Why is Mark 16:9–20 omitted in some Bibles?
9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. 12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. 14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. 15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
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Asked June 20 2019
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
Although the vast majority of later Greek manuscripts contain Mark 16:9-20, the Gospel of Mark ends at verse 8 in two of the oldest and most respected manuscripts, the Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. As the oldest manuscripts are known to be the most accurate -- because there were fewer generations of copies from the original autographs (i.e., they are much closer in time to the originals) -- and because the oldest manuscripts do not contain vv. 9-20, it has been generally concluded by church fathers since as early as the fourth century AD that these verses were added later by scribes. In addition, the writing style of verses 9-20 (such as the abrupt transition between verses 8 and 9 -- which is dissimilar to the other synoptic gospels -- and the reference to Mary Magdalene -- which seems to introduce her as a new character, although she had been referred to in earlier passages in Mark's gospel -- call the verses' authenticity into question. The vocabulary in verses 9-20 uses no less than eighteen Greek words that are not used anywhere else in Mark's gospel. Also, verses 9-20 use the title "Lord Jesus", which is not found anywhere else in the gospel. Finally, no other canonical gospel references the signs contained in verses 17 and 18. All of the above considerations call the inclusion of verses 9-20 as part of the original inspired gospel into question, and have led to the way in which those verses are often dealt with in modern translations.
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