Luke 12:49-59 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Luke

Chapter 12

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49. πυρ ηλθον βαλειν εις[1] την γην και τι θελω ει ηδη ανηφθη “I came to throw fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.

50. βαπτισμα δε εχω βαπτισθηναι και πως συνεχομαι εως οτου[2] τελεσθη But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!

51. δοκειτε οτι ειρηνην παρεγενομην δουναι εν τη γη ουχι λεγω υμιν αλλ η διαμερισμον Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.

52. εσονται γαρ απο του νυν πεντε εν οικω ενι διαμεμερισμενοι τρεις επι δυσιν και δυο επι τρισιν For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

53. διαμερισθησονται[3] πατηρ επι[4] υιω και υιος επι πατρι μητηρ επι θυγατρι[5] και θυγατηρ επι μητρι[6] πενθερα επι την νυμφην αυτης και νυμφη επι την πενθεραν αυτης They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her[7] mother-in-law.”

54. ελεγεν δε και τοις οχλοις οταν ιδητε την[8] νεφελην ανατελλουσαν απο[9] δυσμων ευθεως λεγετε οτι[10] ομβρος ερχεται και γινεται ουτως And he also said to the multitudes, “When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens.

55. και οταν νοτον πνεοντα λεγετε οτι καυσων εσται και γινεται And when a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it happens.

56. υποκριται το προσωπον της γης και του ουρανου οιδατε δοκιμαζειν τον δε καιρον τουτον πως ου δοκιμαζετε Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky[11], but how is it that you do not interpret[12] this time?

57. τι δε και αφ εαυτων ου κρινετε το δικαιον “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

58. ως γαρ υπαγεις μετα του αντιδικου σου επ αρχοντα εν τη οδω δος εργασιαν απηλλαχθαι απ αυτου μηποτε κατασυρη σε προς τον κριτην και ο κριτης σε παραδωσει[13] τω πρακτορι και ο πρακτωρ σε βαλει[14] εις φυλακην For as you go with your adversary before the magistrate, make an effort on the way to be released from him, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

59. λεγω σοι ου μη εξελθης εκειθεν εως ου[15] και το[16] εσχατον λεπτον αποδως I tell you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the very last mite[17].”

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[1] NA-Text and P-Text read “επι”, which is supported by codices א, B and Θ. The TR is supported by papyrus 45, codices D, Γ, Δ, minuscule 565, the Byzantine manuscripts, Methodius and Theophylact. The TR is well supported.

[2] NA-Text reads “οτου” (while), which is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, A, B, D and Θ. The TR is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. Luke uses both forms, but as the support is better for the Alexandrian “εως οτου” here, it has been adopted in the text. Also, a parableptic error in the Byzantine text cannot be ruled out (οτ-ου, thus creating accidentally “ου”).

[3] NA-Text, P-Text and Vg-St read “διαμερισθησονται” (plural instead of singular, Latin equivalent: “devidentur”), which is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, B, D and Theophylact. The singular is supported by codices A, Θ and the Byzantine manuscripts. The plural is very well supported and has been adopted in the Greek text.

[4] NA-Text, P-Text, WPF³⁵ and M-Text read “επι”, which is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, B, Θ, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The TR is supported by codices A and D. The TR has evidently preserved the harder reading once “επι” maybe just an internal harmonization to the following occurrences of the same preposition within the verse, but it is not wise to go against the strong evidence in favor of “επι” in this verse. Therefore, the Greek text has been adjusted to read like the NA-Text and the M-Text.

[5] NA-Text reads “την θυγατερα” (accusative instead of dative).

[6] NA-Text reads “την μητερα” (accusative instead of dative).

[7] NA-Text omits “her”.

[8] NA-Text brackets “την”.

[9] NA-Text reads “επι”.

[10] NA-Text adds “οτι”, which is supported by papyrus 45, codices א, A, B, Θ and Theophylact. The omission is supported by codex D and the Byzantine manuscripts. This word may have been accidentally lost in the Byzantine transmission line by visual homoeoarcton (οτι ομβρος, thus missing “οτι”) or removed by being considered superfluous in this context. Also, the fact that verse 55 uses it in a similar context, suggests original parallelism intended by the evangelist. This word has then been put back to the Greek text, following the NA-Text.

[11] NA-Text, Vg-St and M-Text transpose “of the sky and the earth” to “of the earth and the sky”. This transposition is supported by codices א, A, B, Θ, part of the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. P-Text, WPF³⁵, both the Greek and the Latin columns in the Complutensian Polyglot and the Clementine vulgate do not transpose them in agreement with the TR, which is supported by papyri 45 and 75, codices א², D, K, L, N, 070, minuscules 33, 1241, the Syriac Sinaiticus and the Curetonian Syriac versions, the Coptic versions and part of the Byzantine manuscripts. Both are very well supported and equally acceptable in the Greek text. The first and the fifth editions of Erasmus’ compilation read “of the earth and the sky” in agreement with the NA-Text and the M-Text. Stephanus and Beza maintained the same trasposition with Erasmus. Scrivener changed the word order without precedent in the critical editions of Erasmus, Stephanus and Beza. After them, Scholz, Griesbach, Wordsworth, Lachmann, Alford, Tishendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, Baljon, Von Soden, Hodges and Farstad, Robinson and Pierpont have all agreed with this transposition. It is therefore more prudent to revert this reading to the original word order found in the main editions of the TR before Scrivener in agreement with the NA-Text and the M-Text.

[12] NA-Text reads “you do not know how to interpret” (Gr.: “ουκ οιδατε δοκιμαζειν”).

[13] NA-Text reads “παραδωσει” (future indicative instead of second aorist subjunctive), which is supported by papyri 45 and (75), codices א, A, B, D and Θ. The aorist is supported by the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The future indicative is well supported and has been adopted in the Greek text.

[14] NA-Text and P-Text read “βαλει” (future indicative instead of present subjucntive), which is supported by codices א, B and D. M-Text and WPF³⁵ read “βαλη” (second aorist subjunctive), which is supported by codex A, Θ, the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. The future indicative is more coherent with the previous verb in the same verbal tense and has been adopted in the Greek text following the NA-Text.

[15] NA-Text omits “ου”.

[16] M-Text reads “τον” (masculine instead of neuter), which is supported by codices A, D, Θ and part of the Byzantine manuscripts. “το” is supported by codices א, B, part of the Byzantine manuscripts and Theophylact. It makes more sense to keep this article in the neuter given that “εσχατον λεπτον” are in the neuter.

[17] Mite: a small brass coin, equivalent to the eighth part of an “as”, worth about a 1/5 of a cent (Thayer).

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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!