Does the NKJV follow the Critical Text…

…at Revelation 16:16? Scott Ingram brought this verse up in a recent Facebook post in the Textus Receptus Academy. He was defending the New King James Version translation. However…

Compare Revelation 16:16 in the King James and New King James:

• AKJV: And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
• NKJV: And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

Brother Ingram implied that there is no underlying Greek word for “he” or “they” in the Greek text. However, he failed to mention or show that the verb συνήγαγεν is 3rd person singular (which is he, not they). Disregarding this, his main point was this translation is a matter of interpretation.

Compare Revelation 16:16 in the Textus Receptus, Majority Text (HF, RP), and Critical Text (NA/UBS). They are the same at this verse/verb (συνήγαγεν, 3rd Person, Aorist, Active, Indicative, Singular).

• καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν καλούμενον εβραϊστὶ αρμαγεδών
• Καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν καλούμενον Ἑβραϊστὶ Μαγεδών.
• Καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν καλούμενον Ἑβραϊστὶ Ἁρμαγεδών.
• καὶ συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν καλούμενον Ἑβραϊστὶ Ἁρμαγεδών.

The clip below is shows this verse in The NKJV Greek English Interlinear New Testament, edited by Art Farstad (the chief editor of the NKJV) and others.[i]

The Interlinear shows “he.” Yet the NKJV and most modern translations have “they,” with something like “they gathered” or “they assembled.” Why so? Some might argue that the translators are making an interpretation of the singular referring to a group, based on the context (or something like that).[ii] However, there is another possibility for this change – the reading of the Codex Sinaiticus (ℵ). 

The NET Bible note does not specify their reasoning, but implies that the word is “they” in Greek:

tn Grk “they”; the referent (the demonic spirits, v. 14) has been specified in the translation for clarity.[iii]

This is a place where the NKJV is following modern translations over the KJV and TR, which are giving weight to the note with the Nestle-Aland (NA) text. Both the Textus Receptus and Nestle-Aland Greek text is 3rd person singular – literally, “he” rather than “they.” The NA text has the same reading as the TR; both have συνήγαγεν. However, the NA footnote shows that there is a variant – συνήγαγον, which is 3rd person plural. Or possibly they are making some other interpretation that the singular refers to a group or something. Some do argue that a plural neuter noun can be followed by a singular verb, though I’m unaware of any other place in Scripture where that happens.

To me it seems that they took an option that was a possibility (but not a necessity), added weight from the Codex Sinaiticus and modern translations, and, voila, oops, here again they did not do what they claimed they would do. Since Nelson Publishing and the editors of the NKJV claimed this was a “new” King James Bible, in places like this they should have given the weight to the KJV; but they didn’t. Or they should have lessened their claim on the King James name; but they didn’t.

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[i] It is unfortunate that the interlinear has no comment on the difference in what it shows (he) and the NKJV translation (they).
[ii] For example, Albert Barnes says that “Prof. Stuart renders it ‘they gathered them together,’ … and that this is the construction of the neuter plural with a singular verb.” “The singular συνήγαγεν (synēgagen, he gathered) is probably due to the neuter πνεύματα (pneumata, spirits [of demons] in 16:14 (since neuter plural nouns sometimes take singular verbs) and should be rendered ‘they gathered them together.’” Revelation, Grant R. Osborne, (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Moises Silva, Editor). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002/2012.
[iii] The upshot of this is that the NET translators take the Greek to be “they” (which is what it is in Codex Sinaiticus) and then substitute the interpretation “the spirits” for “they.”