The name Joseph (Greek Iōsēph, from Hebrew Yosef) appears a number of times in the New Testament. It is not always clear which person these names refer to, and whether some refer to the same person or distinct characters, which has led to confusion. Therefore, Christian authors and modern scholars have given these men names based on their known attributes.
Textual criticism
Variations in transcriptions
It is uncertain how often the name Joseph appeared in the original Greek New Testament, as textual variants show verses adding, omitting or changing the name Joseph. Joses (Ιωσης) may or may not be the same name as Joseph, and so the number of occurrences also depends on whether they are counted jointly or separately. Strong's Concordance (1890) identified 36 occurrences of the name Joseph (35 times as , once (in Luke 3:26) as ) in the King James Version, a 17th-century English translation based on the Byzantine text-type Textus Receptus. The New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance (1998), which employed a critical literal translation based on the Alexandrian text-type Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle–Aland 27th edition, 1993), found 35 occurrences, 33 of which were translated as 'Joseph' and two as 'Joseph's'.
There are also some textual variants such as in Matthew 13:55 in which Joseph (Ιωσηφ) has been variously replaced by Jose (Ιωση), Joses (Ιωσης), John (Ιωαννης), or John and Joses (Ιωαννης και Ιωσης), so that it is uncertain what the original text said and thus which person was meant.
Scholars find that many textual variants in the narratives of the Nativity of Jesus (Luke 2 and Matthew 1–2) and the Finding in the Temple (Luke 2:41–52) involve deliberate alterations such as substituting the words 'his father' with 'Joseph', or 'his parents' with 'Joseph and his mother'. Alexander Globe (1980) concluded 'that most of the non-Neutral readings under consideration were introduced to remove inconsistencies between the biblical narratives and abstract doctrinal statements concerning the virginity of Mary.' Two of the most controversial verses are Luke 2:33 and Luke 2:43, where the Alexandrian texts mention his father and mother and his parents, respectively, but the Byzantine texts mention Joseph and his mother, and the Syriac Sinaiticus (a Western text-type representative) changed Luke 2:43 to say his kinfolk, the latter two text-types apparently to avoid implying that Joseph of Nazareth was Jesus's biological father:
Luke 2:33
καὶ ἦν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ θαυμάζοντες (and his father and mother were amazed) – 01, B, D, L, W, 700, Vg, cop. Alexandrian text-type: Westcott and Hort 1881, Westcott and Hort / [NA27 and UBS4 variants], 1864–94, Nestle 1904. καὶ ἦν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ θαυμάζοντες (and his father and his mother were amazed) – Tischendorf 8th Edition καὶ ἦν Ἰωσὴφ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ θαυμάζοντες (and Joseph and his mother were amazed) – A, K, X, Δ, Θ, Π, Ψ, 053, ƒ13, 28, 565, ... it syrph, h, pal(MSS), copbo(MSS), goth, Dia. Byz: Stephanus Textus Receptus 1550, Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894, RP Byzantine Majority Text 2005, Greek Orthodox Church.
Luke 2:43
οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ. (his parents didn't know it.) – Alexandrian text-type. 01, B, D, L, W, θ οὐκ ἔγνω Ἰωσὴφ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ· (Joseph and his mother didn't know it.) – Byz. A, C, Ψ, 0130, ƒ13, it, syrp, h, copbo(MSS) E, Π, 565 (his kinfolk didn't know it.) – syrs
Variations in translations
Some Bible translations transliterate the name Ιωσηφ depending on the context for better distinction, such as the 2004 Dutch Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling, which writes Jozef wherever Saint Joseph of Nazareth or Joseph (Genesis) are identified (24 verses), and Josef wherever other persons are concerned (14 verses); additionally, three verses in Mark (6:3, 15:40, 15:47) identify a Joses.