Matthew 5:16-26 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 5

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16. Οὕτως λαμψάτω τὸ φῶς ὑμῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅπως ἴδωσιν ὑμῶν τὰ καλὰ ἔργα καὶ δοξάσωσιν τὸν πατέρα ὑμῶν τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Likewise, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

17. Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας. Οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι· Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

18. Ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἕως ἂν παρέλθῃ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ, ἰῶτα ἓν ἢ μία κεραία οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου ἕως ἂν πάντα γένηται. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will by any means pass away from the law until all is fulfilled.

19. Ὃς ἐὰν οὖν λύσῃ μίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων καὶ διδάξῃ οὕτως τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἐλάχιστος κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ὃς δʼ ἂν ποιήσῃ καὶ διδάξῃ οὗτος μέγας κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teach men to do so, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teach them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20. Λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐὰν μὴ περισσεύσῃ ἡ δικαιοσύνη ὑμῶν πλεῖον τῶν γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

21. Ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐρρέθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις, Οὐ φονεύσεις, ὃς δʼ ἂν φονεύσῃ ἔνοχος ἔσται τῇ κρίσει. “You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’

22. Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὀργιζόμενος τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ εἰκῆ ἔνοχος ἔσται τῇ κρίσει. Ὃς δʼ ἂν εἴπῃ τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ, Ῥακά, ἔνοχος ἔσται τῷ συνεδρίῳ. Ὃς δʼ ἂν εἴπῃ, Μωρέ, ἔνοχος ἔσται εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause[1] will be liable to judgment. Whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’  will be liable to the Sanhedrin. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

23. Ἐὰν οὖν προσφέρῃς τὸ δῶρόν σου ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον κἀκεῖ[2] μνησθῇς ὅτι ὁ ἀδελφός σου ἔχει τι κατὰ σοῦ, “Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,

24. ἄφες ἐκεῖ τὸ δῶρόν σου ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου καὶ ὕπαγε πρῶτον διαλλάγηθι τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου, καὶ τότε ἐλθὼν πρόσφερε τὸ δῶρόν σου. leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

25. Ἴσθι εὐνοῶν τῷ ἀντιδίκῳ σου ταχὺ ἕως ὅτου εἶ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, μήποτέ σε παραδῷ ὁ ἀντίδικος τῷ κριτῇ, καὶ ὁ κριτὴς σε παραδῷ τῷ ὑπηρέτῃ, καὶ εἰς φυλακὴν βληθήσῃ. Agree with your adversary quickly while you are on the way with him, lest the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you[3] to the officer, and you be cast into prison.

26. Ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, οὐ μὴ ἐξέλθῃς ἐκεῖθεν ἕως ἂν ἀποδῷς τὸν ἔσχατον κοδράντην. Truly, I say to you, you will by no means come out from there until you have paid the last penny.

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[1] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “without a cause”: p⁶⁴ א* B Ω 372 1292 1424^mg 2174^vid 2737 al it^aur vg eth^ms Gospel of the Nazarenes Ptolemy Justin Tertullian^vid Origen Theodore-Heraclea Chromatius Jerome Theodore^{according to Apollinaris} Augustine^3/4 Cassian Ps-Athanasius mss^{according to Apollinaris} Greek mss^{according to Augustine} | TR: א² D E K L W Δ Θ Π Σ 0233 ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 28 33 157 180 205 565 579 597 700 892 1006 1010 1071 1079 1195 1216 1230 1241 1242 1243 1342 1365 1424 1505 1546 1646 Byz it^a it^b it^c it^d it^f it^ff1 it^g1 it^h it^k it^l it^q vg^mss syr^c syr^s syr^p syr^h syr^pal cop^sa cop^mae cop^bo goth arm eth^TH geo slav Diatessaron Irenaeus Cyprian Eusebius Hilary Lucifer Basil Apostolic Constitutions Ps-Justin Chrysostom Augustine^1/4 Cyril Speculum Theodoret mss^{according to Origen} mss^{according to Apollinaris} mss^{according to Jerome} || Bengel and Scrivener thought that that was a marginal note that crept into the text, but this proposition is not aligned with the evidence, because we would have to posit that all transmission lines had the same marginal note and the same accident took place across the board. Griesbach and Scholz maintained “without a cause” in their compilations. Tregelles included the qualifier in the text within brackets. The collective witness of the manuscript evidence for the inclusion is widespread and early. The agreement of codices א², D, W, Θ and Π is strong. It is found in patristic writings in the 100’s with Irenaeus, the 200’s with Cyprian, the 300’s with Eusebius, Hilary, Basil and Chrysostom and the 400’s with Augustine and Cyril of Alexandria. Almost all the versions contain the clause, including the Curetonian Syriac and the Sahidic Coptic. And so do all the good minuscules reflecting different text types. And this is only possible if there was an original manuscript containing the clause from which all these witnesses sprang up, unless the apostle himself or his amanuensis added a footnote or a correction to the original manuscript. The absence of the clause in the vulgate is probably reflecting Jerome’s comment on Mt 5:22 that said that “in some codices it is added “without a cause” but in the true ones, there is no restriction, and all anger is equally reproved”). What Jerome saw was some manuscripts that contained a copyist error probably caused by homoeoarcton (εικη ενοχος, thus missing “without cause”) and assumed that they were more faithful to the original. Commenting on Ephesians 4:31 (Commentary on the epistle to the Ephesians, book 3), Jerome seems to have assumed that the inclusion of “without a cause” in Mattthew 5:22 is scripture, but as his commentary on Matthew comes up 11 years later, it is possible that he changed his mind later about the authenticity of this clause. As a side note, the Greek text in the Complutensian Polyglot, which is Byzantine, read “without a cause” that was omitted in the parallel column containing the Latin text.

[2] M-Text and WPF³⁵ read “και εκει”: D K Δ Θ Byz | TR: א B Theophylact || Both are well supported.

[3] NA-Text omits “deliver you”. 

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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!