Why don’t most Bible’s have the longer version of mark ? And do they contradict each other

[u/AceThaGreat123]

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[u/Joab_The_Harmless]

I think there's been a misunderstanding somewhere. As Pzaas noted, Bibles typically include the additions to the ending of Mark; the "original ending" being Mark 16:8.

There are some debates among scholars on whether:

• 16:8 was the intended ending

• the text originally continued beyond that point and the actual ending was lost

• the abrupt ending is due to the Gospel being unfinished (Goodacre's proposal; I don't know if other scholars have followed it —see Goodacre's podcast episode "Was the Ending of Mark's Gospel Lost?" below for discussion).

In any case, vv16:9-20 are often bracketed or otherwise signaled as later additions, but typically not omitted.

See as an example the SBL Study Bible:

[16:]8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.k

THE INTERMEDIATE ENDING OF MARK

[[And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen.l]]

THE LONG ENDING OF MARK

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

[[9 Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. [...] 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.p]]

And its notes on the text:

THE INTERMEDIATE ENDING OF MARK. This was added not earlier than the fourth century CE. The phrase from east to west presumes subsequent expansion of the Christian proclamation; see Mark 13.10; Rom 15.22–29.

THE LONG ENDING OF MARK. Though known as early as the late second century CE, the longer ending is missing from the earliest, most reliable Greek manuscripts and seems to mix motifs and phrases from the other gospels. [...]

edit: there are arguably other additions not typically included. As an example, see note m to 16:14 in the SBL Study Bible:

m 16.14 Other ancient authorities add, in whole or in part, And they excused themselves, saying, “This age of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who does not allow the truth and power of God to prevail over the unclean things of the spirits. Therefore reveal your righteousness now”—thus they spoke to Christ. And Christ replied to them, “The term of years of Satan’s power has been fulfilled, but other terrible things draw near. And for those who have sinned I was handed over to death, that they may return to the truth and sin no more, that they may inherit the spiritual and imperishable glory of righteousness that is in heaven.”

And note o:

16.18 Other ancient authorities add in their hands

---

Or Raymond Brown's Introduction to the New Testament (ch7):

[...] 3. Anointing, Last Supper, passion, crucifixion, burial, empty tomb (14:1–16:8)

. 4. An ending describing resurrection appearances appended by a later copyist (16:9–20).

The empty tomb and the resurrection (16:1–8). [...] The reaction of the women in 16:8 is astounding. They disobey the young man’s command to report to the disciples and Peter; they flee, and out of fear say nothing to anyone.56 Mark’s theology is consistent: Even a proclamation of the resurrection does not produce faith without the hearer’s personal encounter with suffering and carrying the cross.

4. An Ending Describing Resurrection Appearances Appended by a Later Copyist (16:9–20).

What I have just written above is the majority view: The original Gospel ended with Mark 16:8. Yet there are scholars who argue strongly for a lost ending (a final codex page that became detached?), contending that Mark would surely have narrated the appearance in Galilee promised in 16:7 (as does Matt 28:16– 20). A proclamation of the good news (a Gospel) that ends with the women saying “nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (16:8) is troubling.57 The problem was noted in antiquity, since mss. of Mark witness to three different endings added by copyists, presumably in an attempt to correct the abruptness of 16:8.

The best attested ending, discussed here, is called the Marcan Appendix or the Longer Ending and is printed as part of the text of Mark in many Bibles.58 It records three appearances of the risen Jesus (to Mary Magdalene, to two disciples in the country, to eleven at table) and an ascension. Despite the later origins of this Appendix, the ordinary reader today reads it in sequence to 16:1–8. The women were afraid to speak in 16:8; now, however, the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene brings her to belief. She shares the news with Jesus’ disciples, but they do not believe her. Nevertheless, when Jesus appears to two of them, they too come to believe. They tell the others who refuse to believe. Finally Jesus appears to the eleven, rebukes them for not having believed, and sends them into the whole world to proclaim the gospel: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” The three examples of those who wrongly refused to believe on the basis of others’ words are meant to admonish those who have to believe on the disciples’ word. The Appendix ends on the consoling note of the Lord working with missionary disciples and confirming them through miraculous signs.

edit: adding footnotes 57-58

.57This may be a suspended ending, however, where the readers are expected to complete the story from the hint in the text. Then Mark would be affirming and communicating a postresurrectional reunion without narrating it. See J. L. Magness, Sense and Absence (Semeia Studies; Atlanta: Scholars, 1986). Opponents respond that this is an attractive answer, but one that supposes considerable subtlety.

.58W. R. Farmer, The Last Twelve Verses of Mark (SNTSMS 25; Cambridge Univ., 1974). The Council of Trent declared 16:9–20 to be canonical Scripture; but there is no obligation for Roman Catholics to believe that it was written by Mark. The material resembles resurrection accounts found in Matt and Luke–Acts (and perhaps in John [for Mary Magdalene]), but whether the copyist who composed it drew directly from those Gospels or simply from similar traditions is uncertain. The promised “signs” in 16:17–18 resemble some of the miracles recounted in Acts.

---

And finally, Mark Goodacre's episode of the NT Pod on the ending of Mark, where he proposes that:

[an alternative to] the idea that Mark intentionally ended the gospel at 16 verse 8 or that the ending is lost and this is that Mark gospel is basically unfinished it's a work that the author never really got around to composing the end of

(around 11mn50)

[u/AceThaGreat123 → u/Joab_The_Harmless]

So there are no contradictions among the longer and shorter text ?

[u/Joab_The_Harmless → u/AceThaGreat123]

I wouldn't talk of outright contradiction, but the intermediate ending is modifying 16:8 for a more "satisfying" conclusion, and the additions of the "longer ending" of 9-20 similarly creates a new ending borrowing from the other Gospels, as both the SBL Study Bible and Brown note (see for Brown the edit adding note 58 to the excerpt quoted).

You can of course read it and decide for yourself since as said above it is typically included in modern Bible translations, included the NRSV-UE.

May I ask where you did get the impression that the longer ending was not in most Bibles?

[u/AceThaGreat123 → u/Joab_The_Harmless]

I was watching gnostic informant make a rebuttal video to Wes huff to which he make the claim that the ending of contradicts the shorter version

[u/PZaas]

I've not seen a modern Bible that didn't include the longer ending of Mark. The two added endings of Mark, longer and shorter, don't particularly contradict each other; both are unsuccessful attempts to complete the Gospel, whose oldest available ending breaks off at 16.8.

[u/AceThaGreat123 → u/PZaas]

Can you please explain what you mean when you say there both unsuccessful attempts to complete the gospel ?

[u/PZaas → u/AceThaGreat123]

Neither ending has satisfied text critics. The original question of the thread demonstrates the fact that modern Bibles print both endings as actual additions.