Introductory Notes

Section IV

Page 11 of 468

¹³⁰³ No man hath seen God at any time; the only Son, God,³⁰⁴ which is in the bosom of his Father, he hath told of him.

²³⁰⁵ And this is the witness of John when the Jews sent to him from Jerusalem priests³ and Levites to ask him, Who art thou?³⁰⁶ And he acknowledged, and denied not;⁴ and he confessed that he was not the Messiah.³⁰⁷ And they asked him again, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he said, I am not he. Art thou a prophet? He⁵ said, No.³⁰⁸ They said unto him, Then who art thou? that we may answer them that⁶ sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?³⁰⁹ And he said, I am the voice that crieth in⁷ the desert, Repair ye the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.³¹⁰ And they⁸ that were sent were from³¹¹ the Pharisees.³¹² And they asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest thou now, when thou art not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor a prophet?⁹³¹³ John answered and said unto them, I baptize with³¹⁴ water: among you is standing¹⁰ one whom ye know not:³¹⁵ this is he who I said cometh after me and was before¹¹ me, the latchets of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose.³¹⁶ And that was in Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

¹²³¹⁷ Now John's raiment was camel's hair, and he was girded with skins, and his food¹³ [Arabic, p. 15] was of locusts and honey of the wilderness.³¹⁸ ^³¹⁹ Then went out unto him the people of Jerusalem, and all Judæa, and all the region which is about the [14, 15] Jordan;³²⁰ and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.³²¹ But when he saw many of the Pharisees³²² and Sadducees³²³ coming to be baptized, he said unto them, Ye children of vipers, who hath led you to flee from the wrath to come? [16, 17]³²⁴ Do now the fruits which are worthy of repentance;³²⁵ and think and say not within yourselves, We have a father, even Abraham; for I say unto you, that God is able to¹⁸ raise up of these stones children unto Abraham.³²⁶ Behold, the axe hath been laid at the roots of the trees, and so every tree that beareth not good fruit shall be taken and¹⁹ cast into the fire.³²⁷ And the multitudes were asking him and saying, What shall we do?²⁰³²⁸ He answered and said unto them, He that hath two tunics shall³²⁹ give to him that²¹ hath not; and he that hath food shall³³⁰ do likewise.³³¹ And the publicans also came²² to be baptized, and they said unto him, Teacher, what shall we do?³³² He said unto²³ them, Seek not more than what ye are commanded to seek.³³³ And the servants³³⁴ of the guard asked him and said, And we also, what shall we do? He said unto them, Do not violence to any man, nor wrong him; and let your allowances satisfy you.

²⁴³³⁵ And when the people were conjecturing about John, and all of them thinking²⁵ in their hearts whether he were haply³³⁶ the Messiah,³³⁷ John answered and said unto them, I baptize you with water; there cometh one after me who is stronger than I, the latchets of whose shoes I am not worthy to loosen; he will baptize you with the²⁶ Holy Spirit and fire:³³⁸ who taketh the fan in his hand to cleanse his threshing-floors, [Arabic, p. 16] and the wheat he gathereth into his garners, while the straw he shall burn in fire which can³³⁹ not be put out.

²⁷³⁴⁰ And other things he taught and preached among the people.

²⁸³⁴¹ Then came Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized of him.²⁹³⁴² And Jesus was about thirty years old, and it was supposed that he was the son of³⁰ Joseph.³⁴³³⁴⁴ And John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, This is the Lamb of³¹ God, that taketh on itself the burden of the sins of the world!³⁴⁵ This is he concerning whom I said, There cometh after me a man who was before me, because he was³² before me.³⁴⁶³⁴⁷ And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel,³³ for this cause came I to baptize with water.³⁴⁸ And John was hindering him and³⁴ saying, I have need of being baptized by thee, and comest thou to me?³⁴⁹ Jesus answered him and said, Suffer this now: thus it is our duty to fulfill all righteousness.³⁵ Then he suffered him.³⁵⁰ And when all the people were baptized, Jesus also³⁶ was baptized.³⁵¹ And immediately he went up out of the water, and heaven opened³⁷ [Arabic, p. 17] to him,³⁵²³⁵³ and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the similitude of the³⁸ body of a dove;³⁵⁴ and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved³⁹ Son, in whom I am well pleased.³⁵⁵ And John bare witness and said, I beheld the⁴⁰ Spirit descend from heaven like a dove; and it abode upon him.³⁵⁶ But I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize with water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt behold the Spirit descending and lighting upon him, the same is he that⁴¹ baptizeth with the Holy Spirit.³⁵⁷ And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.

[42, 43]³⁵⁸ And Jesus returned from the Jordan, filled with the Holy Spirit.³⁵⁹ And immediately the Spirit took him out into the wilderness, to be tried of the devil;³⁶⁰³⁶¹ and he⁴⁴ was with the beasts.³⁶² And he fasted forty days and forty nights.³⁶³ And he ate nothing⁴⁵ in those days, and at the end of them he hungered.³⁶⁴ And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, speak, and these stones shall become⁴⁶ bread.³⁶⁵ He answered and said, It is written, Not by bread alone shall man live, but⁴⁷ by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.³⁶⁶ Then the devil³⁶⁷ brought⁴⁸ him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,³⁶⁸ and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written,

He shall give his angels charge concerning thee:

And they shall take thee on their arms,

So that thy foot shall not stumble against a stone.

⁴⁹³⁶⁹ Jesus said unto him, And³⁷⁰ it is written also, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy⁵⁰ God.³⁷¹ And the devil³⁷² took him up to a high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms⁵¹ [Arabic, p. 18] of the earth, and their glory, in the least time;³⁷³ and the devil³⁷⁴ said unto him, To thee will I give all this dominion, and its glory, which is delivered to⁵² me that I may give it to whomsoever I will.³⁷⁵ If then thou wilt worship before me, all of it shall be thine.

Notes

1
Parechein mikropsuchian, perhaps "causes you ill-feeling." The translation of Serapion's letter with this note is taken from Mr. Armitage Robinson's edition of the gospel.
303
.
304
cf. Peshitta, etc. (not Cur.); cf. also Gildemeister, op. cit., p. 29, on .
2
This translation is based on that which I published in The Gospel and Apocalypse of Peter: Two Lectures, etc. (Camb., 1892). It is now carefully revised in accordance with the photographic facsimile. A corrected Greek text will be found in Dr. Swete's edition (1893).
305
.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
306
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
307
.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
308
.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
309
.
7
For autos horas we must read autes horas (cf. Clem., Hom., xx., 16); aute is the equivalent in later Greek literature of ekeine, as in the modern tongue (cf. Lc. x. 7, 21, and xii. 12; || ekeine, Mt., Mc.)
310
.
8
I have ventured to substitute meta, "together with" (cf. ), for kata, "down upon." Dr. Swete, however, keeps kata, and interprets it as "against," i.e., to guard the sepulchre against.
311
Lit. from the side of.
312
.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
313
.
314
Or, in.
10
[cf. John passim.]
315
.
11
[cf. .]
316
.
12
[cf. ; .]
317
.
13
[cf. .]
318
On the original Diatessaron reading, honey and milk of the mountains, or, milk and honey of the mountains, which latter Ibn-at-Tayyib cites in his Commentary (folio 44b, 45a) as a reading, but without any allusion to the Diatessaron, see, e.g., now Harris, Fragments of the Com. of Ephr. Syr. upon the Diat. (London, 1895), p. 17 f.
319
.
320
.
321
.
322
The translator uses invariably an Arabic word (name of a sect) meaning Separatists.
323
Lit. Zindiks, a name given to Persian dualists and others.
324
.
325
.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
326
.
19
See below, 12, (2).
327
.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
328
.
329
Grammar requires this rendering, but solecisms in this kind of word are very common, and in this work (e.g., § 48, 21) the jussive particle is sometimes omitted. We should therefore probably render let him give, let him do, etc.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
330
Grammar requires this rendering, but solecisms in this kind of word are very common, and in this work (e.g., § 48, 21) the jussive particle is sometimes omitted. We should therefore probably render let him give, let him do, etc.
331
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
332
.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
333
.
334
cf. Peshitta, where the word has its special meaning, soldiers.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
335
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
336
Our translator constantly uses this Arabic word (which we render haply, or, can it be? or, perhaps, etc.) to represent the Syriac word used in this place. The latter is used in various ways, and need not be interrogative, as our translator renders it (cf. especially § 17, 6).
337
.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
338
.
339
Or, shall.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
340
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
341
.
29
See below, 13.
342
a.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
343
The Vat. ms. here gives the genealogy (), of which we shall quote only the last words: the son of Adam; who (was) from God. If this were not the reading of the Peshitta (against Sin.) and Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary, one might explain from as a corruption of the Arabic son of, the words being very similar. On the Borg. ms. see § 55, 17, note.
344
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
345
.
32
See the valuable article of Guidi, "Le traduzioni degli Evangelii in arabo e in etiopico" (Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei; Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche e filologiche. Serie Quarta, 1888, Parte Prima—Memorie, pp. 5-38). Some of his results are briefly stated in Scrivener, A Plain Introd. to the Crit. of the N.T., 4th ed., ii., 162.
346
cf. § 3, 54, note.
347
.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
348
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
349
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
350
b.
36
The references to the readings of the Diatessaron in Ibn-at-Tayyib's own commentary on the gospels (see next note) are remarkably impersonal for one who had made or was to make a translation of it.
351
b.
37
A specially important part of the general question is this, What are the mutual relations of the following: (1) a supposed version of at least Matthew and John made from the Syriac by Ibn-at-Tayyib, mentioned by Ibn-al-Assal in the Preface to his scholarly recension of the gospels (ms. numbered Or. 3382 in Brit. Mus., folio 384b) and used by him in determining his text; (2) the gospel text interwoven with the commentary of Ibn-at-Tayyib on the gospels, a commentary which De Slane says the author wrote in Syriac and then translated into Arabic; (3) our present work. Of mss. testifying to No. 1 we have some dating from the time of Ibn-al-Assal himself; of No. 2 we have, in addition to others, an eleventh-century ms. in Paris, described by De Slane (catalogue No. 85) as being "un volume dépareillé du ms. original de l'ouvrage"; of No. 3 we have of course the Vatican and Borgian mss. What is the mutual relation of these texts; were any two of them identical? The Brit. Mus. ms. of the second has many points of contact with the third, but is dated 1805 a.d. Does the older Paris ms. stand more or less closely related? Did Ibn-at-Tayyib himself really translate any or all of these texts, or did he simply select or edit them? Space does not permit us to point out, far less to discuss, the various possibilities.
352
For the statement of Isho'dad (see above, Introduction, 10), "And straightway, as the Diatessaron testifieth, light shone forth," etc., see Harris, Fragments, etc., p. 43 f.
353
a.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
354
.
39
Prof. Gottheil, indeed, announced in 1892 in the Journal of Biblical Literature (vol. xi., pt. i., p. 71) that he had been privately informed of the existence of a complete copy of the Syriac Diatessaron. Unfortunately, however, as he has kindly informed me, he has reluctantly come to the conclusion that the ms. in question, which is not yet accessible, is "nothing more than the commentary of Ishodad" mentioned in the text. A similar rumor lately circulated probably originated simply in the pamphlet of Goussen mentioned in the next note. S. Bäumer, on the other hand, in his article, "Tatians Diatessaron, seine bisher. Lit. u. die Reconstruction des Textes nach einer neuentdeckten Handschrift" (Literarischer Handweiser, 1890, 153-169) which the present writer has not been able to see, perhaps refers simply to the Borgian ms.
355
.
40
Attention was called to these by Profs. Isaac H. Hall and R. J. H. Gottheil (Journ. of Bibl. Lit., x., 153 ff.; xi., 68 ff.); then by Prof. J. R. Harris (Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1895, p. 271 ff., and, more fully, Fragments of the Com. of Ephr. Syr. on the Diatess., London, 1895) and by Goussen (Studia Theologica, fasc. i., Lips., 1895).
356
.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
357
.
358
a.
359
.
360
Lit. calumniator.
361
b.
44
Lagarde's statement (Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellsch. der Wiss., etc., zu Göttingen, 1891, No. 4, p. 153) that a ms. had been discovered, appears to have been unfounded. Prof. Rahlfs of Göttingen kindly tells me that he believes this is so.
362
a.
363
b.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
364
b, 3.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
365
.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
366
.
367
Lit. calumniator.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
368
.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
369
.
370
Borg. ms. omits and.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
371
.
372
Lit. backbiter, a different word from that used above in § 4, 43, 47.
51
For other forms of the Diatessaron, of no critical importance, see S. Hemphill, The Diatessaron of Tatian (London, 1888), Appendix D and the refs. there.
373
.
374
Lit. backbiter, a different word from that used above in § 4, 43, 47.
52
Further references, chiefly repetitions in one form or another of the statements we have quoted, may be found in a convenient form in Harnack, Gesch. d. altchrist. Lit. bis. Euseb., 493-496; cf. also the works mentioned by Hill (op. cit.) p. 378 f.
375
.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe (1885–96). Public domain. Text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.