Matthew 12:1-8 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 12

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1. Ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ ἐπορεύθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοῖς σάββασιν διὰ τῶν σπορίμων. Οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπείνασαν καὶ ἤρξαντο τίλλειν στάχυας καὶ ἐσθίειν. At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. And his disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2. Οἱ δὲ Φαρισαῖοι ἰδόντες εἶπον[1] αὐτῷ, Ἰδοὺ, οἱ μαθηταί σου ποιοῦσιν ὃ οὐκ ἔξεστιν ποιεῖν ἐν σαββάτῳ. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Behold, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3. Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε τί ἐποίησεν Δαυὶδ ὅτε ἐπείνασεν [2] καὶ οἱ μετʼ αὐτοῦ· But he said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4. πῶς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως ἔφαγεν[3], οὓς[4] οὐκ ἐξὸν ἦν αὐτῷ φαγεῖν, οὐδὲ τοῖς μετʼ αὐτοῦ, εἰ μὴ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν μόνοις; how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5. Ἢ οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε ἐν τῷ νόμῳ ὅτι τοῖς σάββασιν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τὸ σάββατον βεβηλοῦσιν καὶ ἀναίτιοί εἰσιν; Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6. Λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι τοῦ ἱεροῦ μεῖζόν[5] ἐστιν ὧδε. But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7. Εἰ δὲ ἐγνώκειτε τί ἐστιν, Ἔλεον[6] θέλω καὶ οὐ θυσίαν, οὐκ ἂν κατεδικάσατε τοὺς ἀναιτίους. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8. Κύριος γάρ ἐστιν τοῦ σαββάτου ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. For the Son of Man is Lord [7] of the Sabbath.” [1] NA-Text reads “ειπαν”, same word spelled differently. [2] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “αυτος” (Latin equivalent: “ipse”), which is translated as “himself”, thus rendering literally “when he was hungry, he and those with him”. “Himself” or “he” is absent from codices א, D, part of the Byzantine manuscripts and the Latin texts of Jerome and Bede. On the other hand, it is found in the Greek text used by Chrysostom in his homily 39 on the gospel of Matthew, in the Greek text of Theophylact and the Byzantine compilations M-Text, WPF35 and P-Text. Internal evidence strongly suggests scribal harmonization to Mark 2:25 and Luke 6:3 in the Byzantine compilations. Therefore “αυτος” has been removed from the Greek text, following the NA-Text. [3] NA-Text “εφαγον”, third-person plural “they” instead of third-person singular “he”, thus rendering “how he entered the house of God and they ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat”. This reading is found in codices א, B and minuscule 481 and is likely a copyist error. Virtually all the Greek manuscripts, the versions and the patristic writings are against this reading. [4] NA-Text reads “ο” (singular instead of plural). Codices Sinaiticus and Ephraemi are on the side of the Byzantine reading. [5] NA-Text, WPF35, P-Text and M-Text read “μειζον” (neuter) instead of “μειζων” (masculine): א B Byz Chrysostom Theophylact. Greek text adjusted. [6] NA-Text reads “ελεος” (neuter instead of masculine). [7] NA-Text, WPF35 and M-Text omit “even” (και): א B C D K L M Γ Δ Π Diatessaron Tertullian (On the flesh of Christ, ch.15) Chrysostom (Homily 39) Byz | TR: Φ 047 ƒ1 33 124 157 372 517 565 788 892 1424 itaur itl Augustine (“for the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath-day”, harmony of the gospels 2:34:81) Bede Theophylact || Internal evidence suggests harmonization to Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5. Therefore, “even” has been dropped from the text following the M-Text and the NA-Text. ---- 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-TextRP - Majority Text compiled by Maurice Robinson & William Pierpont; 6. M-TextHF - 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.   --- To God all the glory for the preservation of the scriptures! He reigns!