Introductory Notes

Section VI

Page 13 of 468

¹ [Arabic, p. 22]⁴⁴⁶ But when Simon Cephas saw this he fell before the feet of Jesus, and said unto him, My Lord, I beseech of thee to depart from me, for I am² a sinful man.⁴⁴⁷ And amazement took possession of him, and of all who were with him,³ because of the draught of the fishes which they had taken.⁴⁴⁸ And thus also were James and John the sons of Zebedee overtaken,⁴⁴⁹ who were Simon's partners. And Jesus said⁴ unto Simon, Fear not; henceforth thou shalt be a fisher of men unto life.⁴⁵⁰ And they brought the boats to the land; and they left everything, and followed him.

⁵⁴⁵¹ And after that came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judæa; and he went⁶ about there with them, and baptized.⁴⁵² And John also was baptizing in Ænon, which is beside Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. [7, 8]⁴⁵³ And John was not yet come into prison.⁴⁵⁴ And there was an inquiry between⁹ one of John's disciples and one of the Jews about purifying.⁴⁵⁵ And they⁴⁵⁶ came unto John, and said unto him, Our master, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom¹⁰ thou hast borne witness, behold, he also baptizeth, and many come to him.⁴⁵⁷ John answered and said unto them,⁴⁵⁸ A man can receive nothing of himself, except it be¹¹ given him⁴⁵⁹ from heaven.⁴⁶⁰ Ye are they that bear witness unto me that I said, I am¹² not the Messiah, but I am one sent⁴⁶¹ before him.⁴⁶² And he that hath a bride is a bridegroom: and the friend of the bridegroom is he that standeth and listeneth to him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Lo now,⁴⁶³ behold, [13, 14] [Arabic, p. 23] my joy becometh complete.⁴⁶⁴⁴⁶⁵ And he must increase and I decrease.⁴⁶⁶ For⁴⁶⁷ he that is come from above is higher than everything; and he that is of the earth, of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh; and he that came down from heaven is¹⁵ higher than all.⁴⁶⁸ And he beareth witness of what he hath seen and heard: and no man¹⁶ receiveth his witness.⁴⁶⁹ And he that hath received his witness hath asserted⁴⁷⁰ that he is¹⁷ truly God.⁴⁷¹⁴⁷² And he whom God hath sent speaketh the words⁴⁷³ of God: God gave¹⁸ not the Spirit by measure.⁴⁷⁴ The Father loveth the Son, and hath put everything in¹⁹ his hands.⁴⁷⁵ Whosoever believeth in the Son hath eternal⁴⁷⁶ life; but whosoever obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God cometh⁴⁷⁷ upon him.

²⁰⁴⁷⁸ And Jesus learned⁴⁷⁹ that the Pharisees had heard that he had received many disciples,²¹ and that he was baptizing more than John⁴⁸⁰ (not that Jesus was himself baptizing,²² but his disciples);⁴⁸¹ and so he left Judæa.

²³⁴⁸² And Herod the governor, because he used to be rebuked by John because of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, and for all the sins which he was committing,²⁴ added to all that also this,⁴⁸³ that he shut up John in prison.

²⁵⁴⁸⁴ And when Jesus heard that John was delivered up, he went away to Galilee.²⁶⁴⁸⁵ And he entered again into Cana, where he had made the water wine. And there²⁷ was at Capernaum a king's servant, whose son was sick.⁴⁸⁶ And this man heard that Jesus was come from Judæa to Galilee; and he went to him, and besought of him that he would come down and heal his son; for he had come near unto death. [28, 29]⁴⁸⁷ Jesus said unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye do⁴⁸⁸ not believe.⁴⁸⁹ The [Arabic, p. 24] king's servant said unto him, My Lord, come down, that the child die not.³⁰⁴⁹⁰ Jesus said unto him, Go; for thy son is alive. And that man believed the³¹ word which Jesus spake, and went.⁴⁹¹ And when he went down, his servants met him³² and told him, and⁴⁹² said unto him, Thy son is alive.⁴⁹³ And he asked them at what time he recovered. They said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left³³ him.⁴⁹⁴ And his father knew that that was at that hour in which Jesus said unto him,³⁴ Thy son is alive.⁴⁹⁵ And he believed, he and the whole people of his house. And this³⁵ is the second sign⁴⁹⁶ which Jesus did when he returned from Judæa to Galilee.⁴⁹⁷ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

³⁶⁴⁹⁸ And he left Nazareth, and came and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea shore, in the³⁷ borders of Zebulun and Naphtali:⁴⁹⁹ that it might be fulfilled which was said in Isaiah the prophet, who said,

³⁸⁵⁰⁰ The land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali,

The way of the sea, the passage of the Jordan,

Galilee of the nations:

³⁹⁵⁰¹ The people sitting in darkness

Saw a great light,

And those sitting in the region and in the shadow of death,

There appeared to them a light.

⁴⁰⁵⁰² And he taught them on the sabbaths.⁵⁰³ And they wondered because of his doctrine:⁵⁰⁴⁴¹ for his word was as if it were authoritative.⁵⁰⁵ And there was in the synagogue⁴² a man with an unclean devil, and he cried out with a loud voice, and said,⁵⁰⁶ Let me alone; what have I to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come for our⁴³ destruction? I know thee who thou art, thou Holy One of God.⁵⁰⁷ And Jesus rebuked him, and said, Stop up thy mouth, and come out of him. And the demon threw him⁴⁴ in the midst and came out of him, having done him no harm.⁵⁰⁸ And great amazement [Arabic, p. 25] took hold upon every man. And they talked one with another, and said, What is this word that orders the unclean spirits with power and⁴⁵ authority, and they come out?⁵⁰⁹ And the news of him spread abroad in all the region which was around them.

⁴⁶⁵¹⁰ And when Jesus went out of the synagogue,⁵¹¹ he saw a man sitting among the publicans,⁵¹² named Matthew: and he said unto him, Come after me. And he rose, and followed him.

[47, 48]⁵¹³ And Jesus came to the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.⁵¹⁴ And Simon's wife's mother was oppressed with a great fever, and they besought him for⁴⁹ her.⁵¹⁵ And he stood over her and rebuked her fever, and it left her, and immediately⁵⁰ she rose and ministered to them.⁵¹⁶ And at even they brought to him many that had⁵¹ demons: and he cast out their devils with the⁵¹⁷ word.⁵¹⁸ And all that had sick, their diseases being divers and malignant, brought them unto him. And he laid his hand⁵² on them one by one⁵¹⁹ and healed them:⁵²⁰ that that might be fulfilled which was said⁵³ in the prophet Isaiah, who said, He taketh our pains and beareth our diseases.⁵²¹ And⁵⁴ all the city was gathered together unto the door of Jesus.⁵²² And he cast out devils also from many, as they were crying out and saying, Thou art the Messiah, the Son of God; and he rebuked them. And he suffered not the demons to speak, because they knew him that he was the Lord the Messiah.

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.
446
.
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).
447
.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
448
.
449
The verb may be active as well as passive, but does not agree in gender with amazement. Mistakes in gender are, however, very common transcriptional errors.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
450
.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
451
.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
452
.
453
.
454
.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
455
.
456
Dual.
10
[cf. John passim.]
457
.
458
Plural. In the Peshitta it is two individuals in verse 25. In Sin. the first is an individual and the second is ambiguous. In Cur. both are plural.
11
[cf. .]
459
Or, he be given it.
460
.
12
[cf. ; .]
461
The ordinary word for apostle.
462
.
463
See § 9, 21, note.
464
So Ciasca's printed text. The Vat. ms., however, probably represents a past tense.
465
.
466
.
467
cf. Peshitta.
15
[cf. .]
468
.
16
[cf. .]
469
.
470
cf. consonants of Syriac text.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
471
Borg. ms., that God is truly, or, assuming a very common grammatical inaccuracy, that God is true or truth, the reading in Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary.
472
.
473
Lit. saying.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
474
.
19
See below, 12, (2).
475
.
476
Lit. the life of eternity; here and everywhere except § 21, 40.
477
i.e., alighteth-and-stayeth.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
478
.
479
Or, knew.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
480
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
481
a.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
482
.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
483
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
484
.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
485
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
486
.
487
.
488
Or, will.
489
.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
490
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
491
.
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.
492
Or, good news, and.
493
.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
494
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
495
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
496
See § 5, 32, note.
497
.
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.
498
.
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.
499
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
500
.
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.
501
.
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).
502
b.
503
.
504
Perhaps we might here render learning; but see § 28, 17, note.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
505
.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
506
.
43
Bib. Or., ii., 159 f. Most of them are repeated again by Bar Hebræus (d. 1286), although some confusion is produced by his interweaving some phrases from Eusebius of Cæsarea. (Bib. Or., i., 57 f., and a longer quotation in English in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1895, p. 274 f.)
507
.
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.
508
.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
509
.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
510
.
511
b.
512
So in the Arabic. It is, however, simply a misinterpretation of the expression in the Syriac versions for at the place of toll (cf. Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary).
513
b.
514
c.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
515
.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
516
a.
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.
517
cf. § 1, 40, note 2.
518
b.
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.
519
Or, each.
520
.
53
cf. the words of Aphraates, senior contemporary of Ephraem: "As it is written in the beginning of the Gospel of our Vivifier: In the beginning was the Word." (Patrol. Syr., pars i., tom. i., 21, lines 17-19).
521
.
54
Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellsch. der Wiss., etc., March 17, 1886, No. 4, p. 151 ff.
522
.

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.