Matthew 4:1-11 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew Chapter 4

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1. Τότε ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνήχθη εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος πειρασθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2. Καὶ νηστεύσας ἡμέρας τεσσεράκοντα[1] καὶ νύκτας τεσσεράκοντα ὕστερον ἐπείνασεν. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3. καὶ προσελθὼν αὐτῷ ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν, Εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰπὲ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται. Then coming near him, the tempter said[2], “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4. Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν Γέγραπται, Οὐκ ἐπʼ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ[3] ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος θεοῦ. But answering, he said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” 5. Τότε παραλαμβάνει αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν, καὶ ἵστησιν[4] αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ πτερύγιον τοῦ ἱεροῦ, Then the devil took him into the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6. καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ, Εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ, βάλε σεαυτὸν κάτω, γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι Τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἀροῦσίν σε, μήποτε προσκόψῃς πρὸς λίθον τὸν πόδα σου. and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and, ‘In their hands they will bear you up, so that you do not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7. Ἔφη αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Πάλιν γέγραπται, Οὐκ ἐκπειράσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου. Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord, your God.’” 8. Πάλιν παραλαμβάνει αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν λίαν καὶ δείκνυσιν αὐτῷ πάσας τὰς βασιλείας τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν. Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9. Καὶ λέγει[5] αὐτῷ, Ταῦτά πάντα σοι δώσω, ἐὰν πεσὼν προσκυνήσῃς μοι. And he said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10. Τότε λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Ὕπαγε, Σατανᾶ. Γέγραπται γάρ, Κύριον τὸν θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις. Then Jesus said to him, “Go away Satan[6]! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve.’” 11. Τότε ἀφίησιν αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος, καὶ ἰδοὺ, ἄγγελοι προσῆλθον καὶ διηκόνουν αὐτῷ. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. [1] NA-Text reads “τεσσερακοντα” (twice in the verse): א B* C D L P Δ | TR: Bc K M Γ Chrysostom (Homily 13) Theophylact || Scrivener thinks that the Alexandrian spelling should be preferred for this word. Griesbach and Scholz maintained the Byzantine spelling in their compilations. The support for the Alexandrian spelling is early and more widespread. It has been adopted in the Greek text. [2] NA-Text and Vg-St read “came and said to him”: p101vid א B W ƒ1 ƒ13 33 700 892vid itaur itff1 itl vg syrp copmae copbo Chrysostom | TR: C K L P Γ Δ 0233 565 579 1241 1424 Byz itf (itk) Theophylact || Both forms are well supported but it appears that the transposition is a stylistic improvement to the text. [3] NA-Text adds the definite article “ο”: א B D L P Z Δ Θ Byzmss | TR: K Byz Theophylact || The apostle is quoting from the LXX in Deuteronomy 8:3, which contains the article. So, even though there is a risk of harmonization here, the strong support from 4 different transmission lines makes it less probable. The article has been added to the text.  [4] NA-Text and Vg-St read “εστησεν” (aorist instead of present): א B C D Z ƒ1 33 Syrs Syrc Syrp | TR: K L P W Γ Δ Θ ƒ13 565 579 700 892 1241 Syrh Theophylact. Both are well supported. Matthew also uses the present tense to narrate past events. The verbal tense behind “took him” is present and is literally translated as “takes”. [5] NA-Text and Vg-St read “ειπεν” (Latin equivalent: “dixit”, second aorist instead of present): א B C D Z ƒ13 33 | TR: K L P W Γ Δ Θ 0233 ƒ1 565 579 700 892 1241 1424 Byz Theophylact. Both forms are well supported. [6] Or: “get behind me Satan” (Gr. “υπαγε οπισω μου σατανα”, with the addition of “οπισω μου”) following the M-Text: C2 D E L Z 28 33 118supp 157 180 205 209 597c 892c 1006 1009 1010 1071 1195 1216 1230 1241 1242 1243 1253 1292 1365 1424 1505 1582c 1646 2148 2174 Byz itb itd ith itl* vgmss syrc syrh* (syrs σου) copsa(mss) copbo(mss) arm eth geoB slavmss Diatessaronsyr Justin Peter-Alexandria Liber Graduum Asterius Athanasius Ephraem (Ambrose) Ps-Vigilius Chrysostom (Augustine) Nestorius. TR: א B C*vid K P S V W Δ Σ 0233 f1 f13 22 565 579* 700 892* 1079 1546 2680 2737 itf itk itl(c) vg syrp syrh syrpal copsa(mss) copmae copbo geo1 geoA slavmss Diatessaronarm Ignatius Irenaeus Tertullian Origen Peter-Alexandria Asteriusmss Hilary Ps-Ignatius Chromatius Jerome || Early patristic witnesses support both readings. Justin Martyr quotes the Byzantine text in his public dialog with Trypho (ch. 103) whereas Origen says specifically that Matthew 4:10 does not contain the addition “behind me” found in Mt 16:23 (Origen’s commentary on Matthew, Book 12:22). Irenaeus also supports the shorter reading. Post-nicene fathers are equally divided with Hilary, Jerome and Bede quoting the shorter version and Chrysostom the longer one. Both are well supported but because the meaning of the text does not change with this textual variant, there is no need to dogmatically decide for one of the readings, especially in light of such a divided contest.

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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!