Matthew 5:22, angry with his brother… without cause?
Matthew 5:22 is attested as “angry” and as “angry without cause.” The small addition εἰκῆ changes whether the warning addresses anger without qualification or causeless anger.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“The base text reads (nothing). The copies also carry εἰκῆ [greek majuscule; early greek manuscript tradition; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The evidence favors the default wording, but the number of early witnesses is modest, so another reader should check the same data.”
“The base text reads αὐτοῦ. The copies also carry εἰκῆ [early greek manuscript tradition; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The evidence favors αὐτοῦ as the earlier and harder reading; the external support is both earlier and more diverse.”
In its APB 3.5 textual decision, the blind committee kept the base text without εἰκῆ. Its note says, “The evidence favors αὐτοῦ as the earlier and harder reading; the external support is both earlier and more diverse.” The committee’s printed text reads that everyone angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. The pericope audit verdict is “clean.” The three readers saw readings and witnesses only by class and date, without a reference, book name, or manuscript name.
The argument for each reading
If anger itself is judged
Reading A gives ὀργιζόμενος without εἰκῆ: anger with one’s brother is stated without a qualifying adverb. Westcott-Hort (1881) prints this form, and the apparatus line reads “αὐτοῦ WH NA28 ] + εἰκῆ Treg RP.” The Westcott-Hort witness description says that WH and NA28, with the oldest witnesses, print the hard absolute. The committee’s textual note likewise characterizes αὐτοῦ as “the earlier and harder reading” and says that its external support is earlier and more diverse. On this reading, the wording leaves the scope of the warning broad, which accounts for the stake label: if anger itself is judged.
If only causeless anger
Reading B adds εἰκῆ, yielding anger “without cause.” Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform (2005) prints the adverb, while the apparatus assigns the addition to Treg and RP: “αὐτοῦ WH NA28 ] + εἰκῆ Treg RP.” Its witness description says that Tregelles and the Byzantine text carry the softening adverb inherited by the KJV. The addition supplies a stated condition to the warning, so the stake label describes its effect as judgment of causeless anger. The committee note also identifies εἰκῆ as carried by an early Greek manuscript tradition and a later majority tradition. That evidence keeps the qualified wording present in the record.
The record preserves a real uncertainty: εἰκῆ is explicitly attested, while the committee also says the number of early witnesses is modest and invites another reader to check the same data. The variant changes the stated scope of anger in this sentence, from unqualified anger to causeless anger. It does not by itself settle every question about anger, judgment, or Christian doctrine. Most doctrines rest on many passages, rather than on this small adverb alone.
Common questions
Does Matthew 5:22 include “without cause”?
The packet records both forms: an unqualified reading, ὀργιζόμενος, and a reading that adds εἰκῆ, “without cause.”
Which witnesses support “without cause” in Matthew 5:22?
Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform prints εἰκῆ. The apparatus line also assigns the addition to Treg and RP.
What did the APB committee print at Matthew 5:22?
Its printed text says that everyone angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. The APB 3.5 decision kept the base text without εἰκῆ.
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 as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.