Revelation 5:9-10, did the elders sing “you purchased us”?
Revelation 5:9 is printed both with ἡμᾶς, “us,” and without it: the question is whether the Lamb purchased the singers or people unnamed in the song. The following verse also varies between “them” and “us kings.”
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 αὐτοὺς. The copies also carry the omission [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. Default wording chosen; evidence strongly supports it.”
“The base text reads βασιλείαν. The copies also carry the omission [greek majuscule; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. Default wording chosen; evidence is not genuinely against it.”
“The base text reads βασιλεύσουσιν. The copies also carry the omission [greek majuscule; early greek manuscript tradition; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The committee retains the default because the external evidence is tied and the internal evidence is inconclusive.”
“The base text reads βασιλείαν. The copies also carry βασιλεῖς [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The default wording is supported by both external priority and internal probability.”
“The base text reads βασιλεύουσιν. The copies also carry βασιλεύσουσιν [greek majuscule; early greek manuscript tradition; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The evidence modestly favors the default wording. Neither the independence of the early witnesses nor the direction of the grammatical alteration is certain.”
“The base text reads ἡμᾶς. The copies also carry the omission [greek majuscule; greek papyrus; early greek manuscript tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The external evidence is close; the internal evidence slightly favors ἡμᾶς as the harder reading that explains the rise of the omission.”
For Revelation 5:9, the APB 3.5 decision kept ἡμᾶς: “The base text reads ἡμᾶς.” Its three readers saw witnesses only by class and date, never names or a reference. The note says, “The external evidence is close; the internal evidence slightly favors ἡμᾶς as the harder reading that explains the rise of the omission.” The committee's printed text, however, reads “purchased for God” and then “made them a kingdom and priests.” The pericope audit verdict is “clean.”
The argument for each reading
If the song names others
Reading A has θεῷ without ἡμᾶς in Revelation 5:9. Westcott-Hort and Nestle-Aland 28 print this form, and the supplied description of the critical text takes the four creatures and elders to sing about people purchased “from every tribe,” rather than about themselves. The third-person wording continues in the verse 10 presentation of Westcott-Hort: βασιλείαν, “a kingdom,” with “made them a kingdom and priests.” This reading gives the song a broad scope across tribe, tongue, people, and nation while leaving the singers unnamed among those purchased. The wording of verse 10 is not entirely uniform within the apparatus, however: Tregelles also reads βασιλείαν there, even though it adds ἡμᾶς in verse 9.
If the choir sings “us”
Reading B adds ἡμᾶς in Revelation 5:9: the singers say that the Lamb purchased them for God. Tregelles and Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform support that pronoun, and the packet identifies this as the King James's reading. The Byzantine majority is described as carrying “us” into the song. In verse 10, Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform reads βασιλεῖς and is described with the related wording “made us kings and priests.” Together, these forms make the choir speak of its own purchase and royal-priestly status. The supplied apparatus also shows that the wording of verse 10 has its own pattern of variation, including forms of the verb for reigning, so the connection between the two verses deserves to be read closely.
The packet presents a real tension between the APB 3.5 decision for ἡμᾶς and the APB printed wording without the pronoun. What changes is the song's identification of those purchased, alongside related third- and first-person wording in Revelation 5:10. The Lamb's death, purchase for God, and the kingdom-and-priesthood language remain present in the supplied forms. Most doctrines rest on many passages.
Common questions
Does Revelation 5:9 say the Lamb purchased us?
Some supplied witnesses add ἡμᾶς, “us,” while Westcott-Hort and Nestle-Aland 28 print θεῷ without the pronoun. The two readings differ over whether the singers identify themselves as those purchased.
Why does Revelation 5:10 matter for this variant?
Verse 10 contains related shifts: the packet gives “made them a kingdom and priests” with βασιλείαν, while Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform is described as “made us kings and priests” with βασιλεῖς.
What did the blind committee decide?
The APB 3.5 decision kept ἡμᾶς in Revelation 5:9, saying that “The external evidence is close.” Its printed text nevertheless reads “purchased for God” and “made them a kingdom and priests.”
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.