Luke 12:22-34 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Luke

Chapter 12

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22. ειπεν δε προς τους μαθητας αυτου δια τουτο υμιν λεγω μη μεριμνατε τη ψυχη [1] τι φαγητε μηδε τω σωματι τι ενδυσησθε And he said to his[2] disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear.

23. η ψυχη πλειον εστιν της τροφης και το σωμα του ενδυματος [3] Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

24. κατανοησατε τους κορακας οτι ου σπειρουσιν ουδε θεριζουσιν οις ουκ εστιν ταμειον ουδε αποθηκη και ο θεος τρεφει αυτους ποσω μαλλον υμεις διαφερετε των πετεινων Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!

25. τις δε εξ υμων μεριμνων δυναται προσθειναι επι την ηλικιαν αυτου πηχυν ενα[4] And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?

26. ει ουν ουτε[5] ελαχιστον δυνασθε τι περι των λοιπων μεριμνατε If then you are not able to do the least, why are you anxious about the rest?

27. κατανοησατε τα κρινα πως αυξανει ου κοπια ουδε νηθει λεγω δε υμιν ουδε σολομων εν παση τη δοξη αυτου περιεβαλετο ως εν τουτων Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil, nor spin. And yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28. ει δε τον χορτον εν τω[6] αγρω σημερον οντα και αυριον εις κλιβανον βαλλομενον ο θεος ουτως αμφιεννυσιν ποσω μαλλον υμας ολιγοπιστοι If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

29. και υμεις μη ζητειτε τι φαγητε η τι πιητε και μη μετεωριζεσθε “And do not seek what you should eat or[7] what you should drink, nor be anxious.

30. ταυτα γαρ παντα τα εθνη του κοσμου επιζητει[8] υμων δε ο πατηρ οιδεν οτι χρηζετε τουτων For all the nations of the world seek after these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.

31. πλην ζητειτε την βασιλειαν του θεου και ταυτα παντα προστεθησεται υμιν But seek the kingdom of God[9], and all[10] these things will be added to you.

32. μη φοβου το μικρον ποιμνιον οτι ευδοκησεν ο πατηρ υμων δουναι υμιν την βασιλειαν “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

33. πωλησατε τα υπαρχοντα υμων και δοτε ελεημοσυνην ποιησατε εαυτοις βαλλαντια[11] μη παλαιουμενα θησαυρον ανεκλειπτον εν τοις ουρανοις οπου κλεπτης ουκ εγγιζει ουδε σης διαφθειρει Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.

34. οπου γαρ εστιν ο θησαυρος υμων εκει και η καρδια υμων εσται For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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[1] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “υμων” (your) and render literally “the life”. The Clementine vulgate disagrees with the vulgate of Stuttgart. This omission is supported by papyrus 75, codices א, A, B, D, L, Q, W, Θ, family of manuscripts ƒ¹, minuscules 700 and 2542, the old Latin codices, the Syriac Sinaiticus and the Harklean Syriac version. The inclusion is supported by papyrus 45, codices Ψ, 070, family of manuscripts ƒ¹³, minuscule 33, the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codices it^a and it^e, the Curetonian Syriac, the Peshitta, Clement of Alexandrian and Theophylact. This is likely a natural addition to the text, perhaps inspired by the previous occurrences of “life” in verses 19 and 20 with a pronoun. The pronoun has then been removed from the Greek text, even though it has been supplied in the English translation for stylistic reasons.

[2] NA-Text brackets “his” and renders “the disciples” as an alternative. The collective witness of the majuscules of all text types, including codex Sinaiticus, the minuscules and the versions is overwhelmingly against the omission of the pronoun in this verse.   

[3] NA-Text adds “For”, which is well supported, but may have been added to improve the flow in the transition to verse 23.   

[4] NA-Text omits “ενα” and renders “a cubit” instead of “one cubit”. The omission is likely due to a scribal error caused by visual homoeoarcton (ενα ει, thus missing “one”).   

[5] NA-Text reads “ουδε”. Those two conjunctions can be used interchangeably.   

[6] NA-Text reads “τω αγρω τον χορτον οντα σημερον και αυριον εις κλιβανον βαλλομενον ο θεος ουτως αμφιεζει”, thus placing “in the field” after “the grass” and omitting the definite article “τω” before “field”.

[7] NA-Text and P-Text read “and”, which is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, B, L, Q, 070, minuscules 33, 565, 579, 892, 1241, 1424, the old Latin codex ite, the Syriac Sinaiticus, the Curetonian Syriac version and the Peshitta. The Bohairic Coptic version is divided. The TR is supported by papyrus 75, codices A, D, W, Θ, Ψ, both families of manuscripts ƒ¹ and ƒ¹³, the Byzantine manuscripts, the Harklean Syriac version, Clement of Alexandrian and Theophylact. The support for the reading in the TR is better and remained unchanged.

[8] NA-Text reads “επιζητουσιν” (plural instead of singular).

[9] NA-Text reads “his kingdom”. It is possible to posit harmonization to Matthew 6:33 to account for the reading in the Byzantine text, but the agreement of a diversity of different text types, the Latin scriptures and all the versions except the Coptic makes it unlikely. Also, harmonization to verse 32 where “of God” is omitted cannot be ruled out. It is noteworthy that papyrus 75 reads “the kingdom”, which may be showing the beginning of the full harmonization to verse 32 in the Alexandrian transmission line. This is also one of the 72 readings in Tregelles’ list where he argued that a few more ancient manuscripts, including B and D should be preferred over the whole “mass of corrupt manuscripts” behind the TR to establish the text. And Hort’s proposition that “before the middle of the third century, at the very earliest, we have no historical signs of the existence of readings, conflate or other, that are marked as distinctively Syrian” (Introduction to the new testament in the original Greek, pg. 114, Westcott and Hort) is not confirmed after the discovery of papyrus 45 in the 1930’s showing that this Byzantine reading's attestation found in the TR goes back to the 200’s.

[10] NA-Text omits “all”.

[11] NA-Text and P-Text read “βαλλαντια”, which is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, A, B, D and Θ. The spelling in the TR is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The spelling has been adjusted to conform to the NA-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. Vg-St: 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!