Greek New Testament
Links updated October 2007
αμαθεστατε και κακε, αφες τον παλαιον, μη μεταποιει
(Fool and knave, can't you leave the old reading alone and not alter it!)
—The complaint of a scribe, written in the
margin of Codex Vaticanus at Heb. 1:3.
- bibelwissenschaft.de. Website of the German Bible Society. Full text of the Nestle-Aland edition of the Greek New Testament, and the Septuagint of Rahlfs.
- The Online Parallel Bible Project. By John Isett. Full text of several editions of the Greek NT, including an interlinear Westcott-Hort with parsing and a concordance. Also has the full text of the Septuagint.
- The Unbound Bible. At Biola University. The Greek New Testament in four different editions. Uses the "symbol" font that comes with Windows so that everyone can see the Greek. At this site you can also search the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate and several English translations. The Greek texts (in unicode characters) can also be downloaded in zipped archive format.
- The Online Greek Bible. A very pleasantly designed site that presents the Nestle-Aland (26) Greek text in a variety of font options, including the Symbol font (already installed on your machine with Windows). Click on any word to see it parsed and defined. The search function is very sophisticated.
- Re:Greek. By Zack Hubert. Displays the Nestle-Aland text (26th edition) with several useful interactive features.
- Greek New Testament. By Tony Fisher. The Nestle-Aland (26) Greek New Testament in searchable images. No need for Greek fonts on your machine. Search for words by base or inflected form, and by tense, voice and mood.
- Olive Tree Greek New Testament. Search four different editions of the Greek New Testament: 1991 Byzantine Greek Text; Westcott and Hort; Stephens 1550, and Scrivener's 1894 Textus Receptus. Also has interlinears and texts with grammatical tags.
- Greek New Testament Editions in downloadable zipped files (you will need an unzip utility to open them) provided by Vincent Broman. Includes transcriptions of many historic and modern editions.
- The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform, edited by Maurice Robinson (revised edition, 2005). Also here in different formats.
- Bible Database Online Bibles. By Brent Maurer. Full text of Stephens, Scrivener, Nestle-Aland, Wescott & Hort, and the Septuagint, in chapters. Requires unicode text display support from your browser. If you don't have this and are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, the "install on demand" function will prompt you to get it. Go ahead and download the unicode support.
- The texts of Westcott and Hort (1881), Scrivener (1894), and Stephanus (1550) are online at the Bible Gateway.
- Wordsworth’s New Testament — The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus in the Original Greek, with Introductions and notes by Christopher Wordsworth; The Four Gospels (1859, also here); Acts (1860, also here); St. Paul's Epistles (1859); The General Epistles and Book of Revelation (1860). Also, St. Paul's Epistles, The General Epistles, The Book of Revelation, and Indexes (1867).
- Alford's Greek Testament with text-critical and exegetical notes is online in page images at Google Books, in 4 volumes:
vol. 1 (1849);
vol. 2 (1877);
vol. 3 (1865);
vol. 4 (1878).
- Westcott and Hort — vol.1 (text); vol 2 (Introduction; Appendix).
- Tischendorf — Novum Testamentum Graece; Ad Antiquissimos Testes Denuo Recensuit; Apparatum Criticum Omni Studio Perfectum; Apposuit Commentationem Isagogicam; Praetexuit Constantinus Tischendorf. Editio Octava Critica Maior. vol. 1 (1869, also here); vol. 2 (1872, also here); vol. 3 (1894, also here).
- Other online texts are listed at The Greek New Testament Gateway by Dr. Mark Goodacre, in his New Testament Gateway site.
- LOCAL Textual Criticism of the Greek New Testament. Collations of critical editions and a number of helpful articles.
- Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts. By Sir Frederic Kenyon. Complete book online (fourth edition, 1939). This was the standard introductory text-book on textual criticism used in seminaries before the appearance of Metzger's Text of the New Testament. A comprehensive introduction to the materials and methods of textual criticism. Slightly dated, but still very useful.
- S. P. Tregelles’ Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament — Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, with Analyses, etc., of the Respective Books, published as vol. 4 of the 10th edition of Horne's Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures (London, 1856).
- A History of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, by Marvin R. Vincent (New York: MacMillan, 1899). Also here.
- An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament by Benjamin B. Warfield (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1899).
- Hort's Introduction — F.J.A. Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek, the Text Revised by Brooke Foss Westcott D.D. and Fenton John Anthony Hort D.D.; vol. 2, Introduction and Appendix. 2nd ed. (London: MacMillan and Co., 1896).
- Ellicott and Palmer on the Greek text of the Revised Version — Charles J. Ellicott and Edwin Palmer, The Revisers and the Greek Text of the New Testament, by two members of the New Testament Company (London: Macmillan, 1882). Chiefly in response to J.W. Burgon's attack in the Quarterly Review.
- A Companion to the Greek Testament and the English Version, by Philip Schaff (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1883). Also here and here; and at the Internet Archive here.
- The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism. By Robert B. Waltz. This is the best site on the web for up-to-date information on textual criticism.
- The Old Testament Text and the New Testament Text. By Philip Comfort. A very good introduction to text-critical materials and methods. This is the first two chapters of Comfort's book, Essential Guide to Bible Versions.
- Textual Criticism - An Introductory Survey. By James W. Naumann. Provides an introductory look at the science of textual criticism and its place in orthodox theology.
- TC Journal. Here are many interesting scholarly articles and book reviews by various authors in the field of textual criticism. For James Adair's explanation of the TC site and some interesting links to related sites see A Modern Experiment in Studying the Ancients.
- The TC Ebind Index of the Religion and Technology Center at Emory University provides access to Tischendorf's Novum Testamentum Graece (8th edition) and von Soden's Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments (1913), both of which are very useful for information on the various readings of the manuscripts of the New Testament. NOTE: If a dialogue box appears on your screen, requiring you to enter a username and password, enter the word "any" in both fields.
- The Biblical Manuscripts Project, also from the Religion and Technology Center at Emory University, provides images of some important biblical manuscripts. Currently online at this site are the Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis (photographic facsimile) and the Codex Vaticanus (Tischendorf's edition).
- The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. A resource created by an association of scholars headed by Daniel Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary. The site has images of several miniscules and many pages of Codex Alexandrinus.
- Student's Guide to New Testament Textual Variants. By Bruce Terry. Introductory essays and many examples of various readings of the manuscripts in English, for students who do not know Greek. Appended is a long essay defending the authenticity of the Long Ending Of Mark on stylistic grounds.
- The Authenticity of Mark 16:9-20. By Jim Snapp II, at the Curtisville Christian Church in Elwood, Indiana. A good summary of the text-critical issues surrounding the end of Mark. Snapp concludes that the ending is original. Also here.
- The Lost End of Mark. By Burnett H. Streeter. Chapter 12 from Streeter's book The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins (1924).
- Interpreting Ancient Manuscripts. By Timothy Seid. A good introduction to the manuscripts and methods of textual criticism. Escape the cramped frames of this site by entering and navigating from the index page.
- Duke Papyrus Archive. From the special collections library at Duke University. Good articles on papyrus manuscripts, and the whole Duke collection in images.
- Griechische Papyri der Heidelberger Papyrussammlung. Very large and sharp images of the hundreds of papyrus fragments at the Institut für Papyrologie of the University of Heidelberg.
- Bible Links Page. By Wieland Willker. This page is especially useful for the many links to images of the Papyrus manuscripts.
- Codex Vaticanus B/03. A full description and history of the famous codex, by Wieland Willker. (Don't miss Willker's page on the scribal note at Hebrews 1:3.)
- Ductus: an Online Course in Paleography. A beautiful site dealing with medieval manuscripts.
- Erasmus and the Textus Receptus. By William W. Combs, in the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 1 (Spring 1996): 35-53.
- Textual Criticism discussion board at Yahoo Groups, moderated by Wieland Willker.
- Evangelical Textual Criticism Blog. By several academic contributors.
- Textual Criticism of the Bible. By Dr. Curt Daniel, pastor of the Reformed Bible Church in Springfield, Illinois.
- Varianten Textus receptus versus Nestle-Aland. By Dieter Zimmer. An extensive list of translatable variations between the TR and the Nestle-Aland text, in German.
- Some Second Thoughts on the Majority Text. By Dr. Daniel B. Wallace (Dallas Theological Seminary).
- The Majority Text and the Original Text: Are they Identical? By Dr. Daniel B. Wallace.
- Inspiration, Preservation, and New Testament Textual Criticism. By Dr. Daniel B. Wallace.
- The Development of the New Testament Text. By Jim Snapp II at the Curtisville Christian Church in Elwood, Indiana. A good discussion of text-types, with helpful diagrams showing their relationships.
- Medieval and Renaissance Book Production - Manuscript Books. By Richard W. Clement. Also here. A very helpful introduction to the production of manuscripts in Medieval times.
- Review of Gamble's Books and Readers in the Early Church. By James Adair, in TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism.
- e-Catena. By Peter Kirby. References to the New Testament culled from the Ante-Nicene Fathers.
- Digital Nestle-Aland Prototype. Electronic form of Nestle-Aland with apparatus, provided online by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research at the University of Münster. Currently the four Gospels and the Epistles of John are online.
- New Testament Transcripts Prototype. Important Greek manuscripts of the New Testament (e.g. Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, Papyrus 45), as transcribed by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research at the University of Münster. Currently the four Gospels and the Epistles of John are online. The interface allows users to compare manuscripts, with automatic highlighting of differences.
- Papyrus 52. Here is a nice page exhibiting the earliest known fragment of the New Testament - a scrap of papyrus dated about AD 125 by scholars, from a manuscript of the Gospel according to John.
- Papyrus 46. 60 pages of the manuscript online in high-resolution images, from the University of Michigan. See also the excellent Introduction to Papyrus 46 on the same site.
- An Online Textual Commentary on the Greek Gospels. By Wieland Willker. Four large PDF files, an introduction, and appendixes. Students will find this resource useful.
- Text and Tradition: The Role of New Testament Manuscripts in Early Christian Studies. By Bart D. Ehrman. These two lectures will serve as examples of how textual criticism is practiced by liberal scholars who (like Ehrman) combine it with redaction criticism. The second lecture is here.
- A Review of Bart Ehrman's recent book Misquoting Jesus. By Jim Snapp II. Discusses the scholarly weakness and modernistic bias of Ehrman's work.
- A selection of articles and reviews from The Bible Translator. Many links to articles dealing with textual criticism, compiled by J.L.H. Krans at the University of Amsterdam.
- Online Database of New Testament Manuscripts. By Michael Jones at the University of Cambridge. A database that allows you to find all papyrus and uncial manuscripts that contain a particular verse. The data was provided by Vincent Broman here.
- The Habits of New Testament Copyists: Singular Readings in the Early Fragmentary Papyri of John. By Peter M. Head. Article published in Biblica 85 (2004). Discusses the role that singular readings have played in the analysis of scribal habits, and examines singular readings in the early fragmentary papyri of John's Gospel. Confirms earlier research showing that most singular readings are mere variations of spelling or word-order, but substitutions and harmonisations to context are also common. Omissions are more common than additions.
- Graeco-Roman Papyrus Documents from Egypt (Athena Review 2/2). An introduction to the papyri found in Egypt. Includes details on the various types of documents found and links to major collections online.
- The Greek New Testament by Richard Wilson. The text of Nestle-Aland with the most important textual variants.
In Favor of the Majority Text
- A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. I and Vol. II, by F.H.A. Scrivener (Fourth Ed., George Bell & Sons, 1894). Page images only. A classic introduction to textual criticism.
- The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Mark Vindicated Against Recent Critical Objectors and Established, by John William Burgon (London, 1871 ). Page images only.
- The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels, by John William Burgon (London, 1896 ). Page images only.
- The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels Vindicated & Established, by the late John William Burgon, B.D., Dean of Chichester, arranged, completed, and edited by Edward Miller, M.A. (London: George Bell and Sons, 1896).
- Codex B and Its Allies: A Study and an Indictment, Part I and Part II, by H.C. Hoskier (London, 1914). Page images only. a very painstaking comparison of Codex Vaticanus with Codex Sinaiticus, in which the two are shown to have many significant disagreements. Hoskier attempts to demonstrate that Vaticanus presents a text which has been conformed to the Coptic versions.
- The Identity of the New Testament Text. This is a complete book in defense of the Majority text by Dr. Wilbur N. Pickering. To view the chapters online, click on the HTML file links. Also here.
- Translations and the Greek Text. By Leland M. Haines. Haines (a Mennonite layman) presents a detailed critique of the eclectic method, with quotations from Pickering, Sturz, Robinson, and other majority text advocates.
- New Testament Textual Criticism: The Case for Byzantine Priority. By Dr. Maurice A. Robinson (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary). This is the most scholarly article on the web in defense of the Majority Text.
- Crossing Boundaries in New Testament Textual Criticism: Historical Revisionism and the Case of Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener. By Dr. Maurice A. Robinson. A response to Daniel B. Wallace, "Historical Revisionism and the Majority Text Theory: The Cases of F. H. A. Scrivener and Herman C. Hoskier," NTSt 41 (1995) 280-285. Robinson discusses in detail the text-critical views of Scrivener, and argues that Scrivener is rightly considered a "Majority Text" advocate.
- The Biblical Text and the Reconstructive Task. Thematic issue of Chalcedon Report, June 1997.
- The Traditional text. A Brief Summary of John William Burgon's The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels Vindicated and Established (1896), by Rev. D. A. Waite. A useful overview of Burgon's criticism of Westcott and Hort.
- The Providential Preservation of the Greek Text of the New Testament. By Rev. W. MacLean (1983). A good summary of arguments from books of Dean Burgon and Edward Hills.
- An Inquiry into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate, or Received Text of the New Testament. By Frederick Nolan (London, 1815). An antiquated book, not to be relied upon for information, but of historical interest as an early defense of the Textus Receptus, in response to Griesbach.
Web directories for textual criticism:
"Perhaps those who pity the grammarian do not know that he finds joy in his task and is sustained by the conviction that his work is necessary." --A.T. Robertson, A Grammar of the New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Nashville: Broadman, 1934), x.
- Moulton's English translation of Winer's Grammar — Georg Benedikt Winer, A Treatise on the Grammar of New Testament Greek: Regarded as a Sure Basis for New Testament Exegesis, by Dr. G.B. Winer. Translated from the German, with Large Additions and Full Indices, by Rev. W.F. Moulton, M.A., D.D. First edition (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1870); Third Edition, revised (Ninth English Edition, Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1882), also here.
- Moulton's Concordance to the Greek NT — A Concordance to the Greek Testament according to the Texts of Westcott and Hort, Tischendorf, and the English Revisers by William F. Moulton (1897).
- The Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament, ed. George V. Wigram (6th ed, London: Bagster, 1870). See also the following link ...
- The Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament, 9th edition (1903), with a Concordance of Various Readings and a Vocabulary of NT Greek. In page images at ccel.org.
- Hudson's Concordance — A Critical Greek and English Concordance of the New Testament, prepared by Charles F. Hudson, revised and completed by Ezra Abbott (London: Bagster, 1882).
- Gall's Concordance — An Interpreting Concordance of the New Testament, Shewing the Greek Original of Every Word, with a Glossary, Explaining all the Greek Words of the New Testament, and Giving their Varied Renderings in the Authorised Version, by the Rev. James Gall (Edinburgh: Gall and Inglis, 1863).
- Trench’s ‘Synonyms of the New Testament’ — Synonyms of the New Testament: Being the Substance of a Course of Lectures Addressed to the Theological Students, King's Colege, London, by Richard Chenevix Trench ... From the third London edition, revised and enlarged (New York: Redfield, 1858). See also the later edition "with some etymological notes by A L Mayhew" (London: Kegan Paul, 1906).
- Greek Grammar on the Web. By Marc Huys, Professor of Classical Studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. A very helpful annotated directory of all kinds of Greek resouces on the Internet.
- Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Also here.
- New Testament Greek. By Michael Haggett. An on-line tutorial with audio.
- NTGreek.net. By Jeff Smelser. An on-line Greek course, with audio.
- Lidell-Scott-Jones Lexicon of Classical Greek. From the Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University. (The Perseus Berlin Mirror is sometimes faster. For a user-friendly gateway to resources at Perseus see Resources at Perseus, provided by Tyndale House.)
- Thayer's Lexicon of New Testament Greek. The standard scholar's lexicon for many years.
- Resources for New Testament Studies. By Rodney Decker, at Baptist Bible Seminary. Many helpful resources for Greek grammar.
- Greek Language and Linguistics Gateway. A service provided by greek-language.com. Information about Greek Linguistics and the Greek language.
- Resources for Learning New Testament Greek by Corey Keating.
- Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in New Testament Greek. By Ernest DeWitt Burton. A good concise reference. But to read the Greek here you will need to download and install the free BibleWorks fonts.
- Beginner's Grammar of the Greek New Testament. By William Hersey Davis (New York: Harper & Brothers 1923). Presented online in page images.
- The Biblical Greek Mailing List (B-Greek). An academic list for discussing the Greek text and language of the Bible. This is a high volume list with lots of exegetical discussion. The list assumes a working knowledge of Biblical Greek.
- Morphological Analyses for Inflected Greek Words. A word-parsing utility at the Perseus site.
- Review of F. Danker's recent revision of the BAGD Greek lexicon, by Abraham J. Malherbe of Yale University Divinity School. (Review of Biblical Literature 10/2002). Interesting discussion of some of the ways in which Danker's revison of this standard reference book (third edition, 2000) shows a "desire not to give offense to some persons in academic circles" who are interested in "inclusiveness," as Malherbe delicately puts it.
- How Have Inclusiveness and Tolerance Affected the Bauer-Danker Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (BDAG)? By Vern S. Poythress. An article from the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 46/4 (Dec. 2003), pp. 577-88. Detailed criticism of Danker's revised edition.
Learning Greek
- LOCAL Biblical Greek. Articles on the subject of Hellenistic and Biblical Greek by Deissmann, Robertson, and Machen, and a bibliography.
- Sources of New Testament Greek: Or, the Influence of the Septuagint on the Vocabulary of the New Testament, by H. A. A. Kennedy (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1895).
- The Value of the Papyri for New Testament Study. By Frederic E. Blume. A short but interesting discussion, focusing on the history and value of the non-literary papyri.
- Adolph Deissmann and 20th Century Philological Developments in New Testament Greek. By Eric Zeller, a student at The Master's Seminary. Describes at length the work and the influence of Deissmann and reactions against his view of the language of the NT.
- Did St. Luke Imitate the Septuagint? By Rev. William G. Most. An article from Journal for the Study of the New Testament 15 (1982) pp. 30-41. "Which expressions in the NT are Semitisms? How extensive are they? Are they due to translation or other causes? These and similar questions have occasioned much ingenious research, but, unfortunately, generally accepted results are few."
- Was Mark Written in Aramaic? By Frederick C. Grant. This is chapter 5 of Grant's book, The Earliest Gospel (New York: Abingdon Press, 1943). "the chief content of the Gospels is not Greek in origin, but Semitic. In spite of the exaggerations of earlier scholars ... it is becoming generally recognized today that there is really something unique about the language of the New Testament, and especially of the Synoptic Gospels -- something not to be explained wholly by the parallels found in the Egyptian papyri."
- Is the New Testament Written in 'Holy Ghost' Greek? By Edgar V. McKnight. This is an article from the American Bible Society's journal, The Bible Translator, vol. 16 (1965), pages 87-93. Online in large JPEG page images.
- Marked Syntactical Structures in Biblical Greek in Comparison with Biblical Hebrew, by Alviero Niccacci. An article published in Liber Annuus 43 (1993). Niccacci argues that Biblical Greek (the LXX and to a lesser extent the NT) is an artificial "translation language" as far as the syntax of the verb is concerned. 110 examples are quoted, mostly from the LXX, together with their Hebrew original.
- Egyptian Rubbish-Heaps and the Study of the New Testament. by James Hope Moulton (1914). An informal lecture on the usefulness of the non-literary papyri in our understanding of the language of the New Testament, by a notable scholar. At the bottom of the page are links to five other lectures in the same series.
Books
