Novum Testamentum Graece

Novum Testamentum Graece (from lat. Novum Testamentum Græce — "The New Testament in Greek") is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek published by Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (German Bible Society), forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical criticism. It is also known as the Nestle–Aland edition after its most influential editors, Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland. The text, edited by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, is currently in its 28th edition, abbreviated NA28.

The title is sometimes applied to the United Bible Societies (UBS) edition, which contains the same text (its fifth edition referred to as UBS5, contains the text from NA28). The UBS edition is aimed at translators and so focuses on variants that are important for the meaning whereas the NA includes more variants.

Methodology

The Greek text as presented is what biblical scholars refer to as a "critical text". The critical text is an eclectic text compiled by a committee that compares readings from a large number of manuscripts in order to determine which reading is most likely to be closest to the original. They use a number of factors to help determine probable readings, such as the date of the witness (earlier is usually better), the geographical distribution of a reading, and the likelihood of accidental or intentional corruptions. In the book, a large number of textual variants, or differences between manuscripts, are noted in the critical apparatus—the extensive footnotes that distinguish the Novum Testamentum Graece from other Greek New Testaments.