VARIOUS READINGS
23
VARIOUS READINGS
S'vfiTjffai avrt]g (X^ M) ; xv, 32, rj^Epai rpuQ (B, C, D, F, G, H, K, L, M, P, S, U, V ), r]fitpac rpeig ( X, E ) ; Rev. iv, 1, Xeywi' (A, B, N), Xiyovaa (X^ T) ; ver. 8, \t- yovTEQ (A, B, N, P), Xfyorra (in the cursives) ; xi, 4,
ICTTIOTIQ (A, B, X, C), i(TTM(Jal (X"^, P).
(2.) Changes Affecting the Substance of the Text. — A careful examination and comparison of such changes will probably lead to the conclusion that the greater part of them at least have passed from the margin into the body of the text through the want of proper dis- crimination in the copyist. In the old IMSS. frequent omissions in the text are found supplied in the margin, to be incorporated in the text of the next copy made from it. This being a standing rule, whatever was written in the margin might be thus incorporated by an incompetent or not sufficiently attentive copyist. If a sentence seemed incomplete or irregular in construc- tion, or otherwise obscure, inelegant, or apparently in- accurate, a remedy was suggested in the margin. A conspicuous example occurs in John vii, 39. The whole verse in the true text reads thus: "And this he said concerning the Spirit which thej' that believe on him should receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Je- sus was not yet glorified." The brevity and partial ob- scurity of the form "was not yet" doubtless occasioned the marginal gloss "given," found in one imcial, B (St- SoiiEvoi'),am\ the cursive 254 l^SoSriy). This marginal gloss becoming incorporated with the text, we have "the Spirit was not yet given." The English version properly italicizes ^«f«« as not authentic Scripture. It is not in the Kairjj AiaBrjK)} of Colinoeus (1534). A similar case occurs in ver. 8, where ovttu) (B, L, T, X, r, A, A, not in X, D, K, M, IT) probably passed from the margin into the text. This reading, on which the testimony of MSS. is pretty evenly balanced, is proved by historical evidence to be a corruption of the text (see Tischendorf [8th ed.] ; Scrivener, Introd. to Text. Crit. [2d ed.], p. 529). It should be observed, more- over, that there was no occasion for this qualification, for Jesus did not go up to the feast at all. John vii, 10 should read, according to the MSS., " But when his brethren were gone up to the feast, then went he up also, not openly," etc. He went to Jerusalem private- ly, taking no part there in the public festival (for he could not be found, ver. 11), and when it was half over, first made his appearance in the Temple as a teacher (ver. 14). In Mark i, 2, tv Haaia toj Trpo(bi]T(t) (B, X, D, L, A), tv ToiQ Trpo<pr]TaiQ (A, E, F, G, H, K, M, P, S, U, V), the writer specially names Isaiah, because his language identifies the promised messenger in the person of John, "the voice of one crying in the wilder- ness." The whole prophecy was fulfilled in him, and the failure to see this, its central point, may have occa- sioned the marginal comment that passed into the text. In Gal. iii, 1 the explanatory gloss " that ye should not obey the truth" is found in C, D"^, E, K, L, P, but not in the older uncials A, B, X, D, F, (i. In Rom. viii, 1, "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," is a gloss taken from ver. 4 as characterizing those who are " in Christ Jesus." In Acts xv, 34, " but it pleased Silas to abide there still" (not in A, B, X, E, H, L, P), is a marginal gloss accounting for his presence there, re- ferred to in ver. 40. The doubtful passage in John v, 3, 4 is supposed by many to have been a marginal com- ment (see a full statement of the case, with the reasons for and against its genuineness, in Schaff's edition of Lange's Commentary). To a misunderstanding of the apostle's language in 2 Cor. viii, 4, we owe the perver- sion of his meaning in the current Greek text and in the English version. The words inserted from the margin, cti,aa^ai t]fia(;, are not in the uncial text (B, X, C, D, E, F, G, K, L, P, etc.), and are found only in the cursives. In Mark vii. 2 the construction (inter- rupted by ver. 3, 4, and resumed at ver. 5) seemed in-
complete, and hence the marginal supplement, "they found fault." Only late uncials (F, K, M, N, S, U, 11) h^e efiEfi\pavro, not found in A, B, X, E, G, H, L, V. In Matt, xxv, 6 the original form, " Behold, the bride- groom ! go ye out to meet him," has the air of an ex- cited, midnight cry. The supplemental epxtrai first appears in the later uncials C ', X, F, IT, and is not found in B, X, C, D, L, Z.
Marked diversities in Hebraistic and Greek phraseolo- gy are noted : Matt, xxi, 23, tX^oj/ri avrw, 7rpo(7t)\Bov avTU) ^(PaffKoiTi, and cX^ovTog avrov, etc. Here the Hebraism is found in later uncials (E, F, (i, H, K, M, S, U, V), and the other in B, X, C, D, L. More marked is the Hebraistic Vav convers. represented by Kai (xv, 5; Mark vii, 12) in the same later uncials, and not in the earlier. The omission of icai makes the construc- tion easy where its presence has caused much perplex- ity (see IMeyer; also Lange [Amer. ed.], p. 275).