NT Critic

About NT Critic

NT Critic helps you read the New Testament in English while exploring which Greek manuscripts survive for each book — and which early Christian writings were often discussed alongside the canon.

Purpose

Most Bible apps show the text. NT Critic connects the text to the manuscript tradition: Greek NT witnesses from the Kurzgefaßte Liste and ECM apparatus, organized by book and verse so you can browse without starting from a catalog number.

It is a study aid, not a critical edition. For academic work, always cite NTVMR, the ECM, and the primary sources directly.

How to navigate

  1. Read — Pick a book and chapter from the dropdown. The main column shows the Berean Standard Bible (NT) or a public-domain translation (extrabiblical works).
  2. Hover a verse — Rest the pointer on a verse or section number to open a manuscript list and timeline. Click a siglum for catalog details and external inventory links.
  3. Full verse page — Use the link or pop-out for GA lookup, Greek tools (NT books), commentary, and ECM apparatus on supported books.
  4. Timeline — Open the catalog timeline for the full NT Liste (~5,795) or filter by a specific NT book or extrabiblical work using the work picker.
  5. Extrabiblical writings — Seven early texts with English translations and a curated witness catalog (major Greek witnesses and selected versional copies).
  6. How it works — Expand the guide under the header or use ? tips next to labels for quick definitions.

Start reading →

Manuscript catalogs

The book picker has two libraries. They use different sources and different levels of completeness.

New Testament (27 books)
English text from the Berean Standard Bible. Manuscript data covers registered Greek NT witnesses in the Kurzgefaßte Liste (~5,795 in NTVMR) — papyri, majuscules, minuscules, and lectionaries in the Gregory–Aland system. Every NT book also has a book-level list (manuscripts whose surviving text includes that book). Verse-level ECM apparatus is available on five books only (Matthew, Mark, Acts, Hebrews, Revelation). Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and other versional traditions are not in this catalog.
Extrabiblical (7 works)
Early writings often discussed in canon history — Hermas, 1 Clement, Didache, Barnabas, Gospel of Thomas, Apocalypse of Peter, and Gospel of Peter. Each has a public-domain English translation and a curated witness list (~60 entries total): major Greek fragments and codices plus selected versional copies, drawn from CPG, LDAB, and related inventories. Where coverage is documented, lists can narrow by section; entries are tagged Verified, Approx., or Tradition. This is not a full LDAB/CPG inventory for any of these works.

Manuscript data sources

  • English text (NT) — Berean Standard Bible via bible.helloao.org
  • English text (extrabiblical) — Public-domain translations (Lightfoot, Robinson, Mattison, Rutherford) bundled in the app
  • NT manuscript catalog (~5,795) — NTVMR Kurzgefaßte Liste (Greek NT only)
  • NT book catalog — NTVMR Liste search by NT book (all 27 books; not verse-specific)
  • Verse ECM witnesses — NTVMR apparatus for Matthew, Mark, Acts, Hebrews, Revelation only
  • Extrabiblical catalog — Curated list (~60 witnesses across 7 works) from CPG, LDAB, and related inventories, with cross-links where available. Maintained separately from NTVMR in Firestore and bundled JSON.
  • Live detail — NTVMR manuscript workspace for GA witnesses; inventory links for named extrabiblical witnesses

What ECM (Editio Critica Maior) means

The Editio Critica Maior records which manuscripts attest each textual variant at a specific verse. Books tagged ECM in the picker also show the full book catalog — the witnesses at one verse are not the same as every manuscript that contains that book.