Matthew 13:44-50 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 13

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44. Πάλιν ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν θησαυρῷ κεκρυμμένῳ ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ, ὃν εὑρὼν ἄνθρωπος ἔκρυψεν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς χαρᾶς αὐτοῦ ὑπάγει καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἔχει πωλεῖ καὶ ἀγοράζει τὸν ἀγρὸν ἐκεῖνον. “Again[1], the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid, and for the joy of it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45. Πάλιν ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ ἐμπόρῳ ζητοῦντι καλοὺς μαργαρίτας, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

46. ὃς εὑρὼν ἕνα πολύτιμον μαργαρίτην, ἀπελθὼν πέπρακεν πάντα ὅσα εἶχεν καὶ ἠγόρασεν αὐτόν. who[2], when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

47. Πάλιν ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν σαγήνῃ βληθείσῃ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ ἐκ παντὸς γένους συναγαγούσῃ. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish[3] of every kind,

48. ἣν ὅτε ἐπληρώθη ἀναβιβάσαντες ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν καὶ καθίσαντες συνέλεξαν τὰ καλὰ εἰς ἀγγεῖα[4] τὰ δὲ σαπρὰ ἔξω ἔβαλον. which, when it was filled, they drew it to shore and sat down and gathered the good into containers but threw the bad away.

49. Οὕτως ἔσται ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ τοῦ αἰῶνος. Ἐξελεύσονται οἱ ἄγγελοι καὶ ἀφοριοῦσιν τοὺς πονηροὺς ἐκ μέσου τῶν δικαίων, So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

50. καὶ βαλοῦσιν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν κάμινον τοῦ πυρός. Ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων. and will cast them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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[1] NA-Text and the Vg-St omit “again” (Gr.: παλιν): א B D 0242 892 1241 syr^s syr^c cop Jerome Bede | TR: C K L N P W Γ Δ Θ 0106 0233 0250 ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 33 565 579 700 1424 Byz it^f it^h it^q syr^p syr^h Diatessaron Origen Chrysostom and Theophylact || Internal evidence strongly suggests that there is a consistent pattern of repetition of introductory words each time Matthew introduces a new parable in chapter 13. Talking to the multitude, the corollary is “another parable he” (verses 24, 31 and 33) and talking privately to the disciples “again” (verses 44, 45 and 47). The omission of “again” in verse 44 interrupts the clear pattern Matthew employed every time he introduced a new parable, following a perfect symmetry of three for the multitudes and three for the disciples in private. Therefore, the omission should not be deemed original from Matthew’s pen. John Burgon thinks that this word was dropped for the sake of a lesson in the liturgical calendar of the church. He says: “The word παλιν, because it stands between the end (τέλος) of the lesson for the sixth Thursday and the beginning (αρχή) of the first Friday after Pentecost, got left out [though everyone acquainted with Gospel MSS. knows that αρχή and τέλος were often inserted in the text]. The second of these two lessons begins with ὁμοία [because Πάλιν at the beginning of a lesson is not wanted].” (The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels, pg. 80).

[2] NA-Text and Vg-St replace “who” (Gr.: ος) by “δε” (Latin equivalent: “autem”) and render “and having found…” or “but having found…”): א B D L Θ 0233 0242 ƒ¹ 33 892 syr^p cop Diatessaron Cyprian (treatises 8 and 12) Jerome Augustine (Seventeen questions on Matthew Q12) Bede | TR: C K N P W Γ Δ 0106 0250 ƒ¹³ 565 579 700 1241 1424 Byz syr^h Chrysostom Theophylact || Three parables in chapter 13 likens the kingdom of God with a person who is first described and then does some sort of action. In the first two instances the person is described and then the action flows from a “δε” (see verses 3-4 and 24-25). Matthew would more likely follow the same pattern in verses 45-46. The Alexandrian reading is therefore a strong variant.

[3] “Fish” was added for clarification in context, but the word is not found in the Greek text.

[4] NA-Text reads “αγγη”, same word spelled differently.

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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. VgSt: Vulgate of Stuttgart;  

7. WPF³⁵: Wilbur Pickering-family 35;

8. PT: Patriarchal Text, also known as Patriarchal Greek New Testament, published by the ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

9. 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!