Subject: Mark 16:16 what does it say? |
Bible Note: Greetings Grace and Truth! It is difficult to type in all of the names for the manuscripts since we can't use Greek and Hebrew fonts, but I'll do my best: Mark 16:9-20 is not found in the following manuscripts: 1) Aleph (dating from the 4th century - one of the oldest complete manuscripts containing all of the new Testment books). 2) Beta (dating from the 4th century) 3) The Old Latin codex Bobiensis (itk) dating from the 4th to 5th century. 4) The Sinaitic Syriac manuscript (about the 4th century). 5) 100 Aremenian manuscripts. 6) The two oldest Georgian manuscripts. 7) Clement of Alexandria shows no knowledge of the longer ending (4th Century). 8) Origen shows no knowledge of the longer ending (3rd century). Granted, these last two are arguments from silence, but they had opportunity to quote the longer ending if it were original. 9) Eusebius states that the longer ending was absent from almost all Greek copies of Mark known to him (4th century). 10) Jerome states that the longer ending was absent from almost all Greek copies of Mark known to him (5th century). 11) Many manuscripts list it with notations that mark it as a spurious reading. 12) Many others include the passage, but note that it was absent from older Greek copies. This is the external textual evidence for the exclusion of Mark 16:9-20. Source(Bruce Metzger's, "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament") Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |