by the Oxford University Press. This edition contains Mill's Greek text (which was basically the 1550 edition of Stephanus), Bengel's paragraph divisions and punctuations, the cross-references found in the edition of Curcellaeus, and the Eusebian canons. This edition was published in 1830. It is noteworthy because it became for many years the standard edition of the Greek New Testament printed by Oxford University Press.
Scholz (1830–1836)
Johann M. A. Scholz was a German biblical scholar who spent several years collating and examining manuscripts. After initially proposing five major manuscript families, he eventually rejected that idea and embraced the two manuscript families that had been proposed by Bengel. However, instead of deeming the Alexandrian manuscripts to be more important, Scholz took the opposite view, maintaining that the true text of the Greek New Testament is found in the Constantinopolitan (Byzantine) manuscripts. Scholz argued that the Byzantine family always presents a uniform text, while the manuscripts and versions of the Alexandrian family have many discrepancies. Scholz's Greek text mostly follow the Byzantine Majority text, but at times it follows Textus Receptus or Alexandrian readings instead of the Byzantine reading. His upper apparatus indicates the places where his Greek text reads differently from the Textus Receptus, Alexandrian text, or Constantinopolitan (Byzantine) text. His lower apparatus gives more details as to the authorities supporting variant readings.
Volume 1 (1830)
Volume 2 (1836)
Lachmann (1831–1850)
Karl Lachmann was a German textual critic. He determined to cast aside the Textus Receptus completely and edit the Greek New Testament from scratch, seeking to present the Greek text as it existed in the oldest Greek manuscripts. He used the citations of Origen, the readings of the Old Latin, and the citations of the Latin fathers as subsidiary aids. He did not consider his text to be the original text of the New Testament per se, but a representation of the text as it was transmitted in the fourth century. Even when Lachmann's principal sources agreed on what was unquestionably an error, Lachmann included the error in his text, not supposing that it was indeed the original text of the autographs, but that it represented the common text of the fourth century. Lachmann published his Greek text in 1831 without any introductory material or explanation of his methodology or goals. He did include an appendix indicating the places where he differed from the received text. In that appendix there is a brief paragraph indicating that he prefers the witness of the Eastern/African (Alexandrian) churches. And when those witnesses are divided, he states his preference for the Eastern/African witnesses that are in agreement with the Italian (Western) witnesses. He also mentions that he sometimes uses brackets and sometimes marginal notes to indicate when there is a large discrepancy among the witnesses. Because of the lack of explanatory material accompanying this volume, the intentions of Lachmann's first edition were not well understood. In his second edition Lachmann includes a preface to help the reader. The text in Lachmann's second edition varies little from the first. The main difference is that, instead of giving priority to the Eastern/African witnesses, he considers the combined evidence of the African and the Italian witnesses. The lower margin has three sections. The upper section indicates readings where the readings of the African and Italian witnesses fluctuate. The middle section lists the authorities for various readings. In both the upper and middle sections reference is given by line number, which makes the marginal notes somewhat difficult to navigate. The lower section of the page is the Latin Vulgate.
1st Edition (1831)
2nd Edition, Volume 1 (1842)
2nd Edition, Volume 2 (1850)
Tischendorf (1841–1872)
Constantin von Tischendorf was a German biblical scholar, well known for discovering Codex Sinaiticus in 1844 (though not being shown the full manuscript until 1859). He published many editions of his Greek New Testament. He himself refers to his final edition as his eighth edition. However, if reprints and minor editions are included, there were twenty or twenty-one editions published during his lifetime. If posthumous prints are included, it raises the number to forty-one. While Tischendorf's first, seventh, and eighth editions are clearly identifiable, it is no small task to determine what he considered to be his second through sixth editions. There are, however, four main recensions of his text, represented in his 1841 (first), 1849, 1859 (seventh), and 1869-1872 (eighth) editions. Although Tischendorf published his first edition in 1841, his text-critical principles evolved over time and his great efforts as a collator did not occur until later. Consequently, this first edition can hardly be considered a representation of Tischendorf's text. Between 1841 and 1849 collated many Greek manuscripts, famously deciphering Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (designated by siglum C or 04). Tischendorf's 1849 edition, identified as the second Leipzig edition, was a small hand edition that was not large enough to present the full results of his labors in collating and transcribing manuscripts. Consequently, he provides on a selection of various readings and cites his authorities with such brevity that it requires a great deal of attention to determine which authorities support and which authorities oppose any given reading. The 1841 and 1849 editions relied heavily on the authority of ancient manuscripts, but Tischendorf's 1859 (seventh) edition came nearer to the received text. In the year his seventh edition was published, Tischendorf was shown the entire Codex Sinaiticus (designated by siglum א or 01), which he transcribed and published in 1862. Because the discovery of Codex Sinaiticus was so significant, Tischendorf allowed the readings of the codex to greatly influence his final Greek text, published in his eighth edition. This edition is Tischendorf's magnum opus and includes a much more detailed apparatus than his 1849 edition.
1st Edition (1841)
2nd Leipzig Edition (1849)
7th Edition (1859)
8th Edition, Volume 1 (1869)
8th Edition, Volume 2 (1872)
Alford (1849–1878)
Henry Alford worked on the monumental edition of his Greek Testament primarily from 1849 to 1861. However, he continued releasing new editions through the end of his life. The final editions were published posthumously. Alford generally follows the critical text of his contemporaries such as Tregelles and Tischendorf, yet he had a certain leaning toward the received text. His edition is most notable for the detailed grammatical, literary, lexical, and textual commentary that accompanies his text.
Volume 1, 7th Edition (1874)
Volume 2, 7th Edition (1877)
Volume 3, 5th Edition (1871)
Volume 4, New Edition (1878)
Tregelles (1857–1872)
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles was and English Bible scholar and text critic. He traveled widely throughout Europe, transcribing and collating any manuscripts he could lay his hands on. He published his Greek New Testament in six volumes from 1857 to 1872. His aim was to present the Greek text of the New Testament best attested in the earlier centuries based on the authority of ancient manuscripts and versions, with the aid of early citations from the church fathers. He also endeavored to give the entire testimony of ancient manuscripts, versions up to the seventh century, and citations of the church fathers up to the time of Eusebius. While publishing his Greek text in multiple volumes had the advantage of getting his work in print quickly, the disadvantage was that he ran the risk of his work being outdated by new discoveries. This is precisely what happened as a more precise transcription of Codex Vaticanus became available in 1859 and the Tischendorf's transcription of Codex Sinaiticus became available in 1862. Thus, Tregelles' first two volumes were outdated almost immediately after he published them. While Tregelles acknowledged that there were groups or families of manuscripts, he maintained that those groups or families are very difficult to demarcate. Consequently, he put more emphasis on individual manuscripts than on families of manuscripts. Tregelles was a member of the revision committee for the English Revised Version, but unfortunately he died six years before the publication of the Revised Version New Testament. Nevertheless, when the revisers depart from the Textus Receptus the generally follow either Westcott-Hort's edition (see below) or Tregelles' edition.
Volume 1 (1857)
Volume 2 (1861)
Volume 3 (1865)
Volume 4 (1869)
Volume 5-6 (1870/1872)
Stockmeyer-Riggenbach (1880)
J. Stockmeyer and E. Riggenbach edited this edition, which was published by the Bible Society of Bâle (Basel) in 1880 and is known as the Bâle edition. It is highly influenced by Tischendorf.
Stockmeyer-Riggenbach
Westcott-Hort (1881)
The Greek New Testament of Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort marks the transition to modern critical texts of the Greek New Testament. Their edition was highly influential for a number of reasons. First, they were able to benefit from the great efforts of Tischendorf and Tregelles (and those who had gone before them) to collate and transcribe manuscripts. In particular, Westcott and Hort had access to accurate transcriptions of all four of the great uncial codices, namely, Codex Vaticanus (B/03), Codex Sinaiticus (ℵ/01), Codex Alexandrinus (A/02), and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C/04). Second, because they were members of the revision committee for the English Revised Version, they were able to exert considerable influence on the text-critical decisions incorporated in the English translation of the New Testament. Thus, many of their text-critical decisions were made available to non-specialists. Third, unlike nearly all the Greek New Testaments that had been published before 1881, Westcott and Hort wrote their Introduction in English rather than Latin, again making it available to non-specialists. Westcott and Hort proposed four text types for the manuscripts of the Greek New Testament: Syrian (Byzantine), Western, Alexandrian, and what they called the “neutral” text, represented by their two favored manuscripts Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. They proposed that the Syrian text type arose from a single formal recension source in the fourth century (despite the lack of evidence for any such recension), thus dismissing the Byzantine majority from consideration. They also argued that the agreement of Codex Bezae with the Old Latin and Old Syriac represented the original form of the text, especially when it was shorter than other forms of the text. This was in line with their principle of lectio brevior that promoted favoring the shorter reading. This led them to exclude certain texts (called “Western non-interpolations”) that are found in the Alexandrian and Syrian text types but not found in the Western text type. Mostly, however, Westcott and Hort relied heavily upon Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus in formulating their Greek text. Their Greek text laid the foundation from all the critical texts that would follow.
Palmer (1881)
Edwin Palmer was a professor of Latin at Oxford and an archdeacon of Oxford. His Greek New Testament presents the Greek text underlying the New Testament of the English Revised Version. In the margin of his edition, he documents differences with the Greek text presumed to be underlying the King James Version, differences with the 1550 edition of Stephanus, and the marginal readings of the English Revised Version. In his efforts he was assisted by Frederick H. A. Scrivener (see below).
Scrivener (1881–1894)
Frederick H. A. Scrivener was an English New Testament textual critic and a member of the revision committee for the English Revised Version. While Westcott and Hort would present the case for adopting the readings in their Greek New Testament, Scrivener would present the case for adopting the readings of the Byzantine text. While Palmer compiled the Greek text underlying the English Revised Version, Scrivener compiled the Greek text presumed to be underlying the King James Version. In the lower margin Scrivener documents where his Greek text differs from the text and marginal readings of the English Revised Version. Scrivener includes an Appendix in which he documents the places where he departs from Beza's 1598 edition on the authority of earlier editions of the Greek New Testament. (A review of Beza's actual text, however, reveals that this Appendix fails to document many places where Scrivener departs from Beza's text.) Scrivener also documents in the Appendix a number of places where the King James Version appears to follow the Latin Vulgate rather than any printed edition of the Greek New Testament. The second edition is identical to the first edition with the exception that departures from Beza's text are not marked in the main text with an asterisk, and places where the text differs from the Greek underlying the English Revised Version are indicated by spaced text instead of bold text.
1st Edition (1881)
2nd Edition (1894)
Weymouth (1892)
Richard Francis Weymouth produced his Greek text by comparing Lachmann's second edition, Tregelles, Tischendorf's eighth edition, the latest editions of Alford's four volume Greek Testament, Bâle, Westcott-Hort, the Greek readings adopted by the English Revised Version, Bishop Lightfoot's edition of some of Paul's epistles, Bishop Ellicott's edition of some of Paul's epistles, and Bernhard Weiss' text of Matthew. When these editions differ, Weymouth selects the reading favored by the majority of editions.
The Resultant Greek New Testament
Weiss (1894–1900)
Bernhard Weiss was a German New Testament scholar whose text of the Greek New Testament was used by Eberhard Nestle as one of the three texts he compared, beginning with Nestle's third edition in 1901.
Volume 1 (1894)
Volume 2 (1900)
Nestle-Aland (1898–2012)
Eberhard Nestle was a German biblical scholar and textual critic. In 1898 he published a hand edition of the Greek New Testament by comparing the editions of Tischendorf, Westcott/Hort, and Weymouth. When these editions varied from one another, Nestle chose for his own text the variant that was preferred by two of the editions while putting the reading of the third edition in the margin. A secondary apparatus contained the readings of Codex Bezae. After 1901 he replaced Weymouth's edition with Weiss' 1894/1900 edition, and began adding evidence from other important manuscripts. In the thirteenth edition published in 1927, his son Erwin provided a consistent apparatus that showed evidence from manuscripts, early version, and patristic citations. None of these, however, were derived from primary sources but from other editions, particularly Von Soden's. This changed in the 1950's when Kurt Aland began working for the edition and checking the apparatus against primary sources. Beginning with the twenty-sixth edition, published in 1979, the text was no longer established by taking the majority reading of the critical editions referred to, but by an evaluation of the source material that had been gathered. The twenty-seventh edition, published in 1993, kept the same text as the twenty-sixth edition while the apparatus underwent an extensive revision. The twenty-eighth edition, published in 2012, adopted the text from the Edition Critica Maior in the Catholic Letters.
1st Edition (1898)
8th Edition (1910)
19th Edition (1949)
22nd Edition (1956)
24th Edition (1960)
25th Edition (1963)
27th Edition (1993)
28th Edition (2012)
Von Soden (1902–1913)
Hermann von Soden was a German biblical scholar and textual critic. He published a four-volume edition of the Greek New Testament in which he proposes three textual families: H, K, and I. H corresponds to the Alexandrian text type, K corresponds to the Byzantine text type, and I corresponds very roughly to the Western and Caesarean text types. Von Soden's K and I families are further divided into subfamilies. Outside of the Gospels, Von Soden's groupings have general been ignored because many of the manuscripts simply do not fit into the groups to which he assigns them. Nevertheless, Von Soden's recognition that the Byzantine text type is not monolithic but has distinct subfamilies was an important contribution. Prior to Von Soden the Byzantine text had mostly been treated as one and the same as the Textus Receptus. In particular, Von Soden's recognition of families Kx and Kr guided future textual critics working within the Byzantine text family, as did his classification of manuscripts in the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53–8:11).
Volume 1, Part 1 (1902/1911)
Volume 1, Part 2 (1906/1911)
Volume 1, Part 3 (1907/1911)
Volume 2 (1913)
Antoniades (1904–1912)
The purpose of the Greek New Testament edited by Basileios Antoniades was to reconstruct the most ancient text of the ecclesiastical tradition. The text is based on minuscule manuscripts from the tenth to fourteenth centuries, many of which are lectionaries. Although the Johannine comma is not found in any of the manuscripts used in compiling the Greek text for this edition, the text is included following the opinion of the Holy Synod of the Constantinopolitan Patriachate. This text, known as the Patriarchal text, differs from the Textus Receptus in about two thousand places. It also differs from the 2018 Byzantine text of Robinson and Pierpont in 1,563 places. At times it includes readings that are not well attested in Greek manuscripts. There are 209 readings that are printed with small type to indicate the judgment of the editors that they lack sufficient support among Greek manuscripts. Quotations from the Old Testament are printed with spaced type.
1st Edition (1904)
2nd Edition (1912)
Souter (1910–1947)
Alexander Souter was a Scottish biblical scholar who published Palmer's Greek text with an expanded apparatus. The lower margin has two sections. The upper section lists marginal readings in the English Revised Version. The upper section lists variant readings and the witnesses supporting them. One noteworthy feature of Souter's edition is the degree of detail given on patristic citations in the apparatus.
1st Edition (1910)
2nd Edition (1947)
Vogels (1920–1955)
The editing principle for Heinrich Vogels' Greek New Testament has been described as “choose the Alexandrian reading unless the Byzantine is easier.” Thus, it presents a mixture of Byzantine and Alexandrian readings. The original Greek text was published in 1920. A second edition printed alongside the Clementine edition of the Latin Vulgate was published in 1922, and the final edition was published in 1955.
Merk (1933–1992)
The text of Augustinus Merk, S. J., is an eclectic text that leans heavily toward the Alexandrian text. Merk's apparatus is largely that of Von Soden's but translated into Gregory's manuscript numbers and slightly updated. Merk also cites certain versions and fathers that are not cited by Von Soden.
3rd Edition (1938)
6th Edition (1948)
8th Edition (1957)
11th Edition (1992)
Bover (1943–1977)
The editions of José Maria Bover, S. J., present the Greek New Testament alongside the Latin Vulgate. The Greek text is eclectic, with a clear preference for Alexandrian readings. Bover's apparatus strongly resembles the apparatus of Merk. The most significant difference is that Bover cites the readings of various editions including Tischendorf, von Soden, Vogels, Lagrange (Gospels, Romans, and Galatians), Merk, Westcott-Hort, Weiss, Jacquier (Acts), Clark (Acts), and Allo (1 Corinthians and Revelation). Bover's apparatus is more limited than that of Merk.
United Bible Societies (1966–2012)
In 1955 Kurt Aland was invited to join an editorial committee along with Matthew Black, Bruce M. Metzger, Alan Wikgren, and Arthur Vööbus. They were tasked with producing a hand edition of the Greek New Testament to address the specific needs of Bible translators. The first edition of this Greek New Testament was published in 1966, closely following the text of Westcott/Hort. The second edition followed in 1968. When the third edition was prepared, Kurt Aland was able to share the text that was forthcoming in the twenty-sixth edition of Nestle-Aland so that the two editions could share the same Greek text. The fourth edition was published in 1993, which had the same text as the third edition. The fifth edition was published in 2014, which incorporated the text-critical decision of the Editio Critica Maior for the Catholic Letters. Because the UBS edition is geared toward Bible translators, the apparatus is limited to variants relevant for translation.
Hodges-Farstad (1982–1985)
Zane Hodges and Arthur Farstad become the first editors to publish an edition of the Majority Greek text since Matthaei did so in the 1780's. For the bulk of the New Testament, there is little question as to the reading of the Majority text. However, in the Pericope Adulterae and the Book of Revelation, there is not always a clear majority. In those two locations Hodges and Farstad folow a stemmatic approach for determining the original Greek text. Using this stemmatic approach, they hypothesize family trees to show the relationships of various manuscript families. They then make text-critical decisions based on those hypothetical family trees. In the Pericope Adulterae they give preference to the family labeled by Von Soden as μ6, and in the book of Revelation they give strong preference to the text family known as K (also known as Q or 𝔐K).
1st Edition (1982)
2nd Edition (1985)
Robinson-Pierpont (1991–2018)
Maurice Robinson and William G. Pierpoint collaborated to produce a Greek New Testament based on the Byzantine textform, following Robinson's Byzantine Priority approach to textual criticism. For the bulk of the New Testament, Robinson and Pierpont follow Von Soden's family Kx. When Kx is nearly evenly divided, Robinson and Pierpont generally follow the portion of Kx that is also supported by Von Soden's family Kr, while listing the alternate Byzantine reading in the margin. In the Pericople Adulterae they follow Von Soden's family μ5. In Revelation they generally prefer family K, but occasionally follow family Αν. This edition was first available electronically in 1986. After that it was published in print format in 1991, 2005, 2010/2016 (as a Reader's Edition), and 2018.
2005 Edition
2010/2016 Reader's Edition
2018 Edition
SBL Greek New Testament (2010)
The Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software sponsored this edition of the Greek New Testament edited by Michael W. Holmes. One of the motivating factors behind this edition was to make an electronic edition of the Greek New Testament freely available. This edition differs from the twenty-seventh edition of Nestle-Aland in over 540 variation units. The apparatus records semantically significant differences with Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, the Greek text underlying the NIV, the twenty-seventh edition of Nestle-Aland, and the 2005 edition of Robinson and Pierpont.
Pickering (2014–2020)
Partly in response to the high degree of variation in the Pericope Adulterae and the book of Revelation, Wilbur N. Pickering published The Greek New Testament according to Family 35. Family 35 (Von Soden's family Kr) is a large family of highly uniform manuscripts within the Byzantine text tradition. It is the only family of manuscripts that has a demonstrable archetype for every book of the New Testament. This means that even in the Pericope Adulterae and the book of Revelation, there is little question as to the reading of Family 35. Pickering argues that this high degree of uniformity is because Family 35 represents the original text that has been perserved. Others argue that the high degree of uniformity is the result of a rescension (which is what the superscript r signifies in Von Soden's label of Kr). Pickering's first edition lacks accents and diacritics. These are added in the second edition. The third edition makes minor corrections and also modifies some of the punctuation. In his apparatus, Pickering documents differences with the Complutensian Polyglot, Hodges and Farstad, Robinson and Pierpont, Nestle-Aland, the Patriarchal text of Antoniades, and the Textus Receptus. He also cites individual manuscripts dated to the fifth century and prior. Pickering assigns manuscript percentages to each variant. Those he derives from Text und Textwert are relatively accurate, while those he derives from other sources have a large margin of error.
Solid Rock Greek New Testament (2016–2018)
This edition was edited by Joey McCollum and Stephen L. Brown. It is basically the text of Robinson and Pierpont, although they do depart from the 2005 Robinson-Pierpont text in 42 instances. The apparatus of the Scholar's Edition documents differences with the following editions: Robinson-Pierpont 2005, Pickering 2nd Edition, 1550 edition of Stephanus, Tyndale House's 2009 corrected edition of Tregelles, Westcott-Hort, various editions of Nestle-Aland, the Greek text underlying the 1973 NIV, the Greek text underlying the 2011 NIV, and the SBL Greek New Testament. They also cite text-critical works on portions of Scripture by John Eadie (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossian, 1-2 Thessalonians), Stephen Carlson (Galatians), Matthew Solomon (Philemon), and Tommy Wasserman (Jude). The first edition was published in 2016. The Scholar's Edition and Portable Edition were published in 2018.
Scholar's Edition (2018)
Portable Edition (2018)
Tyndale House (2017)
The Greek New Testament produced at Tyndale House in Cambridge was edited by Dirk Jongkind and Peter Williams. The publishers describe this edition as one that is “based on the most recent scholarship and is rooted in the earliest manuscript witnesses.” More specifically, the publishers say that the editors “have taken a rigorously philological approach to re-evaluating the standard text—re-examining spelling and paragraph decisions as well as allowing more recent discoveries related to scribal habits to inform editorial decisions.” A limited critical apparatus is included.
Tyndale House Greek New Testament
Text-Critical Greek New Testament (2022)
The Text-Critical Greek New Testament presents the 2018 edition of Robinson and Pierpont with minor orthographical modifications. The apparatus, prepared by Robert Adam Boyd, compares the editions of Antoniades, Editio Critica Maior (Mark, Acts, and Catholic Epistles), Hodges and Farstad, Nestle-Aland, Pickering, SBL, Scrivener, Stephanus, Tyndale House, and Westcott-Hort. In Revelation when there is a consensus reading for family K and/or Αν that does not agree with Robinson and Pierpont's text, it is listed in the apparatus. This edition also includes manuscript percentages for variants that are fully collated in Text und Textwert, Tommy Wasserman's collation of Jude, Matthew Solomon's collation of Philemon, Michael Morrill's collation of John 18, and Maurice Robinson's collation of the Periocope Adulterae.
