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 3
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matthew.3.mt3Baptized
ἐβαπτίζοντο
LEXICONCULTUREGRAMMARTRANSLATIONhigh confidence
What action did John perform in the Jordan?
Baptizō means dip, immerse, or wash. ‘Baptize’ preserves the established rite; ‘immerse’ exposes the physical image.
Why this default
‘Were being baptized’ is default because it preserves the established name of John’s rite and the imperfect’s repeated or ongoing action. ‘Immersed’ exposes the physical image but may settle questions of mode more narrowly than the narrative does, while ‘washed’ foregrounds purification and loses the rite’s distinctive term.
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 defaultwere being baptized
Project default · rite retained
Alternativewere being immersed
Physical action
Alternativewere being washed
Purification foregrounded
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.