DWThe Direct WitnessAccount

The evidence beneath the English

Every consequential choice
leaves a record.

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.

1,738

chapter-level decision records generated from the live translation registry

1

public provenance schema, designed to remain machine-readable and auditable

SBLGNT

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.

SBLGNT project · Text and apparatus · License

Translation record

Matthew 16

Download complete JSON record

matthew.16.mt16Keys

τὰς κλεῖδας / τὴν κλεῖδα

TEXTTRANSLATIONhigh confidence

Does Jesus promise ‘the keys’ or ‘the key’?

The earliest form in several major witnesses is plural; a widespread alternative has the singular.

Why this default

Plural ‘keys’ is default because it has very strong early support and is the more concrete image. Singular ‘key’ is ancient and became widespread.

Evidence

ExternalPlural: א*, B*, L, W; singular: א², Bᶜ, C, D, families 1/13 and the broad Byzantine tradition.

InternalA singular may arise by assimilation to familiar biblical ‘key’ formulas; plural could also be expanded to match multiple acts of binding and releasing.

Project defaultthe keys of the kingdom of the heavens

Project default · strong early plural

Witnessesκλεῖδας · א*, B*, L, W
Alternativethe key of the kingdom of the heavens

Ancient widespread singular

Witnessesκλεῖς / κλεῖδα · א², Bᶜ, C, D, families 1/13, Byzantine tradition
Alternativethe key[s] of the kingdom of the heavens

Fork visible in-line

WitnessesDisplay option · number marked

Reference roleStandardized inspectable reference; manuscript forks are independently reopened.

Revision historyNo decision-level revision has been recorded since the provenance ledger was introduced.

← All Matthew 16 records

Record integrity

One registry drives both the reader and this record.

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.