Bible Query - Early
Manuscripts of 3 John

Q: In Jde, what are early New Testament manuscripts we have preserved today?
A: Here are many of them.
p72 Bodmer 7 & 8 Papyrii 1 Peter 1:1-5:14, 2 Peter 1:1-3:18 and Jude 1-25. c.300 A.D. A photograph of part of this manuscript (showing 2 Peter 1:16-2:2) is in The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.468. It says the handwriting is written "in a documentary hand."
p74 (=Bodmer 17) Acts 1:2-5,7-11,13-15,18-19,22-25; 2:2-4; 2:6-3:26; 4:2-6,8-27; 4:29-27:25; 27:27-28:31; James 1:1-6,8-19,21-23,25,27; 2:1-3,5-15; 18-22, 25-26; 3:1,5-6,10-12,14,17-18; 4:8,11-14; 5:1-3,7-9,12-14,19-20; 1 Peter 1:1-2,7-8,13,19-20,25; 2:6-7,11-12,18,24; 3:4-5; 2 Peter 2:21; 3:4,11,16; 1 John 1:1,6; 2:1-2,7,13-14,18-19,25-26; 3:1-2,8,14,19-20; 4:1,6-7,12,16-17;5:3-4,9-10,17; 2 John 1,6-7,13; 3 John 6,12; Jude 3,7,12,18,24 (7th century)
7th century - 1968 - The Text of the New Testament has James 2:4 and 1 Peter 1:12
7th century - 1975 - Aland et al. Third Edition
6th century - 1998 - Aland et al. Fourth Revised Edition
p78 (=Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2684) c.300 A.D. Jude 4-5,7-8 The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.602 indicates this is not a very reliable text. "in four verses it contains two unique and three rare readings, all of them in disagreement with the earliest witness [p72]." (quoted from Grenfell and Hunt Oxy. Pap., 34:4) Earlier is not always better.
Vaticanus [B] 325-350 A.D. all of Jude
Sinaiticus [Si] 340-350 A.D. all of Jude
Alexandrinus [A] c.450 A.D all of Jude
Bohairic Coptic [Boh] 3rd/4th century
Sahidic Coptic [Sah] 3rd/4rth century
Ephraemi Rescriptus 5th century
Armenian [Arm] from 5th century
Georgian [Geo] from 5th century
Ethiopic [Eth] from c.500 A.D.
Philoxenian Syriac 507/508 A.D. Bishop Philoxenus of Mabug
Harclean Syriac [Syr H] 616.A.D Thomas of Harkel

Q: In Jde, what are the manuscript variations with the Textus Receptus, the basis for the KJV?
A: Jay P. Green, Sr. in the Interlinear Bible records variations in 8 words between the Textus Receptus and the majority text. These are in 8 places. He does not record any additional alternates.

Q: In Jde, what are some of the manuscript variations?
A: The book of Jude has a total of about 459 Greek words and a word-for-word accuracy of 97.8%, with only 10 words in question. These are in 8 verses (9 places), out of 25 total verses. Below are the variations with the primary choice and the top alternate choice. Aland, from which this primarily is based, also gives a judgment of the degree of certainty for each variation.
Jude 1 "kept by" vs. "having been set apart"
Jude 3 "our" salvation" vs. "your salvation" vs. "salvation"
Jude 4 "master" (p72, p78, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, some Byzantine Lectionary, Italic, Sahidic Coptic, Bohairic Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Georgian) vs. "master, God" (some Byzantine, Harclean Syriac, Palestinian [Melchite] Syriac)
Jude 5 "Lord" vs. "God" vs. "Jesus" vs. "Christ"
"Lord" is in original Sinaiticus, Athos (8th/9th century), Ephraemi Rescriptus (5th century), Harclean Syriac),
"God" is in Philoxenian Syriac, one Italic, Armenian, Georgian, 2nd corrector Ephraemi Rescriptus p72 (=Bodmer 7/8) ca.300 A.D.,
"Jesus" Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, many Italic, Ethiopic, Origen, Jerome, Cyril, Bohairic Coptic (Sahidic Coptic) (parenthesis in Aland et al.)
"Lord" Ephraem, Moscow 9th century, Byzantine Lectionary,
Jude 8 "lordship" vs. "lordships" (1 letter difference)
Jude 12 "fearlessly you" vs. "fearlessly us"
Jude 22 "mercy/compassion" vs. "rebuke" vs. "pity"
Jude 23 "save" vs. "save with fear" (2 words)
Jude 23 "mercy/compassion" vs. "pity"
Some manuscripts add the postscript, "Letter of Jude general"
Bibliography for this question: The Greek New Testament Third Edition by Kurt Aland et al., The Greek New Testament Fourth Edition by Kurt Aland et al., Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry, the Interlinear Bible by Jay P. Green, The Expositor's Bible Commentary volume 8, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament 2nd edition by Bruce M. Metzger, The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts edited by Philip W. Comfort and David P. Barrett, The Expositor's Greek Testament edited by W. Robertson Nicoll, and footnotes in the NASB, NIV, NKJV, and NRSV Bible translations. Manuscripts of the Greek Bible : An Introduction to Paleography by Bruce M. Metzger also has interesting information on the characteristics and quality of the copying of each manuscript.

Q: In Jde, how do the early manuscripts compare with each other?
A: The table below shows each of the places in question, and the number says which variant is in each manuscript.

Place

words

p72

B

Si

A

C

Sah

Boh

ClemA

Ital

Vg

Luc

Eth

Byz

Arm

Geo

SyrPh

Syr H


Jde 1a

1

1

1

1

1

-

1

1
 
1

1

1

(1)

2

3

1

3

3

Jde 1b

1

1

1

1

1

-

1

1
 
1

1/ 2

1

(1)

1

2

2

2

3

Jde 3

1

1

1

1

1

-

1

2
 
2

1?/2

1

1

3

1

1

1

1

Jde 4a

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1
 
1

1

1

1

1/2

1

1

2

2

Jde 4b

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1
 
1

1/ 2?

(1)

1

1

1

1

1

1

Jde 5

1

7

5

9

5

1

3

3

1?

4

2?/5/6?

(1)

(5)

8

2

2

2

1

Jde 8

1

1

1

2

1

-

2

1
 
1

1

1

1

1

2

1

1

1

Jde 12

1

1

1

3

1

3?

1

1
 
2

2

1

1

1

-

1

2

1

Jde 19

1

1

1

1

1

2

-

-

1?

2

1/ 2

1

-

1

1

2
   

Jde 22

1

4

1

1

2

2

4

2

1

2/4

2/3?
 
-

3

-

1

4

1

Jde 23

2

6

5

2

3

4

7

3

1?

1/7

1
 
-

5

(1)

(1)

(7)

1

Jde 23

1

5

1

1

1

4

5

1

1?

1

1
 
-

4

1

1

5

4

Jde 25

1

1

1

1

1

1

1?

1
 
1

1
 
-

2

1

1

1

1

Place

words

p72

B

Si

A

C

Sah

Boh

ClemA

Ital

Vg

Luc

Eth

Byz

Arm

Geo

Syr Ph

Syr H



 

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