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

The gospel according to Mark

Chapter 1

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9. και εγενετο εν εκειναις ταις ημεραις ηλθεν ιησους απο ναζαρεθ[1] της γαλιλαιας και εβαπτισθη υπο ιωαννου εις τον ιορδανην And it happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

10. και ευθεως[3] αναβαινων απο[4] του υδατος ειδεν σχιζομενους τους ουρανους και το πνευμα ωσ[5] περιστεραν καταβαινον επ[6] αυτον And immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

11. και φωνη εγενετο εκ των ουρανων συ ει ο υιος μου ο αγαπητος εν σοι ευδοκησα And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son, in whom[7] I am well pleased.”

12. και ευθυς το πνευμα αυτον εκβαλλει εις την ερημον And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness.

13. και ην εν τη ερημω ημερας τεσσαρακοντα πειραζομενος υπο του σατανα και ην μετα των θηριων και οι αγγελοι διηκονουν αυτω And he was [8] in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

14. μετα δε το παραδοθηναι τον ιωαννην ηλθεν ο ιησους εις την γαλιλαιαν κηρυσσων το ευαγγελιον της βασιλειας του θεου Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom[9] of God,

15. και λεγων οτι πεπληρωται ο καιρος και ηγγικεν η βασιλεια του θεου μετανοειτε και πιστευετε εν τω ευαγγελιω and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, and believe in the gospel”

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[1] NA-Text and M-Text read “ναζαρεθ”, which is supported א, B, L, Γ, Δ, 0133, minuscules 28, 33, 565, 700, 892, 1241, the Byzantine minuscules and Theophylact. The TR is supported by codices D, K, W, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 1010 and 1424. The TR is well supported and does not need correction.

[3] NA-Text reads “ευθυς”, which is supported by codex א. The Byzantine “ευθεως” is supported by codices B, D, Θ, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact, which must be deemed as the correct reading in the agreement of all text types. The Byzantine reading has then been maintained in all occurrences of this word throughout the gospel of Mark.

[4] NA-Text and Vg-St reads “εκ” (literally “out of” instead of “from”, Latin equivalent: “de”), which is supported by codices א*, B, D, L, minuscules 28, 33, 892, 1241, the old Latin codices and Origen. The TR is supported by codices A, W, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 565 and 700, the Byzantine manuscripts and the Harklean Syriac version. Both are well supported. The parallel passage in Matthew 3:16 has a different wording, so that harmonization cannot explain this variant.

[5] NA-Text and PT read “ως” (same word spelled differently), which is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ and part of the Byzantine manuscripts. The TR is supported by part of the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The Greek text has then been adjusted following the NA-Text.

[6] NA-Text reads “εις” (“into” instead of “on”).

[7] NA-Text, P-Text and Vg-St read “you”, which is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ and Bede. The TR is supported by codices A, W, the Byzantine manuscripts, three old Latin codices (it^p, it^d and it^z) and Theophylact. The parallel passages in Luke 3:22 and Matthew 3:17 have both readings. It is more prudent in this case then to follow the external evidence that is stronger on the side of the NA-Text.

[8] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “there”. The omission is supported by codices א, A, B, D, L, Θ, family of manuscripts ƒ¹³, minuscules 33, 579, 892 and 2427, old Latin, the Coptic versions, the Gothic version, Origen and Eusebius. The inclusion is supported by codices K, W, Δ, Π, 074, family of manuscripts ƒ¹, minuscules 13, 22, 118, 157, 1071, 1424 and 2542, the Byzantine manuscripts, the Peshitta, the Harklean Syriac, the Syriac Sinaiticus and the Armenian version and Theophylact. Codices K and Π* omit “in the wilderness”, which is probably a scribal adjustment to avoid the repetition of “in the wilderness” from the end of verse 12. A scribe corrected codex Π by adding “in the wilderness” after “there”. So, “there in the wilderness” can be a conflation of both or the omission of “there” can be the result of a scribal error caused by visual homoeoarcton (εκει εν, thus missing “there”). Therefore, it is safer to rely upon the earlier and more widespread reading found in the Alexandrian text and omit the adverb in the text.

[9] NA-Text omits “kingdom”. "Gospel of God" occurs 5 times in the writings of the apostle Paul (Rom. 1:1, 15:16, 1 Thess. 2:2,8,9). It occurs once in the first epistle of Peter (1 Pet. 4:17) and quite often in patristic writings. The reduction here was possibly accidental due to familiarity with the more common expression in the early church.  

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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. VgSt: Vulgate of Stuttgart;  

7. WPF³⁵: Wilbur Pickering-family 35;

8. PT: Patriarchal Text, also known as Patriarchal Greek New Testament, published by the ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

9. 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!