Mark 7:24-30 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Mark

Chapter 7

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24. και[1] εκειθεν αναστας απηλθεν εις τα μεθορια[2] τυρου και σιδωνος και εισελθων εις την[3] οικιαν ουδενα ηθελεν γνωναι και ουκ ηδυνηθη λαθειν And arising, he went from there to the borders of Tyre and Sidon[4]. And entering a house, he did not want anyone to know it, but he could not be hidden. 25. ακουσασα γαρ γυνη περι αυτου ης ειχεν το θυγατριον αυτης πνευμα ακαθαρτον ελθουσα προσεπεσεν προς τους ποδας αυτου For[5] a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. 26. ην δε η γυνη ελληνις συροφοινικισσα[6] τω γενει και ηρωτα αυτον ινα το δαιμονιον εκβαλη[7] εκ της θυγατρος αυτης Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter. 27. ο δε ιησους ειπεν αυτη[8] αφες πρωτον χορτασθηναι τα τεκνα ου γαρ καλον εστιν λαβειν τον αρτον των τεκνων και βαλειν τοις κυναριοις And Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 28. η δε απεκριθη και λεγει αυτω ναι κυριε και τα κυναρια υποκατω της τραπεζης εσθιουσιν[9] απο των ψιχιων των παιδιων But she answered and said to him, “Yes[10], Lord; [11] even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” 29. και ειπεν αυτη δια τουτον τον λογον υπαγε εξεληλυθεν το δαιμονιον εκ της θυγατρος σου Then he said to her, “For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30. και απελθουσα εις τον οικον αυτης ευρεν το παιδιον[12] βεβλημενον επι την κλινην και το δαιμονιον εξεληλυθος And going away to her house, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone out. [1] NA-Text reads “δε” placing the conjunction after the verb. The meaning is the same. [2] NA-Text reads “ορια”. Same meaning. [3] NA-Text and M-Text omit the definite article “την”, which is supported by codices א, B and Theophylact. The inclusion of the article is supported by codices D, Θ and Origen (Commentary on the gospel of Matthew, Book 11, Ch. 16). The article has probably been accidentally dropped by visual homoeoteleuton (την οικιαν, thus missing “την”). [4] NA-Text omits “and Sidon”, likely due to a parableptic error (και σιδωνος και εισελθων, thus missing “and Sidon”). Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus and the Sahidic Coptic version include “and Sidon”. [5] NA-Text reads “But immediately” (Gr.: “αλλ ευθυς”). VgSt reads “And immediately” (Latin equivalent: “enim statim”). The NA-Text is supported by codices א, B, L, Δ, minuscules 33 and 892, the old Latin codex itf, a marginal note in the Harklean Syriac version, the Sahidic Coptic, part of the Bohairic Coptic manuscripts and the Diatessaron. The vulgate is supported by codex D. The TR is supported by codices A, W, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ1 and ƒ13, the Byzantine manuscripts, 3 old Latin codices (ita, itn and (itq)), the Harklean Syriac version and Theophylact. “Immediately” is a typical Markan transition. It may have been added by scribes after having missed the conjunction “for” by visual homoeoarcton (γαρ γυνη, thus missing “for”). The instability between the Alexandrian “But” and the western “and” is suggestive of scribal intervention. Mark typically marks transitions with a “και ευθευς” (see Mark 1:10,12,18, 20, 21, 23, 29, 30, 42, 2:8, 12, 4:5, 5:29, 30, 42, 6:25, 27, 45, 8:10, 9:15, 10:52, 11:2, 3, 14:43, 45, 72 and 15:1). The Alexandrian “αλλ ευθυς” is foreign to Mark’s writings. The western “δε ευθυς” is only found in Mark 6:50, but not in the Byzantine text. It is a possible reading, but it is not safe to adjust the Greek text based on a single witness. [6] NA-Text reads “συροφοινικισσα”, which is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, A, K, L, Δ, Θ, family of manuscripts ƒ1, minuscules 28, 565, 892, 1241, 1424 and the Didache. M-text reads “συραφοινικισσα”, which is supported by codices B, N, W, Γ, family of manuscripts ƒ13, minuscules 700, 1010 and the Byzantine manuscripts. Theophylact supports the TR. The support for the Alexandrian reading is better and has been adopted in the Greek text. [7] NA-Text and M-text read “εκβαλη” (second aorist instead of present), which is supported by codices א, B, D and Theophylact. The TR is supported by codex Θ. The Greek text has been adjusted following the NA-Text and the M-text. [8] NA-Text reads “και ελεγεν” (imperfect instead of second aorist plus the omission of the proper name Jesus). VgSt reads “qui dixit”, which also omits the proper name, but with a verb in the perfect tense and with “qui” instead of “et”. The omission of the proper name is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ. The inclusion is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. There is an instability related to this verbal tense in the non-Byzantine manuscripts. Codices א and B support the NA-Text. Codex D and Θ read “λεγει”. The proper name has been likely added in the Byzantine text to clarify who is the person speaking in context. But the Alexandrian and Western transmission lines are not offering a stable and trustworthy alternative reading. Therefore, it is not prudent to change the Greek text at this point. But let it be noted that the proper name was likely added to the original text for clarification purposes. [9] NA-Text, P-Text and Vg-St reads “εσθιουσιν” (plural instead of singular, Latin equivalent: “comedunt”). The plural is supported by codices B, D and Θ. The singular is supported by codices A, K, N, Γ, minuscule 1010, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The support for the plural is better and fits better the context to go with the plural form of little dogs. [10] NA-Text omits “Yes”. [11] NA-Text and P-Text omit “Yet” (Gr.: “γαρ”), which is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, B, H, W, Δ, Θ, 0274vid, family of manuscripts ƒ13, minuscules 28, 33, 565, 579, 700, 892, 1241, 2427, the Syriac Sinaiticus, the Peshitta and the Coptic versions.  The inclusion is supported by codices A, K, L, Π, family of manuscripts ƒ1, minuscules 124, 157, 346, 1071, 1424, the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codices ita, itaur, itf, itl, itn and itq, the Harklean Syriac, the Gothic version and Theophylact. Codex D reads “αλλα” along with the old Latin codices itb, itc, itd, itff2 and iti. The support for the omission is better. The inclusion of the conjunction is likely a harmonization to the parallel passage in Matthew 15:27 to improve the flow in transitioning to the following clause. The conjunction has then been removed following the NA-Text. [12] NA-Text and VgSt read “child” or “girl” (Latin equivalent: “puellam”), with the last two sentences in a transposed order reading “ευρεν το παιδιον βεβλημενον επι την κλινην και το δαιμονιον εξεληλυθος”, which is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, A, B, L, W, Δ, minuscules 28, 33, 892, 1241 and 1424 and the Bohairic Coptic version. The TR is supported by codices D, (Θ), both families of manuscripts ƒ1 and ƒ13, minuscules 565, 700, the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codices ita, itf, itn and itq and Theophyolact. The same transposition is also found in the Diatessaron.  “Daughter” in the place of “child” is likely an internal harmonization with verses 25, 26 and 29. The support for the NA-Text is superior, whose sentence has been adopted in the Greek text. The PT also adopted this reading in their compilation.

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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. P-Text: 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!