Matthew 26:57-68 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 26

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57. οι δε κρατησαντες τον ιησουν απηγαγον προς καιαφαν τον αρχιερεα οπου οι γραμματεις και οι πρεσβυτεροι συνηχθησαν And those who had taken Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.

58. ο δε πετρος ηκολουθει αυτω απο μακροθεν εως της αυλης του αρχιερεως και εισελθων εσω εκαθητο μετα των υπηρετων ιδειν το τελος And Peter was following him at a distance to the court of the high priest. And going inside, he sat with the servants to see the end.

59. οι δε αρχιερεις και οι πρεσβυτεροι και το συνεδριον ολον εζητουν ψευδομαρτυριαν κατα του ιησου οπως αυτον θανατωσωσιν Now the chief priests and the elders[1], and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus to put him to death,

60. και ουχ ευρον και[2] πολλων ψευδομαρτυρων προσελθοντων ουχ ευρον and they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none[3].

61. υστερον δε προσελθοντες δυο ψευδομαρτυρες ειπον[4] ουτος εφη δυναμαι καταλυσαι τον ναον του θεου και δια τριων ημερων οικοδομησαι αυτον But at last two false witnesses[5] came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it[6] in three days.’”

62. και αναστας ο αρχιερευς ειπεν αυτω ουδεν αποκρινη τι ουτοι σου καταμαρτυρουσιν And standing up, the high priest said to him, “Do you answer nothing? What is this that these testify against you?”

63. ο δε ιησους εσιωπα και αποκριθεις ο αρχιερευς ειπεν αυτω εξορκιζω σε κατα του θεου του ζωντος ινα ημιν ειπης ει συ ει ο χριστος ο υιος του θεου But Jesus remained silent. And answering[7], the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

64. λεγει αυτω ο ιησους συ ειπας πλην λεγω υμιν απ αρτι οψεσθε τον υιον του ανθρωπου καθημενον εκ δεξιων της δυναμεως και ερχομενον επι των νεφελων του ουρανου Jesus said to him, “You have said so. Nevertheless, I say to you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven”

65. τοτε ο αρχιερευς διερρηξεν τα ιματια αυτου λεγων [8] εβλασφημησεν τι ετι χρειαν εχομεν μαρτυρων ιδε νυν ηκουσατε την βλασφημιαν αυτου Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his[9] blasphemy.

66. τι υμιν δοκει οι δε αποκριθεντες ειπον[10] ενοχος θανατου εστιν What do you think?” And answering, they said “He is guilty of death!”

67. τοτε ενεπτυσαν εις το προσωπον αυτου και εκολαφισαν αυτον οι δε εραπισαν[11] Then they spit in his face and beat him with the fist. And some slapped him,

68. λεγοντες προφητευσον ημιν χριστε τις εστιν ο παισας σε saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck you?”

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[1] NA-Text and VgSt omit “and the elders”. The omission is supported by codices א, B, D, L, Θ, minuscules 69, 788, 892*, the Syriac Sinaiticus and the Coptic versions and Jerome. The inclusion is supported by codices A, C, W, 090, 0133, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscule 33, the Byzantine minuscules, 2 old Latin codices, the Peshitta and the Harklean Syriac version and Theophylact. The omission was possibly caused by a parabletic error (και οι πρεσβυτεροι και, thus missing “and the elders”). Another possibility is harmonization with Mark 13:55 that does not contain “and the elders”.

[2] NA-Text and VgSt omit “και”. This variant must be taken in conjunction with the omission of “they found none” at the end of the verse. See next footnote.

[3] NA-Text and VgSt omit “they found none”. The omission is supported by codices א, B, C*, L, N*, Θ, 5 old Latin codices (it^aur, it^b, it^ff2, it^g1 and it^l), (the Peshitta) and the Coptic versions and Jerome. The inclusion is supported by codices A, C², D, W, 090, 0133, minuscules 22 and 33, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, 8 old Latin codices (it^a, it^c, it^d, it^f, it^ff2, it^h, itⁿ and it^q), the Syriac Sinaiticus and the Harklean Syriac version and Theophylact. Both the Byzantine and the Alexandrian texts are well supported and could be equally adopted in the Greek text without changing the meaning once the second “they found none” is simply emphasizing what had been already said at the beginning of the verse.

[4] NA-Text reads “ειπαν”. Same verbal tense with a differently spelling.

[5] NA-Text omits “false witnesses”.

[6] NA-Text omits “it”.

[7] NA-Text and VgSt omit “answering”. The omission is supported by codices א², B, G, L, Z, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 33, 517, 892, 954, 1010, 1424 and 1675, 4 old Latin codices, the Palestinian Syriac, the (Sahidic Coptic), the Bohairic Coptic, the Ethiopic and the Georgian versions, the Diatessaron, Origen, Jerome and Cyril of Alexandria. The inclusion is supported by codices A, C, D, K, U, W, Δ, Π, 090, 0133, minuscules 22, 28, 157, 565, 579, 700, 1009, 1071, 1079, 1195, 1216, 1230, 1241, 1242, 1253, 1365, 1546, 1646, 2148, 2174, the Byzantine minuscules, 10 old Latin codices, the Syriac Sinaiticus, the Peshitta, the Harklean Syriac and the Armenian version and Theophylact. In the parallel passage in Mark 14:61, the evangelist uses two verbs to describe the way the high priest is going to question Jesus after his silence, but because the first verb is different, harmonization may be confidently ruled out. It appears that early scribes thought that this “answering and saying” after Jesus’ silence was unnatural and possibly incorrect, thus removing it from the text.

[8] NA-Text omits “οτι”. The omission is supported by codices א², B, C², D, L, Z, Θ, 090, minuscules 33, 700 and 892, the Peshitta, the Diatessaron, Chrysostom and Jerome. The inclusion is supported by codices A, C*^vid, W, 0133, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, the Byzantine minuscules and Theophylact. The omission is supported by all text-types. “οτι” has then been removed from the Greek text and the translation.

[9] NA-Text and VgSt omit “his”. The omission is supported by codices א, B, D, L, Z, minuscule 700, 6 old Latin codices (it^a, it^c, it^ff1, it^g1, it^h and it^l), the Sahidic and Bohairic Coptic versions, the Diatessaron, Chrysostom and Jerome. The inclusion is supported by codices A, C, E, F, G, K, W, Y, (Θ), Π, 090, 0133, 0281, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 28, 33, 565, 700, the Byzantine minuscules, 2 old Latin codices (it^b and it^r1) and Theophylact. The Alexandrian text is well supported, but because the parallel passage in Mark 14:64 omits the pronoun, it is not safe to follow the omission here.

[10] NA-Text reads “ειπαν”. Same verbal tense, different spelling.

[11] NA-Text reads “εραπισαν”. Same verbal tense, different spelling. This spelling is supported by codices א, A, B, D (εραπεισαν) and Θ. The TR is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The spelling has been corrected 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. 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!