Determining Which Version [edition] a Greek Text Belongs

[Louis L Sorenson]

I've been reviewing some audio files, and am trying to verify to what version a text belongs: USB, Westcott-Hort, The Patriarchal Version of 1904, Textus-Receptus, Robertson-Pierpont Byzantine, etc. Are there any given group of verses (say about 10) which can be used to quickly identify from which version any given passage is taken. (Perhaps a verse for each book of the NT would be best). Textual Criticism is not one of our B-Greek topics, so I'm not interested in the merits of any given version, just in identification. A link to an existing page which details such things would also be welcome.

[Stephen Carlson]

I'm not aware of any ready-made websites for it, but if you get a copy of the SBL Greek NT, it has an apparatus listing differences between it and the UBS (as NA or NIV), the Robinson-Pierpont (RP) and Westcott-Hort (WH). I don't think it lists differences with the TR, and I don't know any place that list differences with the 1904 Patriarchal text. That one just isn't on the scholarly radar screen, but it should be very similar to the TR or RP.

[jeffreyrequadt]

Another option would be to use Bible software that has several different versions and do a search for that text. But I'm not sure how much text you can search for.

[David Lim]

I found http://openscriptures.org/prototypes/ma ... omparator/. I don't know how useful it would be to you though, as I usually only look at the main editions like RP and NA and UBS, which are easily available freely for almost all free Bible software.

[ed krentz]

Please use correct language. Version should not be used of different editions of the Greek NT, since version by definition means a translation. The Vulgate is a version, Aland’s Greek NT is an edition etc.

Ed Krentz

[Evan Blackmore]

To distinguish the editions in common circulation quickly, I generally glance at the very last verse of Revelation:

Textus Receptus (ed. Scrivener):

Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν. Ἀμήν.

Westcott-Hort:

Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ [Χριστοῦ] μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων.

Nestle-Aland:

Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ μετὰ πάντων.

Robinson-Pierpont:

Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων. Ἀμήν.

I know this doesn't fully answer the original question. But I thought it was still worth posting. Of course it won't identify rarer editions, but it's quick to apply and easy to remember. (It's helpful e.g. when you're looking at an unfamiliar internet site or computer program.)

Revelation is a good book for this purpose, because there are plenty of variants and not many manuscripts. Consequently, many of the textual options are supported by significant proportions of the textual tradition, and therefore different editors are particularly likely to choose different options.

[NathanSmith]

I remember reading that the folks in Munster have a list of verse which they used to determine the family of a text, so that could probably be correlated to the various published Greek editions. Is that list published somewhere, I am not sure.