Mark 16:8–9 — “For They Were Afraid”: Does the Transition Require a Lost Ending?

Complete textual-variant dossier

Adverse entailment established

Sections distinguish readings, edition history, evidence, theological consequences, and the Research Center's evaluation. CBGM is an analytical tool; editorial committees—not the software—make textual decisions.

1Passage and issue

Passage

Mark 16:8–9

Issue

Verse 8 ends with the women’s fear and the particle “for”; verse 9 begins a new resurrection paragraph with Jesus as the understood subject. The transition is abrupt but intelligible.

Variant class

Punctuation

2Textus Receptus

Greek reading

Verse 8 is followed by verse 9: the women flee in fear, then the risen Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene.

Authorized Version

“They said nothing to any man; for they were afraid. Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week…” — Mark 16:8–9

Edition note

The Research Center uses the received Greek text underlying the Authorized Version as its baseline; edition-specific differences are recorded when the variation unit requires them.

Historical annotation witness

Erasmus’s Annotationes

Erasmus’s printed Greek text, his Latin annotation, and the Research Center’s evaluation are distinct evidence. Each edition remains separately identified because Erasmus revised the Annotationes across his five editions.

Not yet assessed. No inference about Erasmus’s silence has been made. A Latin annotation and translation will appear here only after an edition and exact locus have been verified.

The Erasmus annotation audit has not yet been completed for this locus. Do not infer from this status that Erasmus was silent.

Westminster and Dutch annotation witnesses

Westminster Annotations

Not yet assessed. No inference from silence is made.

Dutch Annotations

Not yet assessed. No inference from silence is made.

3NA28 baseline and critical-text rationale

NA28 baseline reading

The Gospel originally ended at verse 8, or an unknown original ending was lost and verses 9–20 were supplied later.

Translation or explanation

The Gospel originally ended at verse 8, or an unknown original ending was lost and verses 9–20 were supplied later.

Metzger’s report of the UBS committee

Metzger reports the UBS4 committee's treatment of 2 variation units within this record's range. The notes ground the relevant decisions in the weight and distribution of external attestation, a proposed mechanism of accidental omission, the likelihood of scribal or liturgical expansion, the comparative difficulty of the readings. This is a controlled synopsis rather than a quotation.

Locator: Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., notes on Mark 16:9–20, 16:8

ECM / CBGM evidence and editors

No passage-specific ECM/CBGM editorial explanation is attached to this record. Official method sources describe the CBGM as a set of coherence procedures, not a decision-maker: editors define variation units and local stemmata and evaluate pre-genealogical, genealogical, and stemmatic coherence together with transcriptional, intrinsic, and other philological evidence.

4UBS6 and intended NA29 revision

No UBS6 / intended NA29 main-text change is recorded for this passage in the controlled 169-change ledger.

No change row is attached to this passage.

UBS6 is published, and the German Bible Society identifies its Greek main text as identical to the intended NA29 main text. The complete NA29 volume and its apparatus remain forthcoming. Project-ledger rows retain their source and verification statements until they are checked against the published UBS6 text and, when available, the NA29 apparatus.

5Doctrinal and four-point analysis

Effect class

Weakening of explicit biblical testimony

Exact proposition affected

The identity and divine sonship of Jesus Christ.

Doctrinal analysis

The added note about seven demons explains why her first appearance as resurrection witness is an act of remarkable grace.

Controlled source-list matches

Doctrinal significance and Westminster use

This passage is listed in one or both controlling research files. Their claims are reported with exact source identity and confessional use; list membership does not by itself establish the original reading or the Research Center’s final entailment.

Doctrinally significant variant listMark 16.9 – 20

Doctrinally Significant Variants Itemised

Anonymous compilation — supplied source file pp. 14–15

Doctrine or doctrinal consequence identified by the source

The fact that there is no patristic support for the shorter ending of Mark as found in Sinaiticus and Vaticanus tends to prove that the shorter ending of Mark 16 is a contrived one invented by arbitrary Alexandrian scribes. On the other hand, the abundance of patristic citations of verses from the Longer Ending of Mark as universally found in the continuous manuscripts of the Byzantine Text abundantly attest to the its being the authentic passage that was passed down from the autographs, and which was known by the early preachers of the Church.

Source-reported readings and witness argument

Received reading reported

Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. 14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mar 16:9-20 Authorised Version)

Critical reading reported

[omit] [COMMENT: The Critical Text supplies a different and drastically shorter ending in vs 8, and omits vss 9 – 20. SECOND COMMENT: Interestingly, Tischendorf in the text of his Eighth Edition accepted the longer ending as authentic, even though he favoured the Egyptian Text generally. He recognised that the shorter ending of Mark cannot be correct. THIRD COMMENT: BibleWorks, in its verse comparison module, counts the Byzantine Text and the Critical Text as being in agreement in Mark 16.9-20 with respect to its percentages of agreement between the two texts, because if fails to account for doubly-bracketed passages (and thus, none of the words in the Byzantine Text are highlighted to show that those words do not appear in the Alexandrian Text. This in turn reinforces the fact that Dr White's figure of 95% agreement between the Byzantine and Alexandrian texts, using BibleWorks to calculate this figure, cannot be correct.]

Manuscript and patristic support reported by the source

The omission of Mark 16.9-24 is supported by Codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and their allies, but it is also generally not included in the Byzantine lectionaries as well (though this omission on the part of the Byzantine lectionaries is likely a tradition relating to the church calendar, and thus is no comment on whether the verses are authentic or not). The inclusion of the verses is supported by all the Byzantine continuous manuscripts dating back to the 5th century (Codex Alexandrinus). Chrysostom plainly refers to vs 9 as does also Tertullian (3rd century), as does Tatian in his Diatessaron (2nd century) as well. Fathers who cite vs 19 include: Tatian (2nd century) and Irenaeus: indeed, Irenaeus specifically tells us he is quoting the last chapter of Mark, and then cites the words of vs 19 verbatim). Tatian cites vs 20 verbatim, and the verse is likely also alluded to by Justin Martyr. Also vs 18, which predicts specific miracles which would be done at the hands of the apostles is found in the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, a work of the fourth century. Conversely, there is no patristic support for the shorter ending of Mark.

Editorial qualification: The compilation’s doctrinal inferences and witness claims are reported as its argument, not silently adopted as verified fact. Exact entailment is retained: weakening an explicit statement is not automatically a formal denial of the doctrine.

Westminster proof-text listMark 16:9-20

A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster Standards

Seth Stark — supplied source file pp. 39–41