Scientists illuminated the Gospel of Matthew with ultraviolet light and found a hidden text

Historians from the Austrian Academy of Sciences illuminated the Gospel of Matthew with ultraviolet light and discovered a previously unknown chapter of the Bible that was hidden under another section more than 15 centuries ago. This follows from their study, published in magazine New Testament Studies.

Using ultraviolet photographs of all the spreads of the book, the researchers found that the text on the palimpsest (a type of ancient manuscript) is the first version of the 12th chapter. Thanks to this discovery, mankind had the opportunity to better understand the early stages of the evolution of the text.

The hidden text differs from modern translations of scripture. For example, in the original it sounds like “At that time Jesus was walking through the sown fields on Saturday; His disciples got hungry and began to pluck the ears and eat”, and in the new version – “they began to collect the ears, grind them in their hands and eat.”