Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
John 13:10
He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet. Some copies lack the feet.
John 13:10, in every translation this tool compares.
A sentence with three extra words in some copies and not others. Which version a scribe was more likely to produce is the whole question.
Because the shorter reading makes a general statement about cleansing and the longer one makes a specific point about the foot-washing, and the manuscripts split.
Most versions print except for his feet. A minority footnote its absence.
Textual, not lexical
Ei me tous podas, except the feet, is absent from Sinaiticus, a Vulgate manuscript and some Old Latin witnesses. Its presence makes the sentence about the immediate scene; its absence makes it about bathing in general.
Not a translation question. English follows whichever Greek text is chosen.
When a short phrase is missing from a few early witnesses, weigh whether a scribe was more likely to add a clarification or to drop one.
Except for his feet is the majority reading in English versions.
- Absent from Sinaiticus and some Old Latin
- Present in P66, P75 and the majority
- Metzger, Textual Commentary, at John 13:10
