Matthew 17:1-13 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 17

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1. Καὶ μεθʼ ἡμέρας ἓξ παραλαμβάνει ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὸν Πέτρον καὶ Ἰάκωβον καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀναφέρει αὐτοὺς εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν κατʼ ἰδίαν. And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother and brought them up on a high mountain apart.

2. Καὶ μετεμορφώθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔλαμψεν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος, τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο[1] λευκὰ ὡς τὸ φῶς. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light.

3. Καὶ ἰδοὺ ὤφθησαν[2] αὐτοῖς Μωσῆς[3] καὶ Ἠλίας μετʼ αὐτοῦ συλλαλοῦντες. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.

4. Ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος εἶπεν τῷ Ἰησοῦ, Κύριε, καλόν ἐστιν ἡμᾶς ὧδε εἶναι, εἰ θέλεις, ποιήσωμεν[4] ὧδε τρεῖς σκηνάς, σοὶ μίαν, καὶ Μωσῇ μίαν, καὶ μίαν Ἠλίᾳ. And answering, Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let us make three tabernacles here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5. Ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος, ἰδοὺ, νεφέλη φωτεινὴ ἐπεσκίασεν αὐτούς. Καὶ ἰδοὺ, φωνὴ ἐκ τῆς νεφέλης λέγουσα, Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα. Αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε. While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him!”

6. Καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ μαθηταὶ ἔπεσον[5] ἐπὶ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν σφόδρα. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

7. Καὶ προσελθὼν[6] ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἥψατο[7] αὐτῶν καὶ εἶπεν, Ἐγέρθητε καὶ μὴ φοβεῖσθε. And coming near, Jesus touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.”

8. Ἐπάραντες δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν, οὐδένα εἶδον, εἰ μὴ τὸν[8] Ἰησοῦν μόνον. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone.

9. Καὶ καταβαινόντων αὐτῶν ἐκ[9] τοῦ ὄρους ἐνετείλατο αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς, λέγων, Μηδενὶ εἴπητε τὸ ὅραμα ἕως οὗ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῇ[10] And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”

10. Καὶ ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, λέγοντες, Τί οὖν οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγουσιν ὅτι Ἠλίαν δεῖ ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον; And his[11] disciples asked him, saying, “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

11. Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Ἠλίας μὲν ἔρχεται, καὶ ἀποκαταστήσει πάντα. And answering, he[12] said to them[13], “Elijah is indeed coming [14], and will restore all things;

12. Λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι Ἠλίας ἤδη ἦλθεν, καὶ οὐκ ἐπέγνωσαν αὐτὸν, ἀλλὰ[15] ἐποίησαν ἐν αὐτῷ ὅσα ἠθέλησαν. Οὕτως καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μέλλει πάσχειν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν. but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man will also suffer at their hands[16].”

13. Τότε συνῆκαν οἱ μαθηταὶ ὅτι περὶ Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς. Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them about John the Baptist.

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[1] M-Text reads “εγενοντο” (third-person plural instead of singular). The singular form is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ, part of the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The Byzantine compilations WPF³⁵ and the P-Text also disagree with the M-Text.

[2] NA-Text reads “ωφθη”, singular form of “appeared” instead of plural.

[3] NA-Text reads “μωυσης” (also in verse 4). In all five instances in the gospel of Matthew, the Alexandrian text reads “Mouses” (Matt. 8:4, 17:3, 19:7, 19:8 and 22:24) and the Byzantine text “Moses”. Codices א, B and D support the NA-Text. The vulgate of Stuttgart reads “Moses” in disagreement with both the Greek and the Latin text in codex D. Origen in the 200’s in Egypt (commentary on the gospel of Matthew, Book 12, Ch. 38) support the Byzantine text and Chrysostom in the late 300’s in Constantinople (homily 56 on the gospel of Matthew) supports the Alexandrian text. Codex Koridethi disagrees with Origen and the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact disagree with Chrysostom. Text-types though good approximations cannot fully account for all texts found in a particular region. The Septuagint reads “μωυσης” (Mouses) whereas the Hebrew name מֹשֶׁה is pronounced “Mosheh”. The Alexandrian text may be displaying a Hellenized version of this proper noun adjusted to the reading found in the LXX. It is significant that Origen is one of the few fathers in the early church who was fully conversant with Hebrew who may not have adjusted the text here that was originally written by an apostle whose first language was not Greek, but Aramaic.

[4] NA-Text reads “ποιησω”, thus rendering “I will make”. The collective witness of the majuscules of all text-types, the minuscules, the versions and patristic writers is overwhelmingly against this reading. Jerome is listed in the apparatus as a support for the NA-Text, but this is not correct. His reading is actually “faciamus hic tria tabernacula”, which is translated as: “let us make three tabernacles”.

[5] NA-Text reads “επεσαν”, same word spelled differently.

[6] NA-Text and Vg-St read “προσηλθεν” (aorist indicative instead of aorist participle, Latin equivalent: “accessit”): א B D 700 892 Jerome Bede | TR: C K L W Γ Δ Θ ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 33 565 1241 1424 Byz syr^h Chrysostom Theophylact || The quality of the external evidence is superior in favor of the Byzantine reading. Besides, Matthew normally uses a participle followed by an aorist indicative to describe the action of one person in response to another.

[7] NA-Text “αψαμενος” (participle instead of indicative).

[8] NA-Text reads “αυτον” and renders “Jesus himself alone”. The collective witness of the majuscules, the minuscules, the versions and patristic writers is eloquently against the addition of “himself” in this verse.

[9] NA-Text, WPF³⁵ and M-Text read “εκ”, which is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ, the Byzantine manuscripts, Origen and Theophylact. Therefore, the Greek text has been adjusted accordingly.

[10] NA-Text reads “εγερθη”. Codices Sinaiticus and Ephraemi agree with the Byzantine verb.

[11] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “his” and render “the disciples”: א L W Z Θ ƒ¹ 33 700 892 1424 it^a it^aur it^b it^c it^d it^e it^ff1 it^g1 it^l syr^pal cop^sa cop^bo arm geo Origen Augustine | TR: B C D E F G K Y Δ Π ƒ¹³ 28 565 1009 1010 1071 1079 1195 1216 1230 1241 1242 1253 1344 1365 1546 1646 2148 2174 Byz it^f it^ff2 it^q syr^c syr^p syr^h cop^bo(mss) cop^mae cop^fay eth Diatessaron Chrysostom Theophylact || The support for the inclusion of the pronoun is very strong. The NA-Text may be showing a text harmonized by scribes given that verses 6 and 13 read simply “the disciples”.

[12] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “Jesus” and render “he said to them”: א B D L W Z ƒ¹ 33 579 892 1424 pc syr^c cop | TR: C K Γ Δ Θ ƒ¹³ 565 700 1241 Byz it^f it^q syr^p syr^h Theophylact || External evidence favors the omission. In that scenario, harmonization to the parallel passage in Mk 9:2 is less likely. Also, because both evangelists preserved their own writing in the second half of the verse. The proper noun in the Byzantine text was probably added to clarify that there is a dialogue going on between Jesus and his disciples for the beginning of a lesson. Chrysostom’s homily 57 starts at Matt. 17:10. Proper noun removed.

[13] NA-Text omits “to them”.

[14] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “first”: א B D W Θ ƒ¹ 22 33 517 579 700 788 1424 1675 pc vg syr^c cop Chrysostom Jerome | TR: C (L) Z ƒ¹³ Byz it^f it^q syr^p syr^h || External evidence favors the omission. The accretion “first” to the original text has been probably imported from the parallel passage under the influence of the Diatessaron in which Tatian added a passage from Mark 9:12 after Matthew 17:10 where “first” is found. Text adjusted.

[15] NA-Text and M-Text read “αλλα”. WPF³⁵ and P-Text read “αλλ”. The uncontracted form is support by a broader array of evidence and has been adopted in the Greek text.

[16] Greek: “suffer by them” 

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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!