The copies

Witness

Matthew jumps a verse. The prayer stops. Two strokes decide God or He.

Walk the copies. KJV often keeps the longer reading. BSB follows the older books. When a post says theft, we show you the page. A missing verse is often still in Mark. This is not a decoder ring for villains.

The gaps

A line sits in the KJV and not in the oldest copy. It is often still in Mark or Luke.

01Fasting02Lost03Widows04Ears05Worm06Forgive07Numbered08Fire09Field10Barabbas11Angel12I believe13Goads14Silas15Grace

The joins

An Amen was added. A hard stop was kept. Sweat like blood is argued. A woman the church would not lose.

01Amen02Ending03Sweat04Woman

The words

The copies disagree on God or He, on blood, on three that testify, and on God or Son.

01Comma02Blood03God or He04Son of God05God or Son

The gaps · 15 of 15 · Grace, then grace again

Grace again

Grace is already at 16:20. Later copies said it again so the letter would not end on a list of names.

King James (1611)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Berean Standard Bible
Not as verse 24 in the BSB. The grace appears at 16:20, and in some copies also after 16:27.

The seam

  1. 01Grace at 16:20

    Romans 16:20

    The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. The oldest copies already closed it here.

  2. 02The names

    Romans 16:21

    The names are Timothy, Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater. It is a list. Later copies did not want the letter to die on a roster, so they said grace again.

  3. 03The repeat

    Romans 16:24

    The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. KJV prints it. The early papyri do not. One grace was already enough.

In these copies

  • Byzantine majority
  • KJV, WEB

Not in these copies

  • p⁴⁶
  • Sinaiticus
  • Vaticanus
  • B, C, 1739
  • BSB, ASV, NIV

Read it this way

Romans has a wandering ending. The copies do not agree where the letter should stop. Grace is spoken at 16:20: the God of peace will crush Satan, and the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. That is already the Amen of a letter.

Later copies repeat the grace as 16:24, after a list of greetings, so you would not end on names. Some put the closing praise after 16:27. Some put it in both places. Papyrus 46 does not print the repeat. Sinaiticus and Vaticanus do not print it as verse 24.

Grace is not removed from Romans. It is said once in the oldest copies, twice in the KJV. Paul already gave it to them. A later hand said it again, because you do not let a letter of grace end on a roster.

Some sayThey cut the grace off the end of Romans.

Grace is not removed from Romans. It is said once in the oldest copies, twice in the KJV.

  • KJV

    on the page

  • WEB

    on the page

  • BSB

    not printed

  • ASV

    not printed

Open Romans 16

The line the text already walks — that is Foretold. Words you already say out loud sit in Words with weight. Witness is when the copies do not match.