Matthew 14:13-21 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 14

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13. Ἀκούσας δὲ[1] ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν ἐν πλοίῳ εἰς ἔρημον τόπον κατʼ ἰδίαν. Καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ ὄχλοι ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ πεζῇ ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.

14. Καὶ ἐξελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶδεν πολὺν ὄχλον, καὶ ἐσπλαγχνίσθη ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς[2], καὶ ἐθεράπευσεν τοὺς ἀρρώστους αὐτῶν. And when Jesus[3] went out, he saw a great multitude and had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15. Ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, λέγοντες, Ἔρημός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος, καὶ ἡ ὥρα ἤδη παρῆλθεν. Ἀπόλυσον τοὺς ὄχλους, ἵνα ἀπελθόντες εἰς τὰς κώμας ἀγοράσωσιν ἑαυτοῖς βρώματα. Now when it was evening, his[4] disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy food for themselves.”

16. Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς. Οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν ἀπελθεῖν. Δότε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγεῖν. But Jesus[5] said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17. Οἱ δὲ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ, Οὐκ ἔχομεν ὧδε εἰ μὴ πέντε ἄρτους καὶ δύο ἰχθύας. And they said to him, “We only have here five loaves and two fish.”

18. Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν, Φέρετέ μοι αὐτούς ὧδε. He said, “Bring them here to me.”

19. Καὶ κελεύσας τοὺς ὄχλους ἀνακλιθῆναι ἐπὶ τοῦ χόρτου[6]. Λαβὼν τοὺς πέντε ἄρτους καὶ τοὺς δύο ἰχθύας, ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, εὐλόγησεν καὶ κλάσας ἔδωκεν τοῖς μαθηταῖς τοὺς ἄρτους, οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ τοῖς ὄχλοις. And he commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. [7] He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke, and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes.

20. Καὶ ἔφαγον πάντες καὶ ἐχορτάσθησαν. Καὶ ἦραν τὸ περισσεῦον τῶν κλασμάτων δώδεκα κοφίνους πλήρεις. And they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

21. Οἱ δὲ ἐσθίοντες ἦσαν ἄνδρες ὡσεὶ πεντακισχίλιοι, χωρὶς γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

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[1] NA-Text and P-Text replace the “και” by a “δε” placed after the verb: א B D L Z Θ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 33^vid 565 700 892 1424 | TR: C K W Γ Δ 0106 0136 579 1241 Byz syr^h Theophylact. The meaning is the same but as the support for the Alexandrian arrangement is better, it has been adopted in the Greek text.

[2] NA-Text, P-Text, WPF³⁵ and M-Text: “αυτοις” (dative instead of accusative). א B Byz Theophylact | TR: Θ 33 1424 Chrysostom || Also, the parallel passage in Mark 6:34 reads “αυτοις”. Therefore, the TR has been adjusted accordingly.

[3] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “Jesus”: א B D Θ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 33 700 892* cop Origen Jerome | TR: C K L W Γ Δ 067 0106^vid 565 579 892^c 1241 1424 syr^p syr^h it^f it^h it^q Chrysostom Bede Theophylact || This is the reading for the eighth Sunday after Pentecost in the Byzantine tradition that may be reflecting an old lectionary. Chrysostom’s homily 49 though, started at verse 13 and that is where the reading starts in the Latin lectionary so that it is not certain that this was the opening verse in an old lectionary that could have been adjusted to bring clarity to the first verse about the person who is going to perform the miracle of feeding the five thousand. In that scenario, it is possible that a scribe would have removed the second occurrence of the name Jesus to make the text flow better for a lesson starting at verse 13. Both readings are strong on external evidence and plausible internally. And because the meaning of the text does not change with or without the proper noun, we may be content with any of those readings that have been received and preserved for use in the church.

[4] NA-Text omits “his” and renders “the disciples”.

[5] NA-Text brackets “Jesus”.

[6] NA-Text reads “του χορτου” (genitive singular instead of accusative plural): א B C* W Θ 067 ƒ¹ 33 579 700 1010 1424 | TR: K P Γ Δ (C²) (L) 0106 ƒ¹³ Byz Chrysostom Theophylact. The support for the genitive singular is better. Greek text adjusted.

[7] NA-Text, M-Text and Vg-St omit “And” (Gr.: και) before “he took”: B D Byz Diatessaron Origen (Commentary on the gospel of Matthew, Book 11, Ch. 3) Jerome Bede Chrysostom Theophylact | TR: א C* W. Conjunction dropped. 

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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!