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New Testament textual variants

Every place where the Greek text behind the King James Version and the text behind most modern Bibles differ in a way that changes the translation: 1639 variants in 1394 verses.

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Well-known passages

The longer ending of Mark

Mark 16:9–20 is absent from the two oldest complete manuscripts, Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, and Eusebius and Jerome reported that most copies they knew ended at 16:8. It is found in the great majority of later manuscripts and was known to Irenaeus in the second century. Some manuscripts have a different, shorter ending. Modern editions print 16:9–20 in double brackets. Mark 16:9

The woman caught in adultery

The account of the woman caught in adultery is missing from the earliest Greek manuscripts, including P66, P75, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, and early Greek commentators on John pass over it. In some manuscripts it appears after John 7:36, 7:44 or 21:25, or after Luke 21:38. Many scholars regard it as an early and credible tradition that was later placed in John. Modern editions print it in double brackets. John 7:53

The Johannine Comma

The words about the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit bearing witness in heaven appear in Latin manuscripts from about the fifth century but in only a handful of late Greek manuscripts, several of them added in the margin. Erasmus left them out of his first two Greek editions and included them from his third (1522), and so they passed into the Textus Receptus and the KJV. 1 John 5:7

The Ethiopian’s confession

The Ethiopian’s confession is absent from the earliest manuscripts but was known to Irenaeus in the second century. It survives mainly in Western and later witnesses and entered the Textus Receptus through Erasmus. Acts 8:37

The angel at the pool

The explanation that an angel stirred the water (5:3b–4) is missing from the earliest manuscripts, including P66, P75, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. It is often explained as a note on the pool’s reputation that later entered the text. John 5:4

The Lord’s Prayer doxology

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever” is absent from the earliest manuscripts of Matthew, including Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. A similar ending appears in the Didache (late first or early second century), which suggests it arose in the church’s liturgical use of the prayer. Matthew 6:13

“God” or “who” in 1 Timothy 3:16

Most early manuscripts read “who” (ὅς) where later manuscripts read “God” (θεός). In the capital-letter script of early manuscripts the two differ by a line or two (ΟΣ and ΘΣ with a stroke above), so the change was easy to make. 1 Timothy 3:16

“Only Son” or “only God” in John 1:18

The earliest papyri (P66, P75) and Sinaiticus and Vaticanus read “only-begotten God” (μονογενὴς θεός); most later manuscripts read “only-begotten Son” (μονογενὴς υἱός). Both readings have strong defenders. John 1:18

Book or tree of life

The KJV’s “book of life” goes back to Erasmus, who had no Greek manuscript for the last verses of Revelation and translated them from the Latin Vulgate. Nearly all Greek manuscripts read “tree of life”. Revelation 22:19

“Isaiah” or “the prophets” in Mark 1:2

Mark combines Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3. Older manuscripts attribute the whole quotation to “Isaiah the prophet”; later manuscripts read “the prophets”. Mark 1:2

Verses missing from modern Bibles

These verses are numbered in the KJV but are absent from older manuscripts, so many modern Bibles leave the verse number out of the text or put the words in a footnote. Most are harmonisations with parallel passages or liturgical additions.

Frequently asked questions

Why are some verses missing from modern Bibles?
Verses such as Matthew 17:21, Matthew 18:11, Acts 8:37 and 1 John 5:7b are in the Textus Receptus used for the King James Version but absent from the oldest Greek manuscripts, so modern translations based on the Nestle-Aland text move them to footnotes.
What is the difference between the Textus Receptus and the Nestle-Aland text?
The Textus Receptus was printed from late medieval manuscripts in the 16th century, beginning with Erasmus, and underlies the KJV. The Nestle-Aland text is a modern critical edition that gives more weight to the earliest manuscripts, such as the papyri and Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, and underlies most modern translations.
Is the longer ending of Mark in the oldest manuscripts?
No. Mark 16:9–20 is absent from Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, the two oldest complete manuscripts, though it is in most later manuscripts and was known to Irenaeus in the second century.

All variants by book

Matthew (151)

Mark (204)

Luke (193)

John (162)

Acts (227)

Romans (66)

1 Corinthians (81)

2 Corinthians (38)

Galatians (23)

Ephesians (24)

Philippians (10)

Colossians (27)

1 Thessalonians (20)

2 Thessalonians (9)

1 Timothy (21)

2 Timothy (9)

Titus (7)

Philemon (12)

Hebrews (40)

James (21)

1 Peter (32)

2 Peter (22)

1 John (25)

2 John (9)

3 John (1)

Jude (14)

Revelation (191)

Variant data: STEPBible.org TAGNT, Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0). Editions compared: NA28, NA27, Tyndale House GNT, SBLGNT, Westcott–Hort, Tregelles, Textus Receptus (Scrivener 1894) and the Byzantine text (Robinson–Pierpont 2005).