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I am wondering about the logic behind some translations including the word "first" in Ephesians 4:9 when other translations do not. For example, the KJV/NKJV include the word "first".

Ephesians 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? (KJV)

However, translations like the ESV and NASB do not include the word "first".

Ephesians 4:9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? (ESV)

Ephesians 4:9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? (NASB)

So, what is the reasoning behind the KJV/NKJV using the word "first" in Ephesians 4:9, when most other translations do not. And apart from the KJV/NKJV, which translations include the word "first"?

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    Looks like an example of a "meaning-for-meaning" translation intended to communicate that the descension occurred prior to the ascension, in spite of that particular relationship being absent from the literal text. I don't know whether the meaning was appended to the Latin, or later to the English, but it is absent from more modern translations because it was absent in the literal Hebrew.
    – boxcartenant
    Commented Apr 22, 2022 at 17:01

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There is a difference in text of Eph 4:9 between the ancient witnesses and the later Byzantine text which (in this case) the Tr follows:

Ancient witnesses

τὸ δὲ Ἀνέβη τί ἐστιν εἰ μὴ ὅτι καὶ κατέβη εἰς τὰ κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς; = Now what is "He ascended," except that He also descended into the lower regions of the earth?

Byzantine text

Tὸ δέ, Ἀνέβη, τί ἐστιν εἰ μὴ ὅτι καὶ κατέβη πρῶτον εἰς τὰ κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς; = Now what is "He ascended," except that He also descended first into the lower regions of the earth?

Note that the Byzantine text has an added "first" about which Bruce M Metzger in his "Textual Commentary on the GNT" offers these comments:

The addition of πρῶτον after κατέβη (Sinaiticus [third correction], B C K P 88 614 Byz etc) appears to be a natural expansion introduced by copyists to elucidate the meaning. The shorter text is strongly supported by P46, Sinaiticus[uncorrected] A C D G 179 al.

UBS5 rates the probability of the original text without "first" as {A} = almost certain. For more details about which MSS support which text, see UBS5.

Most modern translations follow the UBS5 text including: NIV, NLT, ESV, NASB, BSB, BLB, NASB, CSB, HCSB, CEV, GWT, ISV, NET, NHEB, ASV, FV, Darby, ERV, LET, DRB, etc

Among the translations that follow the Byzantine text are: GNT, KJV, NKJV, WEB, AKJV, LSV, YLT, etc.

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