Matthew 6:13, “for thine is the kingdom”: where did it go?
Modern Bibles may leave out the doxology because they print reading A, ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ, rather than reading B, Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία…. The question is whether the prayer ends with deliverance from evil or continues with praise.
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 ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοῦς αἰῶνας ἀμήν. [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The external evidence strongly favors the omission, and the longer wording has the usual profile of a later additive expansion.”
“The base text reads πονηροῦ. The copies also carry Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοῦς αἰῶνας Ἀμήν [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. Default wording chosen because the external evidence is early and independent while the internal evidence favors the shorter reading.”
The APB 3.5 textual decision first records the base text as πονηροῦ and identifies the longer wording as a later majority tradition. It says, "the committee kept the base text." The three readers worked blind, seeing witnesses only by class and date, without a reference, book name, or manuscript name. The committee's printed text renders the verse with rescue from evil and then continues to Matthew 6:14. The pericope audit verdict is clean, and no rationale note matches this crux.
The argument for each reading
If the prayer ends plain
Reading A ends the prayer with ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. NA28 reads πονηροῦ, and its witness note says that the prayer ends at deliverance from the evil one. The apparatus likewise places WH, Treg, and NA28 with that ending, before recording the longer material as an addition. The APB printed text follows this shape in English: it moves from temptation to rescue from evil, then proceeds to Matthew 6:14. The APB 3.5 decision describes the longer wording as having the profile of a later additive expansion and says that the external evidence favors omission. For this reading, the literary effect is a prayer that closes on the request for rescue rather than on a concluding acclamation.
If the doxology belongs
Reading B continues after πονηροῦ with Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοῦς αἰῶνας Ἀμήν. RP prints this full doxology, and the apparatus records RP with the same longer wording. Its witness description identifies RP as a Byzantine majority edition and says that the Byzantine text carries the doxology. The added words give the prayer an explicit closing of kingdom, power, glory, and Amen. The APB 3.5 record labels this wording as a later majority tradition, but the presence of the full form in RP means the longer ending remains a concrete textual form for readers to compare with the plain ending.
The packet shows two printed textual forms and an apparatus division, but it does not supply further manuscript-by-manuscript detail. The uncertainty here concerns whether Matthew 6:13 closes with the request for rescue or includes the doxology. The adjacent APB wording in Matthew 6:12 and Matthew 6:14 remains the same in the material supplied. This page alone does not provide grounds for a broader doctrinal conclusion; such conclusions ordinarily involve more than one passage.
Common questions
Why do modern Bibles leave out “for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory”?
They may follow the form printed by NA28, which ends at πονηροῦ, rather than the longer form printed by RP. The supplied apparatus records both endings.
Does the APB include the doxology in Matthew 6:13?
The APB printed text ends the verse with rescue from evil. Its 3.5 textual decision says, "the committee kept the base text."
What changes if the longer ending is included?
The prayer continues with an acclamation of kingdom, power, glory, and Amen. Without it, the prayer ends with the request for rescue from evil.
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.