Week 38 Mark 16
In the bible version I’m reading Mark 16:8 suddenly stops. There’s a triple-space with the bracketed note: [Shorter Ending of Mark]. The shorter ending of Mark is five lines long and ends with Amen.
There’s a note at the bottom of the page: the most reliable early manuscripts conclude the Gospel of Mark at verse 8. Other manuscripts include various endings to the Gospel. Two of the more noteworthy endings are printed here.
And sure enough there’s a second heading: [Longer Ending of Mark]. It’s forty lines long.
So I’ve got a Shorter Ending of Mark .
And I’ve got a Longer Ending of Mark.
The reason I’ve got shorter and longer endings to Mark is – roughly speaking – this:
Mark wrote the first & original copy of Mark.
Mark’s one-and-only original got worn out so someone copied it – a copy of the one-and-only original.
Then there was a copy of that copy-of-the-original. Then a copy of a copy of that copy-of-the-original. And so-on-and-on-and-on. Copies of copies of copies. And eventually a copier made a mistake. Maybe “tap” instead of “tab”. “Age” instead of “rage”. A couple of extra lines. There’s no guarantee of an error-free hand-copied text.
Anyway it’s safe to say Mark didn’t write his gospel with two endings. Some unknown copier did that. Meaning some copier made a decision that might have been either a) good or b) neutral or c) bad.
So as a bible-reader I’ve got to be on-my-toes.
Note: quotes from the NLT version.