chapter-level decision records generated from the live translation registry
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John, Mark, Matthew, and Luke were developed through direct Greek analysis, lexical work, and manuscript comparison. Where surviving witnesses materially disagree, the competing Greek readings and their effect on English remain open to the reader.
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standardized inspectable Greek reference edition
Textual basis
SBL Greek New Testament
Edited by Michael W. Holmes. The project's standardized, publicly inspectable Greek reference edition. It is not presented as retroactive proof that every existing chapter originated from one uniform printed edition.
This is an honest reference claim, not a retroactive claim that all completed work began from one uniform printed edition. Material manuscript forks remain independently documented at the reading they affect.
Translation record
Matthew 1
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matthew.1.mt1Firstborn
υἱόν / τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς τὸν πρωτότοκον
TEXTTRANSLATIONhigh confidence
Does Matthew say ‘a son’ or ‘her firstborn son’ at the birth?
The shorter reading says simply that she bore a son. The expanded ‘her firstborn son’ is widespread later and likely entered through familiarity with Luke 2:7.
Why this default
The shorter ‘a son’ is default because it has strong early support and the longer wording closely matches Luke 2:7, providing a clear path for harmonizing expansion.
Evidence
ExternalShort: א, B, Z, 071, family 1, 33 and important versions; ‘her firstborn son’: C, D, K, L, W, Δ, Θ, family 13 and the Byzantine tradition.
InternalLuke’s familiar birth wording readily explains addition of ‘her firstborn’; widespread independent omission is less likely.
Project defaultshe bore a son
Project default · shorter early reading
Witnessesυἱόν · א, B, Z, 071, family 1, 33, early versionsAlternativeshe bore her firstborn son
Expanded familiar reading
Witnessesτὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς τὸν πρωτότοκον · C, D, K, L, W, Δ, Θ, family 13, Byzantine traditionAlternativeshe bore [her firstborn] son
Fork visible in-line
WitnessesDisplay option · expanded words bracketedRecord integrity
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The manifest is regenerated from the translation source before every production build. Its source digest is 450adc54c1fc782fbae5e9ed6a640a2ae0e3be080722ac134c84e1248c2a312a.
Decision-level revision history begins with this ledger. Earlier development is not reconstructed into false precision; future material changes can be appended to the relevant record with their reason and date.