Matthew 19:1-15 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 19

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1. Καὶ ἐγένετο ὅτε ἐτέλεσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοὺς λόγους τούτους, μετῆρεν ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς τὰ ὅρια τῆς Ἰουδαίας πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου. Now it happened that when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan.

2. Καὶ ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ ὄχλοι πολλοί, καὶ ἐθεράπευσεν αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖ. And great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there.

3. Καὶ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ[1] Φαρισαῖοι πειράζοντες αὐτὸν καὶ λέγοντες, Εἰ ἔξεστιν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπολῦσαι τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰτίαν; And the Pharisees came to him, tempting him and saying [2], “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

4. Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε ὅτι ὁ ποιήσας ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτοὺς And answering, he said to them[3], “Have you not read that he who made[4] them from the beginning made them male and female,

5. Καὶ εἶπεν, Ἕνεκεν[5] τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ προσκολληθήσεται[6] τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν; and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave [7] father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

6. Ὥστε οὐκέτι εἰσὶν δύο ἀλλὰ σὰρξ μία. Ὃ οὖν ὁ θεὸς συνέζευξεν ἄνθρωπος μὴ χωριζέτω. So that they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

7. Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ, Τί οὖν Μωσῆς[8] δοῦναι βιβλίον ἀποστασίου καὶ ἀπολῦσαι αὐτήν; They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of divorce and to put her[9] away?”

8. Λέγει αὐτοῖς ὅτι Μωσῆς πρὸς τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν ὑμῶν ἐπέτρεψεν ὑμῖν ἀπολῦσαι τὰς γυναῖκας ὑμῶν, ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς δὲ οὐ γέγονεν οὕτως. He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but it has not been so from the beginning.

9. Λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι ὃς ἂν ἀπολύσῃ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ [10] μὴ ἐπὶ πορνείᾳ καὶ γαμήσῃ ἄλλην μοιχᾶται καὶ ὁ ἀπολελυμένην γαμήσας μοιχᾶται. And I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery, and he who marries her who is divorced commits adultery[11].”

10. Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταί αὐτοῦ, Εἰ οὕτως ἐστὶν ἡ αἰτία τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μετὰ τῆς γυναικός, οὐ συμφέρει γαμῆσαι. His[12] disciples said to him, “If this is the case of the man with a wife, it is better not to marry.”

11. Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Οὐ πάντες χωροῦσι τὸν λόγον τοῦτον, ἀλλʼ οἷς δέδοται. But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this[13] saying, but those to whom it is given.

12. Εἰσὶν γὰρ εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς ἐγεννήθησαν οὕτως, καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνουχίσθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνούχισαν ἑαυτοὺς διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν χωρείτω. For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.”

13. Τότε προσηνέχθη[14] αὐτῷ παιδία ἵνα τὰς χεῖρας ἐπιθῇ αὐτοῖς καὶ προσεύξηται. Οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ ἐπετίμησαν αὐτοῖς. Then little children were brought to him that he might lay hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them.

14. Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν, Ἄφετε τὰ παιδία καὶ μὴ κωλύετε αὐτὰ ἐλθεῖν πρός με, τῶν γὰρ τοιούτων ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

15. Καὶ ἐπιθεὶς αὐτοῖς τὰς χεῖρας ἐπορεύθη ἐκεῖθεν. And laying hands on them, he departed from there.

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[1] NA-Text omits the definite article “οι”: p^25(vid) B C L W Δ Θ Π f1 f13 33 565 700 892 1010 1079 1195* 1546 cop^sa(mss) cop^bo John-Damascus | TR: א D K 28 1009 1010 1071 1195c 1216 1230 1241 1242 1253 1344 1365 1646 2148 2174 Byz Lect copsa(mss) arm Diatessaron Origen Gregory-Nazianzus Theophylact || This article may have been missed by parablepsis (οι φαρισαιοι, thus missing “the”). This is not a safe correction to the text.

[2] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “to him”: א* B L Γ (700) 1424* Origen (Commentary on the gospel of Matthew, book 14, ch. 16) and Theophylact | TR: D W Δ 28 33 1241 1424 Byz it^c it^h it^q syr^h cop^mae || The support for the omission is more ancient and more widespread and so it has been adopted in the Greek text and the translation.

[3] NA-Text omits “to them”.

[4] NA-Text reads “created” (Gr.: κτισας). The collective witness of the majuscules, including codex Sinaiticus and the minuscules is overwhelmingly against this reading in the NA-Text.

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

[6] NA-Text and P-Text read “κολληθησεται”: B D W Θ 078 ƒ¹³ 28 | TR: א C K L Z Γ Δ ƒ¹ 33 565 700 892 1010 1241 1424 Byz Theophylact. The first part of the verb was probably skipped accidently by visual homoeoarcton (“και προσκολληθησεται, thus missing “προσ”).

[7] M-Text^HF adds “his” before “father”: C Diatessaron Byz Chrysostom Theophylact | TR: א B D Θ Byz^pt Jerome Augustine (Latin: “Non legistis quia qui fecit ab initio, masculum et feminam fecit eos, et dixit: Propter hoc dimittet homo patrem et matrem, et adherebit uxori suae, et erunt duo in carne una, City of God, Book 14, Ch. 22) || Athanasius had the pronoun after “mother” in his text (Gr.: και ειπεν ενεκεν τουτου καταλειψει ανθρωπος τον πατερα και την μητερα αυτου και προσκολληθησεται τη γυναικι αυτου και εσονται οι δυο εις σαρκα μιαν, On the incarnation of the word, paragraph #6). The Diatessaron may be displaying a harmonization to the LXX that added the pronoun after both father and mother. Chrysostom and Theophylact have a text that has probably been harmonized to Mark 10:4 by adding the pronoun after “father” only. It is not safe to add the pronoun to the text. The support for the omission is excellent.

[8] NA-Text reads “μωυσης”. Also, in verse 8.

[9] NA-Text brackets “her”. Vg-St omits “her”: א D L Z Θ ƒ¹ 22 579 700 it^a it^aur it^d it^e it^ff1 it^g1 it^h it^l vg syr^pal arm eth^ro geo Diatessaron? Origen Jerome Augustine | TR: B C E F G H K N O W Y Δ Π Σ 078^vid 087^vid (0233 απολυειν) ƒ¹³ 28 33 157 180 205 565 597 892 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 it^q syr^p syr^h (cop^sa) (cop^bo) cop^bo(mss) eth^pp eth^mss eth^TH slav Chrysostom John-Damascus Theophylact | The Diatessaron is cited as a witness for the omission, but this does not appear to be right. The translator of the Arabic Diatessaron included the article. The omission in the Vg-St is most likely a product of scribal harmonization to Mark 10:4 where the article is omitted. This omission or suggestion of omission is foreign to Matthew’s style once he invariably adds a pronoun or a direct/indirect object after this verb. The only exception is Matt. 5:32, but this is because the participle there is used as a noun (the divorced woman).

[10] M-Text, P-Text, WPF³⁵ and NA-Text omit “ει”: א C E F G H K L N W Z Δ Θ Π Σ 078 Byz Basil Theophylact. Word removed.

[11] NA-Text omits “and he who marries her who is divorced commits adultery”: א C D L S Z 2* 69 209* 828 1241 1546 l253 l305 l⁸⁴⁵ l¹⁰⁷⁴ it^a it^b it^d it^e it^ff1 it^ff2 it^g1 it^h it^l it^r1 vg^mss syr^c syr^s cop^sa cop^bo(mss) Origen? Chrysostom? | TR: (or a similar clause slightly modifed): p²⁵ B C* E F G H K N O W Y Z Δ Θ Π 078 0233 ƒ¹ ƒ¹³ 28 33 157 180 205 565 579 597 700 892 1006 1009 1010 1071 1079 1195 1216 1230 1242 1243 1253 1292 1342 1344 1365 1424 1505 1646 2148 2174 Byz it^aur it^c it^f it^q syr^p syr^h cop^bo arm geo slav syr^pal (cop^mae) Diatessaron Basil Jerome and Theophylact || Origen is cited as a witness against the inclusion, but this does not seem to be correct. He quotes Matt. 5:32 instead of Matt 19:9 twice in Ch.24 of his 14^th book on the gospel of Matthew and he leaves out the last clause that is not questioned in the NA-Text as part of the text. At the end of this chapter he says “But as a woman is an adulteress, even though she seem to be married to a man, while the former husband is still living, so also the man who seems to marry her who has been put away, does not so much marry her as commit adultery with her according to the declaration of our Savior”, which shows that the fact that he left out the last clause from his quote, does not mean that he did not have it in his text. Quite often Origen uses just some words of a verse as he goes on in his exposition of the text. Chrysostom also should not be quoted as a witness for the NA-Text because his text more resembles Matt. 5:32 without the last clause. The shorter reading is possibly a harmonization to Mark 10:11 that leaves out the last clause or a product of scribal error caused by parablepsis (μοιχαται και ο απολελυμενην γαμησας μοιχαται, thus missing the last clause “and he who marries her who is divorced commits adultery”).

[12] NA-Text brackets “His” and renders “the disciples” as a possibility. The collective witness of the majuscules, the minuscules, the versions and the fathers is overwhelmingly against questioning this article as part of the word of God. Jerome is cited in the apparatus as a witness for the omission, but this is incorrect (Latin: “Dicunt ei discipuli ejus”, commentary on the gospel of Matthew, 19:10)

[13] NA-Text brackets “this” (Gr.: τουτον). The collective witness of the majuscules, including codex Sinaiticus, the minuscules and the versions is overwhelmingly against questioning this demonstrative pronoun as part of the word of God. Jerome should not cited as a witness for the omission because his text had it for his very commentary on this passage. The pronoun was most likely accidently missed in a few Greek copies by visual homoeoteleuton (τον λογον τουτον, thus missing “this”).

[14] NA-Text reads “προσηνεχθησαν” (plural instead of singular).

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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!