The Beginnings of a New Polytonic Codex Alexandrinus Transcript

I have uploaded a new parallel version of Codex Alexandrinus (hereafter 02) in a polytonic form to Downloads along with a typeface I'm working on for this project. The current version has the University of Muenster transcription in the left hand column and a new polytonic 'critical version' in the right column. Eventually, God willing, I hope to have the entirety of 02 from Genesis to Revelation available in a full Greek New Testament.

I had started with the Septuagint portion of 02, but thought it would be more immediately useful to have the New Testament and the epistles of Clement completed first. Part of the reason for this is that I would like to do a 'critical' version of 02 collated with the Family Π manuscripts that are believed to have been derived either directly from 02 or a common ancestor. This family represents some of the earliest Byzantine manuscripts, with the earliest being dated from around the 9th century AD.

The goal (God willing) is that I would create a new version with lacunae in 02 being filled with the equivalent Family Π text such as from Matthew 1-25:6. But this is a future goal and for the moment as clean a copy of the GNT as possible is the immediate goal.

The current version contains the surviving text of Matthew, the whole of the Gospel of Mark, 3 John, and the Epistle of Jude. I have begun by laying it out in a two column table with a verse to a cell to make it easier to compare the Muenster transcript to the polytonic text. I have a very rough and somewhat messy system* to indicate where 02 follows or differs from the Critical (CT), Byzantine or Majority (MT), and Erasmian or Textus Receptus (TR) families and where 02 goes its own way. I say this is messy because I'm using the 3rd Edition CNTTS apparatus, which is far from comprehensive or perfect**. In the future I will use the ECM apparatus which is more up to date and contains far more sources.

The styles markup is very rudimentary but should give something of an idea of the nature of 02's text and which way it leans. If you are using MS word you can open the Styles menu and see what the colours mean. It is far from comprehensive but should give an idea where 02 variants occur and what text-type they follow. When I have the full GNT I will begin working on a proper apparatus that more fully lists variants and in the case of variants unique to 02 what other manuscripts contain the reading.

I will update it as I go and make a note of this on the Downloads page as I reach the end of books. The next planned update will add the Gospel of Luke and maybe another short letter such as 2 John or Philemon. I like to break up the work by following a long text with a shorter one to keep the sense of progress coming along.

Note - I should make it clear, I'm not doing this for any theological reason or because I think 02 is the best manuscript. It is one of the oldest and therefore most valuable copies of God's inspired word surviving and that's one reason for this work. The Septuagint (LXX) is also valuable because it differs in some significant ways from other existing LXX texts.

Note 2 - you will need the Alexandrinus typeface found near the top of the Downloads page to properly display the text. There are currently no special characters not found in the SBL Gentium Plus typeface, but there will be in the final full 02 transcript. Other typefaces will display the text properly, but in the final version there are critical marks from the Grabe transcript I am working the LXX from***.

But, the primary reason is that I'm curious about the claim that it may be related to the Family Π Byzantine texts and I would like to know exactly how closely related it is. So far from what I've seen, it does share some characteristics with this family and is, I believe, a valuable witness to the bigger Byzantine family of texts.

It is available on the Download page for your edification.

I pray it blesses the reader and proves useful.

LXX and GNT app for Android

I've created a basic app for Android that includes Henry Barclay Swete's Septuagint as well as the unfinished Tregelles comparative GNT with the apparatus as it is presently.

It can be downloaded here

It's very basic and only uses the default app icons in the software I used to create it. It has the full text of both the LXX and GNT including OT apocrypha (e.g. such as additions to Daniel, 1-4 Maccabees, Enoch etc). It features a verse of the day (turned on in settings), highlighting, notes, and bookmarks. The books of the LXX are in the order laid out by Swete in his edition while Tregelles' are in the older order (Gospels, Acts, General Epistles, Pauline Epistles, Revelation) and the Text Critical Edition are in the traditional Western Protestant order.

Update (12 Jan 2024): I've reworked this app and made the following changes:

• Changed all book names to their Greek form (except for the Fathers)
  
• Separated the Tregelles GNT into its own group
  
• added the Text Critical GNT, a GNT based on the Robinson Pierpont text with critical notes
• Added the Apostolic Fathers in Greek.
• Reset the version number to 0.0.2
  

Scripture Journals

It's been a little while since I posted, work has been coming in and with the state of the economy I can't pass that up. The schedule has been a little up in the air, but it's finally settled into something I can work with from now on.

That has allowed me over the past few days to create some Scripture journals based on Tregelles' Greek New Testament and post them as individual files to the Downloads page. I hope over the next couple of weeks to make two different versions of a combination of all of the books of the New Testament. One will be in Tregelles' order (which is not what most are used to today) and one in the order they are presented on the Downloads page.

The reason for the second version is that I have been studying Greek for some time through the Biblical Mastery Academy. Once you finish the Beginning Greek course you move to Milestone courses and progress through books in this order learning vocabulary, grammar, and to read God's work in Greek. I'll also zip these up to provide an easy way to download them all at once as individual files as well as the full GNT versions. Having that will allow students, such as myself, to simply move on to the next book in the reading order without jumping backwards and forwards. The Tregelles order allows others to study from Matthew to Revelation.

The files have a generous spacing between lines (almost 3 times the text height or a leading of 32 points) and a wide right hand margin. They are intended for use on devices so they don't have different left/right pages. Though, they could still be printed and comb bound or put into a folder both of which would leave the blank left page as extra space for notes etc.

These are free (that is, I'm not charging for them) and I pray they serve to help those learning Greek and to bless them with God's word.

If you do wish to help out a little, please consider donating a dollar or two via my Ko-Fi link up in the right hand corner of the page.

However, this is not required to download anything on the Downloads page, they are and will remain free. When I have things to sell, I will link them separately.

I'll get back to working on the apparatus now as well.

Draft Apparatus Part 8

Galatians is now done. This is a fairly short letter, just six chapters none of which exceed 30 verses.

There are numerous variants in this book, but none are particularly significant. One of the most common types are moveable nus where a final ν is dropped from a word under certain circumstances such as a vowel starting a new word. Another common type is the moveable sigma (ς) which is dropped under similar circumstances. Also common variant is crasis forms such as αλλ΄ for αλλα and καγω for και εγω.

Apart from these fairly common variants there are no significant variants. It appears few changes were made to Galatians over time. Spelling errors, some word order changes, crasis, and the occasional omission make up the majority of variants in the Letter to the Galatians.

Draft Apparatus Part 7

2 Corinthians is checked and up with the other (so far) completed books.

This book had an interesting and extremely messy set of variants in the very first chapter. Verse 6 has at least seven different versions and verse 7 has at least three. Unlike many variants this is not family versus family but edition versus edition.

Here's verse 6 in with the Editions collected by variant type:

1. TreL/Treg/TNT1/TNT2/RP:εἴτε δὲ θλιβόμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας, τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐν ὑπομονῇ τῶν αὐτῶν παθημάτων ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς πάσχομεν, καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν βεβαία ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν· εἴτε παρακαλούμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας,
2. Stp/Elz: ειτε δε ... ειτε παρακαλουμεθα υπερ της υμων παραλκησεως και σωτηριας και η ελπις ημων βεβαια υπερ υμων
3. Bez: ειτε δε ... ειτε παρακαλουμεθα της ενεργουμενης εν υπομονη των αυτων παθημαθων ων και ημεις πασχομεν και η ελπις βεβαια υπερ υμων
4. Scr: ειτε δε ... πασχομεν ειτε παρακαλουμεθα υπερ της υμων παρακλησεως και σωτηριας
5. F35/HF/TH: και η ελπις ημων βεβαια υπερ υμων ειτε παρακαλουμεθα υπερ της υμων παρακλησεως και σωτηριας Omit 
6. WH/N04/NA/SBL: ειτε δε ... ειτε παρακαλουμεθα υπερ της υμων παρακλησεως της ενεργουμενης εν υπομονη των αυτων παθηματων ων και ημεις πασχομεν
7. Tisc: ειτε δε ... ειτε παρακαλουμεθα υπερ της υμων παρακλησεως της ενεργουμενης εν υπομενη των αυτων παθηματων ων και ημεις πασχομεν και η ελπις ημων βεβαια υπερ υμων
   

Number one in the list is the four versions of Tregelles' GNT I have included. As you can see Robinson-Pierpont agrees 100% with them.

Second is Stephanus and Elzevir. It isn't surprising they agree, they are very close in many ways. Despite being published in between the two, Beza (3) goes its own way, as does the much later Scrivener (4).

Number five includes the other two Byzantine texts (F35 and Hodges Farstad) and the Tyndale House GNT. These three seem to omit a lengthy portion of verse 6, but in reality they all simply shift it to the beginning of verse 7. Likewise, Scrivener, Wescott Hort, Nestle 1904/13, NA28 and SBLGNT all do a similar thing by moving και η ελπις ημων βεβαια υπερ υμων to the beginning of verse 7. This is despite the fact that Scrivener varies significantly from the other four in verse 6 as you can see below:

Scr εἴτε δὲ θλιβόμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας, τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐν ὑπομονῇ τῶν αὐτῶν παθημάτων ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς πάσχομεν· εἴτε παρακαλούμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας:
WH/N04/NA/SBL εἴτε δὲ θλιβόμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας· εἴτε παρακαλούμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐν ὑπομονῇ τῶν αὐτῶν παθημάτων ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς πάσχομεν,

A fairly significant difference in verse 6 but agreement in verse 7.

Now, as with many of these variants and despite the messiness of it, there is little of theological importance in this collection of variants. These verses are part of Paul's greetings to the congregation at Corinth before he gets into the meat of the letter itself.

We can see how this affects the English by the following:

Darby (Tregelles): 6  But whether we are in tribulation, it is for your encouragement and salvation, wrought in the endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer, 7 (and our hope for you is sure;) or whether we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement and salvation: knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so also of the encouragement.

Majority Text Translation (RP GNT) 6 Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. 7 (And our hope for you is steadfast); if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, thus also you will partake of the consolation.

KJV (TR) 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

LSB (NA) 6 But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is working in your perseverance in the same sufferings which we also suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

I find it interesting how this became so varied. We aren't talking about simple word order or a couple of words misspelled or different grammatical forms. No, entire phrases are gone or moved either within the verse or to the next. So it's unlikely there was a theological battle over Paul's words, yet somehow we have ended up with so many different versions of these verses in the printed editions. It will be interesting to see how other editions deal with this when I begin to add them to the apparatus.

Draft Apparatus Part 6

It has been a rather productive week, though checking is faster than finding the variants and adding them since most of the work is already done and only corrections and a few additions need to be made.

So now 1 Corinthians is complete and added to the list. I did find a somewhat quirky variant in this book, once again in the Beza edition. Beza has the same subscript as Stephanus but here it wasn't added as an extra verse as in Romans, it stands by itself as is usual with these.

Probably one of the more baffling yet minor variants in this book is found in chapter 15 verse 55 where the Alexandrian texts read:

Ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ νῖκος; ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ κέντρον;

 Most of the TR and Byzantine texts read:

Ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ κέντρον; ποῦ σου, ᾅδη, τὸ νῖκος;

The text is essentially the same, but with κέντρον and νῖκος swapped and ᾅδη (Ἅιδη in the Byzantine) for θάνατε.

Here Beza reads:

Ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ νῖκος; ποῦ σου, ᾅδη, τὸ κέντρον;

Why this is so, I cannot say, but for whatever reason Beza went with that reading. The word order is the same as the Alexandrian texts, but he chose ᾅδη instead of θάνατε. I do not know which manuscripts he relied on for his choices apart from the 6 used by Erasmus in addition to the 18 or so used by Stephanus for his 1550 Editio Regia. He did have access to Codex Bezae Cantabrigensis and Codex Claromontanus. The latter contains the letters of Paul, but the text at this point is:

Ποῦ σου θάνατε το κέντρον, ποῦ σου θάνατε το νεικος

Apart from the spelling of νεικος and θάνατε, it has the same word order as the TR and Byzantine texts, so that's not it. Whatever the origin, it's a relatively minor change - death versus Hades (the place of the dead) and the word order doesn't alter the meaning. But, even so, it is interesting to find Beza standing apart from the other three families here with one foot in the TR/Byzantine camp and one in the Alexandrian.

Put together you can see the variants a little more clearly:

Alex	Ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ νῖκος; ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ κέντρον;
Beza	Ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ νῖκος; ποῦ σου, ᾅδη, τὸ κέντρον;
TR/Byz	Ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ κέντρον; ποῦ σου, ᾅδη, τὸ νῖκος;
Claromontanus	Ποῦ σου θάνατε το κέντρον, ποῦ σου θάνατε το νεικος

It's an interesting, but minor change.

Draft Apparatus Part 5

The editing of the Letter to the Romans is now complete and the PDF is located with the other draft documents so far completed.

While there are many significant variants in Romans, there's an interesting but very minor variant in the Beza GNT at the end of the book. Here Beza adds a 28th verse to chapter 16. There's nothing particularly important about the text, as it is one of the 20 versions of the subscript, in this case the wording is identical to that of Stephanus' 1550 subscript and is found in Codex 1244 an 11th century Byzantine manuscript (St Catherine's Monastery, Egypt) and included in some other Textus Receptus editions.

Πρὸς 'Ρωμαίους ἐγραφη ἀπὸ Κορίνθου, διὰ Φοίβης τῆς διακόνου τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς ἐκκλησίας

Where other Greek New Testaments might add this subscript as a separate text at the end of the book, Beza chose to add it as a new verse. He also added it to his new Latin translation in the middle column and to the Vulgate text in column 3. I'm not sure if any other Vulgate edition had this subscript, I've checked a few, including Codex Amiatinus, the oldest complete Latin Vulgate (c.7th century AD), and they do not.

This text is in small print (see screenshot above) so it seems that it's not intended to be read as a new verse of Scripture but rather a stylistic choice for the layout of his edition. This variant does not change the text of Scripture and is therefore of little importance, but I thought it interesting to see that the versification still appeared to be fluid half a century after Stephanus added it to his 1551 edition and that Beza saw it as a way to mark the subscript.