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Acts 8:37 and similar missing verses


Lorinda H. M. Hoover

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Working on Acts 8:26-40 today, I discovered that most modern translations do not include v. 37, since only a few later Greek manuscripts include it.

 

I wanted to see which translations included verse 37.

 

My first attempt led me to believe that none of those I have access to did so. Here's what I did:

 

I had a text pane (not a search pane) set to Acts 8:26-40, with text order set to NRSV, and three panes showing. I successively changed one of the panes to each of the translations I was interested in. (NET, NIV, NLT-SE, KJV, and SEGR). It appeared that none of them included v. 37.

 

I thought nothing more of it until one of my study resources mentioned that KJVS does include v.37.

 

Going back, I discovered that if I set the Text order to KJVS, then v. 37 showed up in the KJVS, and a dashed line appeared for v.37 in the NRSV. At that point, I was able to correctly determine which versions included v. 37 (in my list, KJV and SEGR).

 

Is there an easier way to do this? Changing the Text order works, but you have to know which Text order to use, which presupposes that you already know one text that includes the "missing" verse.

 

Lorinda

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The only way to see the "missing" verse is to have the search text or the text order set to a text that does have all the verses. That's usually true of the KJV, but other texts such as LXX and translations which follow it may have added verses. The only sure way is to make the text with the most verses the one which determines what is displayed.

 

Sometimes a version will merge two verses into one, and so it effectively skips a verse. Other versions in parallel will just have content missing, and a skipped verse number. It's always best to check both ways when something seems to be missing.

 

Sorry there isn't an easier way. Accordance does an extraordinary job of keeping verse content in parallel, this is just the price one has to pay for the detailed alignment.

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Thanks for the explanation, Helen. I was guessing there might not be an easier way, but sometimes there is and I just haven't discovered it yet.

 

It is helpful to know that the KJV is a good starting point for Text order for NT issues, and the LXX (or NETS?) for the OT. (I can't see that issue happening with the BHS, since we don't have the same multiplication of manuscripts).

 

Lorinda

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I have been watching David Lang's wonderful Tutorial Videos. The one on Advanced Search Commands has a section on finding out which verses are present in the KJV but omitted in the NIV. He uses the 'Contents Command'. I think it ought to be possible to use this command to do the task you have in mind.

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Ron,

 

Thanks for the suggestion! My initial attempt to follow your suggestion didn't work, so I'll have to look at the tutorial.

 

For the purposes of what I was doing, knowing to try the KJV text order first in most cases works well, but it would be interesting to see the whole set of "missing" verses at once.

 

Lorinda

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