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The evidence beneath the English

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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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chapter-level decision records generated from the live translation registry

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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 17

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matthew.17.mt17LittleFaith

ὀλιγοπιστίαν / ἀπιστίαν

TEXTTRANSLATIONhigh confidence

Did Jesus blame their little faith or their unbelief?

The manuscripts divide between two different nouns. Both criticize trust, but one names its smallness and the other its absence or failure.

Why this default

‘Little faith’ is default because it has the strongest early support and uses characteristic Matthean vocabulary. ‘Unbelief’ is ancient and widespread but may have been influenced by the nearby ‘faithless generation.’

Evidence

ExternalLittle faith: א, B, Θ, 0281, family 13, 33, 579, 892 and important early versions; unbelief: C, D, K, L, W and the broad later tradition.

InternalThe unusual noun for littleness of faith fits Matthew’s repeated ‘little-faith ones.’ Copyists could replace it with the more familiar ‘unbelief,’ especially after verse 17.

Project defaultBecause of your little faith

Project default · strong early reading

Witnessesὀλιγοπιστίαν · א, B, Θ, 0281, family 13, 33, 579, 892
AlternativeBecause of your unbelief

Broad later reading

Witnessesἀπιστίαν · C, D, K, L, W, broad tradition
AlternativeBecause of your [little faith/unbelief]

Fork visible in-line

WitnessesDisplay option · both nouns shown

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 17 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.