Luke 1:26-38 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Luke

Chapter 1

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26. εν δε τω μηνι τω εκτω απεσταλη ο αγγελος γαβριηλ υπο[1] του θεου εις πολιν της γαλιλαιας η ονομα ναζαρεθ[2] Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

27. προς παρθενον μεμνηστευμενην[3] ανδρι ω ονομα ιωσηφ εξ οικου δαυιδ και το ονομα της παρθενου μαριαμ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the name of the virgin was Mary.

28. και εισελθων ο αγγελος προς αυτην ειπεν χαιρε κεχαριτωμενη ο κυριος μετα σου ευλογημενη συ εν γυναιξιν And having come in, the angel[4] said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women! [5]”

29. η δε ιδουσα[6] διεταραχθη επι τω λογω αυτου[7] και διελογιζετο ποταπος ειη ο ασπασμος ουτος But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at his word, and considered what kind of greeting this might be.

30. και ειπεν ο αγγελος αυτη μη φοβου μαριαμ ευρες γαρ χαριν παρα τω θεω And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

31. και ιδου συλληψη[8] εν γαστρι και τεξη υιον και καλεσεις το ονομα αυτου ιησουν And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name ‘Jesus.’

32. ουτος εσται μεγας και υιος υψιστου κληθησεται και δωσει αυτω κυριος ο θεος τον θρονον δαυιδ του πατρος αυτου He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,

33. και βασιλευσει επι τον οικον ιακωβ εις τους αιωνας και της βασιλειας αυτου ουκ εσται τελος and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end.”

34. ειπεν δε μαριαμ προς τον αγγελον πως εσται τουτο επει ανδρα ου γινωσκω And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

35. και αποκριθεις ο αγγελος ειπεν αυτη πνευμα αγιον επελευσεται επι σε και δυναμις υψιστου επισκιασει σοι διο και το γεννωμενον [9] αγιον κληθησεται υιος θεου And answering, the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is to be born will be called Son of God.

36. και ιδου ελισαβετ η συγγενις[10] σου και αυτη συνειληφυια[11] υιον εν γηρει[12] αυτης και ουτος μην εκτος εστιν αυτη τη καλουμενη στειρα And behold, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age. And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

37. οτι ουκ αδυνατησει παρα τω θεω[13] παν ρημα For nothing will be impossible with God.”

38. ειπεν δε μαριαμ ιδου η δουλη κυριου γενοιτο μοι κατα το ρημα σου και απηλθεν απ αυτης ο αγγελος And Mary said, “Behold, the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

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[1] NA-Text reads “απο”

[2] M-Text reads “ναζαρετ”. See footnote on Mark 1:9.

[3] NA-Text reads “εμνηστευμενην”, same verbal tense spelled differently. The verbal tense starting with “μ” is supported by all text-types plus Origen, Eusebius, Epiphanius and Theophylact. The support for the TR is clearly superior, whose reading should not be changed here.  

[4] NA-Text omits “the angel”. The support for the inclusion is excellent, including codices א, A, C, D, 053, family of manuscripts ƒ¹³, the Peshitta, the Harklean Syriac, some manuscripts of the Bohairic Coptic version and Theophylact.

[5] NA-Text omits “Blessed are you among women”. The support for this omission is Alexandrian (codex W is Alexandrian in this portion of Luke). The omission in this transmission line is likely due to a parableptic error (ευλογημενη συ εν γυναιξιν η, thus missing “Blessed are you among women”).

[6] NA-Text omits “ιδουσα” (when she saw [him]). The fact that this word appears in the same form in 3 different transmissions lines plus the Latin scriptures, makes it highly likely original. It is easier to think of a copyist error by missing a word for whatever reason than scribes in different transmission lines having the exact same idea of creating the same word in the same position and same verbal tense with nothing in the immediate context or a parallel passage to justify it.

[7] NA-Text omits “αυτου” and renders “at the saying”. M-Text, WPF³⁵, PT, Vg-St, the Clementine vulgate and both the Latin and Greek columns in the Complutensian Polyglot read “at his word” in agreement with the TR. This is what has been received, read and preserved in the Latin and Greek churches.

[8] NA-Text reads “συλλημψη”, same verbal tense spelled differently.

[9] NA-Text, Vg-St, M-Text, PT and WPF³⁵ omit “εκ σου”. The first edition of the TR in 1516 read “εκ σου”, which appears bracketed in the text. In the 5^th edition of the TR in 1535 Erasmus removed these two words from the text. Stephanus in 1550 maintained the omission. Beza reverted the reading to the first edition of the TR by putting those words back to the text, probably influenced by the reading that he saw in the Clementine vulgate “nascetur ex te”. The omission is supported by codices א, A, B, C², D, E, G, H, K, L, W, X, Δ, Π, Ψ, 053, family of manuscripts ƒ¹³, minuscules 28, 157, 180, 205, 565, 579, 597, 700, 892, 1006, 1009, 1010, 1071, 1079, 1195, 1216, 1241, 1242, 1243, 1292, 1342, 1344, 1424, 1505, 1546, 2148, 2174, the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codices it^aur, it^b, it^d, it^f, it^ff2, it^l and it^q, the Harklean Syriac, the Palestinian Syriac the Sahidic and Bohairic Coptic versions, the Gothic, Armenian, Georgian, Slavic version, Origen^lat Cyprian, Eusebius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nyssa Ambrose^1/4, Didymus^DUB, Epiphanius^3/8, Marcus Eremita^1/2, Augustine^2/15, Cyril of Aleandrian, Hesychius, Theodoret, John of Damascus and Theophylact. The inclusion is supported by codices C* Θ, family of manuscripts ƒ¹, minuscules 1, 33, 1230, 1253, 1365, 1646, the old Latin codices it^a, it^c, it^e and it^r1, the Peshitta, some manuscripts of the Palestinian Syriac and Armenian versions, the Ethiopic version, the Diatessaron, Irenaeus^lat, Tertullian, Novatian, Gregory of Thaumaturgus, Hilary, Athanasius, Ephraem, Ambrose^3/4, Didymus the blind, Epiphanius^5/8, Chromatius, Jerome, Marcus Eremita^1/2 and Augustine^13/15. This is clearly a natural clarifying addition to the text. Erasmus was correct in his final edition of the TR along with Stephanus. Therefore, these words have been removed from the Greek text and the translation accordingly.

[10] NA-Text reads “συγγενις” (accusative instead of nominative), which is supported by codices א, A, B and D (συνγενις). The TR is supported by codex C, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The spelling has been adjusted to conform to the NA-Text.

[11] NA-Text reads “συνειληφεν” (indicative instead of participle). This is likely a local adjustment to the text, which is reflected in Alexandrian majuscules.

[12] NA-Text, PT, WPF³⁵ and M-Text read “γηρει” (same noun and declination). This spelling is supported by codices א, B, D, Θ (γηρι) and the Byzantine manuscripts. The TR is supported by Theophylact. The spelling has been corrected following the NA-Text and the M-Text.

[13] NA-Text reads “του θεου” (genitive instead of dative).

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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!