Mark 8:22-30 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Mark

Chapter 8

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22. και ερχονται εις βηθσαιδαν[1] και φερουσιν αυτω τυφλον και παρακαλουσιν αυτον ινα αυτου αψηται And they came[2] to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23. και επιλαβομενος της χειρος του τυφλου εξηγαγεν[3] αυτον εξω της κωμης και πτυσας εις τα ομματα αυτου επιθεις τας χειρας αυτω επηρωτα αυτον ει τι βλεπει[4] And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. And when he had spat on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. 24. και αναβλεψας ελεγεν βλεπω τους ανθρωπους οτι[5] ως δενδρα ορω[6] περιπατουντας And he looked up, and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.” 25. ειτα παλιν επεθηκεν τας χειρας επι τους οφθαλμους αυτου και εποιησεν αυτον αναβλεψαι και αποκατεσταθη και ενεβλεψεν τηλαυγως απαντας[7] Then he laid the hands on his eyes again and made him look up[8]. And he was restored and saw everything clearly. 26. και απεστειλεν αυτον εις τον[9] οικον αυτου λεγων μηδε εις την κωμην εισελθης μηδε ειπης τινι εν τη κωμη And he sent him away to his house, saying, “Do not enter the village, nor tell anyone in the village[10].” 27. και εξηλθεν ο ιησους και οι μαθηται αυτου εις τας κωμας καισαρειας της φιλιππου και εν τη οδω επηρωτα τους μαθητας αυτου λεγων αυτοις τινα με λεγουσιν οι ανθρωποι ειναι Now Jesus and his disciples went out to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?” 28. οι δε απεκριθησαν ιωαννην τον βαπτιστην και αλλοι ηλιαν αλλοι δε ενα[11] των προφητων And they answered[12], “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” 29. και αυτος λεγει αυτοις υμεις δε τινα με λεγετε ειναι αποκριθεις δε ο πετρος λεγει αυτω συ ει ο χριστος And He said to them[13], “But who do you say that I am?” And[14] answering, Peter said to him, “You are the Christ.” 30. και επετιμησεν αυτοις ινα μηδενι λεγωσιν περι αυτου And he strictly charged them that they should tell no one about him. [1] NA-Text, M-Text and WPF35 read “βηθσαιδαν”, which is supported by codices B, Θ, minuscule 1424* and the Byzantine manuscripts. The TR is supported by codices א and Theophylact. The first and the fifth editions of Erasmus TR and the subsequent editions of Stephanus in 1550 and Beza in 1589 all read “βηθσαιδαν” in opposition to Scriveners’ compilation. It is more prudent to revert to Erasmus reading. [2] NA-Text and VgSt read “they came” (Gr.: “ερχονται”, Latin equivalent: “veniunt”), which is supported by codices א2, B, C, D, L, W, Δ, Θ, family of manuscripts ƒ13, minuscules 28, 33, 579, 892, 1071 and 1342, old Latin, the Coptic versions, the Armenian, the Georgian version and Bede. The Byzantine reading is supported by codices א*, A, N, X, family of manuscripts ƒ1, minuscules 22, 157, 565, 700 and 1424, the Byzantine manuscripts, the Syriac versions, the Arabic Diatessaron and Theophylact. The third-person plural is more widespread. The adjustment to the third person singular may be the product of an adjustment to make a distinction between the first group containing Jesus and his disciples and the second group of people of those who brought the blind man to Jesus or internal harmonization given that the pericope until verse 26 unfolds around the person of Jesus and the group that comes to him in verse 22. The verb has been adjusted following the NA-Text. [3] NA-Text reads “εξηνεγκεν” ("brought him out" instead of "led him out"). [4] NA-Text reads “βλεπεις” (second instead of third-person singular) and renders “do you see anything?” [5] NA-Text, M-Text and WPF35 add “οτι” and render which is supported by codices א, B, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The omission is supported by codex D. From the first edition of the TR through Stephanus revision in 1550, the TR included “οτι”. Beza removed it likely based on the reading in codex D. “οτι” has then been put back to the text. [6] NA-Text, M-Text and WPF35 add “ορω”, is supported by codices א, B, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The omission is supported by codex D. From the first edition of the TR through Stephanus revision in 1550, the TR included “ορω”. Beza removed it likely based on the reading in codex D. “ορω” has then been put back to the text. [7] NA-Text reads “και απεκατεστη και ενεβλεπεν τηλαυγως απαντα” with verbs in aorist active and imperfect instead of aorist passive and aorist. [8] NA-Text reads “and he looked intently” (Gr.: “διεβλεψεν”). [9] NA-Text omits the definite article “τον”, which is supported by codices א, B and part of the Byzantine manuscripts. The inclusion is supported by codices D, Θ, part of the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The omission can be the result of a scribal error caused to visual homoeoteleuton (τον οικον, thus missing “τον”). The omission is not safe. [10] NA-Text omits “nor tell anyone in the village”. Hort presented this verse as another example of his theory that the Byzantine text is secondary, being the product of a conflation between the Alexandrian and the Western text. The issue with this example is that a conflation between the Alexandrian “μηδε εις την κωμην εισελθης” and the Western “υπαγε εις τον οικον σου και μηδενι ειπης εις την κωμην” does not explain the Byzantine “μηδε εις την κωμην εισελθης μηδε ειπης τινι εν τη κωμη”. There is no trace of “υπαγε” and “οικον σου” in the Byzantine text and the “και μηδενι ειπης εις την κωμην” does not correspond exactly to the Byzantine “μηδε ειπης τινι εν τη κωμη”. If we picture scribes deliberately making up a text based on the Alexandrian and Western texts, we would expect to see the Western “Go to your house and tell no one in the village” and not the first half of the Alexandrian “do not enter the village” and the second half of the Western “and tell no one in the village” that creates an apparent contradiction between not entering in the village and assuming that being in the village he should tell no one. Rather, the removal of this sentence was possibly due to scribes seeing those two clauses as slightly modified statements of the same prohibition, indicating to them that one of them should be removed to secure the text against apparent contradictions. Lastly, there is an instability in the manuscript tradition about this verse, but the vast majority of the Greek manuscripts include a sentence about “not telling anyone”. And between the Western and the Byzantine text, the latter has maintained the harder reading and has been preferred in the text. [11] NA-Text reads “οτι εις”. Same meaning. [12] NA-Text reads “And they said to him, saying” (Gr.: “οι δε ειπαν αυτω λεγοντες οτι”). The VgSt reads “who answered him, saying” (Latin: “qui responderunt illi dicentes”). Another instability in the text with the Byzantine, the Alexandrian and the Western along with the Caesarean text going in different directions. In this scenario, there is no safe path for a possible improvement in the Byzantine text. [13] NA-Text reads “And he asked them” (Gr.: “επηρωτα αυτους”). [14] NA-Text and VgSt omit “And”, which is supported by codices B, L, the Peshitta and the Harklean Syriac version. The inclusion of the conjunction (“δε” or “και”) is supported by codices א, A, C, D, N, W, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ1 and ƒ13, minuscules 33, 892, 1241 and 1424, the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codices and Theophylact. The conjunction clearly belongs in the text. It may have been lost by parablepsis in manuscripts that read “ειναι και αποκριθεις”, thus missing “και”. The support for “δε” is widespread across all text types and has been maintained in the Greek 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!