Matthew 12:43-50 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 12

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43. Ὅταν δὲ τὸ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα ἐξέλθῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, διέρχεται διʼ ἀνύδρων τόπων ζητοῦν ἀνάπαυσιν, καὶ οὐχ εὑρίσκει. “When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest and does not find it.

44. Τότε λέγει, Ἐπιστρέψω εἰς τὸν οἶκόν μου ὅθεν ἐξῆλθον. Καὶ ἐλθὸν εὑρίσκει σχολάζοντα σεσαρωμένον καὶ κεκοσμημένον. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

45. Τότε πορεύεται καὶ παραλαμβάνει μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ ἑπτὰ ἕτερα πνεύματα πονηρότερα ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ εἰσελθόντα κατοικεῖ ἐκεῖ, καὶ γίνεται τὰ ἔσχατα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκείνου χείρονα τῶν πρώτων. Οὕτως ἔσται καὶ τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ τῇ πονηρᾷ. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.”

46. Ἔτι δὲ[1] αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος τοῖς ὄχλοις, ἰδοὺ, ἡ μήτηρ καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ εἱστήκεισαν ἔξω, ζητοῦντες αὐτῷ λαλῆσαι. While he was still speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.

47. Εἶπεν δέ τις αὐτῷ, Ἰδοὺ, ἡ μήτηρ σου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου ἔξω ἑστήκασιν, ζητοῦντές σοι λαλῆσαι. Then one said to him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.”[2]

48. Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν τῷ εἰπόντι[3] αὐτῷ, Τίς ἐστιν ἡ μήτηρ μου; Καὶ τίνες εἰσὶν οἱ ἀδελφοί μου; But answering he said to the one who spoke to Him, “Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?”

49. Καὶ ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ εἶπεν, Ἰδοὺ, ἡ μήτηρ μου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί μου. And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers!

50. Ὃστις γὰρ ἂν ποιήσῃ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, αὐτός μου ἀδελφὸς καὶ ἀδελφὴ καὶ μήτηρ ἐστίν. For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

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[1] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “δε” (and): א B Augustine Jerome Bede | TR: C D K W Γ Δ Θ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ Byz 565 579 700 it^q syr^h Diatessaron Chrysostom Theophylact || Internal evidence is not decisive, because a scribe could have added it as a natural replication of Matthew’s style given that he used the conjunction 485 times in his gospel or he could just leave out the conjunction because it can be silent in some contexts, this verse being a good case in point. Because of the excellent support, it is safer to keep the conjunction in the text.

[2] NA-Text brackets this verse: א* B L Γ 579 597 1009 pc it^ff1 it^k syr^s syr^c cop^sa | TR: א¹ א² C D E F G K W X Y Z Δ Θ Π Σ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 22 28 33 157 180 205 565 700 892 1006 1010 1071 1079 1195 1216 1230 1242 1243 1253 1292 1342 1344 1365 1424 1505 1546 1646 2148 2174 Byz it^aur it^b it^c it^d it^f it^ff2 it^g1 it^h it^l it^q vg syr^p syr^h cop^mae arm eth geo slav Diatessaron Origen^lat Chrysostom^lem Chromatius Jerome Augustine || Internal evidence reveals that the omission of the verse makes the beginning of verse 48 sound non-sensical with the “but he answered him who spoke to him”, if there was no one speaking to him in the previous verse. This portion of the text was most certainly lost due to a parabletic error with the line of sight of the scribe drifting from the “λαλησαι” at the end of verse 46 to the “λαλησαι” at the end of verse 47, thus accidentally missing verse 47. A scribe noticed the error in codex Sinaiticus and corrected it yet in the 300’s or possibly in the 400’s.

[3] NA-Text and P-Text read “λεγοντι” (present instead of aorist): א B D Z 33 892 1424 | TR: C K L Γ Δ Θ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 565 579 700 Byz Theophylact. The TR is well supported and stands in no need of correction.

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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!