Matthew 13:1-9 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 13

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1. Ἐν δὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐξελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ[1] τῆς οἰκίας ἐκάθητο παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν. And[2] on that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside.

2. Καὶ συνήχθησαν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὄχλοι πολλοί, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς [3] πλοῖον ἐμβάντα καθῆσθαι. Καὶ πᾶς ὁ ὄχλος ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν εἱστήκει. And great multitudes gathered to him, so that he got into a boat, and he sat down. And all the multitude stood on the beach.

3. Καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς πολλὰ ἐν παραβολαῖς, λέγων, Ἰδοὺ, ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπείρειν. And He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a sower went out to sow.

4. Καὶ ἐν τῷ σπείρειν αὐτὸν ἃ μὲν ἔπεσεν παρὰ τὴν ὁδόν, καὶ ἦλθεν[4] τὰ πετεινὰ καὶ κατέφαγεν αὐτά. And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them.

5. Ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη, ὅπου οὐκ εἶχεν γῆν πολλήν, καὶ εὐθέως ἐξανέτειλεν, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν βάθος γῆς, Some fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

6. Ἡλίου δὲ ἀνατείλαντος ἐκαυματίσθη. Καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν ῥίζαν ἐξηράνθη. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched. And because they had no root, they withered away.

7. Ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀκάνθας, καὶ ἀνέβησαν αἱ ἄκανθαι καὶ ἀπέπνιξαν[5] αὐτά. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

8. Ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν καὶ ἐδίδου καρπόν, ὃ μὲν ἑκατὸν, ὃ δὲ ἑξήκοντα, ὃ δὲ τριάκοντα. But others fell on good soil and yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

9. Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω. He who has ears to hear[6], let him hear.”

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[1] NA-Text, P-Text and Vg-St omit “απο” (from): B Θ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 7 124 164 335 517 788 805 939 1201 1266 1424 1443 1554 1555 1651 1675 1823* 2487 2555 2586 Jerome Bede | TR: C E F G K L W Y Π 22 28 565 579 700 Byz lat Theophylact; “εκ της οικιας”: א Z 33 295 494 892 1342 1695 it^c it^f it^h it^l it^q Chrysostom || The evidence may suggest that some scribes and fathers felt that a preposition was necessary before “της οικιας” in conjunction with verbs of movement and added either “out” or “from” here. Matthew used the genitive without preposition to represent the starting point of a moving person by attaching the preposition to the verb (e.g. Matt. 10:14 in connection with leaving a house: “εξερχομενοι της οικιας”), but as external evidence is strong on the side of the TR with the same preposition found in different transmission lines, it is not safe to change the text here.

[2] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “and” (Gr.: “δε” and Latin equivalent “et”): א B Z 33 892 al vg syr^s cop^sa cop^mae cop^bo(mss) Jerome, Augustine Bede Chrysostom | TR: C D L W Θ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ Byz it^f it^h it^q syr^p syr^h cop^bo Diatessaron Theophylact || Internal evidence reveals that Matthew introduces a new story with “in those days”, “at that hour”, “at that time” and alike with or without this conjunction (e. g. Matt. 3:1 and 14:1). The omission is a strong variant.

[3] NA-Text, WPF³⁵ and P-Text omit the definite article before “boat” and render “a boat”; א B Θ Byz^mss. TR: D K Γ Δ ƒ¹³ 28 565 579 Byz Theophylact. The inclusion of the article is probably a natural addition to the text. Article removed.

[4] NA-Text and P-Text read “ελθοντα” (participle instead of indicative) without the conjunction “και” before “the birds”: B K Θ ƒ¹³ 565 1010 1241 1424 it^b it^ff1 it^h syr^c syr^h cop^sa cop^mae cop^bo(mss). TR: א C K W Γ Δ ƒ¹ 579 700 892 1241 Byz Theophylact. The indicative might be the result of harmonization to the parallel passage in Mark 4:4. The participle in the Alexandrian text is therefore a strong variant.

[5] NA-Text reads “επνιξαν”. The Byzantine spelling is also found in codices Sinaiticus and Ephraemi.

[6] NA-Text omits “to hear” and renders “he who has ears, let him hear”: א* B L it^a it^e it^ff1 it^k syr^s Tertullian | TR: א² C D E F G K N O W X Z Δ Θ Π Σ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 28 33 157 180 205 565 579 700 892 1006 1009 1010 1071 1079 1195 1216 1230 1241 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^π it^q vg syr^c syr^p syr^h cop^sa cop^mae cop^bo arm eth geo slav Diatessaron^arm Origen Eusebius Ephraem Chrysostom (Homily 44) Jerome Speculum || The weight of the evidence from all fronts is against the omission. This portion of scripture might have been accidentally lost in those few Greek copies through visual homoeoarcton (ακουειν ακουετω, thus missing “to hear”) or the typical Alexandrian simplification. A scribe noticed the error in codex Sinaiticus in the 600’s and corrected it by including “to hear” in the verse. In cases like this we do well to remember one of Bengel’s principles of his Monita that posits that all codices taken together should form the normal standard.

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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!