John 5:3b-4
KJV Reading Defended
Waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water.
Why the KJV Reading Is Retained
Modern editions omit or bracket the explanation of the angel troubling the water at Bethesda.
Disputed unit
Two independent units: 5:3b, “waiting for the moving of the water”, and the whole of verse 4, the angel explanation.
Evidence assessment
The two clauses travel separately. In the 236-document IGNTP/ITSEE John corpus, ten named Greek states omit the waiting clause at 5:3b and thirteen omit the whole of verse 4, while the rest of the enumerated corpus carries the longer text. Seventeen rows of the official Vetus Latina John synopsis carry verse 4 and five omit it. Ambrose quotes the long verse twice and Chrysostom expounds it.
Primary support for the KJV reading
The named clause-present states in the selected IGNTP John corpus
King James Bible reading
Waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water.
Evidence sources
Sources used for the witnesses, readings, dates, and notes on this page. Complete citations appear in the References section at the end of the page.
Governing apparatus and count scope
The official IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John Greek apparatus, whose corpus is 236 selected documents including 22 supplements, together with the official Vetus Latina John synopsis and the 2021 Sahidic critical edition.
Earliest KJV-supporting evidence
Earliest literary and secure Greek evidence catalogued here
c. AD 200 — Tertullian preserves a related account of angelic activity and healing water. Fourth-century Old Latin evidence and later Greek evidence attest the complete verse.
Earliest surviving Greek support: Sixth century — Uncial 078 is the earliest secure named full-reading main-text witness in the displayed data. The A² and C³ readings are later corrections whose dates are not independently established.
Primary support for the KJV reading
The sections below preserve each supporting, competing, and related record under its proper evidence type.
Majority Text standing
The moving-water clause and verse 4
The KJV passage is the overwhelming numerical Majority Text reading in the wider Greek tradition.
Estimated Greek support: More than 1,400 Greek manuscripts; 138 and 134 supporting states at the two selected units
The selected IGNTP counts are unit-specific. The wider estimate reflects the broader Byzantine majority and does not merge partial or corrected forms into an exact total.
Source scope and denominator
The official IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John Greek apparatus, whose corpus is 236 selected documents including 22 supplements, together with the official Vetus Latina John synopsis and the 2021 Sahidic critical edition.
Greek support in the cited corpus
138 named clause-present states at 5:3b; 134 named angel-opening states at 5:4
Greek competing evidence in the cited corpus
10 named Greek states at 5:3b and 13 at verse 4 in the 236-document IGNTP John corpus
Lectionary evidence
Greek lectionaries contain John 5:3b-4
Principal competing witnesses named in the snapshot
Evidence represented on this page
Greek manuscripts
Represented
Ancient versions
Represented
Church fathers
Represented
Printed editions
No entry listed
Complete source-scoped roster
This roster preserves every named or grouped state recovered in the governing sources, including exact readings, competing readings, corrections, related forms, lacunae, versions, and aggregate traditions. When Maj or Byz appears on the KJV side, it marks the numerically dominant Greek transmission at that unit. The green Majority Text card above supplies the best available passage-specific estimate. The grouped siglum is then retained so it is not mistaken for one individual manuscript.
Apparatus and roster scope
The official IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John Greek apparatus, whose corpus is 236 selected documents including 22 supplements, together with the official Vetus Latina John synopsis and the 2021 Sahidic critical edition.
KJV/TR unit: ἐκδεχομένων τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος κίνησιν
02 04C2r 05 07* 07Cr 011 017 028 037 038*r 038Cb 041 044 045 063V 078 0211 0233 1 13 18 22 33 35 69 109 118 124 138 168 209 213 226 249 265 295 333 357 377 382r 397 430 544 565 579 597 732 792 799 807 826 828 841 865 884 892 983 992 994 1009 1010 1014 1029 1071 1079 1093 1128 1192 1210 1219 1230 1241 1242 1253 1278 1293 1319 1320 1321C 1344 1424 1463 1546 1561 1571r 1582 1654 1689 1788 1797 2106 2192 2193 2223 2372 2411 2561 2575 2585 2615 2680 2713 2718 2766 2768 2786 2790 2886 L5-S1W4D1 L17-S1W4D1r L32-S1W4D1 L60-S1W4D1r L141-S1W4D1 L252-S1W4D1 L253-S1W4D1 L329-S1W4D1 L335-S1W4D1 L387-S1W4D1 L425-S1W4D1 L638-S1W4D1 L640-S1W4D1 L663-S1W4D1 L704-S1W4D1 L735-S1W4D1 L770-S1W4D1 L847-S1W4D1 L1000-S1W4D1 L1073-S1W4D1 L1075-S1W4D1 L1076-S1W4D1 L1086-S1W4D1 L1091-S1W4D1 L1096-S1W4D1 L1100-S1W4D1 L1552-S1W4D1 L1692-S1W4D1 032S 173
P66 P75 01 03 04* 019 029 0141 157 821
proto-Bohairic
Grouped evidence: the ten raw Sahidic John 5:3 files
The Sahidic 5:3 files and proto-Bohairic end with the sick-person list and have no 3b clause.
P2 P5 P6 P22 P28 P36 P39 P44 P45 P52 P55 P59 P60 P63 P76 P80 P84 P90 P93 P95 P106 P107 P108 P109 P119 P120 P121 P122 P128 05S 022 024 026 032 033 050 054 060 065 068 070 083 086 087 091 0109 0127 0145 0162 0210 0216 0217 0218 0234 0238 0256 0260 0264 0268 0290 0299 0301 0302 0309 118S 213S 317 333S 346 543 565S 788 869 892S 994S 1010S 1128S 1321* 1571S 1582S 2193S 2561S L141S L640S L704S L1000S L1076S L1077 L1082 L1091S L1692S2 L1692S
KJV/TR unit: ἄγγελος γὰρ κυρίου κατὰ καιρὸν κατέβαινεν ἐν τῇ κολυμβήθρᾳ καὶ ἐτάρασσεν τὸ ὕδωρ…
02C* 04C2 07 011 017 028 037 038 041 044 045 063 078 0141 0211 0233 1 13 18 22 35 69 109 118 124 138 168 173 209 213 226 249 265 295 333 357 377 382 397 430 544 565 579 597 732 792 799 807 826 828 841 865 884 892 983 992 994 1009 1010 1014 1029 1071 1079 1093 1128 1192 1210 1219 1230 1241 1242 1253 1278 1293 1319 1320 1321C 1344 1424 1463 1546 1561 1571 1582 1654 1689 1788 1797 2106 2192 2193 2223 2372 2411 2561 2575 2585 2615 2680 2713 2766 2768 2786 2790 2886 L5-S1W4D1 L17-S1W4D1 L32-S1W4D1 L60-S1W4D1 L141-S1W4D1 L252-S1W4D1 L253-S1W4D1 L329-S1W4D1 L335-S1W4D1 L387-S1W4D1 L425-S1W4D1 L638-S1W4D1 L640-S1W4D1 L663-S1W4D1 L704-S1W4D1 L735-S1W4D1 L770-S1W4D1 L847-S1W4D1 L1000-S1W4D1 L1073-S1W4D1 L1075-S1W4D1 L1076-S1W4D1 L1086-S1W4D1 L1091-S1W4D1 L1096-S1W4D1 L1100-S1W4D1 L1552-S1W4D1 L1692-S1W4D1 019
VL2 VL3 VL4 VL6 VL7 VL8 VL9A VL14 VL15 VL22 VL27 VL29 VL30 VL33 VL35 VL47 VL48
P66 P75 01 03 04* 05 029 032S 33 157 821 1321* 2718
VL5 VL10 VL11 VL11A VL13
sa1
verse 4 without its opening ἄγγελος γὰρ κυρίου
02* 02C*
02* preserves verse 4 but omits its opening ἄγγελος γὰρ κυρίου; 02C* supplies it. Two states of one codex.
damaged at the point
sa103 sa101
sa103 is damaged and is not a second clean omission; sa101 carries damaged tail material from the sick-person list, not verse 4.
Sahidic proto-Bohairic
P2 P5 P6 P22 P28 P36 P39 P44 P45 P52 P55 P59 P60 P63 P76 P80 P84 P90 P93 P95 P106 P107 P108 P109 P119 P120 P121 P122 P128 05S 022 024 026 032 033 050 054 060 065 068 070 083 086 087 091 0109 0127 0145 0162 0210 0216 0217 0218 0234 0238 0256 0260 0264 0268 0290 0299 0301 0302 0309 118S 213S 317 333S 346 543 565S 788 869 892S 994S 1010S 1128S 1571S 1582S 2193S 2561S L141S L640S L704S L1000S L1076S L1077 L1082 L1091S L1692S2 L1692S
Precisely located citations and additional names reported by the controlling apparatus are kept separate. An apparatus-level attribution is not presented as an independently verified exact quotation.
North Africa
On Baptism 5
Refers to angelic activity and healing water in connection with this passage
Locator: De baptismo 5
Open sourceAlexandria
De Trinitate 2.14
References the angel and the troubled water
Open sourceConstantinople
Homilies on John 36
Expounds the angel troubling the water
Locator: Homiliae in Ioannem 36, on John 5:2–3
Open sourceDe Spiritu Sancto 1.88
Direct quotation in De Spiritu Sancto 1.88. Latin.
Open sourceDe mysteriis 4.22
Direct quotation in De mysteriis 4.22. Latin.
Open sourceRoster distinctions
Evidence notes
Evidence assessment
The two clauses travel separately. In the 236-document IGNTP/ITSEE John corpus, ten named Greek states omit the waiting clause at 5:3b and thirteen omit the whole of verse 4, while the rest of the enumerated corpus carries the longer text. Seventeen rows of the official Vetus Latina John synopsis carry verse 4 and five omit it. Ambrose quotes the long verse twice and Chrysostom expounds it.
Primary support for the KJV reading
The named clause-present states in the selected IGNTP John corpus
Evidence represented on this page
References
Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung. New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room. Münster: University of Münster.
Aland, Barbara, et al., eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th rev. ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.
Robinson, Maurice A., and William G. Pierpont. The New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform 2018. Nürnberg: VTR Publications, 2018.
Tyndale House, Cambridge, ed. The Greek New Testament. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017.
IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John Greek positive apparatus. John 5:3 word address 20–28; John 5:4 whole verse.
ITSEE Vetus Latina John synopsis. John 5:4.
Förster, Sänger-Böhm and Schulz, Kritische Edition der sahidischen Version des Johannesevangeliums (2021). John 5:3–4.
INTF Kurzgefasste Liste / NTVMR manuscript metadata. Physical dates for the named Greek manuscripts.
New Advent Fathers of the Church. Ambrose, De mysteriis 4.22; Chrysostom, Hom. in Ioann. 36.
IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John introduction and corpus scope. Selected corpus of 236 Greek manuscripts including 22 supplements.
IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John encoding instructions. Meaning of the state suffixes * C S used at John 5:3–4.
ITSEE Vetus Latina John manuscript register. Identity and physical date of the VL sigla named at John 5:4.
Official Sahidic John XML dataset (University of Birmingham eData 1042). Raw Sahidic John 5:3 and 5:4 files.
Schulz, proto-Bohairic appendix to the 2021 Sahidic critical edition. Proto-Bohairic John 5:3–4; verse 4 unattested.
New Advent Fathers of the Church. Tertullian, De baptismo 5.
New Advent Fathers of the Church. Ambrose, De Spiritu Sancto 1.88.