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PREFACE

    Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
    Peter, Jude, and James--
    seven men who wrote
    eleven books that bear their names.

    The Acts of the Apostles
    is a sequel penned by Luke.
    John wrote four books named for him
    and Revelation too.

    Fourteen letters, named for their recipients,
    were penned by Paul.
    Together, the New Testament--
    twenty-seven books in all.

    What follows is a reconciliation of every detail found in the four
gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), with additional material
gleaned from The Acts of the Apostles, First Corinthians, and Second
Peter.

    The English text I've used is the Authorized King James Version, but
the gospel texts I'm actually comparing are the original Greek texts.
This being so, I have at times achieved different results than I would
have obtained had I consulted the English text alone. For instance, the
Greek word translated "Calvary" in Luke 23:33 is translated "skull" in
the other three gospels. Since I didn't want to note differences between
the gospels that don't exist in the Greek, I use the word "skull" in all
four gospels. I could cite many similar examples, but they're all
relatively minor.

    The source (or sources) of each detail of the narrative is indicated
at the beginning of each line, abbreviated as follows:

      [Mt] for Matthew,
      [Mk] for Mark,
      [Lk] for Luke,
      [Jn] for John,
      [Ac] for The Acts of the Apostles,
      [1C] for First Corinthians,
  and [2P] for Second Peter.

    Thus the inscription above Jesus' cross reads:

    [Mt    Lk   ]  THIS IS
    [Mt       Jn]  JESUS
    [         Jn]  OF NAZARETH,
    [Mt Mk Lk Jn]  THE KING OF THE JEWS

    Words enclosed in brackets are those that are not found in the Greek
text but have been added to make the English easier to understand. Most
of these words were added by the translators of the King James Version
(and are in italics in most editions of the Bible). The few such words
that I have added are indicated by empty brackets at the beginning of
the line.

    May you find salvation and blessing as you sit and learn at Jesus'
feet. Amen.

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