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 23

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matthew.23.mt23Burdens

φορτία βαρέα [καὶ δυσβάστακτα]

TEXTTRANSLATIONmoderate confidence

How burdensome are the loads they bind?

The second adjective, ‘hard to carry,’ is textually variable and intensifies ‘heavy.’

Why this default

The fuller phrase is the working default because ‘hard to carry’ has wide and early support, while its omission may reflect stylistic shortening. The shorter form remains ancient.

Evidence

ExternalFuller: א, C, D, W, Θ and broad later support; shorter: B, L and related witnesses.

InternalThe paired adjectives can look redundant and invite omission; equally, the second could be added from Luke 11:46. Neither route is decisive.

Project defaultheavy burdens, hard to carry

Project default · fuller reading

Witnessesφορτία βαρέα καὶ δυσβάστακτα · א, C, D, W, Θ, broad tradition
Alternativeheavy burdens

Shorter reading

Witnessesφορτία βαρέα · B, L and related witnesses
Alternativeheavy burdens [and hard to carry]

Fork visible in-line

WitnessesDisplay option · adjective bracketed

Reference roleStandardized inspectable reference; manuscript forks are independently reopened.

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

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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.