Matthew 15:1-9 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 15

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1. Τότε προσέρχονται τῷ Ἰησοῦ οἱ ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι, λέγοντες, Then scribes and Pharisees[1] came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying,

2. Διὰ τί οἱ μαθηταί σου παραβαίνουσιν τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν πρεσβυτέρων; οὐ γὰρ νίπτονται τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν ὅταν ἄρτον ἐσθίωσιν. “Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their[2] hands when they eat bread.”

3. Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Διὰ τί καὶ ὑμεῖς παραβαίνετε τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὴν παράδοσιν ὑμῶν; And answering, he said to them, “And why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?

4. Ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἐνετείλατο λέγων[3], Τίμα τὸν πατέρα [4] Τίμα τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα, καί, Ὁ κακολογῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα θανάτῳ τελευτάτω. For God commanded, saying ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’

5. Ὑμεῖς δὲ λέγετε, Ὃς ἂν εἴπῃ τῷ πατρὶ ἢ τῇ μητρί, Δῶρον ὃ ἐὰν ἐξ ἐμοῦ ὠφεληθῇς, But you say, ‘Whoever tells father or mother, “Whatever help you might have received from me is a gift to God[5],”

6. καὶ οὐ μὴ τιμήσῃ[6] τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ ἢ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἠκυρώσατε τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὴν παράδοσιν ὑμῶν. then[7] he will not honor his father or his mother[8].’ So, you have made the commandment[9] of God void because of your tradition.

7. Ὑποκριταί, καλῶς προεφήτευσεν [10] περὶ ὑμῶν Ἠσαΐας, λέγων, You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,

8. Ὁ λαὸς οὗτος τοῖς χείλεσίν με τιμᾷ, ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτῶν πόρρω ἀπέχει ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ. ‘These people [11] honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

9. Μάτην δὲ σέβονταί με, διδάσκοντες διδασκαλίας ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

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[1] NA-Text transposes “scribes and Pharisees” to “Pharisees and scribes” and omits the definite article “οι”. 

[2] NA-Text brackets “their”, whose omission would render “do not wash the hands”. 

[3] NA-Text and Vg-St read “ειπεν” and render “said” instead of “commanded, saying” (Latin equivalent: “dixit”): א¹ B D Θ 073 084 ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 124 579 700 788 892 it^a it^aur it^b it^c it^d it^e it^ff1 it^ff2 it^g1 it^l it^q vg syr^c syr^s syr^p cop^sa cop^mae cop^bo cop^fay arm eth geo Diatessaron^a Diatessarone^syr Ptolemy Irenaeus^lat Origen Ambrosiaster Amphilochius Chromatius Jerome Augustine Cyril | TR: א* א² C E F G K L N W X Y Δ Π Σ 0106 13 22 33 157 180 205 565 597 828 1006 1009 1010 1071 1079 1195 1216 1230 1241 1242 1243 1253 1292 1342 1344 1365 1424 1505 1546 1646 2148 2174 Byz Lect it^f syr^h slav (Chrysostom) Theophylact || The TR is well supported. The parallel passage in Mark 7:10 reads “ειπεν”, so the risk of a harmonized text increases on the side of the NA-Text and on top of that the presence of the verb “commanded” in several majuscules of different text types without a parallel passage to justify it, makes it less likely that all those scribes working in different places came up with the very same idea of adding the same word to the text. No change to the text.

[4] NA-Text, Vg-St, P-Text, WPF³⁵ and M-Text omit “σου”, thus rendering literally “honor father and mother”.  Codices א B D Byz Chrysostom Jerome | TR: C² K L N W Θ ƒ¹³ 33 565 579 1241 1424 Theophylact. This is likely a natural addition to the text. Pronoun.

[5] “to God” has been supplied to clarify the context, but it is not found in the Greek text.

[6] NA-Text and Vg-St read “τιμησει” (future indicative instead of aorist subjunctive): B C D | TR:  א Byz Chrysostom Theophylact. No need of correction.

[7] NA-Text omits “then”.

[8] NA-Text omits “or his mother”: א B D Ω pc it^a it^d it^e syr^c cop^sa geo¹ Origen^lat Augustine | TR: (“or his mother” or “or the mother”): C E F G K L N W X Δ Π Σ 0106 0233 157 180 597 1006 1009 1010 1079 1195 1230 1242 1243 1253 1292 1342 1344 1365 1546 1646 2148 2174 Byz Lect it^aur it^f it^ff1 vg^cl (syr^s) syr^p syr^h cop^mae cop^bo? (arm) eth (geo^A) Diatessarone^syr Origen Chromatius Cyril^3/5 || The omission of “or his mother” likely the product of a parabletic error (τον πατερα αυτου η την μητερα αυτου, thus missing “or his mother”).

[9] NA-Text reads “word”. Even though this reading has not been preserved in the Latin or the Greek church and the collective witness of the majuscules and the minuscules is against it, this variant has the witness of the versions and internal evidence in its favor once scribal harmonization changing “the word” into “the commandment” cannot be ruled out, given that part b of verse 3 reads exactly like verse 6 “την εντολην του θεου δια την παραδοσιν υμων”, which might have been offered an opportunity for intentional or accidental adjustment in verse 6. The parallel passage in Mark 7:13 reads “word of God”. But because only 0.5% of the extant Greek manuscripts read “word” and this reading has not been preserved in the scriptures of any of the two main branches of the church, it is safer to keep this variant in the footnote.

[10] NA-Text reads “επροφητευσεν”, same word spelled differently.

[11] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “draw near to me with their mouth, and”. א B D L Θ 073 084 ƒ¹³ 33 124 579 700 788 892 1424 pc vg syr^s syr^c syr^p cop Diatessaron Clement Origen Didymus the Blind Chrysostom Augustine (Latin: “populus hic labiis me honorat, cor autem eorum longe est a me”, exposition on psalm 45, #6) Fulgentius of Ruspe (Against the sermon of Fastidiosus the Arian, 5:1) | TR: C K N W Γ Δ W 0106 (ƒ¹) ƒ^13pt 565 1241 Byz it^f it^q syr^h Theophylact || The longer reading in the Byzantine text might suggest scribal harmonization to Isaiah 29:13 in the LXX. But the text in the LXX “Ἐγγίζει μοι ὁ λαὸς οὗτος τοῖς χείλεσιν αὐτῶν τιμῶσίν με” does not match exactly the Byzantine “Ἐγγίζει μοι ὁ λαὸς οὗτος τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν, καὶ τοῖς χείλεσιν με τιμᾷ”. It is also possible to posit adjustment to the text in the shorter reading by harmonization to the parallel passage in Mark 7:6, but again the wording is not the same. Scrivener thinks that this is a scribal expansion of the apostolic text. John Burgon argues that the shortening of the text is based on a textual variant of the LXX for which he found traces in the second letter of Clement combined with the parallel passage in Mark. Scholz and Wordsworth have preferred the longer reading. Griesbach, Tregelles, Tischendorf, Alford, Hort, Baljon and von Soden the shorter. Given that the shorter reading is more ancient and more widespread across the versions and the writings of the fathers, its reading has been adopted in the Greek text. This is the second out of 72 passages that Tregelles used to prove the point that a few non-Byzantine manuscripts should have precedence over that mass of corrupt manuscripts of Byzantine type. But he greatly erred here. Every transmission line has minor corruptions, some more, some less and one copy should correct another as the old saying goes. In this case, the Alexandrian text should correct the Byzantine text, but it does not follow that the text of a few old codices should replace the Byzantine text in toto just because it has a better text here and there. On the other hand, this variant demonstrates the error of those who hold that God has preserved his scripture in one transmission line or one compilation only. As a side note, the Greek text in the Complutensian Polyglot, which is Byzantine, contains “draw near to me with their mouth, and”, whereas the Latin text in the parallel column omits this clause.

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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!