Matthew 16:1-4 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 16

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1. Καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ Φαρισαῖοι καὶ Σαδδουκαῖοι πειράζοντες ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν σημεῖον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐπιδεῖξαι αὐτοῖς. And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and tempting, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

2. Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Ὀψίας γενομένης λέγετε, Εὐδία, πυρράζει γὰρ ὁ οὐρανός. But answering, he said to them[1], “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’

3. Καὶ πρωΐ· Σήμερον χειμών, πυρράζει γὰρ στυγνάζων ὁ οὐρανός. [Ὑποκριταί τὸ] μὲν πρόσωπον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ γινώσκετε διακρίνειν, τὰ δὲ σημεῖα τῶν καιρῶν οὐ δύνασθε. And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ [Hypocrites!][2] You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times!

4. Γενεὰ πονηρὰ καὶ μοιχαλὶς σημεῖον ἐπιζητεῖ, καὶ σημεῖον οὐ δοθήσεται αὐτῇ εἰ μὴ τὸ σημεῖον Ἰωνᾶ τοῦ προφήτου. Και καταλιπων αυτους απηλθεν An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet[3].” And he left them and went away.

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[1] NA-Text brackets “when it is evening” until “signs of the times!” at the end of verse 3: א B V X Y Γ 047 ƒ¹³ 2* 157 579 1216 syr^c syr^s cop^sa cop^mae cop^bo(mss) cop^fay arm Origen mss^{according to Jerome} | TR: C D E F G H (K) L (N) O W Δ Θ Π Σ f1 22 33 180 205 565 (579 after verse 9) 597 700 892 1006 1009 1010 1071 1079 1195 1230 1241 1242 1243 1253 1292 1342 1344 1365 1424 1505 1546 1646 2148 2174 Byz it^a it^aur it^b it^c it^d it^e it^f it^ff1 it^ff2 it^g1 it^l it^q vg syr^p syr^h cop^bo(mss) eth geo slav Diatessaron Hilary Theophilus Juvencus Eusebius Fortunatianus Hilary Apostolic Constitutions Basil (Haexameron, homily 6) Chrysostom (homily 53 on Matthew) Jerome Augustine Euthalius Bede Theophylact || Commenting on this passage, Jerome says that this passage is missing in most codices. Hort thinks that once the omission cannot be account for, this passage should not be regarded as original. Tregelles thought that the passage should not be omitted on the authority of the Eusebian canons. Scrivener argues thus for its genuineness: “Yet it might seem impossible for anyone possessed of the slightest tincture of critical instinct to read them thoughtfully without feeling assured that they were actually spoken by the Lord on the occasion related in the Received text, and were omitted by copyists whose climate the natural phenomena described did not very well suit, the rather as they do not occur in the parallel text, ch. xii. 38, 39. Under these circumstances, the internal evidence in favour of the passage being thus clear and irresistible, the witnesses against it are more likely to damage their own authority than to impair our confidence in its genuineness” (A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, pg. 572). There is still a possibility that the passage was possibly missed by scribes comparing their copies with section 23 of the Diatessaron that jumps from Matt. 16:1 to 16:4, not realizing that Tatian had added the passage in section 14, following a different order going from Matthew 12:37, Luke 12:54-55 and then adding Matthew 16:2-3 in that previous section. Therefore, it is better to retain the passage in the text.

[2] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “Hypocrites”. The inclusion is supported by the Diatessaron and Theophylact, and, according to Wieland Willker, minuscules 372, 565, 700, 2737, the Bohairic Coptic version, the Peshitta and old Latin. On the other hand, codices D, Θ, Chrysostom and Jerome support the omission. The wording is so different in Luke 12:56 that harmonization to Matt. 16:3 seems less probable, though remotely possible. Therefore, “hypocrites” has been bracketed in the text.

[3] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “the prophet”. א B D L 579 700 pc it^aur it^d it^ff1 it^g1 it^l vg cop^sa Justin | TR: C W Θ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ vg^cl 22 33 Byz it^a it^b it^c it^e it^f it^ff2 it^q vg^cl syr cop^mae cop^bo Jerome Augustine (harmony of the gospels, Book 2:51:106) Origen (Commentary on the gospel of Matthew, book 12, Ch. 3) Diatessaron Chrysostom || It seems unlikely that Matthew would have cited the name Jonah without giving his audience any clue as to whom or what he meant by the name. Every time the name Jonah appeared in the gospels it always came with a clarification. In Matt. 12:39-41, he is the prophet Jonah who was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish and in Luke 11:29-32, he is the prophet who went and preached to the Ninevites. Also, in his dialogue with Trypho (Ch. 107), Justin is clearly expounding on Matthew 12:38-41, so that his supposed citation of Matthew 16:4 would have been out of context. Most likely he had in mind Matthew 12:39 in which the reading “Jonah the prophet” is certain but is reduced by Justin to simply “Jonah”. His writings reveal rather that there was a tendency to shorten “Jonah the prophet” to simply “Jonah” among early Christians, which does not appear to be original to Matthew. It’s noteworthy that “Jonah” is mentioned 7 times in Justin’s dialogue with Trypho and in no instance he adds the qualifier “the prophet” along with the proper noun of the prophet.

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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!