1,265 Days or 1,260 Days?
Our main Greek source, the Codex Sinaiticus, says:
‘1,265 days’
Whereas other manuscripts say:
‘1,260 days’
Yes, in both locations in the Sinaiticus where this number is used, Revelation 11:3 and 12:6 (click for interlinear links), it gives a slightly different number to the other manuscripts (e.g. in Tischendorf’s recension it says 1,260).
Most people assume that 1,260 is actually correct, because they interpret the mention of 3-1/2 days in Revelation 12:14 as the same time period. In that case, if one ‘time’ is 360 days, then 3.5 is 1,260 days. But there is no way to make 1,265 work.
However, just because the number 1,260 makes more sense to some, it doesn’t mean that 1,265 is wrong. Indeed, for all we know, the author may have deliberately used 1,265 days to distinguish between this time period and the 3-1/2 days, in an effort to show that they’re not the same thing. Or he may have been trying to create an additional 5-day period. We don’t know.
Besides, if you’re choosing your manuscript of Revelation based on ‘what makes sense’, then you have more problems than just this number!
Also, the number 5 was added to the Sinaiticus by a correcting scribe, the same scribe who made many other corrections to the manuscript (such as spelling corrections). Yes, ‘5’ was not there originally, but added by a proofreader. Now, whoever that proofreader was, he must have been rather certain that the number 5 was missing in order to add it to both places, perhaps from some older source. This suggests that at the time the Sinaiticus was written, other, older copies of Revelation also said 1,265.
So, while there is some uncertainty about this number, our translation will say 1,265 days for these reasons:
- To faithfully represent the text of the Sinaiticus (as that’s how we advertise this translation of Revelation, as a translation of the oldest text, the Sinaiticus).
- To bring the matter to your attention.