A USER’S GUIDE TO THE NESTLE-ALAND 28 GREEK NEW TESTAMENT Text-Critical Studies Number 9 A USER’S GUIDE TO THE NESTLE-ALAND 28 GREEK NEW TESTAMENT A USER’S GUIDE TO THE NESTLE-ALAND 28 GREEK NEW TESTAMENT David Trobisch Society of Biblical Literature Atlanta A USER’S GUIDE TO THE NESTLE-ALAND 28 GREEK NEW TESTAMENT Copyright © 2013 by the Society of Biblical Literature and the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft , Stuttgart. A German edition of this book is also available. For more information, see www.bibelonline.de. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and record- ing, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permis- sions Offi ce, Society of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA. Printed on acid-free, recycled paper conforming to ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994 standards for paper permanence. CONTENTS Preface .......................................................................................................vii 1. Structure and Intention of the Edition .............................................1 1.1. Th e History of Transmission of the Greek New Testament 1 1.2. Th e Manuscripts 4 1.3. Looking at One Page of NA28 12 1.4. Structure of the Edition 14 1.5. Evaluating Variants 22 1.6. Concluding Questions 25 2. Exercises and Learning Aids ............................................................27 2.1. Questions about the Introduction of NA28 27 2.2. What is the “Majority Text” (𝔐)? 31 2.3. Th e Text of the Catholic Letters 32 2.4. Positive and Negative Apparatus 33 2.5. Th e Early Translations 35 2.6. Early Quotations from the New Testament 35 2.7. Th e Canon Tables of Eusebius 36 2.8. Appendix I B: Codices Latini 38 2.9. Appendix II: Variae Lectiones Minores 39 3. NA28 as an Edition for Scholars .....................................................41 3.1. Changes between the 27th and 28th Editions 41 3.2. Limitations of the NA28 46 Appendix: Suggestions for Teachers ......................................................55 Solutions to the Exercises ........................................................................59 Works Referenced.....................................................................................69 PRE FACE In honor of two of its historical editors, the Novum Testamentum Graece is often simply referred to as the “Nestle-Aland.” In the fall of 2012 it appeared in its 28th thoroughly revised edition. It was prepared for publication by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in Münster, Westphalia, under the direction of Dr. Holger Strutwolf. This concise edition, which provides a survey of the manuscript evidence and a scholarly reconstruction of the oldest text of the Greek New Testament, has now grown to more than a thousand printed pages. In its new iteration, NA28 is easier to use than its predecessors, and it promises not only to continue playing a leading role for scholarly exegesis and academic instruction but also to supply the source text for Bible translators. The present book is structured in three parts. The first part, “Struc- ture and Intention of the Edition,” has in mind readers who are using this edition of the Greek New Testament for the first time. Although knowledge of the Greek language is helpful, it is not a prerequisite to understand the narrative. The objective is to communicate the structure and concept of NA28 and also to create critical awareness for the problems and uncertainties encountered by reconstructions of the oldest Greek text. College students are the intended audience as well as a general readership interested in a better understanding of the references to text variations in Bible manuscripts that are found in most English translations of the New Testament and in exegetical publications. Exercises accompanying the explanations are designed to rehearse and apply important information. They may also prove helpful in the context of academic instruction. The solutions are given at the end of the book. The second part, “Exercises and Learning Aids,” demonstrates the application of the edition through specific examples. It explains tech- -vii- viii A USER’S GUIDE TO THE NESTLE-ALAND 28 nical terms and how to apply the information of the introduction, the technical apparatus, and the appendices. In an academic setting, such a level of knowledge and skill would be expected of a graduate student with a special interest in biblical literature. The third part, “NA28 as an Edition for Scholars,” provides an overview of the strengths and the limitations of NA28 for researchers and teachers who interpret the New Testament professionally. It also summarizes the important differences between the 28th edition and previous editions of the Novum Testamentum Graece. Readers will need to have a copy of the 28th edition of the Nestle- Aland at hand to appreciate fully the detailed explanations. Unless otherwise indicated, numbers in parenthesis refer to pages of NA28. My hope is that readers will find the book useful and that they will appreciate the effort of the colleagues who put together this concise critical edition of the Greek New Testament. September 2013 David Trobisch 1 STRUCTURE AND INTENTION OF THE EDITION 1.1. The History of Transmission of the Greek New Testament Between 5,500 and 6,000 handwritten copies with text from the New Testament are known today, and that number continues to increase. There is hardly a sentence of the New Testament that has the exact same wording in each of these exemplars. Why? Most writings of the Greek Old Testament are based on old trans- lations from Hebrew. When Jesus of Nazareth’s last words on the cross are quoted in the Gospel according to Mark as “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” the writer of the Gospel is quick to explain the mean- ing of this quote: “Which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Mark 15:34). By making remarks like this, the Gospel writers inform their readers that Jesus did not speak Greek when he talked to peasants, fishermen, Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes in Galilee or Judea. The writer makes readers aware that Jesus’ speeches are presented in translation. The simple observation that readers of the Christian Bible are aware of reading a translation explains in part why scribes and edi- tors felt free to revise the Greek text during the fourteen centuries of its manuscript transmission. Greek was and is a living, spoken lan- guage, and many of these changes were designed to increase readabil- ity, to avoid possible misunderstandings, and to adapt expressions to the evolving vernacular. The same is practiced today, as our modern language editions are revised on a regular basis. Editors will typi- cally replace awkward expressions with more familiar ones, update sentence structures to make them flow better for modern users, and correct an occasional error. Even venerated editions such as the King -1-