The English translations we have for the book of Mark are based upon the original Greek writings. The Greek writings we have are ancient manuscripts. These manuscripts are on fragments of Scripture that date back to the 1st century at the earliest. The earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not include Mark 11:26 which reads, "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." There are many later manuscripts that include this verse and it is widely held that it was added later by a scribe.

Why would this happen? The book of Matthew has a similar account of Jesus' teaching His disciples about prayer and Matthew 6:14-15 has this same verse. So, a scribe inserted Mark 11:26 to align Jesus' teachings in the two books. The reality that this verse was not originally in Mark should not cause us concern since we have this Scriptural truth in Matthew. Some versions of the Bible omit verse 26 altogether, others include it and still others place the verse in brackets noting that while it is a true, biblical statement, it is not originally found in Mark. Dr. Tom Constable simply writes: "This verse does not appear in the most important ancient manuscripts of Mark's Gospel. Evidently scribes inserted it later because they associated the preceding verse with Matthew 6:14."