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Question

Dear Father Angelo,

I have some questions to ask you. I would like to know why, with the new translation by CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference, t.n.), the last part of John 3, 13 was removed, the one saying “The Son of Man who is in heaven”.

As in the Holy Scripture nothing should be removed or added, I don’t understand the reason for this choice.

Mine is not meant to be a provocative question, I just would like to better understand .

Thank you for your availability.

E.

Answer by the priest

Dear E.,

1. What you point out is true, and it is surprising that the edition of the Jerusalem Bible in  Italian  omits without any explanation the words that you have quoted.

2. The verse of John 3:13 reported by the  CEI translation is the following: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.”.

3. The translation of the Vulgate, on the other hand, writes: “No one has ever gone up to heaven, except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven“.

4. The text of the Jerusalem Bible in French, which is the original of this edition, contains the Vulgate translation and therefore also the expression “the Son of Man, who is in heaven“.

At the bottom of the text there is the following note: “who is in heaven is omitted from the codes S, B and by many witnesses, especially Egyptians”.

5. A biblical scholar Giuseppe Segalla, in the commentary on the Gospel of John edited by the Pauline editions, reports the long text, namely: “No one has ever ascended to heaven, except he who descended from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven”, even if in the meantime the official translation of the CEI was already in force.

6. At the bottom he writes: “ “The Son of man, who is in heaven”. The shorter form: “the Son of man” has much older external evidence in its favor.” 

And he cites various ancient codices and documents.

However, he notes: “But they all come from the same Egyptian tradition. The longer form bears the testimony of different textual traditions; it is also modified in other codes, which omit “who is” or transform it into the imperfect “was“; all this denotes the difficulty of the sentence itself, certainly considered original. Finally, the long form seems to be required by the rhythm, as it results in three well-balanced verses”.

The other two well-balanced verses he refers to are those in verses 11 and 12.

G. Segalla’s note seems to me well documented, and therefore authoritative.

7. The TOB, the edited Bible of the Franciscans, reports the short text and then adds as a note: “Many non Alexandrian manuscripts, versions and fathers add “who is in heaven”.

8. In my opinion, the reasons for adopting the longer text, the one of the Vulgate, are superior to those against.

In a note, it could have been written that in some codes the words “who is in heaven” are not present.

I bless you, I wish you well and I remember you in prayer.

Father Angelo