The Nestlé-Aland — 26th Edition, and The United Bible Society — 3rd Edition.
These have a different format but their text is identical. The most widely used edition of the Received Text (TR) was that prepared by Robert Stephanus in 1550. The AV does not follow Stephanus in every instance, nor is the NIV identical with the Nestlé Aland (NA), but they are close; and these two Greek Testaments provide a good basis for comparison. We begin with a chapter by chapter count of Matthew, with the number of words in the TR Text given first, and then to conserve space give a book by book total.
Matthew (twenty-eight chapters): TR = Textus Receptus, NA = Nestlé-Aland
Chapt. | TR | NA | Chapt. | TR | NA | Chapt. | TR | NA | Chapt. | TR | NA | |||
|
445 | 438 |
|
458 | 457 |
|
334 | 335 |
|
432 | 427 | |||
|
841 | 822 |
|
683 | 653 |
|
514 | 517 |
|
599 | 585 | |||
|
657 | 646 |
|
721 | 724 |
|
498 | 493 |
|
920 | 905 | |||
|
1096 | 1076 |
|
565 | 561 |
|
625 | 610 |
|
533 | 525 | |||
|
517 | 496 |
|
695 | 668 |
|
549 | 533 |
|
572 | 542 | |||
|
869 | 865 |
|
668 | 661 |
|
688 | 656 |
|
835 | 825 | |||
|
773 | 763 |
|
1274 | 1239 |
|
1036 | 1008 |
|
341 | 329 | |||
i.e. 381 fewer words in the modern version text. |
BOOK | TR | NA | Modern version shorter by: | BOOK | TR | NA | Modern version shorter by: | |
Mark | 11,646 | 11,268 | 78 | Luke | 19,935 | 19,473 | 462 | |
John | 15,957 | 15,636 | 321 | Acts | 18,794 | 18,448 | 346 | |
Romans | 7,204 | 7,108 | 96 | 1 Corinthians | 6,933 | 6,830 | 103 | |
2 Corinthians | 4,509 | 4,476 | 33 | Galatians | 2,251 | 2231 | 20 | |
Ephesians | 2,462 | 2,421 | 41 | Philippians | 1,641 | 1,629 | 12 | |
Colossians | 1,621 | 1,581 | 40 | 1 Thessalonians | 1,495 | 1,481 | 14 | |
2 Thessalonians | 834 | 819 | 15 | 1 Timothy | 1,624 | 1,591 | 33 | |
2 Timothy | 1,254 | 1,238 | 16 | Titus | 666 | 659 | 7 | |
Philemon | 339 | 334 | 5 | Hebrews | 4,990 | 4,953 | 37 | |
James | 1,763 | 1742 | 21 | 1 Peter | 1,724 | 1,684 | 40 | |
2 Peter | 1,104 | 1,099 | 5 | 1 John | 2,175 | 2141 | 34 | |
2 John | 249 | 245 | 4 | 3 John | 218 | 219 | 1 more | |
Jude | 452 | 461 | 9 more | Revelation | 9,941 | 9,851 | 90 | |
Subtotal | TR word count: 140,521 | NA word count:
137,977 |
2,544 fewer words
in the modern version text |
|||||
The modern versions either omit, place in the footnotes, question their authenticity, or place in brackets, Mark 16:9-20 and John 7:53 - 8:11. After taking these two well-known passages into account the final tally is: | ||||||||
Final Total | TR word count:
140,521 |
NA word count:
137,602 |
2,886 fewer words
in the modern version text |
In the New Testament the modern version text is shorter than that of the King James Version by about the number of words in 1 and 2 Peter!
Keep in mind that these omissions
are only part of the story. There are also many thousands of word alterations
in
the Modern Version Text.