The United Bible Societies Greek New Testament
The United Bible Societies Greek New Testament (UBS Greek NT) is a Greek-language version of the New Testament. It is one of the major editions of the Greek New Testament, used by scholars and Bible translators around the world.
History and Purpose
The UBS Greek NT was first published in 1966 by the United Bible Societies, a fellowship of Bible societies from around the world working to translate, publish and distribute the Bible.
The main purpose of this edition was to establish a standardized Greek text of the New Testament to use as a basis for Bible translations into other languages. Bible translators need a consistent Greek text as the source text they translate from, to ensure unity and consistency between translations into various languages.
The UBS Greek NT aimed to represent the closest approximation to the original texts of the New Testament books. It draws from a wide range of ancient Greek New Testament manuscripts and takes into account recent developments in New Testament textual criticism.
Textual Basis
The Greek text of the UBS NT is based on the critical text published earlier in the century by scholars B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort. This critical text, called the Westcott and Hort text, attempted to reconstruct the original wording of the New Testament based on the best and oldest available manuscripts.
However, the UBS edition modifies the Westcott and Hort text in many places. The editors made changes where they believed more accurate readings were found in other ancient witnesses. The textual choices were determined by the committee of scholars working on the edition.
The UBS text relies heavily on the biblical papyri discoveries of the early 20th century. These very old fragments of New Testament manuscripts tended to confirm the decisions of Westcott and Hort regarding the original text. The editors also gave much weight to the major uncial manuscripts, and referred less to the minuscule manuscripts from later centuries.
In passages where the textual evidence was divided or uncertain, the editors used their best judgment to determine the reading they considered most likely original. The textual basis draws from the following main manuscript witnesses:
– The Chester Beatty Biblical papyri and Bodmer Papyri from the 3rd and 4th centuries
– Major uncial manuscripts Codex Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus and Vaticanus from the 4th and 5th centuries
– Other important uncial manuscripts like Codex Ephraemi and Bezae
– A wide selection of minuscule manuscripts across textual types
– Ancient translations, especially in the Syriac, Coptic, Latin, and early church fathers
Text-Critical Apparatus
A valuable feature of the UBS Greek NT is the apparatus it provides with textual commentary and variant readings. At the bottom of each page is an apparatus that documents important manuscript evidence that differs from the main text.
The apparatus includes manuscript witnesses supporting major variant readings. It provides text critics with information about the textual problem, evidence for and against readings, and the committee’s reasons for the decision.
This text-critical information is essential for translators and scholars to understand alternate readings and the textual basis for the main text. It also enables further research and re-evaluation of textual decisions.
Editorial Committee
The Greek New Testament Editorial Committee that produced the UBS text consisted of prominent New Testament textual scholars and specialists. The committee ensured the text decisions had strong scholarly consensus from experts in the Greek textual tradition.
Some of the scholars who served on the editorial committee include Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Allen Wikgren, Bruce Metzger and Arthur Voobus. This international team brought knowledge of Greek manuscripts and expertise in the field of New Testament textual criticism.
The committee made decisions on the text through a democratic voting process of the members. For the text and apparatus, they set guidelines regarding the types of variants to include and manuscript evidence to document.
Reader’s Edition and Scholar’s Edition
There are two main versions of the UBS Greek New Testament:
1. Reader’s Edition (3rd edition revised in 1983)
The Reader’s Edition is the main published text without much annotation. It contains the Greek text with a basic apparatus showing just a few major variant readings. The Reader’s Edition is useful for students, translators and readers of the Greek New Testament.
2. Scholar’s Edition (5th revised edition in 2014)
The Scholar’s Edition contains the full textual commentary and more detailed apparatus. It provides greater manuscript evidence and explanations for textual decisions. The Scholar’s Edition is aimed more at advanced scholars, researchers and text critics.
Both versions contain the same Greek text, but the Scholar’s Edition expands the apparatus with more information. The current product line also includes a Reader’s Edition with Dictionary, combining the text with lexical definitions.
Text Divided into Paragraphs
A unique characteristic of the UBS Greek text is its formatting. The text is divided into paragraphs indicated by bold verse numbers. Paragraph divisions were determined by the editorial committee based on shifts in topic, time, place, or other literary features.
This paragraph format allows the text to be read more naturally and makes it simpler to grasp the literary flow compared to versification. It aligns more closely with modern conventions of prose writing. Translators often follow these paragraph units rather than verse numbers when translating the text.
Ratings on Textual Variants
A beneficial component of the UBS Greek NT is the system developed to rate the certainty of its textual decisions. The committee assigned letter ratings (A, B, C or D) to textually significant variants documenting important manuscript evidence.
– {A} rating means the text is virtually certain
– {B} rating means the text has a high degree of certainty
– {C} means the committee had difficulty deciding between variant readings
– {D} rating means the text is very doubtful
These ratings indicate the relative degree of certainty the committee had in making textual choices based on the manuscript evidence. Translations take these ratings into account, following {A} and {B} readings closely but noting or avoiding {C} and {D} readings.
Features for Translations
Since its purpose is to provide a Greek text for translations, the UBS edition has features aimed at that use. These include:
– Lexical cross-references to numbered Strong’s concordance for translators
– Grammatical tags with textual manuscript evidence
– Marginal notes with alternate translation possibilities
– Identifications of Old Testament quotations and allusions
– An appendix with Old Testament references in New Testament order
The textual apparatus, ratings, annotations and tools allow this edition to serve as an essential resource for Bible translation around the world. It offers translators information to properly convey the meaning of original Greek words and phrases.
Ongoing Revisions
The UBS Greek New Testament represents the ongoing effort to determine the closest form to the original text of the New Testament. There have been periodic revisions since 1966:
– 1st Edition – 1966
– 2nd Edition – 1968
– 3rd Edition – Corrected – 1983
– 4th Revised Edition – 1993
– 5th Revised Edition – 2014
The editorial committee continues to update the text and apparatus based on new research, analysis, discoveries or perspectives related to the Greek manuscripts. Revisions consider recent findings in textual criticism and changes in scholarly judgments.
This process allows the text to be improved and refined with deeper understanding of the textual tradition behind the New Testament. The UBS’s established Greek text is foundational for Bible translations, so these revisions are beneficial for providing translations with the most accurate source text.
Influence on Bible Translations
The Greek text of the UBS New Testament has been profoundly influential on modern Bible translations in many languages. Most contemporary translations closely follow the UBS Greek edition, using it as their underlying Greek source text.
Some major examples of English translations that rely on the UBS text include:
– New International Version
– English Standard Version
– New Living Translation
– Holman Christian Standard Bible
– New Century Version
The features and textual apparatus in the UBS Greek NT enable these Bibles to take into account textual issues and translate the Greek accurately. Bible societies and translators around the world depend on the UBS text for providing the best Greek manuscript basis for new translations.
It represents a Greek text with scholarly consensus on original readings, meaningful for transferring those readings into other languages. The UBS Greek NT has helped the Bible be translated accurately and consistently into many tongues and nations based on thorough understanding of the source text.
Conclusion
In summary, the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament is a leading edition of the original Greek texts of the New Testament. For over 50 years, it has served as a foundational resource enabling worldwide Bible translation based on careful scholarship. It continues to be a highly useful tool for students, scholars and translators who study, analyze and transfer the Word of God from the language it was first written in.