THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration BY BRUCE M. METZGER Professor of Mew Testament Language and Literature Princeton Theological Seminary SECOND EDITION OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS Preface to the Second Edition During the four years that have elapsed since the initial publication of this book in 1964, a great amount of textual research has continued to come from the presses in both Europe and America. References to some of these publications were included in the German translation of the volume issued in 1966 under the title Der Text des Neuen Test- aments; Einftihrung in die neutestamentliche Textkritik (Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart) . The second printing of the English edition provides opportunity to introduce a variety of small alterations throughout the volume as well as to include references to more than one hundred and fifty books and articles dealing with Greek manuscripts, early versions, and textual studies of recently discovered witnesses to the text of the New Testament. In order not to disturb the pagination, most of the new material has been placed at the close of the book (pp. 261-73), to which the reader's attention is directed by appropriate cross references. BRUCE M. METZGER February ig68 Preface The necessity of applying textual criticism to the books of the New Testament arises from two circumstances : (a) none of the original documents is extant, and (b) the existing copies differ from one another. The textual critic seeks to ascer- tain from the divergent copies which form of the text should be regarded as most nearly conforming to the original. In some cases the evidence will be found to be so evenly divided that it is extremely difficult to decide between two variant readings. In other instances, however, the critic can arrive at a decision based on more or less compelling reasons for preferring one reading and rejecting another. It is the purpose of this book to supply the student with information concerning both the science and the art of textual Preface criticism as applied to the New Testament. The science of textual criticism deals with (a) the making and transmission of ancient manuscripts, (b) the description of the most important witnesses to the New Testament text, and (c) the history of the textual criticism of the New Testament as reflected in the succes- sion of printed editions of the Greek Testament. The art of textual criticism refers to the application of reasoned considera- tions in choosing among variant readings. The results of the practice of textual criticism have differed from one generation to another, partly because the balance in the quantity and the quality of witnesses available has gradually altered owing to the acquisition of additional manuscripts, and partly because theories and procedures of evaluating textual evidence have varied over the years. In Part Three of the volume the author has attempted to provide a succinct account of the several schools of textual methodology, indicating at the same time what in his view is the most satisfactory critical procedure for beginners to follow. The author gratefully acknowledges the courtesy of the following for granting permission to reproduce specimen folios and diagrams of manuscripts : Bibliotheque Bodmer, the Bod- leian Library, the British Museum, the Cambridge University Press, Dr. W. H. P. Hatch, Macmillan & Co., Ltd., and the Speer Library of Princeton Theological Seminary. Finally, I should like to express my gratitude to the Delegates of the Oxford University Press for their acceptance of my book for publication. I am also indebted to the readers of the Press for their customary care and painstaking vigilance in the read- ing of the proofs. BRUCE M. METZGER Princeton, New Jersey August 1963 1 List of Figures i. Greek Uncial Script (codex Sinai ticus) page 10 2. Greek Minuscule Script (lectionary 303) 1 3. Stemma Illustrating Streeter's Theory of Local Texts 171 4. Chart of Witnesses and the Local Texts 172 List of Plates (at end) i. a. Limestone statuette of Egyptian scribe b. Codex Amiatinus, Ezra the scribe ii. 46 Chester Beatty Biblical Papyrus II (p ) 5 in. Bodmer Papyrus XIV (p? ) iv. Codex Sinaiticus (X) v. Codex Bezae (D) vi. a. Codex Laudianus (E») b. Parchment leaf of Book of Revelation (0169) vii. Codex Rossanensis (2), Christ and Barabbas before Pilate viii. Codex Basiliensis (E) ix. Codex Mosquensis (KaP) x. Greek Gospel Lectionary 56a xi. Greek Gospel MS. 274, with intermediate ending of Mark xii. a. Curetonian Syriac MS. b. Gothic codex Argenteus xiii. a. Codex Sangallensis (A) b. Codex Gigas xiv. a. Chester Beatty Coptic (Sahidic) MS. B b. Armenian Gospel MS. 229, Etchmiadzin xv. Greek Gospel MS. 2 xvi. Complutensian Polyglot Bible The Making of Ancient Books Until the invention of printing with movable type in the fifteenth century the text of the New Testament—and, indeed, the text of eyery ancient record—could be trans- mitted only by laboriously copying it letter by letter and word by word. The consideration, therefore, of the processes involved in the making and transcribing of manuscripts is of the utmost importance to the historian of ancient culture in general and to the student of the New Testament in particular. The following sections deal with those aspects of Greek palaeography 1 that bear upon the textual criticism of the New Testament. I. THE MATERIALS OF ANCIENT BOOKS Clay tablets, stone, bone, wood, leather, various metals, pot- sherds (ostraca) papyrus, and parchment (vellum) were all used , in antiquity to receive writing. Among these several materials, the student of the New Testament is interested chiefly in the last two, for almost all New Testament manuscripts are made of either papyrus or parchment. The manufacture of papyrus was a flourishing business in Egypt, for the papyrus plant grew plentifully in the shallow waters of the Nile at the delta (cf. Job viii. n, 'Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?'). About 12 or 15 feet in height, the stem of the plant, which was triangular in cross-section and as thick as a man's wrist, was cut into sections about a foot long. Each section was split open lengthwise and the pith cut into thin strips. A layer of these was placed on a flat surface, all the 1 Standard works on Greek palaeography include, for example, Viktor Gardt- hausen, Griechische Palaeographie, 2 vols., 2te Aufl. (Leipzig, 191 1-13) ; E. M. Thomp- son, An Intrdduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography (Oxford, 1912); A. Sigalas, 'Iaropia tt/j 'EXXriviieijs rpaifjfjs (Thessaloniki, 1934); L. Gonzaga da Fonseca, S.J., Epitome introductions in palaeographiam Graecam (Biblicam), ed. altera (Rome, 1944) ; and B. A. van Groningen, Short Manual of Greek Palaeography (Leiden, 1940; 3rd ed., 1963). For additional bibliography, see the present writer's article 'Palaeo- graphy' in Encyclopedia Americana, xxi (1958), pp. 163-6. See below, p. 261. 4 The Making of Ancient Books fibres running in the same direction, and on top another layer was laid, with the fibres running at right angles to the lower layer. The two layers were then pressed together until they formed one fabric—a fabric which, though now so brittle that it can sometimes be crumbled into powder, once had a strength nearly equal to that of good paper. The manufacture of parchment for writing purposes has an interesting history. According to Pliny the Elder (in his Natural History, xiii. 21 f.), it was King Eumenes of Pergamum, a city in Mysia of Asia Minor, who promoted the preparation and use of parchment. This ruler (probably Eumenes II, who ruled from 197 to 159 B.C.) planned to found a library in his city which would rival the famous library of Alexandria. This ambition did not please Ptolemy of Egypt (probably Ptolemy Epiphanes, 205-182 B.C.), who thereupon put an embargo on the export of papyrus sections. It was this embargo which forced Eumenes to develop the production of vellum, which from the place of its origin received the Greek name -rrepyafirjvri (whence our English word 'parchment' is derived). Whatever may be thought of the details of this story—actually leather (parchment) was used for books long before Eumenes—the gist of it is probably true, namely that a high quality of parch- ment was developed at Pergamum, and that the city became famous in the manufacture and export of this kind of writing material, eventually giving its name to the product. Parchment or vellum (the two words are often used inter- changeably, but exact writers restrict the word 'vellum' to de- scribe a finer, superior quality of parchment) was made from the skins of cattle, sheep, goats, and antelopes, and especially from the young of these animals. After the hair had been re- moved by scraping, the skins were washed, smoothed with pumice, and dressed with chalk. De luxe editions, according to St. Jerome, who did not approve of such extravagance, 1 were In his famous letter to Eustochium, Jerome inveighs against anomalous extra- vagance: 'Parchments are dyed purple, gold is melted into lettering, manuscripts are decked with jewels, while Christ lies at the door naked and dying' (Epist. xxii. 32 ; cf. also Jerome's preface to the Book ofJob, and see Evaristo Arns, La Technique du livre d'apris Saint Jerome [Paris, 1953]). Writing to a correspondent named Laeta, who has asked how she ought to rear her young daughter, he advises, 'Let her treasures be not gems or silks, but manuscripts of the holy Scriptures ; and in these let her think less of gilding and Babylonian parchment and arabesque patterns, than of correctness and accurate punctuation' {Epist. cvii. ia). For a list of extant The Making of Ancient Books 5 made of vellum dyed a deep purple and written with gold and silver inks.