Truth you can trace
Where the oldest copies differ
The places the surviving copies of the Bible do not agree, with what each one prints: the extra generation the Greek Old Testament has in the genealogy of Genesis 11, the two chronological totals, the twenty places the six hosted English versions differ about whether a verse exists, the longer ending of Mark, the woman caught in adultery and the Johannine Comma. It quotes each text, names the reference works behind any historical claim, and picks no winner.
One extra name: the clearest place to start
In the chain of fathers running from the Flood to Abraham, Arphaxad's son is Shelah: "And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begat Shelah:" (Genesis 11:12, ASV).
Genesis 11:12 · Genesis 11:13 · Luke 3:36
ReadThe two totals: what the genealogies add up to
Genesis 5 gives the age of each father at his son's birth from Adam to Noah, and Genesis 11 does the same from Shem to Abram. Adding those ages along the chain, and adding Noah's age at the Flood, produces a total.
Genesis 5:3 · Genesis 7:6 · Genesis 11:10
ReadWhere the ages differ: and the two places the pattern breaks
Seven of the nine fathers in Genesis 5 are exactly one hundred years older in the Greek, and the two that are not break the pattern in opposite directions.
Genesis 5:18 · Genesis 5:25
ReadWhose Septuagint: the two Greek witnesses here disagree
It survives in copies that differ, as the Hebrew does. The figures above come from Brenton's 1851 English Septuagint, which was made from Codex Vaticanus; another copy can read otherwise, and here two do.
Genesis 5:25 · Genesis 11:24
ReadThe verses your Bible may not print
Six complete English Bibles are hosted here. Asking of each chapter which verse numbers does this version actually print? and comparing the answers gives the list directly.
ReadThe longer ending of Mark
"And they went out, and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them: and they said nothing to any one; for they were afraid." (Mark 16:8, ASV).
Mark 16:8 · Mark 16:9 · Mark 16:20
ReadThe woman caught in adultery
The passage runs from "Then each went to his own home." (John 7:53, BSB) to Jesus' words to the woman: "'No one, Lord,' she answered. 'Then neither do I condemn you,' Jesus declared.
John 7:53 · John 8:11
ReadThe Johannine Comma: 1 John 5:7
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." (1 John 5:7, KJV).
1 John 5:7 · 1 John 5:8
ReadThe eunuch and the angel: two verses the King James prints in full
The King James prints, between the eunuch's question and his baptism: "And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
Acts 8:36 · Acts 8:37 · John 5:3
ReadTwo numbers a reader notices: Goliath's height and Saul's reign
At 1 Samuel 17:4 the Literal Standard Version prints its main reading and then, in double brackets, an alternative measurement of four cubits and a span (1 Samuel 17:4, LSV).
1 Samuel 13:1 · 1 Samuel 17:4
ReadWhat a footnote means: and why it is disclosure
Two broad families of Greek text lie behind English New Testaments. The King James and New King James rest on the Textus Receptus, assembled by Erasmus in 1516 from a small number of late-medieval manuscripts.
ReadThe honest bottom line
Across six complete English Bibles and 1,402 chapters, twenty places where they disagree about whether a verse exists, of which four are numbering.
ReadHow every figure here was derived
The two chains above were produced by reading the hosted ASV and Brenton chapter files, extracting the spelled-out ages in each begetting verse, and summing the chain.
Read
13 entries, every one citing its sources. See our sources and licences.
On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.