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← all claimsFalse

"Mark 16:9-20 is original to Mark's Gospel."

Almost no textual scholar today regards the long ending as original.

Evidence card

The rating is tied to the stated evidence, the stated caveat, and the named source trail below.

False
Evidence
What can be affirmed
Caveat
What the slogan hides
Source trail
2 named sources

What's actually true

The long ending is found in Codex Alexandrinus (~AD 425), Bezae, the Vulgate, and the Byzantine majority text.

What gets left out

It is missing from the two oldest complete codices (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus), from the Old Syriac, from many early Armenian and Georgian manuscripts, and from a number of Church Fathers (Eusebius, Jerome) who explicitly note its absence. The Greek style differs from the rest of Mark. Modern translations (NIV, ESV, NRSV, NET, CSB) all bracket or footnote it. 'Probably original' is no longer a defensible position.

Source trail

Named scholarship, catalogues, or projects used for this claim rating.

2 sources
Citation cue
Metzger 1994
Citation cue
Comfort 2008