SPECIALIZED INTRODUCTION:

                           NESTLE 26/UBS 3

          The Greek New Testament, Nestle-Aland 26th edition
               The UBS Greek New Testament, 3rd edition

            (c)1979, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart
               (c)1975, United Bible Societies, London

       Released for non-profit scholarly use under restrictions
            established by the University of Pennsylvania.
                      Not to be sold for profit.

            Prepared and edited in Online Bible format by
                      Maurice A. Robinson, Ph.D.

                              3 April 1992


                             INTRODUCTION

    The entire Nestle 26/UBS 3 text of the Greek New Testament is
    included herein.

    The Nestle 26/UBS 3 edition of the Greek New Testament reflects
    a general agreement with the so-called "Alexandrian" texttype,
    in distinction from other texttypes.  This is the case even
    though the Nestle 26/UBS 3 text is formally an "eclectic" text,
    which reflects a choice among readings found in all known
    manuscripts and texttypes.  It stands at an extreme from the
    Byzantine/Majority Textform found in most Greek manuscripts of
    the New Testament, and is the basic Greek text underlying most
    modern English translations since 1881, including the New
    American Standard and New International Versions.

    The significant translational differences between the Nestle/
    UBS critical text and the Byzantine/Majority Textform are most
    clearly presented in the NU-text and M-text footnotes appearing
    in editions of the "New King James Version," published by
    Thomas Nelson Co.

    In most cases, the Nestle 26/UBS 3 text conforms verse division
    to that found in most English translations (though some
    exceptions occur).  Certain verse numbers do not appear in the
    printed Nestle 26/UBS 3 texts because the supposed contents of
    such verses are not found in the Alexandrian texttype, early
    papyri, or in other manuscripts preferred by the modern
    critical editors.  For consistency of reference in the current
    format, the skipped verse numbers remain with no text
    following.  This allows the use of the Online Bible's
    Cross-Reference feature even for those verses otherwise lacking
    in the Nestle 26/UBS 3 text.

    Certain words within the Nestle text proper are enclosed in
    square brackets [ ] or double brackets [[ ]].  These reflect
    those places where the critical text editors consider the
    inclusion or omission of such text to be in question.  The
    reader should consult the respective Introductions to the
    Nestle 26 and UBS 3 texts for more information concerning this
    aspect of their text.

    In the Online Bible format, some words are enclosed in single
    angle brackets < >.  These reflect places where the critical
    text encloses only a PORTION of the given word in square
    brackets, e.g., onoma[ta], or kr[aug]azonta.  Since the
    rendering of words in that format would adversely affect the
    Online Bible's search capabilities, the entire word is instead
    enclosed in angle brackets to indicate that only a portion of
    the word is actually placed in square brackets by the critical
    editors, e.g., <onomata>, <kraugazonta>.  The user should
    consult the printed Nestle 26/UBS 3 text for details regarding
    the specific bracketed portions in such instances.

    Note that only the text selected by the editors of Nestle
    26/UBS 3 appears in the current format, and that without
    comment.  No apparatus of variant readings or manuscript
    evidence is provided.