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Delve into our New Testament Textual Commentary Articles. Enhance your Bible study with scholarly insights and interpretations.
Mark 11:26 Many later Greek manuscripts added vs. 26, as the scribes expanded on verse 25, inserting the words from Matt. 6:15 making it agree with its parallel account. [But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in the heavens forgive your trespasses.] However, the omission has much stronger manuscript support: א B L W Δ Ψ 565 700 syrs WH NU lack vs 26.
Copyists made some additions to their Greek text at times. They were more inclined to do this than to omit material. One must always carry out careful research of the external and internal evidence to uncover such scribal interpolations. Hence, the most dependable witnesses are from the Alexandrian family of manuscripts found to be the most condensed. On the other hand, the Byzantine family is the most drawn out and extended from scribes taking liberties with the text.
The WH NU reading has the earliest support among the manuscripts. The extra verse was added by scribes, borrowing it directly from 4:23 (see also 4:9) to provide an ending to an otherwise very short pericope, 7:14–15. This addition was included in TR and made popular by KJV, NKJV, NASB, NJB, and HCSB also include this extra verse.
It is notable, though, that various important manuscripts and diverse early witnesses omit these words. Therefore, Matthew 17:21 lacks adequate ancient textual support.
The variant reading is well-supported by a variety of manuscripts, including 𝔓100, and is the reading that most English versions followed. However, …
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.
The process of attempting to ascertain the original wording of a text is important, regardless of how minor the textual variant may seem. Our primary purpose is to give the Bible readers what God said by way of his human authors, Our primary goal is to be accurate and faithful to the original text. Therefore, we must have the original words.
What is the original reading: (1) “you may devote yourselves to prayer” or the longer (2) “you may devote yourselves to fasting and to prayer”?
What is the original reading: (1) “This kind does not come out except by prayer” or the longer (2) “This kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting”?
The reading απεστερημενος (“having been withheld by fraud”) or αφυστερημενος (“having been withheld”) is a bit of a hand ringer because of the split evidence.
