Major Critical Texts of the New Testament

Byz RP: 2005 Byzantine Greek New Testament, Robinson & Pierpont
TR1550: 1550 Stephanus New Testament
Maj: The Majority Text (thousands of minuscules which display a similar text)
Gries: 1774-1775 Johann Jakob Griesbach Greek New Testament
Treg: 1857-1879 Samuel Prideaux Tregelles Greek New Testament
Tisch: 1872 Tischendorf’s Greek New Testament
WH: 1881 Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament
NA28: 2012 Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament
UBS5: 2014 Greek New Testament
NU: Both Nestle-Aland and the United Bible Society
TGNT: 2017 The Greek New Testament by Tyndale House

MATTHEW 6:33 1881 Westcott-Hort New Testament (WH GENTI)  [BRD]
33 ζητεῖτεBe you seeking δὲbut πρῶτονfirst τὴνthe βασιλείανkingdom καὶand τὴνthe δικαιοσύνηνrighteousness αὐτοῦ,of him, καὶand ταῦταthese (things) πάνταall προστεθήσεταιwill be added ὑμῖν.to you. 

MATTHEW 6:33 Nestle-Aland 28th / United Bible Society 5th (NU TGNT) [P]
33 ζητεῖτεBe you seeking δὲbut πρῶτονfirst τὴνthe βασιλείαν [τοῦ θεοῦ]kingdom  of the God καὶand τὴνthe δικαιοσύνηνrighteousness αὐτοῦ,of him, καὶand ταῦταthese (things) πάνταall προστεθήσεταιwill be added ὑμῖν.to you. 

MATTHEW 6:33 1550 Stephanus New Testament (TR1550)
33 ζητεῖτεBe you seeking δὲbut πρῶτονfirst τὴνthe βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦkingdom  of the God καὶand τὴνthe δικαιοσύνηνrighteousness αὐτοῦ,of him, καὶand ταῦταthese (things) πάνταall προστεθήσεταιwill be added ὑμῖν.to you. 

Matthew 6:33 Updated American Standard Version (UASV) 33 But be you seeking[86] first the Kingdom[87] and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:33 English Standard Version (ESV)33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:33 King James Version (KJV)33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

WH GENTI την βασιλειαν και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου
“the kingdom and his righteousness”
א (it) (k) l sa cop^,bo Eusebius

Variant 1/TR NU τὴν βασιλείαν [τοῦ θεοῦ] καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ
“the kingdom of God and his righteousness”
L W Θ 0233 f^,13 33 Maj syr

Variant 2 την δικαιοσυνην και την βασιλειαν αυτου
“the righteousness and his kingdom”
B

Variant 3 την βασιλειαν των ουρανων και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου
“the kingdom of the heavens and his righteousness”
Clement

Variant 4 την βασιλειαν του θεου
“the kingdom of God”
245

The Beyond Reasonable Doubt [BRD is that WH was the original wording [την βασιλειαν και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου] “the kingdom of God and his righteousness” which is found in the earliest manuscripts (א (it) (k) l sa cop^,bo Eusebius). Variant 1/NU [“the kingdom of God and his righteousness”] “the kingdom of God and his righteousness” is supported by (L W Θ 0233 f^,13 33 Maj syr). Variant 2 [την δικαιοσυνην και την βασιλειαν αυτου] “the righteousness and his kingdom” is supported by B. Variant 3 [την βασιλειαν των ουρανων και την δικαιοσυνην αυτου] “the kingdom of the heavens and his righteousness” is supported by Clement. Variant 4 [την βασιλειαν του θεου] “the kingdom of God” is supported by 245.

The NA28 and TGNT wrongly give more weight to the later manuscripts L W Θ 0233 f^,13 33 Maj that the testimony of the early witnesses א and B, both of which are missing “of God” after “kingdom” βασιλείαν [τοῦ θεοῦ]. Metzger argues, “Matthew … almost never employs βασιλεία [kingdom] without a modifier [του θεου; of God]  (the instances in 8:12; 13:38; 24:7, 14 were regarded as special exceptions), and explained the absence of a modifier in several witnesses as due to accidental scribal omission.” (bold mine) the important point is almost never, which means he does. There are four times when he uses specifically “kingdom of God” (Matt. 12:28; 19:24; 21:31, 43). Then, there are eleven times out of the fifty-two times when he uses “kingdom” without a modifier (Matt. 6:10; 9:35; 12:25; 12:26; 13:19; 13:38; 13:41; 16:28; 20:21; 24:14; 25:34). Even if we go with Metzger that Matthew uses “kingdom” predominately with a modifier, this could be the very motive for a scribe to later add a modifier, “of God” or “of the heavens.” If either “of God” or “of the heavens” were the original reading, what would the motivation be for the scribes of א and B to remove them? As this cannot be explained away, the WH and variant 2 with βασιλεία [kingdom] without a modifier is reasonably the original reading.

Variant Reading(s): differing versions of a word or phrase found in two or more manuscripts within a variation unit (see below). Variant readings are also called alternate readings.

Variation Unit: any portion of text that exhibits variations in its reading between two or more different manuscripts. It is important to distinguish variation units from variant readings. Variation units are the places in the text where manuscripts disagree, and each variation unit has at least two variant readings. Setting the limits and range of a variation unit is sometimes difficult or even controversial because some variant readings affect others nearby. Such variations may be considered individually, or as elements of a single reading. One should also note that the terms “manuscript” and “witness” may appear to be used interchangeably in this context. Strictly speaking “witness” (see below) will only refer to the content of a given manuscript or fragment, which it predates to a greater or lesser extent. However, the only way to reference the “witness” is by referring to the manuscript or fragment that contains it. In this book, we have sometimes used the terminology “witness of x or y manuscript” to distinguish the content in this way.

Short Reminder

If we have the original words, we, in essence, have the original and; therefore, do not need the original documents.

Textual Criticism: the art and science (some would say only art) of determining the original text from variant readings exhibited by extant manuscripts.

SOURCES

• B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort, Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek: Appendix (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1882)
• Bruce Manning Metzger, United Bible Societies, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.) (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994),
• Eberhard Nestle and Erwin Nestle, Nestle-Aland: NTG Apparatus Criticus, ed. Barbara Aland et al., 28. revidierte Auflage. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012).
• Dirk Jongkind, ed., The Greek New Testament: Apparatus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017).
• Dirk Jongkind, ed., The Greek New Testament (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), Matt. 6:8.
• Eberhard Nestle and Erwin Nestle, Nestle-Aland: Novum Testamentum Graece, ed. Barbara Aland et al., 28. revidierte Auflage. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012)
• The NET Bible. Garland, TX: Biblical Studies Press, 2006
• Philip Wesley Comfort, A COMMENTARY ON THE MANUSCRIPTS AND TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2015).
• Philip W. Comfort, New Testament Text and Translation Commentary: Commentary on the Variant Readings of the Ancient New Testament Manuscripts and How They Relate to the Major English Translations (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2008).
• Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2001)
• Wallace B., Daniel (n.d.). Retrieved from The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts: http://csntm.org/
• Wilker, Wieland (n.d.). Retrieved from An Online Textual Commentary on the Greek Gospels: http://www.willker.de/wie/TCG/index.html

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