Mark 9:14-29 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Mark

Chapter 9

---

14. και ελθων[1] προς τους μαθητας ειδεν[2] οχλον πολυν περι αυτους και γραμματεις συζητουντας αυτοις[3] And coming to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes questioning them.

15. και ευθεως[4] πας ο οχλος ιδων[5] αυτον εξεθαμβηθη[6] και προστρεχοντες ησπαζοντο αυτον And immediately all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, greeted him.

16. και επηρωτησεν αυτους τι συζητειτε προς αυτους And he asked them[7], “What are you discussing with them?”

17. και αποκριθεις εις εκ του οχλου ειπεν διδασκαλε ηνεγκα τον υιον μου προς σε εχοντα πνευμα αλαλον And answering, one of the multitude said[8], “Teacher, I brought my son to you, who has a mute spirit.

18. και οπου αν[9] αυτον καταλαβη ρησσει αυτον και αφριζει και τριζει τους οδοντας αυτου[10] και ξηραινεται και ειπον[11] τοις μαθηταις σου ινα αυτο εκβαλωσιν και ουκ ισχυσαν And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down. And he foams at the mouth and gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. And I spoke to your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”

19. ο δε αποκριθεις αυτοις λεγει ω γενεα απιστος εως ποτε προς υμας εσομαι εως ποτε ανεξομαι υμων φερετε αυτον προς με And answering them[12], he said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.”

20. και ηνεγκαν αυτον προς αυτον και ιδων αυτον ευθεως[13] το πνευμα εσπαραξεν[14] αυτον και πεσων επι της γης εκυλιετο αφριζων And they brought him to Him, and when the spirit saw Him, it immediately convulsed him. And falling on the ground, he was wallowing and foaming at the mouth.

21. και επηρωτησεν τον πατερα αυτου ποσος χρονος εστιν ως τουτο γεγονεν αυτω ο δε ειπεν εκ[15] παιδιοθεν And He asked his father, “How long has it been since this has been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.

22. και πολλακις αυτον και εις [16] πυρ εβαλεν και εις υδατα ινα απολεση αυτον αλλ ει τι δυνασαι[17] βοηθησον ημιν σπλαγχνισθεις εφ ημας And often it has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

23. ο δε ιησους ειπεν αυτω το ει δυνασαι πιστευσαι παντα δυνατα τω πιστευοντι And Jesus said to him, “If you can believe[18], all things are possible to him who believes.”

24. και ευθεως[19] κραξας ο πατηρ του παιδιου μετα δακρυων ελεγεν πιστευω βοηθει μου τη απιστια And immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears[20], “I believe! [21]. Help my unbelief!”

25. ιδων δε ο ιησους οτι επισυντρεχει οχλος επετιμησεν τω πνευματι τω ακαθαρτω λεγων αυτω το αλαλον και κωφον πνευμα[22] εγω σοι επιτασσω εξελθε εξ αυτου και μηκετι εισελθης εις αυτον And when Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!”

26. και κραξαν[23] και πολλα σπαραξαν[24] αυτον εξηλθεν και εγενετο ωσει νεκρος ωστε [25] πολλους λεγειν οτι απεθανεν Then crying out and convulsing him[26] greatly, it came out. And he became like one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.”

27. ο δε ιησους κρατησας αυτον της χειρος[27] ηγειρεν αυτον και ανεστη But taking him by the hand, Jesus raised him up, and he arose.

28. και εισελθοντα αυτον[28] εις οικον οι μαθηται αυτου επηρωτων αυτον κατ ιδιαν οτι ημεις ουκ ηδυνηθημεν εκβαλειν αυτο And when he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

29. και ειπεν αυτοις τουτο το γενος εν ουδενι δυναται εξελθειν ει μη εν προσευχη και νηστεια And he said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting[29].”

---

[1] NA-Text reads “ελθοντες” (plural instead of singular).

[2] NA-Text reads “ειδον” (plural instead of singular), thus rendering “and coming… they saw”.

[3] NA-Text reads “προς αυτους”.

[4] NA-Text reads “ευθυς”. Same adverb, different spelling.

[5] NA-Text and P-Text read “ιδοντες” (plural instead of singular), which is supported by codices א, B and D (ειδοντες). The singular is supported by codex Θ, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. Mark invariably uses a singular to refer to “the multitude” (ο οχλος) in his gospel (see verses Mark 2:13, 4:1, 9:15, 11:18, 12:41 and 15:8). Therefore the plural here has likely not come from Mark’s pen.

[6] NA-Text reads “εξεθαμβηθησαν” (plural instead of singular). See previous footnote.

[7] NA-Text and VgSt read “them”. The omission of "the scribes" replaced by "them" is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ and Bede. The inclusion is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The purpose of this addition in the Byzantine text was to clarify that Jesus is going to speak to the same scribes of verse 14. The scribal clarification has been dropped from the text following the NA-Text. 

[8] NA-Text reads “And one of the multitude answered him”.

[9] NA-Text reads “εαν”

[10] NA-Text and VgSt omit “αυτου” and reads “gnashes with the teeth” (Latin equivalent: “stridet dentibus”), which is supported by codices א, B, D and Bede. Codex Θ, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. This is the only time Mark used the word teeth and there is no parallel in the gospels to this aspect of this man’s suffering. No need to change the Greek text.

[11] NA-Text reads “ειπα”, same verbal tense spelled differently.

[12] NA-Text and VgSt read “them” (Gr.: “αυτοις” Latin equivalent: “eis”), which is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ and Bede. The inclusion is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. Byzantine scribes attempted to correct the text here noticing that Jesus was reacting to the saying of one person, but this is incorrect because in this verse Jesus is directing his response to a group of people by addressing them with the plural pronouns “υμας” and “υμων”. The pronoun has then been adjusted following the NA-Text.

[13] NA-Text reads “ευθυς”. Same adverb, different spelling.

[14] NA-Text reads “συνεσπαραξεν”. The Alexandrian form of this verb intensifies the convulsing.

[15] NA-Text and VgSt add “εκ” (Latin equivalent: “ab”), which is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ and Bede. The TR is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. There is no other occurrence of this adverb in the New Testament or the Septuagint. The PT and WPF³⁵ do not add the preposition. It is possible that the preposition was missed due to visual homoeoarcton (ειπεν εκ, thus missing “εκ”) or that scribes removed it for considering superfluous by preceding an adverb. The preposition has then been added to the TR following the NA-Text.

[16] M-Text adds the definite article “το”, which is supported by Byzantine manuscripts. The omission is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ and Theophylact. This article is a scribal addition to the original text.

[17] NA-Text reads “δυνη”, same verbal tense spelled differently.

[18] NA-Text omits “believe”, which is likely a scribal error caused by visual homoeoarcton (πιστευσαι παντα, thus missing “believe”).

[19] NA-Text reads “ευθυς”. Same adverb, different spelling. It also omits “And”. The inclusion of the conjunction has a much better support from the versions, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³ and the collective witness of all text types. This is likely a local error in some Alexandrian manuscripts caused by visual homoeoteleuton (πιστευοντι και, thus missing “and”).

[20] NA-Text omits “with tears”. Only 0.9% of the Greek manuscripts omit “with tears”. This omission has not been preserved in the Latin tradition as attested by the Clementine vulgate and the vulgate of Stuttgart, nor in the Greek compilations as attested by the PT, M-Text and WPF³⁵. It may have been missed by a semi phonetic-homoieuteleuton (παιδιου μετα δακρυων, thus missing “with tears”)

[21] NA-Text and VgSt omit “Lord”. The omission is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, A, B, C*, D, L, W, Θ, Ψ, minuscules 565*, 579 and 2427, 5 old Latin codices (it^d, itⁱ, it^k, it^l and it^r1), the Harklean Syriac version, the Coptic versions, the Gothic version and some manuscripts of the Palestinian Syriac version. The inclusion is supported by codices C^c, X, Δ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 33, 565^c and 700, the Byzantine manuscripts, 6 old Latin codices (it^a, it^aur, it^b, it^c, it^f and it^q), the Syriac Sinaiticus, some manuscripts of the Peshitta and Theophylact. The support for the omission is better. “Lord” is probably a natural addition to the text to impress upon the hearers of a public lesson that this father is begging the Lord himself to do something for him. The word “Lord” has been dropped from the Greek text and the translation following the NA-Text.

[22] NA-Text and VgSt read “αλαλον και κωφον πνευμα” (Latin equivalent: “surde et mute spiritus”), which is supported by codices א, B, D and Θ. The TR is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts. The meaning is the same, but the Alexandrian reading is more widespread and has been preferred in the Greek text.

[23] NA-Text reads “κραξας” (masculine instead of neuter).

[24] NA-Text reads “σπαραξας” (masculine instead of neuter).

[25] NA-Text omits “him”.

[26] NA-Text adds the definite article “τους”, which is supported by codices א, A, B, L, Δ, Ψ, 0274, minuscules 33 and 892. The omission is supported by codices C, D, W, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, the Byzantine manuscripts, the Bohairic Coptic version and Theophylact. Even though the article might have been missed by visual homoeoteleuton (πολλους τους, thus missing “τους”), Mark tends to use the anarthrous “many” in the sense of many people who do an action through a following verb (6:2, 12:41, 13:6 and 14:56). It is more prudent to leave the text untouched here, assuming that the article was a natural and possibly accidental addition.

[27] NA-Text and Vg-St place the pronoun after “hand” and renders “his hand” instead of “him by the hand” (Latin equivalent: “tenens manum eius”), which is supported by codices א, B, D and Θ. The TR is supported by codex A, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The Alexandrian reading is a viable variant.

[28] NA-Text reads “εισελθοντος αυτου” (genitive instead of accusative)

[29] NA-Text omits “and fasting”. The collective witness of papyrus 45, the majuscules, the minuscules and the versions is overwhelmingly against this omission. This omission has not been preserved in the Latin tradition as attested by the Clementine vulgate and the vulgate of Stuttgart, nor in the Greek compilations as attested by the PT, M-Text and WPF³⁵. Only 0.2% of the Greek manuscripts omit “and fasting”. This omission is most certainly not original. This is likely a scribal error caused by visual homoeoarcton (και νηστεια κακειθεν, thus missing “and fasting”).

 

----

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!