Mark 14:51-65 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Mark

Chapter 14

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51. και εις τις νεανισκος[1] ηκολουθει[2] αυτω περιβεβλημενος σινδονα επι γυμνου και κρατουσιν αυτον οι νεανισκοι A certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth thrown around himself over his naked body. And the young men[3] seized him,

52. ο δε καταλιπων την σινδονα γυμνος εφυγεν απ αυτων but he left the linen cloth and fled from them[4] naked.

53. και απηγαγον τον ιησουν προς τον αρχιερεα και συνερχονται αυτω παντες οι αρχιερεις και οι πρεσβυτεροι και οι γραμματεις And they led Jesus away to the high priest. And with him[5] all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes were assembled.

54. και ο πετρος απο μακροθεν ηκολουθησεν αυτω εως εσω εις την αυλην του αρχιερεως και ην συγκαθημενος μετα των υπηρετων και θερμαινομενος προς το φως And Peter had followed him from a distance, right into the court of the high priest. And he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire.

55. οι δε αρχιερεις και ολον το συνεδριον εζητουν κατα του ιησου μαρτυριαν εις το θανατωσαι αυτον και ουχ ευρισκον[6] Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking witnesses against Jesus to put him to death and found none.

56. πολλοι γαρ εψευδομαρτυρουν κατ αυτου και ισαι αι μαρτυριαι ουκ ησαν For many bore false witness against him, but their testimonies did not agree.

57. και τινες ανασταντες εψευδομαρτυρουν κατ αυτου λεγοντες And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying,

58. οτι ημεις ηκουσαμεν αυτου λεγοντος οτι εγω καταλυσω τον ναον τουτον τον χειροποιητον και δια τριων ημερων αλλον αχειροποιητον οικοδομησω “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’”

59. και ουδε ουτως ιση ην η μαρτυρια αυτων And neither so was their testimony identical.

60. και αναστας ο αρχιερευς εις [7] μεσον επηρωτησεν τον ιησουν λεγων ουκ αποκρινη ουδεν τι ουτοι σου καταμαρτυρουσιν And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying “Do you answer nothing? What is it that these testify against you?”

61. ο δε εσιωπα και [8] ουδεν απεκρινατο παλιν ο αρχιερευς επηρωτα αυτον και λεγει αυτω συ ει ο χριστος ο υιος του ευλογητου But he was silent and answered nothing. Again, the high priest was questioning him and said to him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”

62. ο δε ιησους ειπεν εγω ειμι και οψεσθε τον υιον του ανθρωπου εκ δεξιων καθημενον της δυναμεως και ερχομενον μετα των νεφελων του ουρανου And Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

63. ο δε αρχιερευς διαρρηξας τους χιτωνας αυτου λεγει τι ετι χρειαν εχομεν μαρτυρων And the high priest tore his clothes and said, “What further need do we have of witnesses?

64. ηκουσατε της βλασφημιας τι υμιν φαινεται οι δε παντες κατεκριναν αυτον ειναι ενοχον θανατου You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.

65. και ηρξαντο τινες εμπτυειν αυτω και περικαλυπτειν το προσωπον αυτου και κολαφιζειν αυτον και λεγειν αυτω προφητευσον και οι υπηρεται ραπισμασιν αυτον ελαβον[9] And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to punch him, and to say to him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received him with slaps.

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[1] NA-Text reads “και νεανισκος τις”. Codex D that is reflected in the vulgate of Stuttgart reads “νεανισκος δε τις”, whose meaning is the exact same with an equivalent preposition. The Caesarean and the Byzantine text read like the TR. What possibly happened in the Alexandrian and the Western transmission lines was that scribes skipped “εις” by means of visual homoeoteleuton (εις τις νεανισκος, thus missing “εις”) and then rearranged the sentence by placing “τις” after “νεανισκος”.

[2] NA-Text reads “συνηκολουθει” (to follow together with others, same imperfect tense of the TR and the vulgate of Stuttgart). M-Text reads “ηκολουθησεν” (aorist instead of imperfect). The TR is supported by codex D and Theophylact. Codex Θ reads “ηκωλουθε”, which seems to be a copyist error of the intended “ηκολουθει”. The Alexandrian verb is also in the imperfect tense. The TR stands as the best reading.

[3] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “the young men” and render “they seized him”. The omission is supported by codices א, B, C*^(vid), D, L, Δ, Ψ, minuscules 892 and 2427, the old Latin codices, the Diatessaron, the Peshitta and the Bohairic Coptic version. The Sahidic Coptic version is divided. The inclusion is supported by codices A, (C²), P, (W), Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscules 28, 565, 579, 700, 1071, 1342, 1424, 2542, the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codex it^q, the Harklean Syriac, the Gothic version and Theophylact. The “young men” was probably removed when scribes believed that the repetition of the same term was being wrongly applied to another group of people also identified as “young men”. The Byzantine text has maintained the harder reading and should be preferred in this context.

[4] NA-Text omits “from them”.

[5] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “with him”. The omission is supported by codices א, D, L, W, Δ, Θ, family of manuscripts ƒ¹³, minuscules 565, 700 and 892, the old Latin codices and Origen. The inclusion is supported by codices A, B, C, K, N, P, Γ, Ψ, minuscules 28, 579, 1241, 1424, the Byzantine manuscripts, Theophylact, possibly the Peshitta and the Harklean Syriac version. This pronoun makes sense in this sentence. It is more prudent to maintain it in the text.

[6] NA-Text reads “ηυρισκον”. Same verbal tense, different spelling.

[7] NA-Text, M-Text and WPF³⁵ omit “το”, which is supported by codices א, B, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The TR is supported by codices D, Θ, Ψ, family of manuscripts ƒ¹, minuscules 565 and 700. This is a natural addition to the text. The article has been removed, following the NA-Text and the M-Text.

[8] NA-Text adds “ουκ” and renders “he did not answer anything”. This is a local reading crafted by Alexandrian scribes to emphasize the silence of Jesus before his enemies.

[9] NA-Text reads “ελαβον” (different verbs that can converge to a similar meaning when rightly interpreted, second aorist instead of imperfect), which is supported by codices א, A, B, C, K, L, N, S, V, Y, Γ, Δ, Π, Ψ, Ω, 067, minuscules 1342, 2427 and 2766. The same verb in the imperfect tense “ελαμβανον” is supported by codices D, G, W, Θ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, minuscule 565 and the Harklean Syriac version. The TR is supported by codex H, minuscules 28 and 1071, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The same verb in aorist tense is supported by codices E, M, U, X, Σ, minuscules 33, 118, 124, 157, 209, 700, 892, 1010, 1241 and 1424. The evidence is overwhelmingly on the side of the verb “λαμβανω”. Some Byzantine scribes may have mistaken “λ” for “β”, thus creating “εβαλον” by accident. Or they intentionally changed these letters to clarify that Jesus was taken by the officers with violence. The imperfect tense is supported by the Western and Caesarean texts. It is a possible verbal tense, but the evidence for the aorist is better and has been adopted in the Greek text. This last clause has been translated by the translator of the Arabic Diatessaron as “And the soldiers struck him on his cheeks”. John Gill attested that “on his cheeks” is the sense in the Syriac version. The Latin “ministri alapis eum caedebant” can be translated as “the officers slapped him and beat him”. The last clause could be translated simply as “And they took him”, but these ancient versions interpreted this Greek verb in this context with a component of violence into it.

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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. Vg-St: 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!