MODERN BIBLES - the Dark Secret

By Pastor Jack A. Moorman

Part 5 - HOW MANY MISSING WORDS?

The most striking fact about the Modern Bibles is that in the New Testament they are clearly shorter than the Authorized Version. The following gives an idea of how much shorter, by comparing the Greek texts which underlie the AV and Modern Versions. The two most popular editions of the Modern Version Text are:

The Nestle 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 Nestle 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 = Nestle-Aland
Chapter  TR NA Chapter TR NA Chapter  TR NA Chapter TR NA
1
 445 438
2
 458 457
3
 334 335
4
 432 427
5
 841 822
6
 683 653
7
 514 517
8
 599 585
9
 657 646
10
 721 724
11
 498 493
12
 920 905
13
 1096 1076
14
 565 561
15
 625 610
16
 533 525
17
 517 496
18
 695 668
19
 549 533
20
 572 542
21
 869 865
22
 668 661
23
 688 656
24
 835 825
25
 773 763
26
 1274 1239
27
 1036 1008
28
 341 329
Total
TR - 18,740   NA - 18,359
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.

Go to introduction    Go to Part 1     Go to Part 2     Go to Part 3    Go to Part 4
Go to Part 5    Go to Part 6    Go to Part 7   Go to Part 8   Go to Part 9    Go to Part 10
[Special thanks is given to Mrs. Catherine Carmichael of Johannesburg who made the actual count for this chapter.]