Revelation 1:5, “washed us,” or “freed us” from our sins?
Revelation 1:5 has both readings: “freed us” in Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, and Nestle-Aland 28, and “washed us” in Robinson-Pierpont. The difference changes the image from release to cleansing.
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.
“The base text reads (nothing). The copies also carry ἐκ [greek majuscule; greek papyrus; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text.”
“The base text reads ἀγαπῶντι. The copies also carry the omission [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. Retain the default.”
“The base text reads λύσαντι ἡμᾶς ἐκ. The copies also carry ἡμᾶς [greek majuscule; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The early support and a plausible omission outweigh the general tendency to add words.”
“The base text reads λύσαντι. The copies also carry λούσαντι [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The early range of support and the contextual explanation favor the default.”
“The base text reads ἐκ. The copies also carry ἀπὸ [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. Retain the default with strong confidence.”
The committee’s APB 4.0 decision retained λύσαντι. Its note states: "The base text reads λύσαντι. The copies also carry λούσαντι [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The early range of support and the contextual explanation favor the default." GPT-6.1 Sol (OpenAI) served as the first translator and kept the base text; no second translator considered the unit. The committee’s printed text says "freed us from our sins by his blood".
The argument for each reading
If “freed us”
The case for λύσαντι rests on agreement among Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, and Nestle-Aland 28. All three editions print the verb meaning freed or loosed. The Tregelles description connects this reading with the earliest manuscripts of Revelation. The image is release from captivity: sins are something from which Christ frees those he loves, and his blood brings that release.
The spelling also offers a possible explanation for the competing reading. The two verbs differ by one vowel and sounded alike in later Greek. A scribe writing by ear could therefore produce either form. That possibility explains how variation could arise without establishing which direction the change took.
If “washed us”
The case for λούσαντι rests on its place in the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform, a Byzantine majority edition. It preserves the washing image: Christ washes people from their sins in his blood. This wording presents the action as cleansing, while the competing verb presents it as release.
The difference in spelling is small enough to explain how the two readings could circulate. One vowel separates them, and their later Greek pronunciation allowed a scribe writing by ear to produce either. This explanation applies in both directions. The Byzantine reading thus has a concrete textual basis, even though the three critical editions named in the apparatus print the other verb.
The shared sound of the two verbs explains a possible copying error, but it does not establish which form gave rise to the other. The editions differ, and their agreement or disagreement alone cannot settle that history. The choice changes the image between release and washing. Both readings still connect Christ’s action concerning sins with his blood; that connection does not hinge on this vowel.
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.