Berean Fact Sheet Number 023

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Acts 9:5-6
Copyright © 2005 by Larry G. Overton

On a discussion list that I am a member of, a question arose concerning a variant reading in the Greek New Testament of Acts 9:5. Although the one raising the question did not mention it, the variant reading in question extends into the first fifteen words (in Greek) of verse 6 as well. After responding to the query on that list, I began to think that my comments on the text critical issue in this passage would make for a good Fact Sheet.

Acts 9:5-6 in the so-called Textus Receptus (“Received Text”) of the Greek NT has a total of 20 Greek words (five in verse 5, fifteen in verse 20) that are omitted by most editors of the Greek NT. Below in interlinear form (Greek text, transliteration of the Greek and translation) are the additional words found in Acts 9:5-6 in some editions.

5 … σκληρόν σοι πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν. 6 Τρέμων τε καὶ θαμβω̃ν ειπεν

… sklēron soi pros kentra laktizein. 6 tremōn te kai thambōn eipen

hard for you against goads to kick trembling also and astonished he said

Κύριε τί μέ θ έ λεις ποιη̃σαι καὶ ο Κύρι ος πρός αυ̉τόν…

Kurie ti me theleis poiēsai kai o Kurios pros auton. . .

Lord what me do You wish to do and the Lord [said] to him

These additional words were introduced into the English NT by Wycliffe (who based his translation on the Latin Vulgate). Other English versions (Tyndale’s, Matthew’s, Coverdale’s, the Geneva and the Bishop’s) that were based on the Textus Receptus also contain these words. They are now enshrined in the King James Version (KJV).

5 And he ſaid, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord ſaid, I am Ieſus whom thou perſecuteſt: It is hard for thee to kicke against the prickes. 6 And he trembling and aſtoniſhed, ſaid, Lord, what wilt thou haue mee to doe? And the Lord ſ aid vnto him, Ariſe, and goe into the citie, and it ſhall be told thee what thou muſt doe. [Acts 9:5-6, King James Version, 1611 edition]

Webster’s Bible, Young’s Literal Translation, the Douay-Rheims (Roman Catholic) Version, and the NKJV also contain this longer reading. Most English versions from the late 19 th century onward (RV, Darby’s, ASV, RSV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, et. al.) do not have this reading. Of course, the existence of variants in English versions of Acts 9:5-6 merely reflects the variant readings in the Greek text upon which our English versions are based.

For the last 200 years, scholars that have edited the Greek New Testament have omitted these words. Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, Wordsworth, Westcott-Hort, Nestle, Hodges-Farstad, Robinson-Pierpont, and the editors of the Nestle-Aland/United Bible Societies’ Greek NT all omit the added material.

For that matter, even in the early sixteenth century, when this reading came into being in an edition of the Greek NT (more on that in a moment), it was by no means the unanimous reading of the day. The Greek text of the Complutensian Polyglot (1522), omitted these words. And these editors of the Greek NT are simply following the evidence: the Greek manuscripts do not contain this reading.

At this point, to document the claim just stated regarding the evidence of the Greek manuscripts, I quote textual critic and translator Bruce Metzger. He has authored A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, which is billed as a companion volume to the fourth edition of the United Bible Societies’ The Greek New Testament. Metzger has been involved in textual criticism and translation work for five decades. Even if one disagrees with some of his conclusions and positions (and I, for one, do), one must consider his research and scholarship. Here, quoting from page 318 of his A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, are Metzger’s comments on the longer, variant reading for Acts 9:5-6.

So far as is known, no Greek witness reads these words at this place; they have been taken from 26.14 and 22.10, and are found here in codices of the Vulgate, with which it h, p syr h with * cop G67 substantially agree (all except the Vulgate add after θαμβω̃ν the words ε̉πὶ τω̃ γεγονότι αυ̉τω̃ from 3.10). The spurious passage came into the Textus Receptus when Erasmus translated it from the Latin Vulgate into Greek and inserted it in his first edition of the Greek New Testament ( Basel, 1516).

So, that which was a part of some manuscripts of the Latin Bible and some of the Old Syrian and Coptic versions made its way into the Greek text early in the sixteenth century, thanks (?) to Erasmus. And unfortunately, the KJV translators adopted this reading into the text of their version. It has since been corrected by subsequent versions.

The fact that these words are not supported by the Greek manuscripts in this passage (9:5-6) is not evidence against their genuineness per se. These portions of dialogue did occur between the Lord Jesus and Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. They are found in the Greek manuscripts in Acts 22:10 and 26:14. Luke did not record them in 9:5-6 because the Holy Spirit did not inspire these words to be preserved there.

These facts are a problem only for those who are committed to the notion of the King James Version being the only true representation of God’s Word into English. For those who contend for the false doctrine of King James Onlyism, these facts are indeed troublesome. These facts force the KJO to either rethink his position or deny the facts and maintain that this reading is original, preserved by God in English through the KJV translators/Erasmus/the Latin Vulgate.

The plain and simple fact is that the “most learned men” of the KJV adopted the unsubstantiated reading of Erasmus’ rather unique text (and that of the Latin Vulgate). The revision of 1611 went against the evidence of the Greek manuscripts. The Textus Receptus’ variant reading is not original; it is not what Luke wrote.