Finding Great Comfort in the [Brackets] in Our Bibles [John 7:53-8:11] By Pastor Dan Kennedy © January 29, 2012 www.pastorkennedy.com Please turn with me in your Bibles, to John 7:53-8:11. We rarely see “brackets” questioning the originality of text in our modern day versions of the Bible, but there are at least two places, which we find them. Today, since we have been studying the book of John and are now in John 8, we see these brackets around John 7:53-8:11, if we are using a more modern translation of the Scripture. Included with those brackets are words similar to these: [The earliest manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:11] What do the bracketed sections mean to us who believe the Bible to be God’s Word? We must first put in context how the Bible came to us. A Historical Review of How the Bible Came to Us. The Apostles of Jesus, who were appointed to serve as Christ’s disciples while He was on the earth, primarily wrote the New Testament under inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). Jesus Christ taught Paul, the Apostle (one of the most prolific authors of the New Testament), after his conversion to Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9; Gal. 1:1; 11-24). Regarding the Bible, many church doctrinal statements have a statement similar to our own: “We believe the Bible (God’s Holy Word) to be the Inspired, Infallible, Authoritative Word of God – (many doctrinal statements also add the following statement) ‘in the original autographs’.” What does “in the original autographs” mean? It means that we believe “inspired Scripture” is that which is directly from the pen of the original author – not a copy. We know how close we are to the original autographs through how many of the known manuscript fragments are the same wording. When there is an insertion that is not in the oldest known manuscripts, then we find those insertions to most likely to have been added later, and not in the original autographs. For almost fourteen hundred years (up to that time) Bibles containing the New Testament had been on an amazing journey. For centuries individual copies of the Bible, written in Hebrew and Greek, or translated into Latin, were chained to poles or pillars in the church. These were rare and precious Books – having been painstakingly copied by hand. Practical Assignment Illustration Take a moment and write out these verses from the Bible. Hebrews 1:1–2 1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Imagine writing out the full 1st chapter in Hebrews, and then imagine yourself copying down – without error, the full book of Hebrews. Finally, ask yourself how long it would take you to write out, by hand, all the Bible, without any mistakes. Of course, to begin with, you would need to know Hebrew and Greek and faithfully translate the text into English – then copy out the whole Scriptural text in English by hand! Put yourself in the place of those seeking God, who for almost 1,500 years had only hand written copies of portions of the New Testament. Now realize that the Old Testament was copied only by hand for some 3,500 years previously! Parallel this writing task with the fairly simple time it takes to enjoy reading the Bible. Have you ever read the Bible through in a year? How many chapters did you need to read each day to read the Bible from cover to cover? Have you ever made it all the way through in a year, or did it take you longer? What if you were writing it out as well as reading the Bible through? How long would it take you? A Short History of the English Bible • For 1400 years after Christ, hand written copies of the Bible had very limited exposure to the common man. There were limited archeological pursuits to find additional manuscripts. Secluded monasteries held precious few copies of texts, from which diligent scribes copied additional hand written texts. • “During the latter half of the 14th Century, the medieval world was coming to a close but the new world was not yet ready to be born. • “The Black Death had killed over one-third (30-60%) of the population, and though the Crusades were finished, the Hundred Year War with France was still in progress. The Peasants were impatient for a better life. The Church, which had brought civilization and order to medieval Europe, had grown in wealth and power. But there were no Bibles in the English language and the Gospel had become diluted with superstition (such as the sale of indulgences) and half-truths.” [From a media source on John Wycliffe.] • “An English version of the Bible did not exist until a little more than 600 years ago. Before then, Jerome translated a version of the Bible into Latin in the fourth century, called the Latin Vulgate. Portions of scripture in English began to emerge in the early seventh century, but the first complete English translation was not produced until 1382 through the influence of John Wycliffe. Despite fierce opposition of the Roman church, and absence of the printing press, hand written copies of this work were widely circulated.” [Parts from “Why So Many Bible Translations”, by Dr. Dale A. Robbins] • In 1380, Dr. John Wycliffe (1329-1384) an Oxford scholar, teacher and priest in the Church of England, supervised the translation of the Scripture into English from the Latin Vulgate (most commonly used translation at the time, by the clergy) and the hand-written English copies spread across England. Authorities tried Wycliffe for heresy. They despised Wycliffe for translating the Bible into English and the truthful doctrines it represented. Wycliffe was spared from burning at the stake by an order of the Queen Mother. Thirty years after his death the hierarchy of the Church continued to so fear his teaching that they dug up his bones, burned them and threw his ashes into a nearby brook, erroneously thinking that this might purge his memory. But just like the flowing brook that took the ashes into a river and the river into the sea and the sea across the world, so the irrepressible doctrines of the Scripture in the language of the common people, spread around the world. • Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1440. The Latin Vulgate was the most widely used Bible translation in the Middle Ages – available only by the clergy who were proficient in Latin having access previously to hand copied versions. It was the first major book printed on Gutenberg’s press in 1456. • William Tyndale (1494-1536), another brilliant Oxford scholar, teacher and priest, also translated the Bible into the language of the common man from the original Greek. He faced consistent opposition and spent many of his days on the run as a fugitive of the Church of England. In 1524, he fled from England to Germany, where his first version of the New Testament was published on the printing press in Worms, Germany. Wycliffe’s English version of the New Testament was the first to be translated directly from the Greek instead of Latin texts. The Scripture was then smuggled into England in 1525. On October 6, 1536, the authorities, which felt an English translation was an affront to the spiritual elite in the Church, burned Tyndale at the stake after strangling him. His last words were, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!” Wycliffe’s prayer was fulfilled sixty years later. • Many died in bringing the Scripture to us in our own language. • In an effort to resolve factions between Englishmen over Bible versions which had risen, King James I authorized the translation of another version that came to bear his name. In 1604, King James I commissioned 47 scholars to translate the Old Testament from Hebrew and the New Testament from Greek into the English language. It took seven years before the scholars completed their initial work. The four existing Massorec texts were used for the Old Testament, and a third edition of the Byzantine Greek text by Stephanus (often referred as the “Textus Receptus”), was used for this New Testament translation. The King James Version was finally published in 1611, and had four revisions (in 1629, 1638, 1762, and 1769). The King James Version has become the most widely read version of the Bible in the history of mankind. It was commonly used as the primary English translation well into the 20th Century. • The original KJV translators appear to have otherwise made little first-hand study of ancient manuscript sources, other than the one text which they had available. As archeologist and scholars look further back into the history of the Bible, we have the immediate availability of more ancient texts. There may be duplicates of verses, or a slightly different phrasing meaning the same thing or in two cases places where there had been several verses inserted into the New Testament text, such as seen in John 7:53-8:11 and Mark 16:9-20. • “The KJV New Testament (and all editions since Tyndale) was compiled primarily from the Byzantine family of manuscripts (A.D. 500 - 1000) frequently referred to as the Textus Receptus. But many of the newer translations were produced using a composite of later discoveries of other manuscripts and fragments dating from an earlier period. Among such are The ‘Alexandrian Family’ manuscripts (A.D. 200-400) which include the three oldest: The Codex Alexandrius, the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus, all which were major contributors to most Bible versions after the King James version. Other important codices come from The Western Family, (of the Western Mediterranean areas), and the Caesarean Family of manuscripts (A.D. 200). (A codex is a manuscript bound together like a book instead of rolled into a scroll. Codices is plural for codex.)” [Ibid. Robbins] • “At least 90% of the 5,366 separate Greek manuscripts represented by early fragments come from the Byzantine family (the basis for the Textus Receptus), and due to the overwhelming numbers of copies with which to compare and verify for accuracy, some scholars feel that the small handful of older texts should not be used to overrule the credibility of the majority. Although textual criticism shows only slight differences between the manuscript families, in those passages where the older text differs with the newer, the modern translators usually deferred to the older, primarily from the Alexandrian Family manuscripts — Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus. It should be emphasized that none of the revisions in the new era translations, such as the NIV or NASB (compiled with Alexandrian Family Manuscripts), conflict with any rule of faith or doctrinal issue…” [Ibid. Robbins.] • Among the nearly 3,000 minuscule fragments are 34 complete New Testaments dating from the 9th to the 15th Centuries from which Bible scholars can now compare wording. Can We Trust the Bible? Closer to “the Autographs” The great comfort we can have in the [brackets] is that we are going ever closer to the source of the “autographs” and the scholars who have given us the Bible are not afraid to do so. “The important First Century document The Jewish War, by Jewish aristocrat and historian Josephus, survives in only 9 complete manuscripts dating from the 5th Century--four centuries after they were written.  Tacitus' Annals of Imperial Rome is one of the chief historical sources for the Roman world of New Testament times, yet, surprisingly, it survives in partial form in only 2 manuscripts dating from the Middle Ages.  Thucydides' History survives in 8 copies.  There are 10 copies of Caesar's Gallic Wars, 8 copies of Herodotus' History, and 7 copies of Plato, all dated over a millennium from the original.  Homer's Iliad has the most impressive manuscript evidence for any secular work with 647 existing copies.  Bruce's comments put the discussion in perspective:  ‘No classical scholar would listen to an argument that the authenticity of Herodotus or Thucydides is in doubt because the earliest manuscripts of their works which are of any use to us are over 1300 years later than the originals.’ “For most documents of antiquity only a handful of manuscripts exist, some facing a time gap of 800-2000 years or more.  Yet scholars are confident of reconstructing the originals with some significant degree of accuracy.  In fact, virtually all of our knowledge of ancient history depends on documents like these.” (- Wikipedia, see full article below) The Verdict “Greek scholar D.A. Carson sums up this way:  ‘The purity of text is of such a substantial nature that nothing we believe to be true, and nothing we are commanded to do, is in any way jeopardized by the variants.’ This issue is no longer contested by non-Christian scholars, and for good reason.  Simply put, if we reject the authenticity of the New Testament on textual grounds we'd have to reject every ancient work of antiquity and declare null and void every piece of historical information from written sources prior to the beginning of the second millennium A.D. Has the New Testament been altered?  Critical, academic analysis says it has not.” - Gregory Koukl (see article below) The fact that we have [brackets] in our Bibles means that we are forthright and honest in our search for the truth and to know the Truth will set us free! The Truth Will Set You Free John 8 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” END NOTES Some manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11; others add the passage here or after 7:36 or after 21:25 or after Luke 21:38, with variations in the text John 7:53–8:11 (ESV) [The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.] The Woman Caught in Adultery 8 53 [[They went each to his own house, 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]] Mark 16:9–20 (ESV) another example of “brackets” in the Scripture. [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.] Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene 9 [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. Jesus Appears to Two Disciples 12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. The Great Commission (Note the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20 is not bracketed) 14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]] Some manuscripts end the book with 16:8; others include verses 9–20 immediately after verse 8. At least one manuscript inserts additional material after verse 14; some manuscripts include after verse 8 the following: But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. These manuscripts then continue with verses 9–20. Biblical scholar Bart D. Ehrman notes that some of the most known of these verses were not part of the original text of the New Testament. "These scribal additions are often found in late medieval manuscripts of the New Testament, but not in the manuscripts of the earlier centuries," he adds. "And because the King James Bible is based on later manuscripts, such verses "became part of the Bible tradition in English-speaking lands." Other Articles How Many and How Old? The ability of any scholar to do effective textual criticism depends on two factors.  First, how many existing copies are there to examine and compare?  Are there two copies, ten, a hundred?  The more copies there are, the easier it is to make meaningful comparisons.  Second, how close in time are the oldest existing documents to the original?  If the numbers are few and the time gap is wide, the original is harder to reconstruct with confidence.  However, if there are many copies and the oldest existing copies are reasonably close in time to the original, the textual critic can be more confident he's pinpointed the exact wording of the autograph.   To get an idea of the significance of the New Testament manuscript evidence, note for a moment the record for non-biblical texts.  These are secular texts from antiquity that have been reconstructed with a high degree of certainty based on the available textual evidence. “The important First Century document The Jewish War, by Jewish aristocrat and historian Josephus, survives in only 9 complete manuscripts dating from the 5th Century--four centuries after they were written.  Tacitus' Annals of Imperial Rome is one of the chief historical sources for the Roman world of New Testament times, yet, surprisingly, it survives in partial form in only 2 manuscripts dating from the Middle Ages.  Thucydides' History survives in 8 copies.  There are 10 copies of Caesar's Gallic Wars, 8 copies of Herodotus' History, and 7 copies of Plato, all dated over a millennium from the original.  Homer's Iliad has the most impressive manuscript evidence for any secular work with 647 existing copies.  Bruce's comments put the discussion in perspective:  "No classical scholar would listen to an argument that the authenticity of Herodotus or Thucydides is in doubt because the earliest manuscripts of their works which are of any use to us are over 1300 years later than the originals." For most documents of antiquity only a handful of manuscripts exist, some facing a time gap of 800-2000 years or more.  Yet scholars are confident of reconstructing the originals with some significant degree of accuracy.  In fact, virtually all of our knowledge of ancient history depends on documents like these. [The above is from Internet interactive Wikipedia articles on the subject. I chose to source Wikipedia since it is an encyclopedia open to both agnostics and Christian scholars.] The following is from: “Is the New Testament Text Reliable?” By: Gregory Koukl The phrase, "The Bible's been translated and recopied so many times..." introduces one of the most frequent canards tossed at Christians quoting the Bible.  Can we know for certain that the New Testament has been handed down accurately?  Yes, we can. The Biblical Manuscript Evidence By comparison with secular texts, the manuscript evidence for the New Testament is stunning.  The most recent count (1980) shows 5,366 separate Greek manuscripts represented by early fragments, uncial codices (manuscripts in capital Greek letters bound together in book form), and minuscules (small Greek letters in cursive style)![7] Among the nearly 3,000 minuscule fragments are 34 complete New Testaments dating from the 9th to the 15th Centuries.[8]  Uncial manuscripts provide virtually complete codices (multiple books of the New Testament bound together into one volume) back to the 4th Century, though some are a bit younger.  Codex Sinaiticus, purchased by the British government from the Soviet government at Christmas, 1933, for £100,000,[9] is dated c. 340.[10]  The nearly complete Codex Vaticanus is the oldest uncial, dated c. 325-350.[11]  Codex Alexandrinus contains the whole Old Testament and a nearly complete New Testament and dates from the late 4th Century to the early 5th Century. The most fascinating evidence comes from the fragments (as opposed to the codices).  The Chester Beatty Papyri contains most of the New Testament and is dated mid-3rd Century.[12]  The Bodmer Papyri II collection, whose discovery was announced in 1956, includes the first fourteen chapters of the Gospel of John and much of the last seven chapters.  It dates from A.D. 200 or earlier.[13]  The most amazing find of all, however, is a small portion of John 18:31-33, discovered in Egypt known as the John Rylands Papyri.  Barely three inches square, it represents the earliest known copy of any part of the New Testament.  The papyri is dated on paleographical grounds at around A.D. 117-138 (though it may even be earlier),[14] showing that the Gospel of John was circulated as far away as Egypt within 30 years of its composition.  Keep in mind that most of the papyri are fragmentary.  Only about 50 manuscripts contain the entire New Testament, though most of the other manuscripts contain the four Gospels.  Even so, the manuscript textual evidence is exceedingly rich, especially when compared to other works of antiquity.   Ancient Versions and Patristic Quotations Two other cross checks on the accuracy of the manuscripts remain:  ancient versions and citations by the early church Fathers known as "patristic quotations."  Early in the history of the Church Greek documents, including the Scriptures, were translated into Latin.  By the 3rd and 4th Centuries the New Testament was translated into Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, etc.  These texts helped missionaries reach new cultures in their own language as the Gospel spread and the Church grew.[15]  Translations of the Greek manuscripts (called "versions") help modern-day textual critics answer questions about the underlying Greek manuscripts. In addition, there are ancient extra-biblical sources--characteristically catechisms, lectionaries, and quotes from the church fathers--that record the Scriptures.  Paul Barnett says that the "Scriptures...gave rise to an immense output of early Christian literature which quoted them at length and, in effect, preserved them."[16]  Metzger notes the amazing fact that "if all other sources for our knowledge of the text of the New Testament were destroyed, [the patristic quotations] would be sufficient alone for the reconstruction of practically the entire New Testament."[17]    The Verdict What can we conclude from this evidence?  New Testament specialist Daniel Wallace notes that although there are about 300,000 individual variations of the text of the New Testament, this number is very misleading.  Most of the differences are completely inconsequential--spelling errors, inverted phrases and the like.  A side by side comparison between the two main text families (the Majority Text and the modern critical text) shows agreement a full 98% of the time.[18]  Of the remaining differences, virtually all yield to vigorous textual criticism.  This means that our New Testament is 99.5% textually pure.  In the entire text of 20,000 lines, only 40 lines are in doubt (about 400 words), and none affects any significant doctrine.[19]  Greek scholar D.A. Carson sums up this way:  "The purity of text is of such a substantial nature that nothing we believe to be true, and nothing we are commanded to do, is in any way jeopardized by the variants."[20]  This issue is no longer contested by non-Christian scholars, and for good reason.  Simply put, if we reject the authenticity of the New Testament on textual grounds we'd have to reject every ancient work of antiquity and declare null and void every piece of historical information from written sources prior to the beginning of the second millennium A.D. Has the New Testament been altered?  Critical, academic analysis says it has not. Barnett, Paul, Is the New Testament History? (Ann Arbor:  Vine Books, 1986), 45. Geisler, Norman L., Nix, William E., A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago:  Moody Press, 1986), 405.  Note:  Bruce records two existing copies of this document (p. 16) but Barnett claims there's only one (p. 45) and that single copy exists in partial form.  To be conservative, I've cited Geisler & Nix's statistics. Metzger, Bruce M., The Text of the New Testament (New York and Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 1968), 34.  This number consists of 457 papyri, 2 uncials and 188 minuscule manuscripts. [6]Bruce, 16-17. [7]Geisler & Nix, 402. [8]Ibid. [9]Metzger, 45. [10]Geisler & Nix, 392. [11]Ibid., 391. [12]Ibid., 389-390. [13]Metzger, 39-40. [14]Geisler & Nix, 388. [15]Barnett, 44. [16]Ibid., p. 46-47. [17]Metzger,  86. [18]Wallace, Daniel, "The Majority Text and the Original Text:  Are They Identical?," Bibliotheca Sacra, April-June, 1991, 157-8. [19]Geisler and Nix, 475. [20]Carson, D.A., The King James Version Debate (Grand Rapids:  Baker, 1979), 56. How various English Translations are Annotated Matthew 17:21 KJV: Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. NIVfn: But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. NIV2011fn: Some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 9:29. Reason: It is possible that this verse is a duplicate of Mark 9:29. Matthew 18:11 KJV: For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. NIVfn: The Son of Man came to save what was lost. NIV2011fn: Some manuscripts include here the words of Luke 19:10. Reason: According to Bruce Metzger, this verse was "manifestly borrowed by copyists from Luke 19:10." Matthew 23:14 KJV: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. NIVfn: Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Therefore you will be punished more severely. NIV2011fn: Some manuscripts include here words similar to Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47. Mark 7:16 KJV: If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. NIVfn: If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. NIV2011fn: Some manuscripts include here the words of 4:23. Mark 9:44/Mark 9:46 KJV: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. NIVfn: where "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." NIV2011fn: Some manuscripts include here the words of verse 48. Reason: These two verses are identical to Mark 9:48. Update: The NIV©2011 has changed their singular worm to plural:
NIV2011: 48 where “‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’[c]
 Mark 9:48 Isaiah 66:24 Mark 11:26 KJV: But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. NIVfn: But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins. NIV2011fn: Some manuscripts include here words similar to Matt. 6:15. Mark 15:28 KJV: And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, "And he was numbered with the transgressors." NIVfn: and the scripture was fulfilled which says, "He was counted with the lawless ones."
NIV2011fn: Some manuscripts include here words similar to Luke 22:37. Luke 17:36 KJV: Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. NIVfn: Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. NIV2011fn: Some manuscripts include here words similar to Matt. 24:40. Reason: It is possible that this verse is a duplicate of Matthew 24:40. Verse is included by very few Greek manuscripts of the Western text-type and by Old-Latin and Vulgate manuscripts. Luke 23:17 KJV: For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast. NIVfn: Now he was obliged to release one man to them at the Feast. NIV2011fn Some manuscripts include here words similar to Matt. 27:15 and Mark 15:6. John 5:3-4 KJV: 3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. NIVfn: From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had. (Note above that not only is verse 4 omitted, but the end of verse 3.) Acts 8:37 KJV: And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. NIVfn: "If you believe with all your heart, you may." The eunuch answered, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Acts 15:34 KJV: Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still. NIVfn: but Silas decided to remain there Reason: Majority of manuscripts do not contain this verse (only Codex Bezae, some Old-Latin and Vulgate manuscripts). Acts 24:6p-7 KJV: 6 Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law. 7 But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands, 8 Commanding his accusers to come unto thee: by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof we accuse him. NIVfn: him and wanted to judge him according to our law. 7 But the commander, Lysias, came and with the use of much force snatched him from our hands 8 and ordered his accusers to come before you. (Note above that not only is verse 7 omitted, but also the end of verse 6 and beginning of verse 8.) Acts 28:29 KJV: And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves. NIVfn: After he said this, the Jews left, arguing vigorously among themselves. Romans 16:24 KJV: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. NIVfn: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen. Biblical Version Comparison Chart of Alternate Texts O = omitted in main text B = bracketed in the main text – The translation team and most biblical scholars today believe were not part of the original text. However, these texts have been retained in brackets in the Holman CSB. F = omission noted in the footnote Bible translation Passage NIV NASB NKJV RSV NRSV ESV NCV TLB REB HCSB Matthew 9:34 F Matthew 12:47 F O F F F Matthew 17:21 O B F O O F O F F B Matthew 18:11 O B F O O F O F F B Matthew 21:44 F O F F F B Matthew 23:14 O B F O O F O F B Mark 7:16 O B F O O F O O F B Mark 9:44 O B F O O F O O F B Mark 9:46 O B F O O F O O F B Mark 11:26 O B F O O F O O F B Mark 15:28 O B F O O F O F F B Mark 16:9–20 F B F F F B F F B Luke 17:36 O B F O O F F B Luke 22:20 F F Luke 22:43 F B F O F B Luke 22:44 F B F O F B Luke 23:17 O B F O O F O O F B Luke 24:12 O F Luke 24:40 F F F F John 5:4 O B F O O F O F F B John 7:53–8:11 F B F O F B F F B Acts 8:37 O B F O F F O F F B Acts 15:34 O B F O O F O O F O Acts 24:7 O B F O O F O F B Acts 28:29 O B F O O F O O F B Romans 16:24 O B F O O F O F B New International Version. The designation omitted Bible verses is used here in a technical sense to indicate text for which a verse number has been reserved but which is not present. In particular these specific verses are not in the New International Version (NIV) main text. For some of the verses, there is a possible reasoning for "omission". Note: In the New International Version, the following verses are absent from the main text, but have been translated for inclusion in the footnotes. An NIV translation has been provided on the page to have a modern translation available. NIV is generally in agreement with the Nestle-Aland editions of the Greek New Testament, which relegate such verses to the margin. Update: The NIV©2011 no longer has some of the verses that were included in footnotes in the 1984 and previous versions of the NIV. - Source Wikipedia Summaries of Popular Modern Day Translations The following is a summary of popular versions, with a brief evaluation: The King James Version (KJV) — Translated in 1611 by 47 scholars using the Byzantine family of manuscripts, Textus Receptus. This remains as a good version of the Bible. It has been the most reliable translation for over three centuries, but its Elizabethan style Old English is difficult for modern readers, especially youth. A good translation for those who can deal with the language. The New American Standard Bible (NASB) — Translated in 1971 by 58 scholars of the Lockman Foundation, from Kittle’s Biblia Hebraica and Nestle’s Greek New Testament 23rd ed., which include the Alexandrian Family codices. Though academic in tone, it is said to be the most exact English translation available. A very good version. The New International Version (NIV) — Over 100 translators completed this work in 1978 which was composed from Kittle’s, Nestle’s and United Bible Society’s texts, which include the Alexandrian Family codices. This is considered an “open” style translation. It is a good, easy to read version. The New King James Version (NKJV) — 130 translators, commissioned by Thomas Nelson Publishers, produced this version from the Byzantine family (Textus Receptus) in 1982. This is a revision of the King James Version, updated to modern English with minor translation corrections and retention of traditional phraseology. This is a very good version. [Ibid. Robbins.] The English Standard Version (ESV) - Emphasizing word-for-word accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning, the ESV Bible is especially suited to be the basic text for a study Bible. First published in 2001, the ESV Bible translation work involved more than 100 Bible scholars and advisors, including: (1) the 14-member Translation Oversight Committee; (2) 50 leading Bible Scholars; and (3) a 50-member Advisory Council—all of whom are committed to historic Christian orthodoxy. Published by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 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