Scribal Habits in Greek New Testament Manuscripts 123 been changed (possible motivation) than we are in whether it actually improved or corrupted the text (end result). There seem to be four clear cases (1.2%): Hernández’s improved readings were: 1.- In Revelation 3,14 Sinaiticus substituted εκκλησιας for κτισεως: Christ is the “Beginning of the Church” rather than the “Beginning of the Creation”. Hernández makes a good case that this reading was prompted by anti-Arian tendencies. It certainly relieves the text of a possible difficulty. It is an easier reading. 2.- In 3,16 Sinaiticus has Christ saying to the Laodicean church that he will “stop your mouth” instead of “vomit you” out of his mouth. Hernández argued that Christ vomiting was perhaps an all-too-human characteristic to be countenanced. Whether this explanation is what really motivated a scribe, “stop your mouth” nevertheless is slightly easier to understand in context, in view of the following verse where the Laodiceans’ boasting is shown to be unfounded. 3.- In 7,15 Sinaiticus reads that God will “know them” instead of “tabernacle over them”. This is clearly an easier reading. 4.- In 2,22 Alexandrinus reads “prison” (φυλακην) for “bed” (κλινην). This reading makes easier sense in view of the judgement that is being meted out to Jezebel. Among Hernández’s other cases, he listed four occasions (Sinaiticus in 9,15; 16,2; 16,3 and Alexandrinus in 9,15) where singular readings involved angelic judgements. Hernández suggests that the scribes had an aversion to the idea of angelic judgement. However, in every case, the sin- gular readings made less sense in context than the alternative (Hernández acknowledges, for example, that virtually all other commentators have classified the first of these readings as a blunder92). Similarly, among the other seven readings Hernández catalogued, while there may be signs of deliberate alteration, these alterations produced no clear improvements to the sense (Sinaiticus in 2,13; 2,22; 5,13 and 21,3; Alexandrinus in 1,17; 12,1 and 20,4). One final note should be entered about Hernández’s study: Sinaiticus in the book of Revelation is described by Hernández as “the Apocalypse’s maverick tradition” characterised by “textual deviancy” with “frequent 92 Ibid,, 69.