Matthew 12:33-42 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 12

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33. Ἢ ποιήσατε τὸ δένδρον καλὸν καὶ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ καλόν, ἢ ποιήσατε τὸ δένδρον σαπρὸν καὶ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ σαπρόν, ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ καρποῦ τὸ δένδρον γινώσκεται. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

34. Γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, πῶς δύνασθε ἀγαθὰ λαλεῖν πονηροὶ ὄντες; Ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ περισσεύματος τῆς καρδίας τὸ στόμα λαλεῖ. You offspring of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

35. Ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θησαυροῦ ἐκβάλλει τά [1] ἀγαθά, καὶ ὁ πονηρὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ θησαυροῦ ἐκβάλλει πονηρά. The good man out of his good treasure [2] brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.

36. Λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι πᾶν ῥῆμα ἀργὸν ὃ ἐὰν λαλήσωσιν[3] οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ἀποδώσουσιν περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγον ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως· And I say to you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

37. Ἐκ γὰρ τῶν λόγων σου δικαιωθήσῃ, καὶ ἐκ τῶν λόγων σου καταδικασθήσῃ. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

38. Τότε ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐτῷ τινες τῶν γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων, λέγοντες, Διδάσκαλε, θέλομεν ἀπὸ σοῦ σημεῖον ἰδεῖν. Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him[4], “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

39. ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Γενεὰ πονηρὰ καὶ μοιχαλὶς σημεῖον ἐπιζητεῖ, καὶ σημεῖον οὐ δοθήσεται αὐτῇ εἰ μὴ τὸ σημεῖον Ἰωνᾶ τοῦ προφήτου. But answering, he said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

40. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἦν Ἰωνᾶς ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας, οὕτως ἔσται ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41. Ἄνδρες Νινευῖται ἀναστήσονται ἐν τῇ κρίσει μετὰ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης καὶ κατακρινοῦσιν αὐτήν, ὅτι μετενόησαν εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα Ἰωνᾶ, καὶ ἰδοὺ, πλεῖον Ἰωνᾶ ὧδε. The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.

42. Βασίλισσα νότου ἐγερθήσεται ἐν τῇ κρίσει μετὰ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης καὶ κατακρινεῖ αὐτήν, ὅτι ἦλθεν ἐκ τῶν περάτων τῆς γῆς ἀκοῦσαι τὴν σοφίαν Σολομῶνος[5], καὶ ἰδοὺ, πλεῖον Σολομῶνος ὧδε. The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.

 

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[1] NA-Text, P-Text, WPF³⁵ and M-Text omit the definite article “τα” before “good things”: B D E K W Y Θ Π f13 565 Byz cop^sa(mss) cop^mae Theophylact | TR: א C G L N U Δ Σ Φ f¹ 28 33 157 1010 1424 al cop^sa(mss) (cop^bo) || The exclusion of the definite article appears to be the product of scribal harmonization given that the parallel sentence in the verse “εκβαλλει πονηρα” is built without the definite article. This scribal tendency to conform those two parallels with or without the article can be clearly seen in Chrysostom’s Greek text that added the article before “evil things”, thus reading “εκβαλλει τα πονηρα” (homily 42). The TR kept the harder reading here and remained unchanged.

[2] NA-Text, P-Text, WPF³⁵ and M-Text omit “of the heart”: א B C D K M W Cyprian Jerome Chrysostom Fulgentius of Ruspe Theophylact | TR: L ƒ¹ 33 it^aur (it^f) vg^mss (syr^s) (syr^c) || Harmonization to Lk 6:45 seems unlikely for if that was the case, we would see “treasure of his heart” twice in the verse. It is possible that a scribe added “of his heart” from verse 34 into verse 35. The non-inclusion of “of his heart” makes the text more aligned with what the church the evidence. Text adjusted.

[3] NA-Text reduces the subjunctive aorist (εαν λαλησωσιν) to a future indicative (λαλησουσιν), thus rendering literally “every idle word that men will speak”.

[4] NA-Text and Vg-St add “him” (Latin equivalent: “responderunt ei”): א B C D L N Θ ƒ¹³ 33 893 1424 syr^h cop^sa cop^bo Jerome Augustine (Harmony on the gospels - 2:39:86) Chrysostom (homily 43, opening verse) Bede | TR: K W Γ Δ 0250 ƒ¹ Byz 565 579 700 cop^mae Diatessaron Theophylact || Because the use of the pronoun in this verse has the excellent support from the majuscules, reception in the early church both in the east and the west and preservation in the church, this pronoun has been added to the text.

[5] NA-Text, P-Text, WPF³⁵ and M-Text read “σολομωνος” instead of “σολομωντος”: א B D Byz | TR: Theophylact || Therefore, the spelling of the genitival form of Solomon has been adjusted in the Greek text.

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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!