Q: What do we know about the other papyrii manuscripts? A: There are 88 of them, labeled as p1 to p88. p20 + p27 (3rd century) p20 has James 2:19-3:2; 3:4-9 and other books. The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.96 has a picture of this manuscript, and it says the handwriting is very similar with p27, which might mean the same scribe wrote both. p23 Urbana (3rd century) James 1:10-12, 15-18 and other non-Pauline letters p45 + p46 + p47 likely are by the same scribe. Together they are called the Chester Beatty papyrus. See the following question for more on this papyrus. p54 (5th-6th century) James 2:16-18, 21-26; 3:2-4 and other books p52 is the oldest manuscript, called the John Rylands Papyrus, and is dated 117-138 A.D. It was found in Egypt. This shows that the Gospel of John was not only written by then, but distributed to Egypt by then. It has writing on both sides, and contains John 18:31-33, and 37-38. You can see a photograph of the John Rylands papyrus in the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.937, the New International Dictionary of the Bible p.534, Greek Manuscripts of the Bible p.62-63, and A General Introduction to the Bible p.388. p66 probably was written about 125-175 A.D. (formerly thought to be 150-200 A.D.) It is called the Bodmer II papyrii. See the question on p66 for more info. See the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.248-257 and A General Introduction to the Bible p.387-391 for more discussion on the earliest Old Testament and New Testament manuscripts. Q: What do we know about the Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2 (p1)? A: This manuscript is dated from the middle of the third century, from Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. It contains Matthew 1:1-9, 12, 14-20; and possibly 2:14. It is very fragmentary as the photograph shows in The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.28. It has page numbers using Greek letters. There are many similarities between it and p69, as well as Vaticanus. Q: What do we know about the Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 657 + PSI 1292 (p13)? A: This manuscript is dated from 225-250 A.D., from Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. It contains Hebrews 2:14-5:5; 10:8-22; 10:29-11:13; 11:28-12:17. It has page numbers using Greek letters. It was found with a second century manuscript Papyri Oxyrhynchus 656, a copy of Genesis. P13 has page numbers, which show there were prior pages, probably containing earlier parts of the New Testament. There are many similarities between p13 and p.46. A picture of Hebrews 12:1-17 is in The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.74. Q: What do we know about the Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1229 (p23)? A: This manuscript is dated approximately 200 A.D, from Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. It contains James 1:10-12, 15-18. It has page numbers using Greek letters. The scribe apparently preferred to copy exactly (including grammatical errors), rather than correct the grammatical errors. A photograph of James 1:15-18 is in The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.102. Q: What do we know about the Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1598 (p30)? A: It is dated from the early third century. Only three pages are preserved, or 1 Thessalonians 4:12-13, 16-17; 5:3, 8-10, 12-18, 25-28; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-2; 2:1, 9-11. Two of the pages have page numbers using Greek letters. Since the page numbers are 207 and 208, it apparently contained much more originally. Q: What do we know about the Papyrus Michigan Inventory 1571 (p38)? A: It is dated from the late second or early third century, and only one page is preserved, containing Acts 18:27-19:6, 12-16. It has a page number (59) using Greek letters ("nu" "theta") Thus Philip Comfort concludes it originally contained only the book of Acts. A picture of p38 is in The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.134. Q: What do we know about the Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1780 (p39)? A: This fragmentary manuscript contains John 8:14-22, written in the first half of the third century. It has page numbers on the even numbered page (74), which Philip Comfort says indicates it originally only contained the Gospel of John. It was discovered in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt and agrees 100% with Vaticanus, which makes it a part of the Alexandrian family of manuscripts. Q: What do we know about the Chester Beatty Papyrii (p45 + p46 + p47)? A: There are actually three Chester Beatty manuscripts: p45 containing the Gospels and Acts (third century), p46 containing Paul’s letters (about 200 A.D.), and p47 containing Revelation (late third century). They might all be the same date. At least p45 and p46 have page numbers using Greek letters. What has been preserved: In the surviving pages we have most of Paul’s letters (but not 1, 2 Timothy or Titus), and other New Testament books. The first seven pages are lost, and the first surviving page starts with Romans 5:17. After that, the order of books is Hebrews, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 Thessalonians. Physical appearance: Apparently the books were ordered by length. P46 originally had 104 leaves, of which 56 survive today in a museum near Dublin, Ireland, and 30 pages are in Ann Arbor. We know about the missing pages, because the pages had page numbers. You can see a photograph of one leaf, Romans 16:23-Hebrews 1:1-7 in Greek Manuscripts of the Bible p.64-65. A General Introduction to the Bible p.388-389 has a photograph of the first page of Ephesians and a page of Romans. Scribes: There was only one scribe and no correctors. Distinctives of the Chester Beatty papyrii: One of the peculiarities of the p46 is that Romans 16:5-27 is placed at the end of chapter 15. For Revelation, p47 contains numerical values following a few of the words in Revelation (Theomatics II p.27-28.) Bruce Metzger says on P47, "In general the text of P-47 agrees more often with that of codex Sinaiticus than with any other, though it often shows a remarkable independence." Del Washburn in Theomatics II p.632 says this shows p47 is very erroneous. See A General Introduction to the Bible p.389-390 and Manuscripts of the Greek Bible p.64 (photograph p.65) for more info. Q: What do we know about the Bodmer II papyrii (p66)? A: This is the third oldest set of preserved papyri. Martin originally dated in 200 A.D., Hunger said 100-150 A.D., The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.366 says mid 2nd century, and Aland et al.’s The Greek New Testament 4th revised edition says "about 200". Turner dated this 200-250 A.D., in part because of the wide delta’s. However, wide delta’s have since been found in 2nd century manuscripts too. Comfort gives a good rebuttal to Turner’s reasons and says it is mid 2nd century (125-175 A.D.) P66 was found in Egypt between Thebes and Panopolis close to Nag Hammadi. It is said to be either an Alexandrian manuscript, or else a mixture of a Alexandrian and Western types. However, it has some 20 differences from readings that are in all western types. What is preserved: p66 contains John 1:1-6:11; 6:35b-14:26, 29-30; 15:2-26; 16:2-4, 6-7; 16:10-20:20, 22-23; 20:25-21:9, 12, 17. The Archaeology of the New Testament (Finnegan) p.381 shows the page 137 is very fragmentary and contains part of John 19:16. Physical appearance: p66 has 78 leaves, 14.2 centimeters by 16.2 centimeters. It has 15-25 lines per page, and it has page numbers using Greek letters. Typically where the words "cross" and "crucify" appear, the scribe abbreviated it by making a chi letter and a rho letter on top of each other. Today p66 is in Cologny-Geneva Switzerland. A photograph of the first page is in The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.368. Distinctives of the Bodmer II papyrii: Some see a Docetic bias in p66. Jn 1:18 says "only begotten God" not "only begotten son" Jn 3:13 has absent "The son of man who is in heaven" Jn 7:53-8:11, this is the oldest existing manuscript where the story of the adulteress is absent. Jn 9:35 says "son of God" instead of "son of man" Jn 19:5 has absent "And he said to them, 'Behold the man'" See A General Introduction to the Bible p.390-391 and Greek Manuscripts of the Bible p.66 (photograph p.67) for more info. Q: What do we know about the Bodmer Papyrii p72? A: p72 was written around 300 A.D. It was apparently a private copy somebody commissioned four scribes to write. It is similar to the Sahidic Alexandrian type and has page numbers using Greek letters. What is preserved: The books in order are: Nativity of Mary, apocryphal Correspondence of Paul to the Corinthians, the Eleventh Ode of Solomon, Jude, Melito’s Homily on the Passover, a Fragment of a Hymn, the Apology of Phileas, Psalm 33, Psalm 34, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter. Physical appearance: It is 6 by 5 ¾ inches (15 ¼ by 14.5 cm) See A General Introduction to the Bible p.390-391 for more info. Q: What do we know about the Bodmer Papyrii 14/15 p75? A: p75 (Bodmer 14/15) was written between 175-225 A.D. Comfort and Barrett says ca. 175 A.D. What is contains: p75 contains most of Luke and John. Specifically, it contains Luke 3:18-22; 3:33-4:2; 4:34-5:10; 5:37-6:4; 6:10-7:32; 7:35-39,41-43; 7:46-9:2; 9:4-17:15; 17:19-18:18; 22:4-24:53. It also has John 1:1-11:45,28-57; 12:3-13:1; 13:8-9; 14:8-29; 15:7-8. (Luke 1:1-317 is missing because of the loss of eight leaves. John 7:53-8:11 was never present. Physical appearance: p75 has 102 leaves preserved (out of an original 144) that are 10 ¼ by 5 1/3 inches (26 by 13.5 cm). In many, but not all, of the places cross and crucify were abbreviated with the letters chi and rho written over each other, according to The Archaeology of the New Testament (Finnegan) p.382,383. Distinctives of Bodmer Papyrii 14/15: According to The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.494-496, the scribe had a tendency to drop pronouns. It Greek you can still tell the subject by the verb endings. Other than that, the professional Christian scribe appeared to copy things fairly closely. He apparently used Acts 12:20 to make a change in Luke 14:32, as well as a few other harmonizations. Statistics of the Bodmer 14/15 papyrii: According to The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.496, it is 87% identical to Vaticanus (92% the same in John). Vaticanus and Bodmer papyrii 14/15 has 35 significant readings common only to these two manuscripts, including, as well as common misspellings. See A General Introduction to the Bible p.390-391 and Greek Manuscripts of the Bible p.68 (photograph p.69) for more info. Q: What do we know about the Uncial 0189? A: This is the oldest surviving parchment manuscript of the New Testament, dated to the late second or early third century. It is one fragmentary page, containing Acts 5:3-21. It has a page number using Greek letters. Q: What do we know about the Papyrus Antinoopolis 12 (Uncial 0232)? A: is dated ca. 300 A.D. and contains 2 John 1-9. It was found in Antinoopolis, Egypt, and has page numbers (164 and 165) using Greek letters. Q: What do we know about the Bezae Cantabrigiensis (also called Codex Bezae)? A: This is the oldest known bilingual manuscript, with Greek on the left page, and Latin on the right. Bezae Cantabrigiensis was a western text copied c.450-550 A.D.. It often is abbreviated as "D" or called uncial 05. What has been preserved: It has preserved most of the four Gospels, parts of Acts. 3 John 11-15 is preserved in Latin only. In Greek, it has lost Matthew 1:1-20; 6:20-9:2; 27:2-12; John 1:16-3:26; Acts 8:29-10:14; 21:2-10; 15-18; 22:10-20; 22:29-28:31. In Latin it has lost Matthew 1:1-11; 6:8-8:27; 26:65-27:1; 1 John 1:1-3:16; Acts 8:20-10:4; 20:31-21:2; 21:7-10; 22:2-10; 22:20-28:31 Physical appearance: There are 510 leaves, which measure 25.8 to 26.7 cm by 17 to 22.9 cm. (Most other major manuscripts are more uniform in dimensions.) It was written on expensive vellum with brown ink. There is one column per page, and 33 lines per column. There are no spaces between the words, and Old Testament quotes are not indicated. It currently is in London, UK. Scribes and correctors: There are nine correctors, who lived from the sixth to twelfth centuries. Distinctives of Bezae Cantabrigiensis: It has the longer ending of Mark. Metzger says, "Textually, no known New Testament manuscript contains so many distinctive readings, chiefly the free addition (and occasional omission) of words, sentences, and even incidents." in Manuscripts of the Greek Bible p.89. Bruce Metzger in A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament 2nd ed. (1971) p.356 says that Bezae Cantabrigiensis was very fond of the Greek word tote. Omissions: 86 words shown below are absent primarily just in Bezae Cantabrigiensis. Mt 5:32 "and whoever is divorced/put away shall marry commits adultery" is absent in it and many Italic manuscripts as well as Augustine. (6 words) Mt 9:34 is absent in Bezae Cantabrigiensis and the Diatessaron (12 words) Mk 3:18 "Lebbaeus" vs. "Thaddaeus" in most other manuscripts Lk 12:21 absent it "this is he who treasures up for himself, is not rich toward God" (9 words) Lk 22:17-20 lack parts of 19b-20 (approximately 38 words) Lk 24:12 is absent. (21 words) Acts 1:26 Instead of "twelve apostles" it and Eusebius have "eleven apostles" vs. "twelve apostles" Acts 19:9 has "Tyrannus from 11:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon" instead of "Tyrannus" vs. "a certain Tyrannus" (6 words more) Additions: Acts 12:27 "becoming eaten by worms" vs. an addition only in the Syriac vs. an addition only in Bezae Cantabrigiensis and Italic Acts 13:43 Bezae Cantabrigiensis, Italic, and some Syriac add 11 words after "God". (Middle Egyptian Coptic adds 8 words after God.) Acts 15:2 "they appeared to go up Paul and Barnabas and certain others from amongst them" vs. replacing a 10-word phrase with a 24-word phrase (6 words in common) (Also Italic, some Syriac, Middle Egyptian Coptic) (not counted in the totals) Acts 15:12 Replaced a 10-word phrase with a 25-word phrase (2 words in common) (Only in Bezae Cantabrigiensis, Italic, some Syriac, Middle Egyptian Coptic) Acts 15:41 added 5 words Acts 16:39 replaced a 10-word phrase with a 36-word phrase (3 words in common) Acts 16:35 (replaced a 3- word phrase with an 18-word phrase (2 words in common) Acts 16:35 added 3 words. Acts 19:1 substituted a 27 word phrase for a 17 word phrase. This is also in p38 (about 300 A.D.) as well as some Syriac. Besides Bezae Cantabrigiensis, these are in some Syriac (5th century). See A General Introduction to the Bible p.395-396 and Manuscripts of the Greek Bible p.88-89 (photographs p.90-91) for more info. Q: What do we know about the Codex Claromontanus? A: This manuscript was written in the sixth century and is the complement of Bezae Cantabrigiensis. What has been preserved: It contains much of what is missing in Bezae Cantabrigiensis. It contains all of Paul’s letters and Hebrews, except for the following. Romans 1:1-7, 27-30 and 1 Corinthians 14:13-22 are lost in Greek, and 1 Corinthians 14:8-18 and Hebrews 13:21-23 are missing in Latin. The Greek is well-done, but the Latin translation is not very good. Physical appearance: There are 533 pages, which measure 7 by 9 inches (18 by 23 cm). It is written single column on vellum. See A General Introduction to the Bible p.396 for more info. Q: What do we know about the Byzantine Lectionary? A: The Byzantine Lectionary is about 1,761 to 2,209 Greek manuscripts that generally agree with each other. Lectionaries were collections of readings from the Gospels and Acts. The Byzantine Lectionary is not always uniform. In Jn 8:4 for example, some versions have "said to Him" and others have "said to tempt Him". The first preserved Byzantine Lectionary was written prior to 400 A.D. There was a second prior to 500 A.D., with 3 more prior to 600 A.D., 5 more prior to 700 A.D., 22 prior to 800 A.D., and 123 prior to 900 A.D., and 147 prior to 1000 A.D. The others range up to 1800 A.D., with the bulk of them, about 1,496, being written between the 1000 A.D. and 1400 A.D. See The Text of the New Testament : An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism by Aland and Aland, p.82 for a chart of the Lectionaries written by century. Q: Why are there so many small manuscript variations? A: First some alternative hypothetical scenarios, and then a speculation on the answer. 1. News flash! Manuscripts containing the entire New Testament have been found in a small cave in Israel. Radiocarbon dating says they are 90 A.D. +/= 100 years. At the end of each manuscript is a short note, saying this was the original manuscript by the original author. God is Almighty, and He could have made things happen this way, if He had wanted to. 2. News flash! Over the past few years hundreds of complete manuscripts of the book of Acts have been found, and dated between 100 and 300 A.D. No two of them are alike, and none of them have more than 20% in common with any other copy of Acts. God could have had His word in the New Testament be effectively lost if He had so desired. 3. News flash! It has been discovered that in 325 A.D., the Christian leaders collected every available copy of the New Testament, and burned most of them. Then they issued a "standardized" version. However, if a few early copies survived, and the testimony of religious leaders prior to this, about the length of various chapters, is proving embarrassing to those who believe the standardized version was the only one. God could have had this happen if He had so desired. If the date were moved forward about 400 years, and you replaced the words "New Testament" with "Qur’an", this is what you would have to believe if you were a Muslim who studied the history of the Qur’an. The actual situation is that we have so many copies of the New Testament that there is no doubt about what they say on any Christian doctrine. We have so many copies, not to mention all the quotes and paraphrases from the church fathers, that we know all the meaning of the Bible. However, many copies have textual copyist errors, and we are about 97% certain of each word of the New Testament. On one hand, this is a very high percentage. On the other hand, it could be higher. Perhaps a lesson to learn is that God was extremely concerned with preserving 100% of the meaning of the New Testament, but not as concerned with the individual words. We do not have as many copies of the Old Testament, but Jesus authenticated the Old Testament of His time, and we have copies of the Old Testament of His time. Q: What are the distinctives of the Armenian translation of the New Testament? A: The first Armenian translation was made in the fifth century A.D. by either Mesrob/Mesrop (died 439 A.D.) or else Sahak/Sahok the Great (390-439 A.D.) Some think it was translated from the Greek, but the nephew and disciple of Mesrob says that Sahak translated it from the Syriac. A General Introduction to the Bible p.519-520 points out that Armenian manuscripts were revised prior to the 8th century by Greek manuscripts brought from Constantinople after the Council of Ephesus. Today we only have the revised versions, and the oldest manuscripts are from the ninth century. There are about 100 Armenian manuscripts according to A Textual Commentary on the New Testament Second edition p.102. The Armenian contains every book of the New Testament, and it follows both the Byzantine and Caesarean families of manuscripts. Here are some of the distinctive readings in the Armenian. Jn 7:53-8:11 According to The Greek New Testament 4rth edition p.347, some early Armenian manuscripts have John 7:53-8:11 and other early ones do not. The standard Armenian has John 7:53-8:11 after John 21:25. Jn 8:8 "wrote on the ground" (most other manuscripts) vs. "wrote on the ground the sins of each of them" (5 words) The manuscripts with the second reading are the Armenian and much later manuscripts, starting in the 9th century. Jn 21:25 The Armenian translation (5th century) and the "f1" manuscript family add 7:53 to 8:11 here instead of after John 7:52. However, Aland says this is not Arm, but Armmss, meaning that it was an ancient version or church father that differed from the edited Armenian text. Rom 8:1 end with "Jesus" vs. "Jesus, who walk not after the flesh" vs. "Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but according to the Spirit" Most manuscripts just have Jesus. 1001 Bible Questions Answered p.18 says there is no dispute on this among textual critics, it should just be Jesus. The second variation is in the Armenian, Gothic 493-555 A.D., and Alexandrinus c.450 A.D. The third variation is in the Byzantine Lectionary, Sinaiticus (corrected) after 340 A.D., and Claromontanus (corrected) 6th century Usefulness: The Armenian translation supports the reliability of the Bible from about the fifth century on. However, the late date limits its usefulness to find the precise original Greek. Q: What are the distinctives of the Gothic translation of the New Testament? A: The Gothic Bible was translated by Ufilas (or else someone working with him) around 350 A.D.. The Goths were a powerful, warlike people. These particular Goths, called Moeso-Goths, had settled in Moesia since 250 A.D., and under their leader Fritigern defeated the Roman Emperor Valens near Adrianople in 378 A.D. A copy of the Gothic Bible is in Upsala, Sweden today, and more than half of the gospel have been preserved. Ufilas, a Greek-speaking Goth, was the second bishop of the Goths and an Arian. Despite that, it was well-done. Here is about the only peculiarity I have found is in Romans 8:1, where it is the same as the Armenian and Alexandrinus. It is important to recognize that Ufilas was an Arian heretic. Here is someone whose theology was condemned at the Council of Nicea, and had no reason to elevate Christ or follow the Orthodox Christians. Furthermore, since it was Gothic, Greek and Latin-speaking Christians would not be copying it or revising it, as they did not know Gothic. Yet, his Gothic translation was so objective, it is impossible to tell from the translation that it was not made by an Orthodox Christian. As to those who would say the Bible was tampered with by Christians who had a theological axe to grind, this is answered with Ufilas and the objectivity of the Gothic translation. Manuscripts: There are 5 Gothic manuscripts preserved. The Codex Argenteus is ca.520 A.D. Precision: For textual variants, the Gothic has very few. A General Introduction to the Bible p.518-519 says, "The translation adheres closely, almost literally, to the Greek text of the Byzantine type, and tells little to the textual critic." Today we have five fragmentary copies of the Gothic translation, 493-555 A.D., including one Gothic-Latin version. The Text of the Old Testament (by Ernst Wurthweir) p.206 says, "As a rule it [the Gothic version] is cited only casually, because the general character of its textual base is rather precisely known; for his translation Wulfilas [Ufilas] made use of a manuscript of the late Byzantine text differing little from what we find in the Greek manuscript." Q: What do we know about the Diatessaron? A: The Diatessaron (c.170 A.D.) is a harmony of the gospels that Tatian wrote in either Syriac or Greek. Tatian lived from 110-172 A.D. He was an Assyrian Christian who studied under Justin Martyr (died 165 A.D.). Unfortunately Tatian later became a heretic, joining the Encratites. The Encratites (meaning "masters of themselves") were an ascetic (and vegetarian) Gnostic cult that started about 166 A.D.. In his Diatessaron, Tatian did not include the verses showing that Jesus was a man. Thus, he left out the genealogies, and other verses. The Diatessaron quotes about 79% of the four gospels. The earliest surviving fragment of the Diatessaron is the only surviving one in Greek. It was used in the city of Dura Europa on the Euphrates before the Persians destroyed the town in 256 A.D. We have a Syriac copy, and three Arabic copies, the earliest from the 6th century. In 1957 archaeologists discovered a commentary on the Diatessaron written by Ephraem Syrus (375 A.D.). Besides the Gnostics, only some in the Syrian church liked the Diatessaron. A Syrian bishop ordered hundreds of copies destroyed, and that is why only a few are preserved today. Caution in referencing the Diatessaron: Because of the late date of the few preserved copies, the Diatessaron is not a very useful source for determining precise wording of the Gospels. Also, most of the text survives in Arabic, and Arabic tenses are less precise than Greek. The great value of this heretical witness: However, even the Diatessaron is a very useful witness in another regard. On one hand, you have a Gnostic heretic who has no qualms about leaving out of his harmony entire passages that do not suit him, namely the passages that emphasize the humanity of Jesus. Perhaps this was thought more acceptable because he was not just copying one gospel, but making a harmony of all of them, and he did not add any material. On the other hand, the 79% of the gospels Tatian did quote have been preserved as an independent work. When we look at this work, we see a very close match to the Greek scriptures preserved today. If there were wildly varying accounts of Jesus, other gospels considered as scripture, or huge differences in copies of the gospels, Tatian would have been in a far better position to know about them than the liberal scholars today who make up these theories. Tatian, the heretic who did not mind leaving out entire passages, had the motive to include any wide differences that allegedly existed in the stories of Jesus. Yet, what is written in the Diatessaron is simply the quotes from the four gospels, minus the 25% that emphasized Jesus’ humanity. The main differences are minor yet one can see how Tatian’s ascetic views colored them. It says John the Baptist ate milk and honey instead of locusts and wild honey, and no mention is made of the marriage of Mary and Joseph. In John 2:10 the phrase "after the guests have had too much to drink" is absent. See The Journey from Texts to Translations p.245 for more info. Details: Here are the verses absent from each chapter of the Diatessaron. These numbers were computed from Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 9 p.34-138. Chapter Total verses Verses in the Diatessaron Missing Verses Verses not in the Diatessaron Gospels 3779 2995 784 79.3 % of the verses in the gospels are in the Diatessaron Matthew 1071 819 252 76.5 % of the verses of Matthew are in the Diatessaron Mt 1 25 8 17 1-17 Mt 2 23 23 0 0 Mt 3 17 15 2 11,12 Mt 4 25 20 5 1,8,9,23,25 Mt 5 48 48 0 0 Mt 6 34 34 0 0 Mt 7 29 19 10 2,3,4,5,7-11,24 Mt 8 34 17 17 2,3,4,9,14,15,21,22,23,26,27,29-34 Mt 9 38 15 23 2-7,10-17,20-25,34,37,38 Mt 10 42 37 5 2,3,4,34,35 Mt 11 30 15 15 3-10,16-19,25,26,27 Mt 12 50 39 11 3,4,9,10,13,30,31,35,42,43,44 Mt 13 58 52 6 7-11,58 Mt 14 36 22 14 3,4,6-11,14,22,23,34,35,36 Mt 15 39 31 8 1,2,5,6,10,11,17,19 Mt 16 28 10 18 5,6,9,10,24,25,26,29-39 Mt 17 27 22 5 3,11,19,21,22 Mt 18 35 31 4 2,4,5,12 Mt 19 30 22 8 3,14,15,16,25,26,29,30 Mt 20 34 21 13 17,18,19,22-27,30-33 Mt 21 46 41 5 18,19,23,27,37 Mt 22 46 40 6 22,26,31,32,36,39 Mt 23 39 38 1 6 Mt 24 51 41 10 17,18,19,22,23,25,28,36,40,41 Mt 25 46 46 0 0 Mt 26 75 38 37 6,7,8,17,18,19,22,23,25,28,37,40,41,52-75 Mt 27 66 54 12 2,23,33,35,37,38,46,50,55,57,59,61 Mt 28 20 20 0 0 Mark 678 402 276 59.3 % of the verses of Mark are in the Diatessaron Mk 1 45 11 34 1-11,14,16-28,30-32,34,40 Mk 2 28 10 18 3-11,13,15-20,23,28 Mk 3 35 18 17 1-3,6,13,16-18,22-25,27,32-34,35 Mk 4 41 26 15 1-6,9,12,15-18,20,21,37 Mk 5 43 26 17 1,8-12,14,15,17-19,22,31,32,35,36,43 Mk 6 56 37 19 1,3,7,10,32,33,35,37,38,39,42,43,44,46-50,53 Mk 7 37 32 5 6,7,20,27,28 Mk 8 38 24 14 1,2,4-10,16,28,29,30,36 Mk 9 50 32 18 2,5,7,8,9,16,17,19,32,33,35,38,40-43,45,46 Mk 10 52 42 10 6-9,20,22,25,28,45,52 Mk 11 33 21 12 1,3,4,5,7,8,9,11,17,18,27,31 Mk 12 44 22 22 1,2,7-14,16-23,25,35,36,43 Mk 13 37 18 19 2,4,5,8,9,12,13,14,17,18,19,22,25-31 Mk 14 72 44 28 10,14,17,25-29,32,33,34,39,43,45-50,53-56,62,66,67,70,72 Mk 15 47 21 26 2,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,14,16-19,22,24-27,30-33,35,37,38,39, Mk 16 20 18 2 2,6 Luke 1151 919 232 79.8 % of the verses of Luke are in the Diatessaron Lk 1 80 76 4 1,2,3,4 Lk 2 52 52 0 0 Lk 3 38 20 18 7,8,9,24-38 Lk 4 44 37 7 3,4,8-12 Lk 5 39 33 6 13,14,22,23,24,37 Lk 6 49 36 13 1-5,10,11,21,23,28,29,43,46 Lk 7 50 46 4 1,6,7,28 Lk 8 56 38 18 4,6,9,10,11,12,14,16,17,18,20,21,42,43,44,51,52,54 Lk 9 62 40 22 4,5,6,10,12,16-22,24,26-28,30,35,37,40,41,58 Lk 10 42 36 6 13,14,15,24,26,27 Lk 11 54 39 15 3,4,15,17,19,20,29,32,33,34,42,48,49,50,51 Lk 12 59 38 21 6-10,12,22-25,27,28,30,31,34,39,40,43,56,57,59 Lk 13 35 32 3 21,34,35 Lk 14 35 35 0 0 Lk 15 32 32 0 0 Lk 16 31 29 2 13,18 Lk 17 37 31 6 1,2,23,24,26,27 Lk 18 43 28 15 15-22,25,26,27,29,32,40,41 Lk 19 48 44 4 35,36,45,46 Lk 20 47 17 30 3-5,7,8,10,11,12,15,16,18,19,21-25,27,28,32,33,37,40-47 Lk 21 38 26 12 1,2,4,6,10,17,27,29-33 Lk 22 71 55 16 1,5,13,17,18,20,22,24,25,26,39,47,50,54,56,69 Lk 23 56 48 8 1,3,17,24,38,52,53,54 Lk 24 53 51 2 8,12 John 879 855 24 97.3 % of the verses of John are in the Diatessaron Jn 1 51 50 1 6 Jn 2 25 22 3 12,13,15 Jn 3 36 36 0 0 Jn 4 54 54 0 0 Jn 5 47 47 0 0 Jn 6 71 69 2 11,20 Jn 7 53 53 0 0 Jn 8 59 48 11 1-11 Jn 9 41 41 0 0 Jn 10 42 42 0 0 Jn 11 57 57 0 0 Jn 12 50 48 2 14,15 Jn 13 38 38 0 0 Jn 14 31 31 0 0 Jn 15 27 27 0 0 Jn 16 33 33 0 0 Jn 17 26 26 0 0 Jn 18 40 38 2 3,27 Jn 19 42 40 2 1,18 Jn 20 31 30 1 1 Jn 21 25 25 0 0 See Greek Manuscripts of the Bible p.66 (photograph p.67), the New International Bible Commentary p.1080-1081, and The Greek New Testament Fourth edition p.38-39 for more info. Q: What was the order of the New Testament Books in the manuscripts? A: Manuscripts that have preserved the gospels generally have them first, in the order Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. An exception to this is the Curetonian Syriac, which switches Luke and John. Here is the order of books in various manuscripts. p30 has 1 and 2 Thessalonians in order. p45 has Matthew, Mark, Luke, John in order. p46 has in order Romans, Hebrews, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians. p47 have 1 and 2 Peter as pages 1-46. Jude is on pages 62-68. p75 has Luke and John. Sinaiticus has the books in order of: The Four Gospels, Paul’s Letters, Hebrews, Acts, the Catholic Epistles, Revelation, The Letter to Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas. Both Vaticanus and Sinaiticus have 2 Thessalonians right before Hebrews. Alexandrinus after the New Testament books had 1 and 2 Clement, though part of 2 Clement is now missing. The Table of Contents also says that the Psalms of Solomon followed after 2 Clement. Q: Why do the vast majority of manuscripts not have punctuation? A: Punctuation is useful to tell the reader when to pause and breathe because the part of the thought is completed. According to Manuscripts of the Greek Bible p.31-32, it is commonly believed that Aristophanes of Byzantium invented breathing and accent marks. He had a dot on the bottom (looking like a period), a dot in the middle, and a dot on the top. Someone else introduced the comma around the ninth century, and the interrogation mark (;) appeared around the eighth or ninth century. Q: Since most Greek manuscripts wrote the words with no spaces in between, where does this cause ambiguities? A: Because of the structure of the Greek language endings, this causes few ambiguities according to Manuscripts of the Greek Bible p.31. Ambiguous places are Romans 7:14; 1 Timothy 3:16, and Leviticus 5:4 in the Greek.