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Paul would have been aware of many nuances in his day when it came to the original language, Hebrew text, and the Greek Septuagint. So, this is no easy question to answer.
Originally, all New Testament texts were written in Greek. By the year 500, these texts had been translated into Syriac, various Coptic, Latin, Gothic, Armenian, Georgian, and perhaps Ethiopic dialects. This article is a great introduction for those just learning about New Testament Textual Studies.
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”?
It is a papyrus manuscript of the Book of Revelation which contains Rev. 9:10-11:3; 11:5-16:15; 16:17-17:2.
Wettstein rendered service to textual criticism by his collection of various readings and his methodical account of the manuscripts and other sources.
The sad state of affairs is that textual scholarship as a whole is unwittingly or knowingly moving the goalposts for some unknown reason. In textual criticism, it is now the earliest knowable text, the sociohistorical approach to New Testament Textual Studies, and, the newest trend of trying to redate our earliest NT papyri.
The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII; Gregory-Aland no. A or 02, Soden δ 4) is a fifth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. It is one of the four Great uncial codices.
In the days of Westcott and Hort, the argument was that the Alexandrian scribes removed what we have in the Byzantine manuscripts, while the other argument was that the Byzantine scribes added and altered. How could we ever solve it once and for all?
ζητειτε την βασιλειαν αυτου
“seeking his kingdom”
ζητειτε την βασιλειαν του θεου
“seeking the kingdom of God”
SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS
If the WH NU reading is correct, then it is possible that this disciple of Jesus was zealous for the law or was “a zealous nationalist prior to his call to follow Jesus.