Matthew 3:1-12 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew  Chapter 3

1. Ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις παραγίνεται Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς κηρύσσων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2. καὶ λέγων, Μετανοεῖτε, ἤγγικεν γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. and[1] saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3. Οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ῥηθεὶς διὰ[2] Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου, λέγοντος, Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, Ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου. Εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ. For this is the one who was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, who said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make the way of the Lord ready! Make his paths straight!” 4. Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Ἰωάννης εἶχεν τὸ ἔνδυμα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ, ἡ δὲ τροφὴ αὐτοῦ ἦν ἀκρίδες καὶ μέλι ἄγριον. Now John himself wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5. Τότε ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαία καὶ πᾶσα ἡ περίχωρος τοῦ Ἰορδάνου. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to him. 6. Καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν. And they were baptized by him in the [3] Jordan, confessing their sins. 7. Ἰδὼν δὲ πολλοὺς τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ Σαδδουκαίων ἐρχομένους ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα αὐτοῦ, εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς; But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8. Ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας. Therefore, bear fruit[4] worthy of repentance. 9. καὶ μὴ δόξητε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, Πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ, λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι δύναται ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ. And do not think that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10. Ἤδη δὲ ἡ ἀξίνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται. Πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται. And [5] now the ax is laid at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. 11. Ἐγὼ μὲν βαπτίζω ὑμᾶς ἐν ὕδατι εἰς μετάνοιαν, ὁ δὲ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἰσχυρότερός μού ἐστιν, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς τὰ ὑποδήματα βαστάσαι. Αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί. “I indeed baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire[6]. 12. Οὗ τὸ πτύον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ διακαθαριεῖ τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ καὶ συνάξει τὸν σῖτον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην, τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor and he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” [1] NA-Text brackets “and”. [2] NA-Text and Vg-St read “δια” (“through”, Latin equivalent “per”) instead of “by” (Gr.: υπο): א B C D Jerome (Latin: “dictum est per Isaiam prophetam, Jerome’s commentary on Matthew 3:3) | TR: K L M Γ Δ Π Theophylact. The Alexandrian preposition is well supported and has been adopted in the Greek text. [3] NA-Text adds “river”. Hort’s theory that the Byzantine text is the result of a conflation between the Alexandrian and the Western text is proven false by this variant. Both the Byzantine and the Western text reflected in the vulgate are shorter than the Alexandrian text. [4] M-Text, NA-Text and Vg-St read “fruit” instead of “fruits”: א B D Byz Hilary Bede Augustine (on Rebuke and Grace, 13:39, Latin text: “facite ergo fructum dignum poenitentiae”) | TR (fruits): Chrysostom (Homily 10 on the gospel of Matthew, Greek text: “ποιησατε καρπους αξιους της μετανοιας”) Theophylact || This text is subject to scribal harmonization to the parallel passage in Luke 3:8 that reads “fruits”. Text adjusted accordingly. [5] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “even” (Gr.: και): א B C Dsupp W Δ 0233 ƒ1 372 700 syrs syrc syrp cop Origen Jerome Bede. | TR: K L Γ ƒ13 22 33 157 565 579 892 1241 1424 Byz Syrh Theophylact. This text shows signs of harmonization to the parallel passage in Luke 3:7. Conjunction removed. [6] M-Text and WPF35 omit “and fire”: Byz | TR: א B C K L M U W Δ Π ƒ1 ƒ13 p101vid vg syr cop Origen Cyprian Hilary Augustine Bede Jerome Cyril-Jerusalem Chrysostom || A Collective witness of Greek manuscripts, versions and fathers evinces a failure in the Byzantine transmission line, causing the loss of this portion of scripture that was part of the canon of scripture received in the early church in multiple locales. The Greek text in the Complutensian Polyglot, which is Byzantine, has the same omission whereas the Latin column included “and fire”.

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Notes:

1. Text in red letters are places where the original reading in the Textus Receptus has been revised and corrected;

2. The English translation used as a reference is the WEB brought to conformity as literal as possible to the Textus Receptus. The end product though is not the WEB or a revised WEB and it should not be called WEB. The content of this post is freely available to everyone and it is not supposed to be copyrighted;

3. TR: Textus Receptus. This text is not copyrighted;

4. NA-Text: Nestle-Aland text commonly known as critical text;

5. M-Text: Majority Text; 

6. M-Text^RP - Majority Text compiled by Maurice Robinson & William Pierpont;

6. M-Text^HF - Majority Text compiled by Zane Hodges & Arthur Farstad; 

7. Vg-St: Vulgate of Stuttgart;  

8. WPF³⁵: Wilbur Pickering-family 35;

9. P-Text: Patriarchal Text, also known as Patriarchal Greek New Testament, published by the ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

10. The creator of the variant apparatus available in the VarApp kindly gave me permission to freely use the information contained in the material he put together.

 

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To God all the glory for the preservation of the scriptures! He reigns!