Textual variants in the Second Epistle of John

Textual variants in the Second Epistle of John are the subject of the study called textual criticism of the New Testament. Textual variants in manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to a text that is being reproduced.

Most of the variations are not significant and some common alterations include the deletion, rearrangement, repetition, or replacement of one or more words when the copyist's eye returns to a similar word in the wrong location of the original text. If their eye skips to an earlier word, they may create a repetition (error of dittography). If their eye skips to a later word, they may create an omission. They may resort to performing a rearranging of words to retain the overall meaning without compromising the context. In other instances, the copyist may add text from memory from a similar or parallel text in another location. Otherwise, they may also replace some text of the original with an alternative reading. Spellings occasionally change. Synonyms may be substituted. A pronoun may be changed into a proper noun (such as "he said" becoming "Jesus said"). John Mill's 1707 Greek New Testament was estimated to contain some 30,000 variants in its accompanying textual apparatus[1] which was based on "nearly 100 [Greek] manuscripts."[2] Peter J. Gurry puts the number of non-spelling variants among New Testament manuscripts around 500,000, though he acknowledges his estimate is higher than all previous ones.[3]

Legend

This is a guide to the sigla (symbols and abbreviations) most frequently used in citations of source material for a Greek New Testament (NT) manuscript. Editors of a scholarly critical text of the NT use each siglum to shrink the space needed for listing witnesses to a particular reading in the critical apparatus.[4][5] The intended reader, a Bible translator, scholar, orator, or student, needs to know these abbreviations, e.g. for deciding whether to use alternative readings of the critical text or to understand the origin and attestation of a particular passage.[6]

General sigla
# beginning with 0: uncial
# not beginning with 0: minuscule
* superscript: original reading
app superscript: the critical apparatus reading
c superscript: scribal correction
com superscript: Biblical commentary reading
1,2,3... superscripts: 1st, 2nd, 3rd... scribal corrections
v.l. superscript: varia lectio, i.e. alternative reading
mg superscript: reading in the margin
ms superscript: individual manuscript
mss superscript: multiple manuscripts
pt superscript: partial attestation
s superscript: reading in a supplement to the text
txt superscript: the reading of the text
vid superscript: apparent but uncertain reading
aeth or eth: Ethiopic versions
arab: Arabic versions
arm: Armenian versions
Byz: Byzantine text-type in the Catholic letters and superscript:
pt: a part of the Codices Byzantini
cop: Coptic versions
ac or akh: Akhmimic version
ac2: Subakhmimic or Lycopolitanic version
bo: Boharic version
cv: Dialect V
cw: Dialect W
fa or fay or mf: Fayyumic Version
mae: Middle Egyptian or Mesokemic version
pbo: Proto-Bohartic version
sa: Sahidic version
ƒ: individually-numbered Greek manuscript family - superscripts:
1: Family 1
13: Family 13
geo: Georgian versions
goth: Gothic versions
it: Italic/Vetus Latina, lowercase letters for individual Old Latin manuscripts
lat: most Italic and Vulgate
latt: all Italic and Vulgate
P or 𝔓: papyrus
𝑙 or ℓ: individually numbered lectionary
Lect: most or all numbered lectionaries
𝔐: Greek Majority text and superscripts:
A: Andreas of Caesarea commentary in Revelation
C: Complutensian tradition
K: the Koine tradition in Revelation
o: omits
parenthesized (): reading or witness with a slight difference
pm: permulti: i.e., many
rell: all other extant manuscripts
slav: Slavic versions in Old Church Slavonic
syr or sy: Syriac versions and superscripts:
c or cur: Curetonian Gospels
s: Sinaitic Palimpsest
h: Harclean Syriac
hmg: Harclean Syriac, margin
pal: Palestinian Syriac
p: the Peshitta
vg: Latin Vulgate and superscripts:
cl: Editio Clementina
s: Editio Sixtina
st: Vulgata Stuttgartiensis 2007
ww: Wordsworth/White Vulgate


Greek Uncials (siglum or leading 0)
א: Codex Sinaiticus (01)
A: Codex Alexandrinus (02)
B: Codex Vaticanus (03)
C: Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (04)
Dea: Codex Bezae (05)
Dp: Codex Claromontanus (06)
E: Codex Basilensis A. N. III. 12 (07)
Ea: Codex Laudianus (08)
Fp: Codex Augiensis (010)
Ge: Codex Seidelianus I (011)
Gp: Codex Boernerianus (012)
He: Codex Seidelianus II (013)
Ha: Codex Mutinensis (014)
Hp: Codex Coislinianus (015)
I: Codex Freerianus (016)
Ke: Codex Cyprius (017)
Kap: Codex Mosquensis I (018)
Le: Codex Regius (New Testament) (019)
Lap: Codex Angelicus (020)
N: Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus (022)
O: Sinope Gospels (023)
Papr: Codex Porphyrianus (025)
Q: Codex Guelferbytanus B (026)
R: Codex Nitriensis (027)
S: Codex Vaticanus 354 (028)
T: Codex Borgianus (029)
V: Codex Mosquensis II (031)
W: Codex Washingtonianus (032)
Z: Codex Dublinensis (035)
Γ: Codex Tischendorfianus IV (036)
Δ: Codex Sangallensis 48 (037)
Θ: Codex Koridethi (038)
Ξ: Codex Zacynthius (040)
Π: Codex Petropolitanus (New Testament) (041)
Φ: Codex Beratinus (043)
Ψ: Codex Athous Lavrensis (044)
Ω: Codex Athous Dionysiou (045)
0189: Uncial 0189
Other Uncials


Vetus Latina (Old Latin) Uncials (lower-case letters)


Other important manuscripts and sources
Lectionaries
See List of New Testament lectionaries
ℓ 185: Lectionary 185
ℓ 249: Lectionary 249
Papyri
See List of New Testament papyri
𝔓45: Papyrus 45 (P. Chester Beatty I)
𝔓66: Papyrus 66
Greek Miniscules
See Lists of New Testament minuscules (no leading 0)
33: Minuscule 33
2344: Minuscule 2344
The Diatessaron gospel harmony
Latin Vulgate manuscripts (capital letters)
vgA: Codex Amiatinus
vgΣ: Codex Sangallensis 1395
vgF: Codex Fuldensis
gig: Codex Gigas (Old Latin in Acts and Revelation)
Church Fathers are cited when relevant
Ju: Justin Martyr
Or: Origen
Dion: Dionysius of Alexandria
Tert: Tertullian


Printed New Testaments - critical and eclectic texts
Latin and Greek Majority texts
E: Erasmus, Novum Instrumentum omne (1516)
ς: The Textus Receptus (so-called) of Robert Estienne (1550)[7]
Beza's Greek and Latin New Testament (1565 to 1611)
M: John Mill, Novum Testamentum Graecum, etc. (1707)
Bengel, Novum Testamentum Graecum (1734)
Wettstein, Novum Testamentum Graecum, etc. (1751)
Ma: Matthaei, Novum Testamentum Graecum, etc. (1803)
Griesbach, Novum Testamentum Graece, etc. (1809 to 1823)
L: Lloyd, Novum Testamentum Graecum (1828, 1836)
Ln: Lachmann, Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine (Greek and Latin, 1842, 1850)
Scr: Scrivener's Greek New Testaments (1877 to 1894)
𝔚: Wordsworth-White, Nouum Testamentum Domini nostri Jesu Christi latine (Latin, 1889)
vS: von Soden, Die Schriften des neuen Testaments, etc. (1902 to 1910)
Farstad and Hodges, The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text with Apparatus (1982)
Modern Greek NTs with substantially Alexandrian texts
𝔗 or T8th: Tischendorf, Editio Octava Critica Maior (1864 to 1894)
WH: Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek (1881)
Weiss, Das Neue Testament (1894)
NA: Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle–Aland, NA28 is latest (1898-)
UBS: United Bible Societies, Greek New Testament, UBS5 is latest (1966-)
ECM: Editio Critica Maior, updates to Tischendorf's 8th edition (1997-) (in progress)


Textual variants

Textual variants in the Second Epistle of John


24 Textual variants in 2 John

Insciptio

Ιωανου δευτερα (Second of John) — אc Bc
omit — ‭א* B*
Ιωαννου επιστολη δευτερα (Second Epistle of John) — rell

2 John 2

ουσαν — 33 642 2344 cop
ενοικουσαν — A 048 1735
μενουσαν — rell

2 John 3

εσται γαρ μεθ’ ημων — 048
εσται δε μεθ’ ημων — 307
και εσται μεθ’ ημων — 2492
εσται μεθ’ ημων — א B P Ψ 0232 33 323 (614) 1241 1739 𝔐pt vgmss syrph copsa,bomss
εσται μεθ’ υμων — 5 81 945 1735c 𝔐pt itl vgmss copbomss
omit — A 630 1448 1505 1852 2464 2495 syrh

2 John 3

παρα — A B Ψ 048 0232 81 88 322 323 326 436 442 629 642 1067 1243 1409 1505 1735 1739 1846 1852 2127 2495 𝑙596 lat syrphmss copsa eth geo
παρα κυριου — ‭אc K L P 049 056 0142 5 33 181 307 330 451 614 630 945 1175 1448 1844 1877 1881 2298 2344 2412 2464 2492 𝔐 Lect vgmss syr cop arm slav Ps-Oecumenius Theophylact
κυριου — ‭א* 1292 1611 1881 2138 𝑙680 𝑙883 𝑙884
omit — 1505 2495 itl vg(mss) Augustine Cassiodorus

2 John 5

καινην γραφω σοι — Ψ 5 81 642* 1852 itl Augustinept
καινην γραφων σοι — ‭א A 33 69 323 442 614 630 642c 1241c 1243 1505 1611 1739 2344 2495 vg
γραφων σοι καινην — B P 436 1175 1448 1735 2492 𝔐
γραφω σοι καινην — 623 1241* 2464 Augustinept

2 John 6

η εντολη εστιν — A B K Ψ 0232 5 33 69 323 630 1241 1505 1611 1735 1739 1852 2344 2495 vg syr
εστιν η εντολη — P 048 307 436 442 642 1175 1243 1448 2492 𝔐 Lucifer
εστιν η εντολη αυτου — ‭א 1846

2 John 7

εξηλθον — p74 ‭א A B Ψ 0232 33 81 323 614 630 1241 1739 2495 vg syr copsa Irenaeuslat
εισηλθον — P 049 1175 1448 𝔐 copbo

2 John 8

απολησθε — ‭א*
απολητε — 326*
απολεσητε — ‭אc A B Ψ 0232c 81 88 181 322 323 436 614 630 1067 1241 1409 1505 1611 1735 1739 1846 1852 1881 2138 2298 2344 2412 2464 2492 2495 𝑙596 𝑙884 𝑙1439 lat syr cop arm eth geo Irenaeus(lat) Lucifer Isidore Ps-Chrysostom Ps-Oecumeniuscomm John-Damascus Theophylactcomm
απολεσωμεν — K L P 049 056 0142 104 330 451 629 945 1175 1844 1877 2127 𝔐 Lect slav Hilary Ps-Oecumenius Theophylact
απολεσομεν — 𝑙603
απολεσωσιν — 𝑙883
αποληθειτε — 326c
απολεσησθε — 1243

2 John 8

ηργασαμεθα — B* 049*vid 181
ειργασομεθα — 2492
εργασωμεθα — 𝑙147 𝑙603
ειργασαμεθα — Bc K L P 049 056 0142 104 330 451 629 945 1175 1448 1844 1877 2127 𝔐 Lect syrhmg copsamss geo slav Hilary Ps-Oecumenius Theophylact
ειργασθε — 614 2412
ειργασασθε — ‭א A Ψ 048vid 0232vid 5 33 81 88 307 322 323 326 436 442 630 642 1067 1241 1243 1292 1409 1505 1611 1735 1739 1846 1852vid 1881 2138 2298 2344vid 2464 2495 𝑙596 𝑙884 𝑙1439 lat syr copsams,bo arm eth Irenaeuslat Lucifer Isidore Ps-Chrysostom Ps-Oecumeniuscomm John-Damascus Theophylactcomm

2 John 8

απολαβετε — 33 1292
απολαβητε — ‭א A B Ψ 0232vid 81 88 181 322 323 326 436 614 630 1067 1241 1243 1409 1505 1611 1735 1739 1846 1852 1881 2138 2298 2344 2412 2464 2492 2495 𝑙596 𝑙884 𝑙1439 lat syr cop arm eth geo Irenaeus(lat) Lucifer Isidore Ps-Chrysostom Ps-Oecumeniuscomm John-Damascus Theophylactcomm
απολαβωμεν — K L P 049 056 0142 104 330 451 629 945 1175 1844 1877 2127 𝔐 Lect slav Hilary Ps-Oecumenius Theophylact
απολαβομεν — 𝑙603

2 John 9

προαγων — ‭א A B 048 0232 vgmss cop
παραβαινων — P Ψ 5 33 81 307 436 442 642 1175 1243 1448 1611 1735 1739 1852 2344vid 2492 𝔐 itl vgmss syr Lucifer

2 John 9

διδαχη — ‭א A B Ψ 048 33 81 322 323 442 1241 1243 1739 1846 1852 1881 2344 2464 𝑙596 itc,l vgmss syrh copsa,bomss arm Didymus Fulgentius
διδαχη αυτου — itdem,div,p vgmss syrphmss,h Lucifer
διδαχη του Χριστου — K L P 056 0142 5 88 104 181 307 326 330 436 451 614 629 630 642 945 1067 1175 1292 1409 1448 1505 1611 1735 1844 1877 2127 2138 2298 2412 2492 2495 𝔐 Lect itar vgmss syrphms copbomss eth geo slav Augustinevid Ps-Oecumenius Theophylact
δικαιοσυνη του Χριστου — 𝑙422

2 John 11

insert after πονηροις: ecce praedixi vobis ut in diem domini nostri non confundamini — vgmss (Speculum)
insert after πονηροις: ecce praedixi vobis ut in diem domini nostri Iesu Christi non confundamini — vgmss

2 John 12

αλλα ελπιζω γενεσθαι — ‭א B Ψ 442 614 630 1243 1448 1505 1611 1852 2492 2495 vgmss syrh
ελπιζω γαρ γενεσθαι — A 048vid 5 33 81 323 642 1735 1739 2344 vgmss
αλλα ελπιζω ελθειν — P 307 436 1175 𝔐 itl vgmss syrph copsa,boms

2 John 12

υμων — A B 0142 5 33 81vid 322 323 436 442 1067 1243 1409 1739 1881 2127 2298 2344* 2464 2492 𝑙422 𝑙596 𝑙921 itl vgmss copbo eth slav
ημων — ‭א K L P Ψ 049 056 88 104 181 307 326 330 451 614 629 630 642 945 1175vid 1292 1448 1505 1611 1735 1844 1846 1852 1877 2138 2412 2495 𝔐 Lect vgmss syr arm geo Ps-Oecumenius Theophylact
εμου — copsa
omit — 309 327 378

2 John 13

τοις εκλεκτοις — 1067
της εκλεκτης — ‭א A B P Ψ 33 81 88 104 322 323 1243 1409 1735 1739 1846 1881 2127 2298 2344 2464 2492 lat cop geo Bede
της εκλεκτης αμην — K L 049 056 0142 181 326 330 451 614 630 945 1175 1292 1505 1611 1844 1852 1877 2138 2412 2495 𝔐 Lect vgmss slav
της εκκλησιας αμην — 307 vgmss
της εκλεκτης η χαρις μετα σου — 442
της εκλεκτης η χαρις μετα σου αμην — 429 629 1758 1831 𝑙596 vgmss arm
της εκλεκτης η χαρις μεθ’ υμων — arm ethmss
της εκλεκτης η χαρις μεθ’ υμων αμην — syr ethmss Ps-Oecumenius Theophylact
electe ecclesia — itp
της εκλεκτης της εν Εφεσω — 465mg
omit — 436

See also

References

  1. ^ Adam Fox, John Mill and Richard Bentley: A Study of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament 1675–1729 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954), pp. 105–115; John Mill, Novum Testamentum Graecum, cum lectionibus variantibus MSS (Oxford 1707)
  2. ^ Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154
  3. ^ Peter J. Gurry, "The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate" New Testament Studies 62.1 (2016), p. 113
  4. ^ Nestle, Eberhard; Nestle, Erwin; Aland, Barbara; Aland, Kurt; Karavidopoulos, J.; Martini, C. M.; Metzger, Bruce M. (2001). Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (NA27) (27 ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. ISBN 978-3-438-05100-4.
  5. ^ Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara; Karavidopoulos, Johannes; Martini, Carlo M.; Metzger, Bruce Manning, eds. (2012). Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (NA28) (28 ed.). Stuttgart: German Bible Society. ISBN 978-3-438-05140-0.
  6. ^ Metzger, Bruce Manning; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 54, 62–86, 102–103. ISBN 0-19-516667-1.
  7. ^ J.P. van de Giessen (2003). "Legenda tekstkritische notities". bijbelaantekeningen.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 May 2022.

Further reading