Greek “Majority” Texts

These links below are provided for the purpose of research and readily locating links to English translations of what are “Majority Text” Greek texts. When I was young it was not uncommon to refer in a sort of “shorthand” manner to the Textus Receptus (TR) traditional texts as “majority text” in contrast to the “critical text,” whose readings were often based on a small minority of Greek texts (often only two manuscripts in the places it chose to depart from the TR). The rise of actual printed texts called “Majority” texts created a need to clarify what is meant when one says “majority text.” (To me it seems not uncommon for older folks to still refer to the TR as “majority text.”)

There are a several English Bible translations that are based on a modern Greek Majority Text. I believe there are three Greek texts generally considered “Majority” Texts.

The World English Bible (WEB) is a revision of the 1901 ASV, made to conform to the “Majority Text” in places where it did not, by consulting Hodges-Farstad Majority Text and Robinson Pierpont Byzantine Textform. There are a number of derivatives of the WEB which would also be considered Majority Text Bibles, such as the World Messianic Bible (WMB).

New Testament Byzantine Text Version by Adam Boyd is based on the Robinson-Pierpoint Greek text. The Analytical Literal Translation (ALT) by Gary Zeolla is also based on the Robinson-Pierpont text, I believe.

The English Majority Text Version (EMTV) by Paul Esposito is based on the Hodges-Farstad Majority Text. “The Sovereign Creator Has Spoken” is a translation of Wilbur Pickering’s Greek text based on Family 35.

English Translations.

• Analytical-Literal Translation by Gary F. Zeolla
• Byzantine Text Version New Testament(2021) by Robert Adam Boyd
• English Majority Text Version New Testament translated by Paul W. Esposito
• The Sovereign Creator Has Spoken (4th Edition) by Wilbur Pickering
• World English Bible by Michael Paul Johnson
• Information from ByzantineText.com

Greek Texts.

• The Greek New Testament According to Family 35 (3rd Edition) by Wilburn N. Pickering
• The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text (2nd Edition) by Zane Hodges and Arthur Farstad
• The New Testament in the Original Greek, Byzantine Textform (2005) by Maurice A. Robinson and William G. Pierpont

Some might argue that the Greek Patriarchal text of the Orthodox Church is a Majority Text. It is certainly Byzantine. I am including the text and a translation as a matter of reference.

• Eastern / Greek Orthodox English New Testament (2007)
• The New Testament, Approved by the Great Church of Christ, 1904 (Greek)