APPENDIX E

Text Determination in the “Plucking Grain on the Sabbath” Pericope

(Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5)

by Dr. Jakob Van Bruggen (The Netherlands)[1]

Introduction

Between the Authorized Version and the modern English translations there are various differences which go back to differences in the basic text followed. Sometimes Nestle²⁵ (N25) places the siglum p) beside the reading now abandoned, to indicate the opinion that these readings have “probably crept in from one of the other Gospels” (Preface N25 p. 80*). In total N25 mentions six cases of parallelising readings in the Koine-text (K-text) (see Table I). This arouses suspicion about the K-text in general and against the readings at issue in particular. Thus Metzger in his Textual Commentary writes at Matthew 12:4: “Although evfagon is supported by only À B and 481, as the non-parallel reading it is more likely to have been altered to evfagen than vice-versa.”

Table I

List of readings which are qualified as p) in N25 and belong to the K-text
	N25	K-text	Parallel passage
Mt 12:4	B À 481 evfagon	rell. evfagen	Mk 2:26; Lk 6:4 evfagen
Mt 12:4	B D F it òo`	À C Â Q pl ou`j	Mk 2:26 ou`j
Mk 2:26	B D - -	À C Â Q pl pw/j	Mt 12:4 pw/j
Lk 6:2	P^75vid B (D) pc lat - -	À C Â Q pl poien	Mt 12:2 poien
Lk 6:4	B al - -	À Â D Q pm kai	Mk 2:26 kai
Lk 6:5	B À tou sabbÅ o` ui`oj tÅ avnqrÅ	Â (D) Q pl ò o` ui`oj tÅ avÅ kai tÅ sabÅ	Mk 2:28 o` ui`oj tÅ ªªª.ªªª ª.avÅ kai tÅ sabÅ

Comparison with the Critical Apparatus in Aland’s Synopsis Quatuor Evangeliorum (1964) shows that the suspicion about the abandoned readings does not always remain. Twice the Synopsis allows the qualifying designation p) to drop out and in one of these cases it also abandons the hesitation about the correctness of the text originally followed (in Mark 2:26 the square brackets around pwj disappear; in UBS³ they do not reappear). On the other hand a variant not mentioned in N25 is included as a p)-variant to the discredit of the K-text (see Table II).

Table II

Differences between Aland (Synopsis) and N25 regarding the so-called p)-variants in the K-text
Mt 12:4	the qualification p) abandoned with the reading evfagen
Mk 2:26	square brackets around pw/j disappear; designation p) in critical apparatus abandoned
Mk 2:26	variant toij i`ereusin (C Â A D W Q pm lat) is included as p) reading

Number and distribution of the p)-variants

A study of the readings which can be qualified as p) leads to the result that all types of text include such readings.

In the list of possible p)-variants (see Table III) the two readings which were qualified in N25 (but not in the Synopsis) as p)-readings are included. Also included was the variant +deuteroprwtw from Luke 6:1 (omission of this word is very similar to the omission of the words epi Abiaqar arcierewj in Mark 2:26; this last case is qualified as p) by Aland in the Synopsis). Also, the insertion of twn in Luke 6:1 was considered as a p)-variant. So, four other variants were included, besides the nineteen mentioned by Aland in the Synopsis as p)-variants, according to the criteria which Aland evidently had used in the other nineteen cases. Inclusion of these four readings (numbers 2, 11, 12, and 13) is more to the detriment of the K-text than to its advantage; B has only one while the K-text has three of the four variants indicated as p). The distribution of these possible p)-variants and their number per manuscript or group can be found on the left half of Table III.

Table III

Survey of possible p)-variants

Present in:

# Text

Variant

Evaluation

Present in:

1. Mt 12:1

+ en @toij sabb)#

// Mk

2. Mt 12:4

efagen ¿pro efagonÀ

// Mk-Lk

3. Mt 12:4

ou[j ¿pro o[)

// Mk-Lk

4. Mk 2:23

diaporeuesqai $pro paraÄ%

// Lk

5. Mk 2:24

! oi maqhtai sou

// Mt

6. Mk 2:24

! poien

// Mt-(Lk)

7. Mk 2:25

oude touto $pro oudepote%

// Lk

8. Mk 2:25

om. creian escen kai

// Mt-Lk

9. Mk 2:26

om. epi Abiaqar arcierewj

// Mt-Lk

10.Mk 2:26

toij iereusin $pro touj iereij%

// Mt; not // Lk

11.Mk 2:26

! pw’/j

BD: om. pw/j (Mk), w`j (Lk)

alli: Matthew: pw/j ; Luke: w`j

12. Lk 6:1

om. deuteroprwtw

// Mt-Mk

13. Lk 6:1

! twn @sporimon#

// Mt-Mk