Research layer
A variant unit is a place where manuscript witnesses differ. This is a question about transmission, and it is kept strictly separate from the question of whether passages conflict logically — why that matters.
Witness lists are shown only where they have been curated with sources. Where they have not, the record says research pending rather than approximating a list. A fabricated siglum is indistinguishable from a real one to most readers.
Variant unit: Mark 16:9-20 · Mark 16:8 · Mark 16:9
Manuscripts of Mark differ on how the Gospel ends. Some conclude at 16:8, with the women fleeing from the tomb and saying nothing to anyone. Others continue with verses 9-20, reporting appearances of the risen Jesus, a commission, and signs. Other endings of differing length are also attested in the tradition.
Variant unit: John 7:53–8:11 · John 5:4
The account of the woman taken in adultery is absent from part of the manuscript tradition, and where present it appears at more than one location in the Gospels. Its position and its presence both vary.
Variant unit: 1 John 5:7-8 · 1 John 5:7 · 1 John 5:8
Editions of 1 John differ on whether verses 7-8 contain an explicitly trinitarian clause naming the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost as bearing record in heaven. The King James Version includes the clause; most modern critical editions and translations do not.
Variant unit: John 5:3b-4 · John 5:4
Editions differ on whether John 5 contains the explanation that an angel went down at a certain season and troubled the water, and that the first to step in was healed.
Variant unit: Luke 22:43-44 · Luke 22:43 · Luke 22:44
Editions differ on whether Luke’s account of Gethsemane includes the appearance of a strengthening angel and the description of sweat like great drops of blood.
Variant unit: Luke 23:34a · Luke 23:34
Editions differ on whether Luke’s crucifixion account includes the saying "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Variant unit: Acts 8:37 · Acts 8:37
Editions differ on whether Acts 8 contains the exchange in which Philip requires belief with all the heart and the Ethiopian confesses that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Variant unit: Matthew 17:21 · Matthew 17:21
Editions differ on whether Matthew 17 contains the statement that this kind goes out only by prayer and fasting.
Variant unit: Revelation 13:18 · Revelation 13:18
The number given in Revelation 13:18 is not uniform across the tradition. The reading six hundred sixty-six is the familiar one; a reading of six hundred sixteen is also attested.