Stop 6. Three verses where Bibles differ

Now you can read a footnote like a detective. Here are three cases.

Case 1: Mark 16:9 to 20. These are the last twelve verses of Mark. The two oldest big Greek books, from the 300s, stop at verse 8. More than 99 of every 100 later Greek copies have the twelve verses. Today’s major English Bibles keep them, but most set them apart with brackets, a line or a footnote. The KJV prints them with no mark at all. What does not change is the story of the resurrection, which all four Gospels tell. The footnote is not hiding anything. It is telling you what the oldest copies show.

Case 2: 1 John 5:7 and 8. The KJV has a longer wording here that names the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit “in heaven.” Newer Bibles leave it out of the text. It shows up in Latin copies and a few late Greek ones, and Erasmus left it out of his first two editions. It was added centuries after John wrote. What does not change is the teaching of the Trinity, which the Bible gives in many other places. Matthew 28:19 is one, where Jesus names the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The NET, NIV, NASB, CSB and NLT put the longer wording in a footnote. The ESV and NRSV leave it out and say nothing.

Case 3: Psalm 22:16. The KJV says, “they pierced my hands and my feet.” The NIV, ESV and CSB say “pierced” too. The standard Hebrew text says “like a lion” my hands and feet. So does an old Jewish Bible, the Jewish Publication Society version of 1917. The old Greek Bible and the Latin Bible say “pierced.” A Hebrew scroll from Nahal Hever, from about AD 50 to 68, may say “pierced,” but scholars still argue about how to read it. What does not change is the rest of the psalm. The Gospels quote its other lines, such as “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Here is the rule. A footnote like these is the translators showing you their evidence. A Bible that shows you where the copies disagree is not weaker. It is asking you to look for yourself.