MARK, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
MARK, GOSPEL ACCOR])IXG TO 127
smoother phrase from the non-Markan source of Mt. and Lk. rather than the rough phrase in Mk. (see § vii. 2 below). Note also 4'^ obroi 8e eicnv oi irapa rr]!/ odbv . . . Kai brav, k.t.\., for ol brav — siiupli- tied in Mt. and Lk. ; 4-'i where epxerai is very awkward — Luke removes it, as also Matthew, who narrates the passage in a ditt'erent connexion ; i--* j3\eireTe ri cLKovtre — Luke's gloss is wCis (for t'l), doubtless a true one (no parallel in Mt.); 4^\ anacoloutlion, removed in Mt. and Lk., which both insert &v Xa/3ui»' dvdpunros, here probably following in preference tlieir non-Markan source (as in 4") ; l^'^- iav eiTTT] dvdpcjjTTOS . . . Kop^dv . . . oi'/cert d^iere oi'Toi', K.r.X., which is grammatical enough though the sense is rather strained — this is smoothed in ^It. (no parallel in Lk.) ; 9' eiVtV nvei ihde tQv kcn-qKbTwv more awkward than the Mt. tCou &. e. or the i| Lk. tQv avTov e. ; gn- ^ otl in the sense 'why?' {i.e. 'how is it that . . .') = Mt. ri or did ri, not in Lk. (so OTi in 2"' = Mk. Lk. didri) ; 9'-, no Se correspond- ing to /xev, Kai ttcDs being used instead — in Mt. the order is inverted and the Xeycj 5i provides the re- quisite antithesis ; 9^^ eV dvo/xan on, an awkward phrase for ' because ' = Mt. eis ovopia /j.adr]Tov (the converse change would be impossible ; Swete hnds a classical parallel to ^Ik. in Tliuc. iv. 60 ; there is no parallel in Lk.) ; IP the words in the best text : 'And straightway he will send {dTroareWei, iiistoric present) him back (irdXiv) hither," are part of the message, but (perhaps as being ambiguous) have been omitted in Lk., and altered in Mt. to a prediction that the owner of the colt would comply with the request ; 13^^ ^deXi-^/fia is made ungrammatically masculine (eoTT^Kora), because it is taken to be a man (tlie particijile corrected in Mt. to eoros — Lk. completely difierent) ; 13'^ the harsh phraNe ' those days shall be tribulation ' (softened in AV to ' in those days,' etc.) is altered and smoothed in Mt. and Lk. to 'there shall be,' etc. ; U'-', tiie ditiicult phrase pairiafiacnv fXa^op is omitted in Mt. and Lk. (tlie reading of TR ejSaWov in Mk. arises partlj' from confusion of /3aX- and \a^-, partly from the harshness of the original) ; 14'-, the difficult ewi- /SaXiliv ?K\aiev altered both in Mt •2Q'^ and Lk •22«- to Kai e^eXdwv e^ui €K\av<rev TriKpQs, but West cot t-Hort bracket the clause in Lk. as doubtful (it is wanting in some Old Latin MSS) — if it is genuine in Lk. (and it lias almost overwiielming attestation) we probably liave here a case not of correction proper, but (as before) of both ^Matthew and Luke pre- ferring their non-^Larkan source to the ambiguous IMk., which was perhajjs misunderstood in early i times as mucli as noM" ; whether it means ' wlien he thought thereon he wept,' or ' covering his head he wept,' or as Dand tlie Latin. Syrian, Armenian, and other versions have it, ' he began to weep.'
The corrections under this head are most sig- nificant, and appear to be conclusive as to the early date of Mk. as compared with the other Synoptics. For no writer, having before him a smootli text, woiild gratuitously introduce harsh or difficult phraseologj', whereas the converse cliange is natural and common.
(/) We may notice some changes made for greater precision, especially by Luke, who, as one would ex- pect, uses more correct medical language. Cf. Mk 2^^; Mt 9'^- Trapa\vTiK6s = Lk 5^^^- Tra'paXeXvfiivos ; Mk 2^", Mt 9'- laxt'ovTes = L,\<. o^^ vyiaivovTes. [In Mk 5^- i =Mt9-5 = Lk 8^5, Lk. Mk. (not Mt.) add the com-
Imand to give the maiden sometliing to eat, — cf. Lk 7" where Jesus gives the widow's son back to his mother : ' in each case He intimates that nature is to resume its usual course' (Plummer, St. Luke, on 8^5)].
Similar corrections for precision are : Mk 6^* 6 3a(TL\€vs 'Epvdrjs (cf. 6----^f-) = Mt. Lk. 'H. 6 rerpa- dpxvi (though yit. has retained 6 ^ao-. in 14') ; perhaps also 6-- ttjs di'^/arpdi avrov 'HpwSiddos if the
reading of SBD (so Westcott-Hort) be right, in which case either the girl was not Salome but her half-sister, or perhaps more probably avrov is used in a loose way to denote that she was Herod's step-daughter — Mt 14" has i] di'^/drijp TTjs'Hpq>5id8os, whicii is more likely to be the trutli (the Markan reading is, liowever, very doubtful); 1'® etc., where Mark calls the Lake of Gennesaret ' the sea {ddXaacra) of Galilee' (so Mt.), but Luke always, with his superior nautical knowledge, changes the word to Mp.vTi ; and 15^- which says that ' thej- tiiat were crucified (pi.) with him reproached him '(so Mt. ) — the i)lural is perhaps u.ed only impersonally, or possil:)ly botli robbers l)egan to revile and one repented ; but Luke, who had independent know- ledge of this incident (for he alone relates the penitence of tlie robber), emphatically corrects the phrase to els Se tu>v KpepLaadevTwv KaKovpyuv (Lk 23^'').