Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 4. The Quest for Origins
The last twelve verses of Mark (16:9-20)
In short
- 1.Mark 16:9-20 is missing from **Sinaiticus and Vaticanus**, our two oldest complete witnesses.
- 2.The vocabulary and style differ from the rest of Mark; the transition at 16:8 is abrupt in the Greek.
- 3.Ehrman: twelve verses cannot enter a text by a slip of the pen — this is deliberate.
- 4.Modern translations bracket it or mark it with a note.
The claim being examined
Mark's Gospel ends with resurrection appearances, the Great Commission, and the promise that believers will handle snakes and drink poison unharmed.
The Islamic position
A passage absent from the oldest manuscripts cannot bear doctrinal weight, and the Church's own Bibles now footnote it.
Analysis
Ehrman uses the longer ending as his clearest example of an intentional, substantial addition. Mark's original ending at 16:8 — the women fleeing in fear and saying nothing to anyone — was evidently felt to be inadequate, and at least two different endings were supplied in the tradition. Note the doctrinal consequence: the snake-handling and poison-drinking promise, on which entire denominations have been founded, is in the added section.
From the Bible
Mark 16:8
Greek: ephobounto gar
…and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Read it in their BibleMark 16:17-18
Greek: opheis arousin
They will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all.
Read it in their BibleSources
Bart D. Ehrman · Bruce M. Metzger · Bart D. Ehrman, *Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why* (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005), ch. 4-5, pp. 65-68
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