Which of the ancient texts should be preferred? Critical apparatus...

“Since the beginning of this century, the edition of the Greek New Testament, prepared by the famous German researcher Eberhard Nestle, has become especially widespread in the world. Eberhard first published his critical edition in 1898 and before his death in 1913, he published 9 editions. Then his work continued by son Erwin, who over the past 40 years has prepared 12 more editions. The publications were published in different Western countries, but most of them were published in Germany. The sheer number of editions published by Nestlé (father and son) shows that the text they offer enjoys enormous confidence in the country. world communities. Since 1904, this edition has been adopted by the British and Foreign Bible Society to replace the “Textus receptus” and since then has formed the basis of all missionary translations published in the world. The latest edition (at that time the 21st) was published by Erwin Nestle in 1952. in Stuttgart."

Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate 1956.

Currently, the publishing house has already published the 28th edition for a wide range of readers.

But the main idea, on the other hand, comes down to the fact that “ the most perfect and most accurate and closest to the original original of the New Testament Scriptures“is the “consolidated critical Greek text of the New Testament” accepted in the Protestant West (ed. by Eb. Nestle), since it is built on the “most ancient and authoritative” manuscripts (meaning the Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus). As for the text, preserved by the Eastern Church from ancient times, then, according to Protestant critics, this text has many defects and errors and is not trustworthy, since it is attested, although numerous, by later manuscripts...

As can be seen from the preface of the publication in question, Eberhard Nestle, releasing his first edition in 1898, had the goal instead of the then widespread « Textus receptus» offernew textas a result of scientific textual research of the 19th century. Therefore, he deliberately refused to give his own edition of the text, based on a subjective assessment of various readings, and took as a basis the largest scientific publications of the 19th century: the Leipzig 8th edition of Tischendorf (I. 1869 and II. 1872) and the English by Westcott and Hort (London, 1881 and 1886). In order to have a majority in cases where these publications disagreed with each other, he also attracted the compilation edition of Weymouth (London, 1886) and accepted into the text the readings presented by the two editions. Starting from the 3rd edition (1901), Eb. Nestle turned instead of Weymouth to the Weiss edition prepared at that time (Leipzig. 1894-1900), so that now his text turned out to be built on the basis of the editions of Tischendorf, Hort and Weiss (THW).

It seemed to Eberhard Nestle that a comparison of the three most important critical publications of the 19th century produced a text of a possibly objective nature. However, he was aware that this text was characterized by a certain one-sidedness, since all three editions compared were based on Egyptian uncials, with Hort and Weiss giving preference to the Vatican Codex, and Tischendorf to the Sinaiticus that he discovered. Therefore, Eb. Nestle cited other most important readings in an interlinear textual-critical apparatus, indicating the main handwritten witnesses. Thus, for the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, he placed interlinear readings of the so-called “Western” text, represented by the Codex Beza (D), as well as Old Latin and Old Syrian translations and some papyri. It is clear that the number of such problematic readings increased with each edition, and the need to revise some provisions was brewing. Eb. Nestle intended to make a significant revision of his edition after the appearance of G. von-Soden's edition (1913), but died in the same year. His son Erwin continued his scientific and critical publishing activities. The latter, during the First World War and in the post-war years, published several publications, in which he limited himself to small improvements suggested to him by various people.

The 13th (1927), 16th (1936) and the 21st (1952) editions we are considering underwent more significant revision. However, here too the changes affected mainly the critical apparatus.

Some textual corrections in the latest editions do not affect the essential aspects of the text at all and can be summarized as follows:

The Greek spelling was streamlined, which in the first twelve editions adhered to the Greek writers of the 4th-5th centuries. Now it is established in accordance with philological data of the 1st century. Improvements have affected such aspects as: stress, aspiration, signature iota, writing with a small letterχριστος but with greatΜεσσια , replacementει signι etc.

Changes have been made in dividing the text into segments according to semantic meaning.

Signs have been introduced into the text that indicate the reading options given in the interlinear critical apparatus.

Thus, leaving the text without significant changes, Erwin Nestle in his latest editions paid special attention to streamlining the scientific-critical apparatus. This device is placed at the bottom of the text and deserves special attention, since it constitutes the main advantage of the publication.

Using the experience of all previous scientific-critical publications, Nestle in his apparatus gives a clear and almost exhaustive picture of the history of the New Testament text and the state of the textual problem at a given time. Here are all the readings that were not accepted by the publisher into the text, but which are represented by known types of texts and reviews or individual ancient manuscripts. In the latter case, special attention is paid to newly discovered manuscripts.

In listing the evidence supporting the readings, the Greek manuscripts are named first, then the translations, and finally the church writers. Since modern criticism operates not with individual codes, but with types of texts established as a result of the classification of manuscript sources according to the degree of their internal relationship and geographical proximity, in the apparatus, using special notations, references are first made not to individual manuscripts, but to entire groups of evidence or types texts. These designations or sigils were borrowed by the publisher from Soden, who most fully developed the type system. These are the symbols N and K, printed in bold. The first of these marks the Hesychian or Egyptian textual form (B-text). The second (K) denotes a textual reviewΚοινη or Antioch (A-text), which subsequently became widespread. The third form of the text, designated sigla I by Soden and called Jerusalem, but better known as "Western" text(D-text), was not used by the publisher, since its representatives differ and therefore they are listed separately (code D, Old Latin and Old Syriac translations). For the Caesarea textual type, the main representative is taken - codex Θ.

Of the individual manuscripts, only the most ancient ones are named: the most important papyri, newly found fragments of majuscules, known uncials - aleph, B, C, D, E, L, P. Of the minuscules, very few are mentioned (33, 614) and occasionally some lectionaries (39, 47). The order of evidence given in favor of a particular reading is usually as follows: first, papyri (P with Gregory's numbers), then the H-review or its individual representatives, then the K-review and, finally, other witnesses (D, Θ, W, L, 33, etc.) - The designations of the manuscripts are borrowed from Gregory. The preface of the publication contains a list of the most important manuscripts (papyri, uncials) indicating their antiquity, name, place of writing and content.

Thus, the critical apparatus of Nestlé’s edition makes it possible to get an idea not only of all the most important discrepancies in the New Testament text and their main handwritten guarantors, but also of the opinions of the newest publishers regarding these discrepancies. This is the undoubted advantage of the publication in question.

Turning to the text itself, offered by the Nestlé edition, we must recall that in many scientific circles this text is considered as the latest achievement of New Testament textual criticism and, therefore, as the closest to the original. Therefore, in order to better clarify its scientific significance and value, we consider it necessary to first briefly look at the current state of textual-critical biblical scholarship in the West.

James 1:22-23

... Be doers of the Word Word

In another reading - the Law.(critical apparatus)

... Be ye doers of the Law, and not the hearers only, deceiving themselves. For whoever listens Law and does not fulfill it, he is like a man examining the natural features of his face in a mirror...

Here we can use any of the meanings, because in verse 25 we will see the correspondence to this:

But who will delve intoLawperfect,Lawfreedom, and will remain in it, he, being not a forgetful listener, but a doer of the work, is blessed will be in action.

And this does not contradict the basic teaching:

1 John 2:7

There is an ancient commandmentWord, which you heard from the beginning.

The role of texts A And INnot for opposition in opposition and contradiction, as “some” are trying to convince the reader, but for research and research towards understanding...

For example, from the recently acquired early texts of 1 Peter 5:1, there is the presence of a bright interchangeable addition - Christ and GOD. Where is the text with meaning?GODis more ancient ( θεοῦ p72, III). And both options are correct!

1 Peter 5:1

suffering GodAnd...

I implore your shepherds, co-shepherd and witnesssuffering of Christ And...

The Old Testament was translated into Greek quite early. This translation is called the translation of the Seventy (LXX), or Septuagint (Septuaginta), which in Latin means seventy. The basis for this name lies in the legend about the origin of this translation. They say that the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285 or 282 - 246 BC), having learned from Demetrius of Phaleron, who was in charge of the royal book depository, about the existence of the Scriptures of Moses in Judea, decided to organize the translation of the Law into Greek and the delivery of books to Library of Alexandria. To this end, Ptolemy sent a letter to the Jerusalem high priest Eleazar: “Wanting to please all the Jews living on earth, I decided to begin translating your Law and, having translated it from Hebrew into Greek, place this book among the works of my library. Therefore, you will do well if you choose six elderly men from each tribe, who, due to the length of their studies in the laws, are very experienced in them and would be able to translate it accurately. I believe that this work will earn me the greatest glory. Therefore, I am sending you for negotiations regarding this […] Andrei and Aristaeus, who both enjoy the greatest honor in my eyes.” And then 72 people (or 70) settled on the island of Pharos, where each one translated the entire text of the Pentateuch alone within 72 days; and, although the translators were isolated from each other, all 72 texts (or 70) turned out to be word for word identical ( Philo. Vita Mosis.2; Josephus Flavius. Antiquitas Judaeorum.XII.2; Irenaeus. Adversum haereses.III.15; Clementus Alexandrus. Stromata.I - II).

This entire story is based on a work known in literature as Letter of Aristaeus to Philocrates, the falsity of which is currently beyond doubt. (It was compiled no earlier than the middle of the 2nd century BC.) In fact, the history of the emergence of the Septuagint is different. In the last centuries BC there was a colony of Jews in Alexandria. They forgot their native language, and Greek became their language, so that the original text of the Tanakh became inaccessible to them, and a need arose for its Greek translation. Therefore, translations of various Old Testament books gradually appeared, resulting in the Septuagint. Probably, the complete translation was carried out only in the 1st century. BC And the composition of the books of the Septuagint, including the so-called deuterocanonical books, was formed no earlier than the 1st century AD.

Around 129 AD Jewish proselyte Aquila, originally from Pontus, and in the first half of the 2nd century AD. Samaritan Symmachus, who belonged to the Christian movement of the Ebionites ( Eusebius. Historia ecclesiastica.VI.17), translated the Tanakh in its proto-Masoretic version into Greek. Around 181 AD The Tanakh was also translated into Greek by the Ebionite (later converted to Judaism) Theodotion, born in Ephesus (Ephesus) ( Irenaeus. Adversum haereses.III.21:1; Eusebius. Historia ecclesiastica.III.8; Epiphanius.De Mensuris.14:17).

In the 3rd century, Origen attempted to create a critical text of the Septuagint. He owns Hexapla- an edition of the Old Testament, in which the following were placed in parallel in six columns: 1) the Masoretic text in Hebrew writing; 2) the Masoretic text in Hebrew, but in Greek writing; 3) translation of Aquila; 4) translation of Symmachus; 5) Septuagint; 6) translation of Theodotion ( Eusebius. Historia ecclesiastica.VI.16:1-4). This grandiose work in 50 volumes has hardly survived.

According to Epiphanius, Aquila made his translation with special hatred of Christians; Jerome, on the contrary, believed that “Aquila was not in the spirit of debate, as some think, but carefully translated from word to word.”

Bible translations (modern, synodal, interlinear)

QUESTION FROM OLESYA
Have you read the New World Translation of Scripture? And if so, what is your opinion? What I mean is that, for example, I found a translation there that distorts the meaning of the Scriptures in the Synodal translation.

There are many translations of the Bible. I treat them with caution for the same reasons that you treat the “new world” translation, that is, I am afraid of distorting the meaning of Scripture. I know the Synodal text quite well and some of the few errors it contains related to translation. These errors are not fatal, that is, they do not change the essence of the Gospel. Therefore, I continue to use the Synodal text. And for a better understanding of the “controversial” passages, I read the original with the possible meanings of the words of the text I’m interested in and only sometimes others Bible translations. To study the Holy Scriptures, I use Strong's interlinear translation (Free program "Bible Quote - Quote from the Bible". In it you need to select the Russian Synodal text with Strong's numbers and click in the top menu of the S# program), watch online and Alexey Vinokurov. Based on experience, after studying a number of verses in the original, I realized that the original source helps to delve deeper into the thought laid down by God in His Word, and that the inaccuracies of the Synodal translation did not prevent me from knowing the Will of God. An example of the importance of knowing the translation of the Bible from the original can be seen, for example, in the chapter “Hell, Sheol. Death is a Dream”

I sometimes wondered: “Why did God allow incorrect translations of the Bible and, in particular, not entirely correct translations of some verses of the Synodal text?” Then I realized that all common Bible translations convey to readers the main message of the Gospel. And questions regarding the nuances of the teachings of the Holy Scriptures and “controversial” texts arise in a person at a time when he is already delving into the study of the Bible and its individual doctrines. So everything happens in a timely manner: questions come when the person is ready to seek the true will of God in various aspects of his life and worship and can find it. The choice is up to the individual. Anyone who wants to delve into the teachings of the Creator will find answers to their questions. The Bible says:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the seeker finds and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:7).

“Do not pervert the law, ... the truth, seek the truth so that you may live” (Deut. 4.19)

“My son! if you accept my words and keep my commandments with you, so that your ear is attentive to wisdom and your heart is inclined to meditation; if you call on knowledge and appeal to reason; if you look for him, like silver, and look for it like treasure, then... you will find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2.1-6).

In these biblical texts we see the freedom of choice of a person and the need to make efforts to know the will of God.

Valery Tatarkin

By the 3rd century BC. BC, after the conquests of Alexander the Great, the archaic world of the ancient Near East found itself face to face with the world of classical antiquity. After this collision, many of the most important images and themes of the Hebrew religion were rethought. At the center of this reinterpretation is the Greek translation of the Bible (Old Testament), the so-called Septuagint.

Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor at the Institute of Oriental Cultures and Antiquity of the Russian State University for the Humanities, Head of the Department of Biblical Studies of the Church Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1991–2010, he was the project manager for a new translation of the Old Testament into Russian, initiated by the Russian Bible Society.

Theses

The translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek is the first transposition of a large literary corpus from one language into another in the history of Europe and the Middle East. This in itself is incredibly interesting - it’s as if we are present at the very first steps of literary translation, becoming witnesses and researchers of the birth of the translation craft. The categories in which we are accustomed to classify and evaluate translation techniques turn out to be inapplicable here. We are talking, for example, about literal and free translations. But the Septuagint is both very literal - just not in the same way as the modern literalistic translations - and very free - just not in the same way as the free modern translations. Its authors had a different understanding of the translator’s task, different from ours.

There are many discrepancies between the canonical text of the Hebrew Bible and its Greek translation. Some of them are related to the fact that the Hebrew original that lay before the translators was different from the text that was subsequently canonized in the Jewish tradition. But in most cases, discrepancies appeared during the translation process. Any translation of a text from language to language is also a translation from one culture to another; The greater the distance between the two cultures, the more noticeable this is. The gap between the world of the Hebrew Bible and the ancient world was enormous, which led to reinterpretation of the biblical text and gave rise to new, sometimes unexpected, but very important meanings.

These differences between the Hebrew and Greek Bibles turn out to be much more relevant for Russian culture than for any Western European culture. The fact is that the Orthodox tradition, which permeates our entire cultural heritage - icon painting, prayers, liturgical reminiscences in fiction - is based on the texts of the Greek Bible. And the generally accepted Synodal translation of the Bible is based on the Hebrew text. As a result, for example, a simple person who comes to church is faced with such serious textological problems that, in theory, should only concern narrow specialists in the Septuagint. In Russian culture, exegetical  Exegesis- interpretation of biblical texts. The decisions made by the Jews of Alexandria more than two thousand years ago became the subject of heated controversy - for example, disputes over the Synodal translation of the Bible.

Interview with lecturer

— Tell us why you began to study this particular topic?

— Since my youth, I have been very interested in the connection between our religious tradition and its cultural context, its historical dynamics. I became particularly interested in the relationship between the Greek and Hebrew Bibles when I was working on a new translation of the Old Testament into Russian (I supervised the translation of the Old Testament into Russian, which was initiated by the Russian Bible Society; in relation to some books, I acted as a translator - driver, to the rest - as an editor). Questions about choosing one textual option or another arose at every step, and each option had its own story, often unresolved.

— What place does the subject of your study occupy in the modern world?

— The differences between the Greek Bible and the Hebrew Bible have always been of interest to biblical scholars. But in the last quarter of a century, the study of the Septuagint has experienced a real boom - in English-speaking countries, in Germany, France, Spain, Finland, serious research centers are emerging, translations of the Greek Bible into English, French, German, and Spanish are being published. The fact is that the focus of biblical scholarship has long been on the search for the “original text” and the “original meaning”; in such a perspective, the later (even two thousand years ago, but still the latest!) adaptations and translations of the Hebrew text were marginal and uninteresting. And somewhere from the end of the last century, the scientific paradigm itself began to change: it became obvious that the history of the Bible is the history of its interpretation and re-interpretation, and every turn of this complex story has its own meaning and its own beauty.

— If you had to make a stranger fall in love with your topic very quickly, how would you do it?

— I would simply invite him to read the Old Testament together, through the eyes of a historian and philologist. It is incredibly interesting to trace how the biblical texts, which for centuries nourished and shaped our civilization, were understood in different eras. How discrepancies arose between the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible, how these discrepancies were reflected in subsequent translations and in the controversy surrounding them.

— What is the most interesting thing you learned while working with your material?

— The moment of meeting, the clash of different cultures is very interesting: you can clearly see how differently people perceive the world around them. You compare, for example, two texts and see an obvious error, misunderstanding. You look more closely and realize that it could not have been otherwise. The world of antiquity is so different from the world of the Ancient Near East that sometimes misunderstanding, or even “understanding exactly the opposite,” was inevitable and natural. I am going to give some examples of this kind - I think they are very beautiful, sometimes simply bewitching - in my lectures. But I won’t talk about it now so as not to ruin the intrigue.

— If you had the opportunity to study a completely different topic now, what would you choose and why?

— I studied many other topics related to the Bible in one way or another. For example, the history of the formation of Old Testament historical narratives - in which, in fact, historical memory is reinterpreted under the influence of motives of a theological, literary or religious-political nature. This is also incredibly interesting: the text turns out to be multi-layered, and its everyday, chronological or geographical details appear as a symbolic expression of the theological, for example, or political concepts of the ancient author. That is, biblical texts are not only reinterpreted in later traditions - they themselves arise as a reinterpretation of historical memory.

I devoted almost two decades to translating the Old Testament into Russian. I often want to return to this; I would now translate many things differently, but, most importantly, I would provide my translation with a much more detailed historical and philological commentary. I think I’ll come back and accompany you.

In general, by my first education I am a structural linguist, my teachers were Andrei Anatolyevich Zaliznyak and Alexander Evgenievich Kibrik, and sometimes I am a little sorry that I left linguistics. Of what is happening now in this area, I am perhaps especially interested in the cognitive theory of metaphor; By the way, it is also very important for the hermeneutics of religious texts - for understanding the very language of religion, its nature.

Where to find out more

Sergey Averintsev. “Greek “literature” and Middle Eastern “literature”” (collection “Rhetoric and the Origins of the European Literary Tradition”, 1996)

Averintsev's classic article can serve as an excellent introduction to the history of the meeting of the cultures of the Ancient East and Hellenism.

Arkady Kovelman. "Hellenism and Jewish Culture" (2007)

This collection was written by a leading expert on Judaism and the Hellenistic period and will allow you to find out how the clash of two cultures took place - Hebrew and Hellenistic.

Karen H. Jobes, Moises Silva. "Invitation to the Septuagint" (2000)

As for books that would introduce the reader to the problems of the Septuagint itself, the situation is worse. In English there is a whole range of different “introductions to the Septuagint” - from those designed for professional philologists to those intended for the widest audience. There are detailed and up-to-date “introductions to the Septuagint” in French, German, and Spanish. There is no such introduction in Russian yet, and I’m currently working on it.

Ilya Vevyurko. “The Septuagint: the ancient Greek text of the Old Testament in the history of religious thought” (2013)

This monograph was published recently. It is not easy to read: the point is not so much the need to know Hebrew and Ancient Greek well, but rather the fact that the text of the Septuagint is considered here from a philosophical, philosophical and theological perspective, which, in my opinion, is much more difficult to understand than a historical and philological one approach.

Emanuel Tov. “Textology of the Old Testament” (3rd ed., 2015)

From this book you can glean brief information about the Septuagint, its textual history, and examples of its relationship with the Hebrew text. Tov is the most famous textual critic of the Hebrew Bible today; his works are always encyclopedically concise and informative. He has studies specifically devoted to the Septuagint, but, unfortunately, they have not been translated into Russian.

Exhibition for the lecture

For the lecture, employees of the Center for Oriental Literature of the Russian State Library and the research department of rare books of the Russian State Library prepared a mini-exhibition of three rare books from the library’s collections.

The exhibition presents a German edition of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible in canonical Jewish configuration) from the 16th century; Psalter printed in Venice by the Italian printer Aldus Manutius; as well as the first complete edition of the text of the Bible in Greek, prepared in the 16th century, also in the printing house of Aldus Manutius.

On the fixed flyleaf is the name of the owner of the publication, Baron Gunzburg.

"The Sacred Way" is a complete vocalized text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) edited by Elias Gutter. Hamburg, 1587

At the beginning of each book of the Bible, small parchment bookmarks protruding from the side edge are glued to the leaves.

"The Sacred Way" is a complete vocalized text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) edited by Elias Gutter. Hamburg, 1587

The book comes with an extensive Latin preface by the editor, providing an overview of the basics of biblical language and grammatical tables.

"The Sacred Way" is a complete vocalized text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) edited by Elias Gutter. Hamburg, 1587 Storage code TsVL RSL: Ginz 4/1839 (Gintsburg Collection)

"The Sacred Way" is a complete vocalized text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) edited by Elias Gutter. Hamburg, 1587 Storage code TsVL RSL: Ginz 4/1839 (Gintsburg Collection)

"The Sacred Way" is a complete vocalized text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) edited by Elias Gutter. Hamburg, 1587

A separate sheet contains examples of translations of the same verse from Psalm 117 into 30 languages ​​- Aramaic, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Greek, seven different translations into Latin, several Germanic languages ​​in various Gothic scripts (including such exotic ones as Vandal), Icelandic , Czech, Polish, Croatian and Russian, which is called Lingua Moscouitica here and is depicted in a very archaic way.

"The Sacred Way" is a complete vocalized text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) edited by Elias Gutter. Hamburg, 1587 Storage code TsVL RSL: Ginz 4/1839 (Gintsburg Collection)

"The Sacred Way" is a complete vocalized text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) edited by Elias Gutter. Hamburg, 1587 Storage code TsVL RSL: Ginz 4/1839 (Gintsburg Collection)

This book is dedicated to brothers and sisters in Christ who believe in my abilities and have fellowship with me in teaching God's truth.

It is impossible to overstate the blessing that the Creator of the universe has bestowed upon mankind—the written communication of His will in the Holy Scriptures.

One of the amazing things about the Bible is its ability to convey the meaning of God's sacred message in any language into which it is translated. No book is so well adapted to the hundreds of languages ​​spoken by people living in this world. However, no translation can fully convey all the richness of the original language. It is not always possible to reproduce subtle nuances of meaning and thought when conveying them through another language. For this reason, there are countless “nuggets” hidden from the surface that yearn to be revealed to the attentive reader of the Book of Books.

The Greek text of the New Testament has been quite accurately called the greatest treasure in the collection of all world literature. The New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek, which was spoken by common people in the first century. Koine Greek represents the most precise instrument for expressing human thought that has ever existed in our world. It is therefore not surprising that the providence of God chose this very means for transmitting heavenly revelation to mankind.

Some people believe that studying Greek is only of interest to researchers. There are such “spiritual” persons who would like to maintain this opinion in order to have some kind of mysterious power over non-specialists. The sad thing is that many people are put off by Greek for no other reason than the fact that it is an ancient foreign language. Such fear deprives a person of all the riches that the Greek text of the New Testament contains.

Noted scholar A. T. Robertson encouraged non-specialists to learn methods of research into the Greek text of the New Testament. He said that “knowledge of the Greek language is accessible to everyone to one degree or another.” I agree with this statement. Today there are so many means and methods of study that even an ordinary person who wants to explore the treasures of God's word can have the opportunity. I wrote this book for precisely this purpose. Its purpose is to show you how you can delve into the richness of the original text of the New Testament for yourself. New horizons will open up before you if you start studying it.

Special thanks to Betty, Jared and Jason Jackson, John Hanson, and Harry Brantley for reading the manuscript and providing helpful suggestions.

Wayne Jackson