Omitted with many MSS?

[Don9of11]

In my NAB copyright 1971, there are various places where a scripture verse has been omitted. Ex: Matt:23:14, Mark: 15:28 and I am sure there are others; where the foot note reads “omitted with many MSS” What is MSS? Why was this scripture verse omitted?

 

[CalCatholic]

In my NAB copyright 1971, there are various places where a scripture verse has been omitted. Ex: Matt:23:14, Mark: 15:28 and I am sure there are others; where the foot note reads “omitted with many MSS” What is MSS? Why was this scripture verse omitted?

I am not an expert, but here is the short answer; Mss. is the abreviation for manuscripts. There are approx. 3000 manuscripts of the New Testament that have survived over the centuries. Now many of these manuscripts are fragments of a page with as little as a partial line or two of a N.T. book all the way up Codices (book form, not scroll) containing the whole N.T. The problem is that not all these manuscripts agree with each other entirely. Some may show a verse like you mentioned in your post and others might not. So Bible translators have to try to determine which of the manuscripts give the best witness to the early Church, and which verses may have been added at a later date.
Hope this helps.

 

[06convert]

The answer is pretty complicated. Ready?

There are a collection of ancient manuscripts. These are the oldest known Bibles in the world. The Vatican has one that is probably the 2nd oldest, I’m not sure where all of the others are. Google probably knows.

There are some verses like the ones that you mentioned that do not appear in many of the manuscripts. But show up later in manuscripts that aren’t as old. So they are left out of copies of current Bibles.

If I’m not mistaken all the verses that were omitted are found in a parallel place in the Bible. So with or without them the Bible is believed to convey the same message.

Here is a decent answer too: Probably better than mine. en.allexperts.com/q/Bible-Studies-1654/NIV-Bible-2.htm

 

[COPLAND_3]

In my NAB copyright 1971, there are various places where a scripture verse has been omitted. Ex: Matt:23:14, Mark: 15:28 and I am sure there are others; where the foot note reads “omitted with many MSS” What is MSS? Why was this scripture verse omitted?

I have discussed this some on this forum, i put together a little article on this topic litteralchristianlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/My+Theory+About+Variant+Readings

I believe that the original authors wrote their accounts more than once and in more than one language. I would not be surprised if some of the manuscripts that contain omissions were original but sort of rough drafts, and then copies without those omissions were also original but given more detail by the author. Same goes for variant readings, I believe many of the variant readings in the Ancient mss were original. If I was going to write something so important I would have written more than one copy and in different languages of those who I knew would be readers of it.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

This is not really an issue and the NAB is not the only version to do this.

My copy of the Orthodox Study Bible has these verses but with this note, “NU-Text omits this verse.”

 

[Don9of11]

Thanks everyone. I understand now. I think Mss is a poor acronym for manuscripts but I get it.

 

[Danno2281]

Thanks everyone. I understand now. I think Mss is a poor acronym for manuscripts but I get it.

Ms was the abbreviation for “manuscript” for centuries before it was used to designate a woman who didn’t want her married state revealed.