Mark 7:14-23 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Mark

Chapter 7

---

14. και προσκαλεσαμενος παντα τον οχλον ελεγεν αυτοις ακουετε[1] μου παντες και συνιετε[2] And calling all[3] the multitude to himself, he said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15. ουδεν εστιν εξωθεν του ανθρωπου εισπορευομενον εις αυτον ο δυναται αυτον κοινωσαι αλλα τα εκ του ανθρωπου εκπορευομενα εκεινα εστιν τα κοινουντα τον ανθρωπον There is nothing outside of a man that can defile him by going into him. But the things that come out of a man[4], those[5] are the things that defile a man. 16. ει τις εχει ωτα ακουειν ακουετω If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!” [6] 17. και οτε εισηλθεν εις οικον απο του οχλου επηρωτων αυτον οι μαθηται αυτου περι[7] της παραβολης And when he had left the multitude and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18. και λεγει αυτοις ουτως και υμεις ασυνετοι εστε ου νοειτε οτι παν το εξωθεν εισπορευομενον εις τον ανθρωπον ου δυναται αυτον κοινωσαι And he said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Do you not perceive that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot defile him, 19. οτι ουκ εισπορευεται αυτου εις την καρδιαν αλλ εις την κοιλιαν και εις τον αφεδρωνα εκπορευεται καθαριζων[8] παντα τα βρωματα because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is expelled into the latrine?” (He thus declared all foods clean). 20. ελεγεν δε οτι το εκ του ανθρωπου εκπορευομενον εκεινο κοινοι τον ανθρωπον And he said, “That which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. 21. εσωθεν γαρ εκ της καρδιας των ανθρωπων οι διαλογισμοι οι κακοι εκπορευονται μοιχειαι πορνειαι φονοι For from within, out of the heart of men, come evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22. κλοπαι πλεονεξιαι πονηριαι δολος ασελγεια οφθαλμος πονηρος βλασφημια υπερηφανια αφροσυνη thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23. παντα ταυτα τα πονηρα εσωθεν εκπορευεται και κοινοι τον ανθρωπον All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” [1] NA-Text reads “ακουσατε” (aorist instead of present), which is supported by codices א, B, D and Θ. The TR is supported by codex A, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The verbal tense in the parallel passage in Matthew 15:10 has this verb in the aorist tense as well, but the different wording makes harmonization less likely. Nevertheless, the Alexandrian aorist is well supported and thus a viable variant. [2] NA-Text reads “συνετε” (second aorist instead of present), which is supported by codex B. The TR is supported by codices א, Θ (συνιεται) and Theophylact. Codex D reads “συνιτε”. Even though the parallel passage reads like the Byzantine text, the evidence suggests that scribes adjusted this verb to maintain the parallel present-present in Matthew and aorist-aorist in Mark. Mark uses imperatives slightly modified in the same sentence. The Greek text stands without need of correction. [3] NA-Text and VgSt read “again” instead of “all” (Gr.: “παλιν”, Latin equivalent: “iterum”), which is supported by codices א, B, D, L, Δ, minuscules 892, 1342 and 2427, a marginal note in the Harklean Syriac version, the Bohairic Coptic version and Bede. The Sahidic Coptic version is divided. The TR is supported by codices A, W, X, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ1 and ƒ13, minuscule 33, the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codex itf, the Syriac versions, the Gothic version, the Diatessaron, Basil and Theophylact. Some manuscripts like 565, 579 and some Coptic manuscripts omit it following the parallel passage in Matthew 15:10. One possibility is that scribes felt uncomfortable with “again” mentioned in a context where there was apparently no first call from Jesus to the multitude so that “again” would have appeared as a scribal error to them. Some would have removed the word and some would have imported the “all” from the second part of the sentence whose spelling is close to “παλιν”. Another possibility is that a scribe miscopied the original “παντα” into “παλιν” given the frequency with which Mark utilizes the formula “και παλιν” or “και”, a couple of words and then “παλιν” (see Mark 2:1, 2:13, 3:1, 3:20, 4:1, 7:31, 8:13, 10:1, 10:10, 10:32, 11:27, 12:4, 12:5, 14:39, 14:40 and 14:61). This might have created enough memory so as to distract the copyist from his copy. Lastly, Mark never used “all the multitude” or “again the multitude” anywhere else in this gospel. “All” has been maintained in the text because in verse 1, we are told that scribes gathered to him and in verse 5 the scribes and Pharisees take the initiative of asking. I could not find any plausible reason to use “again” without a context where there was first a calling from Jesus to the same multitude either here or in the parallel passage in Matthew 15:1-20 to justify this word in the text. [4] NA-Text and VgSt read “the man” instead of him (Gr.: “εκ του ανθρωπου”, Latin equivalent: “de homine”), which is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ and Bede. The TR is supported by the byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. A Byzantine scribe likely missed these three Greek words due to visual homoeoarcton (“εκ του ανθρωπου εκπορευομενα”, thus missing “out of a men”) with a subsequent addition of “from him” to complete the sense of the clause, not adding “out of a man” again to avoid apparent repetition with the word “man” written 3 times in the verse. The text has been adjusted following the NA-Text. [5] NA-Text omits “those” probably due to visual homoeoarcton (εκπορευομενα εκεινα, thus missing “those”) [6] NA-Text omits “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear”, which is likely a scribal adjustment to harmonize the Markan text with the omission after Matthew 15:11. Only 1.1% of the Greek manuscripts omit this verse. The collective witness of majuscules of different text types, the vast majority of the minuscules, the versions and the fathers are eloquently against this omission. The vulgate of Stuttgart and the Clementine vulgate also have this verse in Mark. It is highly unlikely that everybody, in all those different transmission lines and versions, would have had the same idea of adding a verse from Mark 4:23 here, from a context that is totally unrelated to this text, even in a liturgical context. [7] NA-Text and VgSt omit “περι”. The NA-Text reads “the parable” in the accusative without the preposition. The omission is supported by codices א, B, D, L, Δ, minuscules 33 and 892. The inclusion is supported by codices A, W, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ1 and ƒ13, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. Both are well supported, and the meaning is the same. [8] NA-Text reads “καθαριζων” (masculine instead of neuter, thus referring to Jesus as the one who declared all foods clean). This reading is supported by codices א, A, B, E, F, G, H, L, W, X, Δ, Θ, 0274, both families of manuscripts ƒ1 and ƒ13, minuscules 28, 180, 205, 565, 579, 892, 1006, 1009, 1071, 1216, 1241, 1242, 1243, 1253, 1292, 1342, 1424, 1505, 1546, 1646 and 2427, part of the Byzantine manuscripts, the Peshitta, the Harklean Syriac, the Sahidic Coptic, the Bohairic Coptic, the Ethiopic and the Slavic version, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Chrysostom and Theophylact (εκκαθαριζων). The neuter is supported by codices K, Γ, Π, Σ, minuscules 33, 157, 597, 700, 1010, 1079, 1195, 1230, 1344, 1365, 1582c, 2148, 2174, 2542, part of the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codices ita, itaur, itb, itc, itd, itf, itff2, itl, itn and itq and the Arabic Diatessaron. Codex D, the old Latin codices iti and itr1, the Armenian, the Georgian and the Gothic version reads this verb in the present active indicative third person singular, which can be translated as “he makes clean” or “it makes clean”. The vulgate reads “et in secessum exit purgans omnes escas”. “Purgans” is a literal translation of the participle “purging”, which can be either masculine or neuter in Latin. Jerome commenting on Matt. 15:11 understands that all foods are clean, but he appeals to “what God has cleansed you must not call common (Acts 10:15) and not to the fact that Jesus declared all foods clean at this point. On the other hand, the Greek fathers were able to capture this nuance and apply the action of purging to Jesus. Origen commenting on this verse says: “According to Mark, the Savior “declared all food clean,” (Commentary on Matthew 11.12) and Chrysostom said that: “Mark says that “cleansing the meats, He spoke this” (Homily 51 on Matthew). The support for the masculine is clearly superior. Besides, the fact that food goes through the digestive system and is expelled into the sewer does not make it clean. Therefore, the Greek text and the translation have been adjusted following the NA-text.  ---- 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.

---

To God all the glory for the preservation of the scriptures! He reigns!