Introduction

The entire Stephens 1550 edition of the Greek New Testament is included herein. The Stephens 1550 text is that found in George Ricker Berry’s edition of “The Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament.” This Stephens/Berry text has appeared frequently in reprint editions (in the United States mostly from Baker Book House and Zondervan Publishing House) and is the Textus Receptus edition most commonly available to students of New Testament Greek.

The Stephens 1550 edition of the so-called “Textus Receptus” (Received Text) reflects a general agreement with other early printed Greek texts also (erroneously) called by that name. These include editions such as that of Erasmus 1516, Beza 1598, and (the only one actually termed “Textus Receptus”) Elzevir 1633. Berry correctly notes that “In the main they are one and the same; and [any] of them may be referred to as the Textus Receptus” (Berry, p.ii).

All these early printed Greek New Testaments closely parallel the text of the English-language Authorized (or King James) Version of 1611, since that version was based closely upon Beza 1598, which differed little from its “Textus Receptus” predecessors. These early Greek “TR” editions generally reflect (but not completely) the “Byzantine Textform,” otherwise called the “Majority” or “Traditional” text, which predominated throughout the period of manual copying of Greek New Testament manuscripts.

The user should note that the Stephens 1550 TR edition does not agree with modern critical editions such as that published by the United Bible Societies or the various Nestle editions. These editions follow a predominantly “Alexandrian” Greek text, as opposed to the Byzantine Textform which generally underlies all TR editions. Note, however, that 85%+ of the text of ALL Greek New Testament editions is identical.

One should also recognize that no printed Receptus Greek edition agrees 100% with the aggregate Byzantine manuscript tradition (Majority/Traditional Text), nor with the Greek text presumed to underlie the Authorized Version. However, all printed Receptus texts DO approximate the Byzantine Textform closely enough (around 98% agreement) to claim a near-identity of reading between those Receptus forms and the majority of all manuscripts.

The significant translatable differences between the modern critical texts, the Authorized (King James) Version, and the Byzantine (Majority) Textform are most clearly presented in the NU-text and M-text footnotes appended to editions of the “New King James Version,” published by Thomas Nelson Co.

The reader should note that Luke 17:36 does NOT appear in either the original Stephens 1550 TR edition or the Berry Interlinear. This corresponds to the marginal note in the original 1611 KJV which stated explicitly and correctly, “This 36th verse is wanting in most of the Greek copies.” The text of this verse (found in the Elzevir 1624 Textus Receptus and given as a footnote in Berry’s Interlinear edition) DOES appear in the Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus. No other verse or verse number found in the Authorized Version is lacking in the Stephens 1550 TR edition here presented.