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 15
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matthew.15.mt15GodSaid
ὁ θεὸς εἶπεν / ἐνετείλατο λέγων
TEXTTRANSLATIONmoderate confidence
Does the text say God ‘said’ or ‘commanded, saying’?
The manuscripts preserve a real verbal fork. The shorter ‘God said’ has strong early support; the longer form makes the command-language explicit.
Why this default
‘God said’ is the working default because it is shorter, well attested in early streams, and fits Matthew’s direct introduction to the paired Torah quotations. The longer reading explicitly echoes the preceding word ‘command.’
Evidence
External‘God said’ is supported by B, D, Θ, 073, 084, family 1, 33, 700, 892 and important early versions; ‘God commanded, saying’ is supported by א, C, K, L, W and the broad later tradition.
InternalExpanding ‘said’ to ‘commanded, saying’ clarifies that the citation is a command and repeats the vocabulary of verse 3; accidental shortening is also possible.
Project defaultFor God said
Project default · early shorter form
Witnessesὁ θεὸς εἶπεν · B, D, Θ, 073, 084, family 1, 33, 700, 892AlternativeFor God commanded, saying
Broad later form
Witnessesὁ θεὸς ἐνετείλατο λέγων · א, C, K, L, W, broad traditionAlternativeFor God [said/commanded, saying]
Fork visible in-line
WitnessesDisplay option · both verbal forms shownRecord 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.