Bible Query - Early
Manuscripts of Hebrews

Q: In Heb, what are early New Testament manuscripts we have preserved today?
A: Here are many of them.
p20 (=Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1171) 3rd century. James 2:19-3:2; (6 out of 96 letters of 3:3); 3:4-9) A photograph of this manuscript is in The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.96. This book also mentions that the handwriting on the manuscript is very similar to the P. Egerton 4 manuscript of 2 Chronicles and p27, a manuscript of Romans. Alexandrian text
3rd century - 1968 - The Text of the New Testament does not mention 3:3.
3rd century - 1998 - Aland et al. Fourth Revised Edition
p23 Urbana (early 3rd) (=Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1229 (James 1:10-12, 15-18) A photograph of this is in The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.102.
Beginning of 3rd century - 1968 - The Text of the New Testament.
p54 5th-6th century. (James 2:16-18, 2:21?; 2:22-26; 3:2-4) Agrees with Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Ephraemi Rescriptus
5th/6th century - 1968 - The Text of the New Testament does not have 2:21.
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
p100 (=Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 4449) James 3:13-4:4; 4:9-5:1 (3rd or 4th century)
Vaticanus (325-350 A.D.), Sinaiticus (340-350 A.D.), and Alexandrinus (c.450 A.D) have all of James.
Bohairic Coptic 3rd/4th century
Sahidic Coptic 3rd/4rth century
Ephraemi Rescriptus 5th (James 1:1-4:2)
0166 5th century. (James 1:11)
0173 5th century. (James 1:25-27)
Armenian [Arm] from 5th century
Georgian [Geo] from 5th century
Ethiopic [Eth] from c.500 A.D.
Palestinian Syriac [Syr Pal] from c.6th century (James 1:1-12)
Peshitta Syriac [Syr P] 411-435 A.D... Over 350 manuscripts.
Harclean Syriac [Syr H] 616.A.D Thomas of Harkel
According to the New International Greek Testament Commentary on James p.59-60, there are no "western family" texts of James, only Alexandrian and Byzantine.

Q: In Jms, 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 approximately 39 words between the Textus Receptus and the majority text. These are in 26 places. He does not record any additional alternates.

Q: In Jms, what are some of the manuscript variations?
A: The book of James has a total of about 1,735 Greek words and a word-for-word accuracy of 98.4%, with only 34 words in question. These are in 20 verses (24 places), out of 108 total verses. Of the 24 places, 21 are single word. 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.
Jms 1:3 "testing" vs. "severe ordeal" (1 letter) (1241 12th century) (1 word not counted in the totals)
Jms 1:12 "promised" vs. "God has promised" vs. "the Lord has promised" (2 words)
Jms 1:17 "shadow" vs. "darkness"
Jms 1:17 "due to change" vs. "of turning"
Jms 1:19 "brothers" vs. "my brothers"
Jms 1:27 "unspotted himself to keep" singular vs. plural
Jms 2:3 "stand there or sit" vs. "stand there and sit"
Jms 2:19 "the God is one" vs. "is God one"
Jms 2:20 "useless" vs. "dead"
Jms 2:25 "messengers" vs. "messengers of Israel" (2 words)
Jms 3:3 "Surely but" vs. "Look"
Jms 3:8 "unrestrainable evil" vs. "unsettled evil"
Jms 3:9 "Lord" vs. "God"
Jms 3:12 "Thus" vs. "so neither"
Jms 4:4 "adulteresses." vs. "adulterers and adulteresses."
Jms 4:5 "has dwelt" vs. "he once dwelt"
Jms 4:12 "the lawgiver" vs. "lawgiver" (the one-letter word 'o')
Jms 4:14 "of the morrow" vs. "the morrow"
Jms 4:14 "what" vs. "what for"
Jms 4:14 "it is" vs. "to be"
Jms 5:4 "has been kept back" (Alexandrinus, 2nd corrector of Vaticanus, Byzantine Lectionary, Ethiopic) vs. "?" (a rare word) (Sinaiticus and original Vaticanus)
Jms 5:7 "receive" vs. "receive rain" vs. "rain receive"
Jms 5:14 "the Lord" vs. "Lord" vs. "Christ" (2 words)
Jms 5:20 "Let him know" vs. "He knows". Also add "that"
Jms 5:20 "of him from death" vs. "from death of him"
Some manuscripts add a postscript, "Of James letter"
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 Jms, 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

p20

p23

p54

Si

A

B

C

Ac

Sah

Boh

Ital

Vg

Eth

Chrys

Byz

Arm

Geo

Syr Pal

Syr P

Syr H


Jms 1:3

1
     
1

1

1

1
     
1

1

1
 
1

1

1

1

1

1

Jms 1:12

2
 
1
 
1

1

1
   
1

1

2

2
   
3

1

1

2

2

3

Jms 1:17a

1
 
3
 
2

1

2

1
     
1

1
   
1

1
 
-

1

1

Jms 1:17b

1
                                 
-
   

Jms 1:19

1
     
2

4

1

1
 
3

1/ 3?

1

1/ 3?
   
3

(1)

1
 
(5)

5

Jms 1:27

1
     
1

2

1

1
 
1

1

1

1

3
 
1

1
   
1

1

Jms 2:3

1
     
4

1
 
2
   
4

1/ 2

1

4
 
4

(1)

1
 
3

1

Jms 2:19

1

7
   
1

1

4

2
 
1

1

1

1/ 3?

1
 
5/6

1

1
     

Jms 2:20

1

1
   
2

2

1

1
 
1

2

1/ 3

1/ 2

2
 
2
     
2

2

Jms 2:25

2

1
 
1?

1

1

1

2

2

2

2

2

1

2
 
1/2

2

2
 
3

1

Jms 3:3

1

-
   
3

1

1
     
1

1

1
     
2

1
 
3
 

Jms 3:8

1

-
   
1

1

1

2
 
1

1

1

1

2
 
2
 
2
 
1

2

Jms 3:9

1

1
   
1

1

1

1

2

2

1/ 2

1

1
   
2

1

2
 
1

2

Jms 3:12

1
     
2

1

1

1
 
1

2

1

1
   
3

1

2
 
1

2

Jms 4:4

1
     
1

1

1
   
1

1

1

1
     
2

1
 
1

2

Jms 4:5

1
     
1

3

1
       
1

1

2
 
2

2
   
(1)

1

Jms 4:12

1
     
1

1

2A
 
1

1

1
       
1

2

2
     

Jms 4:14a

1
     
1

2

3
       
1/ 3

1

(1)
 
1
       
2

Jms 4:14b

1
     
1

2

1
   
2

1/2

1/(2)/3

2

3
 
2

1

3
 
2

1

Jms 4:14c

1
     
6

3

2
       
(4)/5

5
   
4/5
       
1

Jms 5:4

1
     
2

1

2
       
1

1

(1)
 
1

1

1
     

Jms 5:7

1
     
3
 
1
   
1

(3)

1/ 3

1/ 2?
   
2

1

1/ 2?
 
2

2

Jms 5:14

2
     
1

2

5A
       
(1)

(1)

(1)

1

1
     
(1)

(1)

Jms 5:20a

1
     
1

1

2
   
4

1

1/ 4

1

1
 
1

1

(1)
 
1

2

Jms 5:20b

1
     
1

1

2
     
1

1/ 2

1

(1)
 
3

1
   
1

1

Place

words

p20

p23

p54

Si

A

B

C

Ac

Sah

Boh

Ital

Vg

Eth

Chrys

Byz

Arm

Geo

Syr Pal

Syr P

Syr H



 

For more info please contact Christian Debater™ P.O. Box 144441 Austin, TX 78714. www.BibleQuery.org


 December 2016 version. Copyright (c) Christian Debater(tm) 1997-2017. All rights reserved except as given in the copyright notice.