Metzger's Commentary

From the Abbreviations section of Metzger's Commentary

"For the abbreviations of the titles of the books of the Bible, and the sigla of manuscripts and early versions of the New Testament, see the Introduction in The Greek New Testament (fourth revised edition), supplemented by the sigla of witnesses listed in the Appendix at the close of the present volume. For further information concerning individual Greek manuscripts cited in the apparatus, see Caspar René Gregory, Textkritik des Neuen Testamentes, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1900–09); Kurt Aland, Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments: I. Gesamtübersicht (Berlin, 1963); and Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, The Text of the New Testament; An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, translated by Erroil F. Rhodes, 2nd ed., revised and enlarged (Grand Rapids—Leiden, 1989)."

Unfortunately the USB4 that comes with Logos (or did in previous versions) doesn't have the front matter. One needs a print copy or the SESB for that.

Hover over the B in that example, and you get this:

This means:

manuscript number: B 03

century (saeculum in Latin): IV (4th century)

library: City of the Vatican Library

contents: (hover over e, a, and p, and it will tell you what this manuscript contains: Gospels, Acts & Catholic Letters, Pauline Letters): missing: 1 Tim - Philemon, Hebrews 9:14-end (not sure if this means Heb 9:14-28, the end of the chapter; or Heb 9:14-13:25, the end of the book).

You can see an entire list of all of these notes about the manuscripts here:

http://legacy.earlham.edu/~seidti/iam/table_gkmss.html

Lots more info on each of the manuscripts is available here:

http://www.skypoint.com/members/waltzmn/ManuscriptsUncials.html

Here's some more interesting stuff:

http://www.viceregency.com/TextCritCharts.pdf

http://www.viceregency.com/TextCrit.htm

Kevin Becker said:

Unfortunately the USB4 that comes with Logos (or did in previous versions) doesn't have the front matter.

I thought I remembered that someone had found a PDF edition of this (I think it was on a website in Europe somewhere). Or maybe I'm thinking of the BHS end matter.

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I think a lot of those are well worth memorizing and reading up on. Just knowing the word for which the abbreviation stands will not do you much good. A few years ago I purchased and read "A students guide to Textual Criticism of the Bible".  Its a great introduction to the subject and makes it all the more meaningful to read writings like Metzger's commentary. The introduction in Metzgers commentary will also provide you with some minor basics, and explain the most common abbreviations like א A B C D P66 P75

Sakarias Ingolfsson said:

 

I think a lot of those are well worth memorizing and reading up on. Just knowing the word for which the abbreviation stands will not do you much good. A few years ago I purchased and read "A students guide to Textual Criticism of the Bible".  Its a great introduction to the subject and makes it all the more meaningful to read writings like Metzger's commentary. The introduction in Metzgers commentary will also provide you with some minor basics, and explain the most common abbreviations like א A B C D P66 P75

 

I second this! this is a very good resource and not very expensive...

Sakarias Ingolfsson said:

 

I think a lot of those are well worth memorizing and reading up on. Just knowing the word for which the abbreviation stands will not do you much good. A few years ago I purchased and read "A students guide to Textual Criticism of the Bible".  Its a great introduction to the subject and makes it all the more meaningful to read writings like Metzger's commentary. The introduction in Metzgers commentary will also provide you with some minor basics, and explain the most common abbreviations like א A B C D P66 P75

 

Peace to you, Sakarias!                              *smile*

                                                 and ...........                           .............. Always Joy in the Lord!

        I am grateful to you for your post.  Exactly the book I was looking for and didn't know it existed!           Thanks for sharing!

Will downloaded my new purchase in a few moments.                   Logos ought to give you a commission on this one!          

                                                                                                              *smile*