Mark 16:9-20: the ending that isn't in the oldest copies
Whether Mark 16:9-20 belongs to the original ending is disputed: the oldest complete Bibles stop at 16:8, while the Byzantine text includes twelve more verses. The surviving readings do not establish why the oldest copies stop there.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB is translated by a committee of language models that works blind. The translators are never told they are translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and never shown the witnesses listed above. Where the manuscripts disagree, the choice between readings is made before translation by the same kind of translator working the same way: it sees the competing readings and the witnesses by age and class, but never a reference or a manuscript name. There are 14,877 such places. For APB 4.0 every one was decided again in October 2026. GPT-6.1 Sol decided every one first. Claude Fable 5.1, from another model family, decided 2,483 of them second, including every place where the first translator left the base text. A departure from the base text needs both translators to agree and the first to be at least 0.8 confident. There is no third translator, so the base text stands when the two disagree. APB 4.0 is translated over those decisions. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
Mark 16:8: set in brackets as a disputed passage, wording kept.
Mark 16:9-20: set in brackets as a disputed passage, wording kept.
“The base text reads καιναῖς. The copies also carry , [greek majuscule; early greek manuscript tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The two readers disagreed: the first chose the other wording and the second kept the base text. A departure needs both, so the base text stands. The alternative wording is unclear as presented, so the committee keeps the default.”
“The base text reads γάρ. The copies also carry γάρ followed by verses 9 to 20 [early greek manuscript tradition; later majority tradition], γάρ followed by verses 9 to 20 [early greek manuscript tradition]; the committee kept the base text. Retain the default provisionally.”
“The base text reads (nothing). The copies also carry ταχὺ [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The word quickly is a late addition found in a single later line.”
“The base text reads γὰρ. The copies also carry the omission [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The early support strongly favors retaining the default.”
The APB 4.0 committee decided to retain the wording of the disputed passages at Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9-20 in brackets. Its note on the longer ending says: “the committee kept the base text. Retain the default provisionally.” GPT-6.1 Sol (OpenAI) was the first translator; Claude Fable 5.1 (Anthropic) was the second translator. The committee's printed text places the intermediate ending in brackets after the women's fear and silence at 16:8. The longer ending also remains on the page in brackets.
The argument for each reading
If Mark ends at 16:8
Codex Sinaiticus & Codex Vaticanus end Mark at 16:8 with ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ. Both date to the 4th century A.D. Their agreement gives the shorter ending support in the two oldest complete Bibles. Vaticanus also leaves a blank column, though that detail alone does not explain why the text stops there.
Nestle-Aland 28 follows this boundary and places the longer ending in double brackets as an early addition. If Mark ends at 16:8, the closing scene leaves the women afraid and silent. The promise that the disciples will see Jesus in Galilee remains in 16:7, but the book closes before narrating that meeting.
If the twelve verses belong
The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform carries the twelve additional verses as text. The apparatus also records the longer ending in Tregelles. These witnesses establish its place in the tradition and give a concrete basis for the case for retaining it.
With these verses, Mark continues beyond the women's fear and silence to appearances, signs, and the ascension. Those events change the shape of the conclusion and extend the story beyond the grave. The case for this ending draws on its presence in the Byzantine majority tradition; that presence does not by itself settle whether the verses belonged to the earliest form of the book.
The surviving forms leave the reason for the shorter ending uncertain. Agreement between Codex Sinaiticus & Codex Vaticanus establishes their stopping point; the blank column in Vaticanus does not establish a cause. The variant changes whether Mark closes with fear and silence or continues with appearances, signs, and the ascension. The promise of seeing Jesus in Galilee at 16:7 remains under either reading. Broader doctrines cannot be settled by this ending alone.
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited from the sources linked above.