For Revelation 22:16-21, Erasmus had no Greek manuscript and back-translated from the Latin Vulgate. Erasmus' Greek Bible (Textus Receptus) is imperfect!
Latin Vulgate
Andrew Curtis and Isaiah Hoogendyk, The Lexham Latin-English Interlinear Vulgate (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), Re 22:16–21.
Latin Translated into English
16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him who hears say, Come. And let him who is thirsty come; and let him who wishes take the water of life freely. 18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. 19 And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the book of life, and from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. 20 He who testifies to these things says, “I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
KJV
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Re 22:16–21.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.
19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Re 22:16–21.
Greek Text (Nestle-Aland 28th Edition / UBS5)
Verse 16:
Ἐγὼ Ἰησοῦς ἔπεμψα τὸν ἄγγελόν μου μαρτυρῆσαι ὑμῖν ταῦτα ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις. ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ῥίζα καὶ τὸ γένος Δαυίδ, ὁ ἀστὴρ ὁ λαμπρὸς ὁ πρωϊνός.
Verse 17:
Καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἡ νύμφη λέγουσιν· Ἔρχου. καὶ ὁ ἀκούων εἰπάτω· Ἔρχου. καὶ ὁ διψῶν ἐρχέσθω· ὁ θέλων λαβέτω ὕδωρ ζωῆς δωρεάν.
Verse 18:
Μαρτυρῶ ἐγὼ παντὶ τῷ ἀκούοντι τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου· ἐάν τις προσθῇ ἐπ' αὐτά, προσθήσει ὁ θεὸς ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὰς πληγὰς τὰς γεγραμμένας ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τούτῳ·
Verse 19:
καὶ ἐάν τις ἀφαιρῇ ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων τοῦ βιβλίου τῆς προφητείας ταύτης, ἀφαιρήσει ὁ θεὸς τὸ μέρος αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς καὶ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τῆς ἁγίας τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τούτῳ.
Verse 20:
Λέγει ὁ μαρτυρῶν ταῦτα· Ναί, ἔρχομαι ταχύ. Ἀμήν· ἔρχου, κύριε Ἰησοῦ.
Verse 21:
Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων. Ἀμήν.
CONCLUSION: WHAT THIS COMPARISON REVEALS
About Textual Transmission:
-
No single manuscript is perfectly identical across all versions
- Different manuscripts have different readings
- Even the final verse shows variation
-
Later texts accumulated additions
- TR has phrases not in early MSS
- KJV has words not in original Greek
- This is the normal pattern of scribal transmission
-
Early manuscripts are more reliable
- P47, Sinaiticus, etc. represent earlier, purer tradition
- Byzantine/TR represents later development
- NIV's base text is more original
-
Translation involves interpretation
- All three versions make choices
- KJV makes most interpretive additions
- NIV is most faithful to manuscript evidence
-
The "perfectly preserved" claim fails
- Even the warning against adding to Scripture (Rev 22:18-19) shows textual variants
- This ironically proves the warning's truth: copying DOES introduce variations
- No manuscript line preserved everything identically
About the KJV-Only Debate:
This comparison PROVES:
✅ KJV is a good translation based on available TR
❌ KJV is NOT based on "perfectly preserved" text, it was back-translated from Latin Vulgate (Revelation 22:16-21).
❌ Textus Receptus contains errors and additions
✅ Early manuscripts (NIV's base) are MORE original
❌ "Perfect preservation" in one line is historically false
✅ God's Word IS preserved but through MULTIPLE witnesses
The Final Word:
All three versions communicate Scripture's message faithfully. But scientifically and textually, the order of accuracy to the original Greek is:
1. NIV (based on earliest manuscripts)
2. Latin Vulgate (represents pre-Byzantine Greek)
3. KJV (based on late medieval TR)
This doesn't mean KJV is "bad" - only that it's based on later, less reliable sources than modern scholarship has access to.
Conclusion:
When Erasmus’s twelfth-century manuscript of Revelation lacked the final leaf containing the last six verses (Revelation 22:16–21), he translated those verses back from the Latin Vulgate into Greek.[1] This was a significant methodological problem that had lasting consequences.
Because of this reliance on the Vulgate, words and passages appear in Erasmus’s Greek text that are not found in any known Greek manuscript, and these borrowed expressions were perpetuated in texts that depended on Erasmus—particularly the textus receptus.[1] A concrete example illustrates the issue: the Textus Receptus reads “book of life” in Revelation 22:19, but no extant Greek manuscript from before Erasmus uses this wording—all older manuscripts read “tree of life.”[2]
The broader context matters here. Erasmus worked only with Greek manuscripts available in Basel—a half-dozen minuscules representing the Byzantine imperial text, none dating earlier than the tenth century.[1] Working under pressure to publish before the Complutensian Polyglot, Erasmus hastily translated the remaining verses from the Vulgate into Greek when his manuscript broke off at 22:16.[3] This haste, combined with limited manuscript resources, created textual problems that influenced subsequent translations including the King James Version.
[2] Johannes Kovar, “The Textus Receptus and Modern Bible Translations,” in Perplexing Doctrinal Questions Answered (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2020). [See here.]
[3] Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 616.
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