NEW TESTAMENT TEXTS
3. Matthew 16: nb-g
T O S H I O HlRUNUMA
I
THE genuineness of the saying about weather-signs in Matt.
I 6 : ab-31 has often been discussed. According to one recent decision, found in A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testa- ment by Professor Bruce M. Metzger,z whose contributions to the study of the NT text and especially of its early versions are many and to whom the present paper is dedicated, the passage is
‘enclosed within square brackets’ in UBSGNT3 ‘in view of the balance’ of both opinions. The same judgement had previously been made by Tischendorf8 and von Soden. Westcott-Hort (WH) adopted double brackets for the passage as one of five Western interpolations ‘omitted on authority other than Western’ ;4 that is, they virtually rejected it. Their reason : Both documentary evidence and the impossibility of accounting for omission prove these words to be no part of the text of Mt. They can hardly have been an altered repetition of the [I Lc xii 54, 55, but were apparently derived from an extraneous source, written or oral, and inserted in the Western text at a very early time.5
The documentary evidence of the passage is the following :
(I) i n c l u d e &,Gus YEVO@~S X+ETE, &%, rrvppc+c y&p d o~pavd~.
1 The present writer has, since 1966, dealt with textual problems in over 270 passages, mainly of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, under the heading ‘Praxis’
in his monthly periodical, Studiu Textus Novi Testamnti. One hundred and fifty passages of Mark from among these were collected into one volume: T/E Praxis of New fistament Textual Studies: Mark (Osaka, 1976; pp. 235+4 ~1s). When I was preparing for this article as a tribute to a venerable friend and erudite scholar, I happened upon this passage in the course of treating, in turn, the passages of Matthew; thus I decided to treat it as the present theme.
2 p. 41.
3 Tischendorf*, 92; von Soden, Die Schrzfbz, 2.57; likewise, N-A42j, 42; Souter2;
Merke, 53; and Bover5, 50, adopt reading (I) [see below], while G. D. Kilpatrick, A Greek-English Diglotfor th Useof Translators: Matthew (London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1961)) 36, and R. V. G. Tasker, The Greek New Testament (Oxford University/Cambridge University, r g64), 29, choose reading (3).
4 Westcott-Hort, NT, 1.38; 2.296. 5 Ibid., ‘Appendix’, 13.
36 TOSHIO HIRUNUMA
KUl ?rpwt, arjj.Kpov XEL/l.LV, ~vpp&L y & p urvyvc&w 0’ 0;pavds. 76 j&v TpdaWrov TOi? otipavov^ )W&KE7E GlaKpivw, r& 62 qpcta 7&’
Kahp& 06 &ha&. C D K L (N) W A @ II f l 33 565 700 892 1071 1241 et al. Byz Lect it vg syrPph copb- eth geo Diatessaron E usebian Canons Apostolic Canons Juvencus Hilary Chrysostom Euthalius
(2) include 6yGas ywo~&qs . . . u~vyvci&uv 6 olipavds with obeli Ps4 (3) omit &@as . . . &ha& N B V X r fls 157 267 472 1216 1573 2430
syrc#s COpsa,boma~ arm Origen mssacc* to Jerome
The witnesses according to text-type for reading (I) are:
Alexandrian C L A 33 892 1241
Caesarean N 0 f1 565 700 1071 geo Eusebius Western D it Diatessaron Hilary Juvencus Byzantine K W Il et al. Chrysostom
The lectionary text contains Matt. 16 : 1-6 with Rom. I I : 29-36 or I Cor. g : 13-18 as a lection of the synaxarion for the 2nd day of the 8th week.6
The witnesses according to text-type for reading (3) are : Alexandrian H B sa bo@ Origen
Caesarean f13 157 267 1216 2430 arm W e s t e r n syrC+
Byzantine VXF
The external evidence for readings (I) and (3) is almost equal. The ‘omission’ (reading 3) was known early, and ap- parently predominated, in Egypt, as is evidenced by the MS tradition, as well as the Coptic versions and Origen.7 It was also known early in Syria (Old Syriac), and MSS with this text served as the basis for the Armenian version. If Jerome can be trusted,* this reading was still widespread in the East through the fourth century. On the other hand, there is no evi- dence in the West, from any period, for this reading.
Reading (I) was known early, and apparently predominated, in the West. It had emerged in the East at least by the fourth 6 F. H. A. Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament for the Use of Biblical Students (ed. E. Miller; 4th edn.; London: Bell, I8g4), 82; C. R.
Gregory, Textkritik des Neuen Testaments (Leipzig: Hinrichs, I goo), I .350.
7 For Origen, see GCS IO (ed. Klostermann, Ig35), 72. The ‘omission’ is clear from the hfollowing comment: l”v’ E)K ~00 o;pavov^ &r&l&j rois &pw+aor
@apLaaioLs Ka1 Za88ovKaloLs, &otcpivcraL Kal ~&EL* yavc& novr]p& Krh.
8 See comm. Mt. 3. I 6 (MPL 26. I I 7a) : Hoc in plerisque codicibus non habetur: ‘This is not contained in most manuscripts’.
Matthew 16: 26-3 37
century (the Eusebian Canons, Jerome, Chrysostom). Whether it was known earlier in the East cannot presently be known.
(The Diatessaron is not a sure guide here.) The UBSGNT apparatus, following Tischendorf, includes Theophilus of Antioch (d. AD 180) as supporting this reading, but this is surely in error.9
bong defenders of reading (I), Scrivener is the most positive.
Apart from his own view of the external evidence, the only reason he gives for adopting this reading is the suggestion that thk passage was omitted by copyists because the changes of weather in their climate were quite different from the description in the passage. He has certainly gone too far when he affirms that anybody doubtful of the passage is lacking in critical capacity.‘0 Lagrange also adopts the passage, and for the same reason.11
The arguments to the contrary, e.g. those of Allen,12 McNeile,Is and Klostermann, 14 as is the case for the most part, assert that t&e passage is an interpolation, or a gloss, formed after the model of Luke 12 : 54-6.
9 The only Matthean citations found in his work are 5: 28, 32, 44-6, and 6: 3.
See ad Auto&am (ed. R. M. Grant; Oxford Early Christian Texts; Oxford:
Clarendon, 1970).
10 Plain Introduction, 2.326-7: ‘It might seem impossible for any one possessed of the slightest tincture of critical instinct to read them thoughtfully without feeling assured that they were actually spoken by the Lord on the occasion related in the Received text, and were omitted by copyists whose climate the natural phenomena described did not very well suit, the rather as they do not occur in the parallel text, ch. xii. 38, 39. Under these circumstances, the internal evidence in favour of the passage being thus clear and irresistible, the witnesses against it are more likely to damage their own authority than to impair our confidence in its genuineness’.
11 ‘Si l’on pense comme nous que syrsin. et cur. sont sous l’influence de I’&ypte et sptcialement d’Orig&ne, leur tCmoignage ne change pas le caractkre purement Cgyptien de l’omission. En &ypte cette conjecture tirCe de l’aspect du ciel serait constamment dCmentie, car le rouge du matin n’y annonce pas la pluie. C’est sans doute pour cela que le passage a ttt supprimt’ (M.-J. Lagrange, l?vangile selon Saint Mutthieu [EBib; 3rd edn.; Paris: Gabalda, 19271,315); cf. C. C. Torrey, The Four Gospels (2nd edn. ; New York: Harper, Ig47), 294.
12 ‘The clause can hardly be genuine here. It seems to be a gloss modelled on Lk I 264-66’ (W. C. Allen, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to S. Matthew [ICC; 3rd edn. ; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, I gI 21, I 73).
13 ‘The MS. authority is decisive against the genuineness of the passage.
It appears to be an imitation of Lk’ (A. H. McNeile, The Gospel according to St.
Matthew [London: Macmillan, 19 151, 235).
14 ‘Eine anscheinend nach Lc 1264_66 frei gestaltete alte Glosse’ (E. Klostermann, Das Matthdusevangelium [HNT; 2nd edn. ; Ti_ibingen: Mohr, 19271, 137) ; cf. Das Lukasevangelium [HNT; 2nd edn., 19291, 141.
9555 C80 C
38 TOSHIO HIRUNUMA
Some scholars, e.g. Hort,Is Plummer,I6 and Streeter,” pre- sume the passage to come from a source independent of Luke, because of disagreement between the texts of Matthew and Luke (except for X&TE, 76 . . . TT~&JWTOV, 700 06pav06 and T&V
KCLLp&/& KCUpdlJ) .
Zahn’s suggestion that the passage, together with Mark 16 : g-20 and John 8 : I-I I, was derived from PapiasI* is doubtful.
I I
Luke I 2 : 54-6 reads as follows :
5 4 &~EV 62 ual rots &XOLS, &av i’S7j~e [mjv] v+Arp dva7&Xovaav id GvcrpGv, deiWS A+ETE &I &.$pos gpxmab, teal ylvmac oihs.
55 Kal &av v&ov wviovra, A&WE &b Ka&mw &ac, Kal ylvmab.
56 horcptral, rd npo’ao~ov r+js yfjs Kai TOG o6pavoC o1*6an ~o~q_~c&w, rcb Kabpdv 62 roihov ~i;)s 06~ o%arc SOKL~_&LV;
This text is stable and seems to be suited to the weather of Palestine. The weather-signs here are concerned with cloud (v+Aq), rain ($@pos, ‘shower’), and wind (V&OS, ‘south wind’), not with the appearance of the sky in the evening and morning as in Matthew.
Several Rabbinical sayings about weather-predictions are also concerned with cloud and wind.19
15 See above, n. 5.
16 ‘The parallel passage Mt. xvi. 2, 3 is of very doubtful authority. It can hardly be derived from Lk., from which it differs almost entirely in wording, but perhaps comes from some independent tradition’ (A. Plummer, T/ze Gospel accord- ing to S. Luke [ICC; 5th edn.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 19221, 335).
17 This passage is not a harmonistic insertion ‘derived from the text of Luke.
For if a later scribe, who had Luke before him, had desired to insert equivalent sayings in Matthew, he would have adhered far more closely to Luke’s version. . . .
One has only to read [Matthew and Luke] through side by side to see that the verbal agreements between the two versions are almost nil, and can only be accounted for on the hypothesis that the interpolations are drawn from a tradition independent of Luke’ (B. H. Streeter, T/ze Four Gospels [London: Macmillan, 1924% 241-2).
1s ‘Stammen die apokryphen Sti_icke Mk 16, g-20 (oder richtiger 16, 14-18) und Jo 8, I-I I wahrscheinlich aus Papias, so liegt die gleiche Annahme fur Mt 16, 2.3 nahe genug’ (T. Zahn, Das Evangelium des Matthdus [4th edn.; Leipzig:
Deichert, 19221, 530 n. 45).
19 Str-B, 1.727-8. See e.g. 6. Ta’an. gb (Soncino, 40): PGr$z$ [light clouds]
are a sign of (coming) rain. What are p&?&?--R. Papa said: A thin cloud under a thick cloud. Rab Judah said: Should fine rain come down before the heavy rain then the rain will continue for some time; should it follow a heavy downpour of rain then the rain will soon cease. If before the rain, the rain will
Matthew 16: sb-3 39
I I I
The Lucan passage shows nothing peculiar in its wording, but in the text of Matthew there are some striking lexical and gramma- tical features.
(I) &%a means ‘fair weather’ and appears in classical authors such as Plato, Xenophon, Plutarch, and Epictetus, as well as in the papyri. But it occurs only here in the NT and is used in contrast with XEL@V (‘storm’) here, as usual elsewhere.20
(2) mppdL$ (‘is fiery red’), which occurs twice here, is also a NT hapax legomenon. It derives from an adjective nvppds (‘fiery red’ [Rev. 6 : 4 ; I 2 : 31 <nCp ‘fire’) .21 The word does not appear in Josephus or in Philo. The LXX22 and Philo both use the form
~vppl&~ The form nvpp&~ seems to occur elsewhere only in Byzantine writers. 23 The -U&O form here may be assumed to be an assimilation to the succeeding verb (~7vr/c2&,24 or it is a Hellenistic formation like C+LC& for the classical ciy2).0.25
(3) CWV~C& comes from an adjective o~vyvds (‘gloomy’) and
continue, of this the sieve serves as a reminder; if after a heavy rain, the rain will cease, of this goats’ excrement serves as a reminder.
‘Ulla chanced to be in Babylon and observing light clouds [po”n$o^t] he exclaimed,
‘Remove the vessels for rain is now coming’. No rain however fell and he exclaimed,
‘As the Babylonians are false, so too is their rain’. Cf. b. Coma 2 rb: On the night following the last day of the [Sukkoth] Festival all were gazing upon the smoke arising from the pile of wood. If it inclined northward, the poor rejoiced and the people of means were sad, because the rains of the coming year would be abundant and their fruits would rot. If it inclined southward, the poor were depressed and the men of means rejoiced, for there would be little rain that year and the fruit could be preserved. If it inclined eastwards, all rejoiced; if westwards all were depressed.
We have similar sayings about weather-signs in Japan as elsewhere, e.g., Yiiyake koyake ashita tenki ni nare, ‘Evening glow! It be fair tomorrow!’ Cyzi ‘evening’, yake ‘glow’, ko ‘small’, ko-yake = just wordplay, repetition of the previous, ashita
‘tomorrow’, tenki ‘fair weather’, ni ‘to, for’, nure ‘let it be’, [optative of be]).
20 e.g. Xenophon, Anab. 5.8.19-20: Zv &1q, ydp 6~1.2 &L&. &au 62 xq~&v 8 . . .
(‘for the reason that I see you are in calm waters. But when it is stormy weather. . .’
Loeb, 3.431); cf. Epictetus 2.18.29-30 (Loeb, 1.356-7).
21 F. Blass-A. Debrunner-F. Rehkopf, Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch ( 14th edn. ; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1976)) $ I 08 (7).
22 rvppl[ovaa: Lev. 13: 19, 42, 43, 4.9; 14: 37.
23 Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich, 738; S. B. Psaltes, Grammatik der byzantinischen Chro- niken (Gottingen, x913), 332 ; J. H. Moulton-W. F. Howard, Grammar of New Testament Greek, Vol. II: Accidence and Word-Formation (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark,
1g2o), 405; J. H. Moulton-G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (London: Hodder and Stoughton, rg3o), 560.
24 Moulton-Howard, Grammar, 2.405.
25 Blass-Debrunner-Rehkopf, Grammatik, 8 I 08(6).
40 TOSHIO HIRUNUMA
thus is used of human emotion. Such a case is found in Mark
IO : 22 d 62 arvyudaas &4 r$ hdyy ch$tkv hvrrot.+vos (‘and he, feeling gloomy at that saying, went away sorrowful’), the only other example of the verb in the NT.26 As a reflection on the weather or sky (‘to be gloomy, lowering’), this is the only occur- rence in the NT. The noun a7vyvdqs is used of ‘cloudy sky’
in Polybius,2’ and arv+s of ‘gloomy’ night in Wisdom (LXX) .2*
(4) That the usage of y&(y) v&co with the infinitive in the sense of ‘to know how to’ is unique here in the NT is often mentioned.29 According to Abel, this usage is not classical, since it has the sense of ‘to judge, decide’ in the classics;30 indeed, this sense is very common in the classics .31 However, the former, alleged non-classical usage is found in the LXX ;32 and in spite of Abel’s remarks to the contrary, the usage in the sense of ‘to 26 This usage is seen also in the LXX : PciVTbS OE KaTOLKOihES T&S v~aovs ia4yvaaav 2~1 UC (Ezek. 27: 35); cf. Ezek. 28: rg; 32: IO.
27 Hist. 4.21.1: . . . 6d rrjv 700 9r~pp~~~ovros $vxpdr~ra ical arvyvo’rqra r+ Kari
~6 hkhrov dv rols r&robs &r&ppXovaav (‘. . .resulting from the surrounding coldness and gloominess usually prevailing in these parts’).
28 Wisd. 17: 5: O&E a”orpwv &chap.rrpoL &II&S Karavy&v &&vov r$v arvyv+
ZKEI~V v6KTa (‘Neither could the brightest flames of the stars illumine that gloomy night’, Charles, 563).
29 Zahn, Mutt/&s, 528; McNeile, Matthew, 235; Klostermann, Matthiiusevan- gelium, 137. Cf. similar usage in Latin, scire with inf.; e.g. Qui net ipse consulere net alteriparere sciat, eum extremi ingenii esse (Livy 22.29.8: ‘He who does not know how to counsel or to obey another has the lowest ability’); cf. Horace, Ep. 1.17.14-15;
Livy 22.51.4; Quintilian, ht. 10.5.19. Similarly in German, wissen . . . pu with inf. ; in French, savoir with inf.
30 F.-M. Abel, Grammaire de grec biblique (Paris: Gabalda, rg27), 307 (9 69, IO);
W. W. Goodwin, Syntax of the Moodsand Tenses of th Greek Verb (London: Macmillan, rg2g), 364 (4 915, 3). The only other example of YLV;UKO with inf. is Heb. IO: 34, y~v~a~~vr~~ <XXELV iauTo& Kp&aova &rap&v KaZ &ovaav. However, the meaning here is not ‘to know how to’, but rather ‘to understand by judging that’ (yLV&KW ZTL), in which the classical meaning could be assumed (BDR, 5 3g7,1[3]). In the NT ‘to know how to’ is always expressed by &vac (o16a) with inf. (e.g. Matt.
7 : 1 I, d oh &.hurk ~ovqpol &ES 0LIaarE Gdpara Lyal?i 6&vaL ~0% TCKVOLS I&L&;
cf. Luke II: 13; 12: 56; Phil. 4: 12; I Thess. 4: 4; I Tim. 3: 5; Jas. 4: 17; 2 Pet.
2: 9); the usage is also classical (Zahn, Matthdus, 528-g). ~avO&Lv with inf.,
‘to learn how to’, is another usage similar to the above (paveavhwaav np&ov T&J
~~LOV OfKOV E~u~%?v, I Tim. 5: 4).
31 e.g. ;4Xv&rra yhp Zyvwaav $o%aL r7jv hyadpa 2lp&,w~v ;larviyri’ rQ Kva&ipew nadl, ‘they judged that Alyattes should give his daughter Aryenis to Astyages, son of Cyaxares’ (Herodotus, I .74) ; AaK~~a+dnob 62 SLKaUmjpLov avvayaydvrEs E’yvwaav Ireprv/lplaOar. AlyLv+as 3~6 Acv~v~&o ‘Then the Lacedaemonians, assembling a court, judged that the Aeginetans had been treated very ill by Leuty- chides’ (Herodotus, 6.85).
J2 e.g. ~o&vpov Kai @XL +dyrTaL rp~v?j yvi%aL al;& $ ~p0&UtIaL ~ovqpci, GKXiga- UeaL d &ya&b (Isa. 7: 15); cf. Isa. 8: 4; 44: 18.
Matthew 16: zb-3 41
know how to’ can be noticed, though only occasionally, in the classics .33
The above-mentioned features are relatively rare or otherwise non-existent in the NT. Thus, although they are not necessarily inadmissible in the text and context in which they are contained, they might be considered as negative evidence for the genuine- ness of the passage.
IV
Variant readings within the passage are as follows : Verse 2 :
(I) Most of the versions are uncomfortable with the elliptical nomina- tives4 &la and add kr;t (itfiler) o r est (it”). The OL codex ffl a n d the Vulgate codices E L R also add eras (‘tomorrow’).
( 2 ) mppd& D K U A II CD 892 I 2 4 1 pier
~TV~~<EL C E F G H L M 0 0 ZZ 2 I 33 71 349 3gg 476 477 5’7 7’3 ‘279 1295 ‘396 ‘424 ‘473 1516 ‘579 P4 [also v. 3 ; C M have mpp&L]
Simplification of gemination in Classical Greek occurred owing to the syllabic division before the gemination instead of within.
This process was set up in Attic in the 4th century BC and in the papyri from the 3rd century on made more progress.35 The double -pp- form is preserved in LXX, NT, and the papyri.36 The single form, dropping a p, is found in C and later uncials and minuscules. The single p form mp& can be found as a variant reading in Rev. 6 : 4 (A P Q 046 I 678) and I 2 : 3
(C Qo46 I 13o)F (3) omit y&p M 471 1293
(4) 6 otjp~& +cum nubibus ita tb) c ffa[mJJ g’
33 e.g. tva . . . yv+ T~&LV r;Iv yr\iSaaav 7javxEaT4pav ‘that he may learn to keep his tongue more quiet’ (Sophocles, Antigone, 1089); ylyVWKE ~5js o'pyijs Kpadv,
‘learn to control thy temper’ (Menander, Sent., 20); Goodwin, Syntax, 8 gI5(3c);
H. W. Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges (New York: American Book Co., 1920), 0 2129(3)*
34 A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (4th edn. ; New York: Hodder & Stoughton, rg23), 460.
3s E. Mayser, Grammatik der griechischn Papyri aus der Ptolemiierreit (2 ~01s. ;
Leipzig: Teubner, x906-34)) I .2 I I.
36 uapcrjhov gpprvos flvppov,_ ‘of a red male camel’ (BGU II. 468,8; AD 156).
37 Moulton-Howard, Grammar, 2. IOI ; Moulton-Milligan, Vocabulary, 560;
BDR 3 34(2) ; Mayser, Grammatik, I .22 I.
42 TOSHIO HIRUNUMA
This interesting addition probably reflects weather conditions in the West, rather than conformation to Luke. *
( 5 ) 0’ o+wds+/cal ylmu o&ws K This is due to the Lucan parallel.
(6) omit d ot;pu& . . . y&p (v. 3 ) W
This omission is due to homoeoteleuton (r&p . . . y&p).
-_Verse 3 :
(7) omit Kai opt . . . 6 o+& F
This is also due to homoeoteleuton (~+a& . . . o&xwds) (8) om. Kd it”
(9) KU; mih K
(IO) KUi rpwt] mane a&em (‘in the morning, however’) itff’
(I I) rpwif] rpoilas E Mmg 33 71 213 235 473 477 485 655 1207 1223 1365 I396 1574 (cf. Matt. 27: I;John 21:
(I 2) 77~~L*+diCiti~ itb ff2 vglMS 4)
copbO syrp geo
This is an assimilation to v. 2b.
A. Pallis wants to read xupc& (‘dawns’) for the second m~ppd&~,
because the sky cannot be fiery and gloomy at the same time, and presumes that what the context requires was : ‘The day breaks gloomily, we shall have foul weather’, thus coinciding with the rhyme ‘A red morning shepherd’s warning, a red night shep- herd’s delight’. With regard to the word xupd&c, Pallis noted that it was preserved in Modern Greek as an impersonal verb.
Indeed, several Modern Greek dictionaries refer to the verb.38 He also referred to Sophocles, who ‘in his Lexicon quotes an instance of this verb in the form ~upcbo~~u~ from as early a date as AD 582 706 6pOov ~upuaao~&ov, dawning’.39 However, xap&
38 H. Pernot, Lexique grec moderne frunpis (Paris: Garnier, rg33), ‘le jour point’, 485 ; I. Kykkotis, English-Greek and Greek-English Dictionary (London: Lund Hum- phries, rg47), ‘it dawns’, 726; H. F. Wendt, Xzschenwiirterbuch der neugriechischen und deutschen S’rachen: I. JVeugriechisch-Deutsch (Berlin and Munich: Langenscheidt, rg6g), ‘der Tag bricht an’, 507.
39 Agathias (AD 582), 180; E. A. Sophocles, Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods (New York: Scribners, 1887), 2. I x61 ; A. Pallis, Jvotes on St. Mark and St. Matthew (Oxford: Clarendon, 1g32), 88-g.
Matthew 16: zb-- 43
is not attested before this date. This is an ingenious conjecture, but is not supported by any contemporary evidence.
On the other hand P.-L. Couchoud thinks that it is strange that the same verb nvpc& is used as a sign of fine weather and of rain, and that the gloomy sky of rain is said to be fiery at the same time. The Lucan parallel 12 : 54 speaks of nothing but a cloud rising. Therefore, it is probable that the word 7rvpcL&
was repeated inadvertently and that the second rvpd&~ thus took the place of another verb ending in -a&. The variations in the text suggest that (T~VYV$[EL y&p 6 06p~vds (‘for the sky is lowering’) was the Matthean original. A copyist would have inadvertently written 7rvpd&~ instead of CT7VYU& under the influence of the preceding 7~vpc& A corrector would have re- stored the word a7vyv&r above ?~vpc&. Thence three readings were brought out : (a) the common reading nvpci& cr~vyvc&v ; (6) cwuy~c.X$ ~v~&Jv, the reading of 1293 (I Ith century) ; (c) 7rvpcx$Jv a7vyvc&, the reading of 2 145 (I 2th century).
Couchoud explains the growth of these readings in this way and the omission of the entire passage by K B et al. as perhaps due to the difficulty of reconciling 7~vpd& and a~vyvc&.40 This is another ingenious conjecture, but one which fails to take seriously the genealogical relationships among the MSS. (Can it be that these two medieval MSS independently go back to the hypothetical early 2nd century MS with the ‘corrected’ reading?)
( 14) ~zip~&] &jp D
&jp was always ‘mist, haze’ in Homer and Hesiod, not ‘lower air’ surrounding the earth, which was wrongly opposed by Aristarchus, a grammarian of the 3rd century B C, to u8rjp
‘upper air’, and later, ‘air’, generally.41 Codex Bezae’s reading here might be a vernacular use with a general meaning, as is illustrated from an illiterate document of the 6th century AD.@
( 15) 76 $‘] KU; 76 &’ C D L W F (om. $J) A 0 I 33 892 1424
I 604 ita aur c w 19 syrh eth
( IS) &oK~~Tu~, 76 ,dV 0 2 11 @ 565 700 itb e f ff’ ff2 g’ syrp geo Chrysostom
40 P.-L. Couchoud, ‘Notes de critique verbale sur St Marc et St Matthieu’, J=S 34 (rg33), 136.
41 LSJ, 31, 37.
42 &rd &S&$ous /..&L hipos (PLond ggr, IO) ‘from the ground to the air’; cf.
Moulton-Milligan, Vocabulary, I I ; Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich, 39.