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 5

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matthew.5.mt5Perfect

τέλειοι

LEXICONETHICSTHEOLOGYTRANSLATIONmoderate confidence

How should the chapter’s concluding command be heard?

Teleios means complete, mature, whole, or brought to its intended end. The context is the Father’s indiscriminate generosity toward enemies and friends.

Why this default

‘Be complete, as your heavenly Father is complete’ is default because teleioi denotes wholeness brought to its intended end, here an undivided love extending even to enemies. Traditional ‘perfect’ can suggest flawless performance, while ‘whole’ foregrounds undivided love but loses the goal-oriented sense.

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 defaultbe complete, as your heavenly Father is complete

Project default · goal and wholeness

Alternativebe perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect

Traditional English

Alternativebe whole, as your heavenly Father is whole

Undivided love foregrounded

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.