Matthew 16:21-28 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 16

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21. Ἀπὸ τότε ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς δεικνύειν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν ἀπελθεῖν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ πολλὰ παθεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ ἀρχιερέων καὶ γραμματέων, καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγερθῆναι. From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised again.

22. Καὶ προσλαβόμενος αὐτὸν ὁ Πέτρος ἤρξατο ἐπιτιμᾶν αὐτῷ λέγων· Ἵλεώς σοι, κύριε. Οὐ μὴ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never happen to you.”

23. Ὁ δὲ στραφεὶς εἶπεν τῷ Πέτρῳ, Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, Σατανᾶ. Σκάνδαλον μου[1] εἶ, ὅτι οὐ φρονεῖς τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. But turning, he said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”

24. Τότε ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ, Εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

25. Ὃς γὰρ ἂν[2] θέλῃ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ σῶσαι ἀπολέσει αὐτήν, ὃς δʼ ἂν ἀπολέσῃ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ εὑρήσει αὐτήν. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

26. Τί γὰρ ὠφελεῖται[3] ἄνθρωπος ἐὰν τὸν κόσμον ὅλον κερδήσῃ τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ζημιωθῇ; Ἢ τί δώσει ἄνθρωπος ἀντάλλ αγμα τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ; For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

27. Μέλλει γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεσθαι ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ, καὶ τότε ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτοῦ. For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his works.

28. Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν [4] εἰσίν τινες τῶν[5] ὧδε ἑστώτων[6] οἵτινες οὐ μὴ γεύσωνται θανάτου ἕως ἂν ἴδωσιν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

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[1] NA-Text reads “εμου”. Same pronoun, same declension.

[2] NA-Text reads “ος γαρ εαν”. Both mean the same “for whoever”, but let it be noted that Matthew uses 9 times the Byzantine “ος γαρ αν” and I found no other instance for the Alexandrian “ος γαρ εαν” in his gospel, which strongly suggests that the Alexandrian wording is a scribal interference with the original text here.

[3] NA-Text reads “ωφεληθησεται”, future instead of present tense, thus rendering “what will it profit a man” instead of “what does it profit a man”.

[4] NA-Text adds “οτι”, which can be silent or translated as “that”.

[5] M-Text and WPF³⁵ omit “των”. The evidence against this omission is very strong. The inclusion of the genitive here is supported by the collective witness of majuscules of all text-types, including א, B, C, D, K, L, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, the Byzantine minuscule 28, the Alexandrian minuscule 33, minuscules 565, 700, 892, 1010, 1241, 1424, Origen, Chrysostom and Theophylact. The omission may have been caused by a scribal removal of the genitive thinking that it was superfluous, not necessary for the sense of the text and hindering its natural flow, thus interpreting that there was an error in his exemplar that needed correction.

[6] NA-Text reads “εστωτων”, same word spelled differently. M-Text and WPF³⁵ read “εστωτες” (nominative instead of genitive case). The case against the TR and the M-Text is strong. The NA-Text is supported by codices א, B, C, D, L, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, the Alexandrian minuscule 33, minuscules 700, 892, 1010, 1241, Origen, Chrysostom and Theophylact. Therefore, the Greek text has been adjusted following the NA-Text.

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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!