chapter-level decision records generated from the live translation registry
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.
public provenance schema, designed to remain machine-readable and auditable
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 18
matthew.18.mt18SeventySeven
ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά
Is the forgiveness number seventy-seven or seventy times seven?
The Greek expression can be read as seventy-seven or as seventy multiplied by seven; the allusion to Genesis 4:24 also matters.
Why this default
‘Up to seventy-seven times’ is the working default because the expression naturally supports that value and sharply reverses Lamech’s seventy-sevenfold vengeance in Genesis 4:24. ‘Seventy times seven’ preserves the traditional 490 reading, so the ambiguity remains visible as an option.
Evidence
ExternalNo separate external-evidence note is recorded for this stable-text decision.
InternalThe decision record relies on the stated lexical, grammatical, or translation rationale.
Project default · likely idiom and Genesis echo
Traditional 490 reading
Ambiguity visible in-line
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.