Luke 20:1-8 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Luke

Chapter 20

---

1. και εγενετο εν μια των ημερων εκεινων[1] διδασκοντος αυτου τον λαον εν τω ιερω και ευαγγελιζομενου επεστησαν οι αρχιερεις[2] και οι γραμματεις συν τοις πρεσβυτεροις Now it happened on one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes came to him with the elders,

2. και ειπον[3] προς αυτον λεγοντες ειπε[4] ημιν εν ποια εξουσια ταυτα ποιεις η τις εστιν ο δους σοι την εξουσιαν ταυτην and spoke to him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority do you do these things? Or who is he who gave you this authority?”

3. αποκριθεις δε ειπεν προς αυτους ερωτησω υμας καγω ενα[5] λογον και ειπατε μοι And answering, he said to them, “I will also ask you one question, and you tell me:

4. το βαπτισμα ιωαννου εξ ουρανου ην η εξ ανθρωπων the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?”

5. οι δε συνελογισαντο προς εαυτους λεγοντες οτι εαν ειπωμεν εξ ουρανου ερει δια τι [ουν] ουκ επιστευσατε αυτω And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why [then][6] did you not believe him?’

6. εαν δε ειπωμεν εξ ανθρωπων πας[7] ο λαος καταλιθασει ημας πεπεισμενος γαρ εστιν ιωαννην προφητην ειναι But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

7. και απεκριθησαν μη ειδεναι ποθεν So they answered that they did not know where it was from.

8. και ο ιησους ειπεν αυτοις ουδε εγω λεγω υμιν εν ποια εξουσια ταυτα ποιω And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

---

[1] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “εκεινων” and render literally “on one of the days”, which is supported by codices א, B, D, L, Q, Ψ, family of manuscripts ƒ¹, minuscules 579, 1241, 2542, the Diatessaron, the Syriac Sinaiticus, the Curetonian Syriac, the Peshitta, the (Sahidic Coptic) and the Bohairic Coptic version. The inclusion is supported by codices A, C, K, N, W, Δ, Θ, family of manuscripts ƒ¹³, minuscules 33, 565, 700, 892, 1424, the Byzantine mansucripts, the Harklean Syriac version and Theophylact. There is a possibility that this word was added to complete the sense of the clause, but, on the other hand, it appears in different transmission lines and is subject to loss by a scribal error caused by visual homoeuteleuton (ημερων εκεινων, thus missing “those”). Though a strong variant, this is not a safe correction to the text.

[2] M-Text, P-Text and WPF³⁵ read “ιερεις” (priests), which is supported by codices A, W, minuscules 565, 700 and Theophylact. The TR is supported by codices א, B, C, D, L, N, Q, Θ, Ψ, family of manuscripts ƒ¹, (family of manuscripts ƒ¹³), minuscules 33, 579, 892, 1241, 1424, 2542, the Syriac versions and the Coptic versions. Even though the Byzantine text has evidently preserved the harder reading, its support is more local, suggesting a scribal error at a local level.

[3] NA-Text reads “ειπαν”. Same verbal tense, different spelling.

[4] NA-Text reads “ειπον”. Same verbal tense, different spelling.

[5] NA-Text and Vg-St omit “ενα” and render “a question”. The Clementine vulgate disagrees with the vulgate of Stuttgart and adds “unum”. This omission is supported by codices א, B, L, W, family of manuscripts ƒ¹, minuscules 33, 2542, the old Latin codices itc, itq, the Syriac Sinaiticus and the Peshitta. The inclusion of this word is supported by codices (A), (K), C, D, Θ, Ψ, minuscules 565, 700, 892, 1241, 1424, family of manuscripts ƒ¹³, the Byzantine manuscripts, the old Latin codices itaur, itf, itl, the Harklean Syriac* version and Theophylact. The word “one” was possibly a scribal adjustment to the text when scribes noticed that Jesus was asked two questions and his reply saying “I will also ask one question” might have suggested to some scribes an apparent contradiction.

[6] NA-Text, WPF³⁵ and M-Text omit “then”. The omission is supported by codices א, B, L, R, Γ, Δ, the Ethiopic, the Coptic versions and Theophylact. The inclusion is supported by codices A, C, D, K, N, Q, family of manuscripts ƒ¹, minuscules 33, 2542, Cyril of Alexandria, the Harklean Syriac version and some manuscripts of the Sahidic Coptic version. There are two possibilities here. This word was either added from the parallel passages in Matthew 21:25 and Mark 11:31 or lost by a parableptic error caused by visual homoeoarcton (ουν ουκ, thus missing “then”). There are good witnesses on both sides and textual critics were not unanimous on how they approached this variant. Tregelles, Tischendorf, Alford, Hort, Baljon and von Soden omitted it from their compilations. Scholz, Griesbach, Wordsworth and Antoniades did not. Lachmann bracketed this word in his Greek text, which seems to be the best approach with such a divided contest. This word has then been bracketed in the Greek text and the translation.

[7] NA-Text reads “απας”. Those words are interchangeable.

----

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. M-Text^RP - Majority Text compiled by Maurice Robinson & William Pierpont;

6. M-Text^HF - Majority Text compiled by Zane Hodges & Arthur Farstad; 

7. Vg-St: Vulgate of Stuttgart;  

8. WPF³⁵: Wilbur Pickering-family 35;

9. P-Text: Patriarchal Text, also known as Patriarchal Greek New Testament, published by the ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

10. 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!