Product Description

The leading edition of the original text of the New Testament, this scholarly edition is designed for extensive research, textual criticism, and other academic studies.

In keeping with the goals of serious and advanced New Testament scholars, the revised critical apparatus shows a nearly exhaustive list of variants but includes only the most significant witnesses for each variant. The Greek text has paragraph and section breaks. Cross references in the margins are extensive and include synoptic parallels. Five appendices offer in-depth information for further understanding of passages.

The introduction appears in both English and German. Text, notes, and critical apparatus appear in a clear font throughout the volume.

This helpful edition presents the Greek and English text on facing pages. The English text is in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #284088 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Imitation Leather
• 779 pages

Customer Reviews

lots of nice features but NET diglot may be a better choice
First one has to get over the prejudice against diglots and other NT texts with aides. I was taught old school that you used an "unmarked" text and even a dictionary in the back was cheating. But the better my Greek becomes, the more convinced I am that reading an unmarked text is a waste of time because it does nothing to IMPROVE your greek. So your choice, if you want to do "arm chair Greek," (that is not having to have two books open at once) is a diglot or Zondervan's Reader's Greek New Testament which has all the rare words in footnotes. Both of these, I suppose, could be abused, but we are not talking interlinears here. I recommend a diglot AND the Reader's Greek NT (a revised edition is on its way.) The Reader's Greek NT will help you in vocabulary acquisition and a diglot is great because no matter how good your Greek is, it is a good idea to check your mental translation against the experts. I find that I still misconstrue a lot of the text and need to check my work.
As to this book, the font used here is a good one; Nestle Alland is probably the most pleasing on the eye, better than UBS 4 which tends towards italics, MUCH better than the horrible italicized font on Reader's Greek first edition. (Hopefully the revised edition will have a better font.) The size of this font is okay, a little smaller I think than UBS 3, but the size of this book is nice because it is big enough to read clearly and small enough to carry around. The NET diglot has a much larger font and I would consider this in making a decision. A large font makes reading the Greek NT MUCH more enjoyable, but the NET size is hard to carry around, so there is a trade off. It should be pointed out that in both books, much space is wasted on the page, better layout could produce a LARGER type with a SMALLER book.
The criticial aparatus used here is pretty awful. UBS is much more user friendly. NA is virtually impossible to decode, with the variants themselves abbreviated and without accents, and the symbols used mar the text a bit. The NET diglot uses the identical apparatus and text, and as far as I know UBS does not make a diglot, so again there are trade offs.
The translation used here, RSV, is a fine overall translation but a more literal one would have been much more helpful, e.g. NASB or even a literal "crib" written for just such a text. Often a literal or near literal translation is the best grammatical commentary on a text, and RSV is wanting in this again and again. This is not the place to critique this translation, but I would say that after comparing RSV to the Greek while reading this, one has to conclude that the RSV is far too free. Now, mitigating against this in this book is a wonderful feature where variant English readings from the KJV and the old ASV are given. These are very helpful in unpacking the Greek, which raises the question why one has to use centuries old translations to figure out the Greek. I think one will have MORE respect for KJV and ASV after using this text. However, the readings are limited, often a difficult Greek passage will only have a RSV reading which is really a paraphrase, helping you, I suppose, discover what the text MAY mean, but not what it SAYS. This text also has the very annoying element of often having the English variants on the next page instead of the facing page. Still, this feature is very nice to have.
So, overall I would recommend this diglot especially if you are on a limited budget and you want a smaller text. However, I think I would pay the extra money and get the NET diglot. (See my review of that work.) Actually, I would get them both.
The cover on this book, as on most UBS and NA stuff, is cheap and the binding here is known to fall apart. That is another reason to look into the NET diglot.

kalos
first of all, the introduction does not appear in both german and english; only in english and it includes a letter in greek from eusebius explaining new testament canon. the font is bold compared to the ubs gnt's italics (i think better) but the format may take some getting use to. matthew begins with english on the left hand and greek on the right then turn the page and the greek is on the left hand and the english on the right, etc. in my opinion, the rsv is better than the nrsv and i am glad they chose to use it rather than another translation. i expected a hardcover like the septuagint but the one i got is leather bound like the gnt4. this book is easier than reading the greek new testament with max & mary but that may not be a good thing after all. i love it.

Better Than the Rest
I own several Greek bibles, including the standard NA27 text, interlinear Bibles, and others. This one by far is the most useful to me, as it juxtaposes the English on the adjacent page, allowing me to quickly find passages I'm looking for without translating verses to find my way. Much better than interlinear Bibles, as it doesn't fill the page with noise from both languages, but cleanly separates the two on opposite pages. While I have some mixed feelings about the quality of the RSV, it seems to be closest to reading in-line with the Greek as well. Out of all the Greek bibles I own, this is the one I use the most. Only two more things would make this Bible perfect: a true leatherbound cover (instead of the cheap simulated cardboard this one uses), and a good quality dictionary in the back for those times you don't feel like lugging a Lexicon around.