Introductory Notes

Section VII

Page 14 of 468

¹ [Arabic, p. 26]⁵²³ And in the morning of that day he went out very early, and went to a² desert place, and was there praying.⁵²⁴ And Simon and those that were with³ him sought him.⁵²⁵ And when they found him, they said unto him, All the people seek for⁴ thee.⁵²⁶ He said unto them, Let us go into the adjacent villages and towns, that I may⁵ preach there also; for to this end did I come.⁵²⁷ And the multitudes were seeking him, and came till they reached him; and they took hold of him, that he should not⁶ go away from them.⁵²⁸ But Jesus said unto them, I must preach of the kingdom of⁷ God in other cities also: for because of this gospel was I sent.⁵²⁹ And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages, and teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all the diseases and all the sicknesses,⁸⁵³⁰ and casting out the devils.⁵³¹ And his fame became known⁵³² that⁵³³ he was teaching in⁹ every place and being glorified by every man.⁵³⁴ And when he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting among the tax-gatherers;⁵³⁵ and he said unto him, Follow¹⁰ me: and he rose and followed him.⁵³⁶ And the news of him was heard of in all the land of Syria: and they brought unto him all those whom grievous ills had befallen through divers diseases, and those that were enduring torment, and those that were possessed, and lunatics,⁵³⁷ and paralytics; and he healed them.

[11, 12]⁵³⁸ And after some days Jesus entered into Capernaum again.⁵³⁹ And when they heard that he was in the house,⁵⁴⁰ many gathered, so that it could not hold them, even about¹³ [Arabic, p. 27] the door; and he made known to them the word of God.⁵⁴¹ And there were there some of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, sitting, come from all the villages of Galilee, and Judæa, and Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was¹⁴ present to heal them.⁵⁴² And some men brought a bed with a man on it who was paralytic.¹⁵ And they sought to bring him in and lay him before him.⁵⁴³ And when they found no way to bring him in because of the multitude of people, they went up to the roof, and let him down with his bed from the roofing,⁵⁴⁴ into the midst before Jesus.¹⁶⁵⁴⁵ And when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the paralytic, My son, thy sins are forgiven¹⁷ thee.⁵⁴⁶ And the scribes and Pharisees began to think within their hearts, Why doth this man blaspheme?⁵⁴⁷ Who is it that is able to forgive sins, but God alone?¹⁸⁵⁴⁸ And Jesus knew by the spirit that they were thinking this within themselves, and he¹⁹ said unto them, Why do ye think this within your heart?⁵⁴⁹ Which is better,⁵⁵⁰ that it should be said to the paralytic, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or that it should be said²⁰ to him, Arise, and take thy bed, and walk?⁵⁵¹ That ye may know that the Son of man²¹ is empowered on earth to forgive sins (and he said to the paralytic),⁵⁵² I say unto thee,²² Arise, take thy bed, and go to thine house.⁵⁵³ And he rose forthwith, and took his bed, and went out in the presence of all.⁵⁵⁴ And he went to his house praising God.²³⁵⁵⁵ And when those multitudes saw, they feared;⁵⁵⁶ and amazement took possession of²⁴ them,⁵⁵⁷ and they praised God, who had given such power to men.⁵⁵⁸ And they said, We have seen marvellous things to-day,⁵⁵⁹ of which we have never before seen the like.

²⁵ [Arabic, p. 28]⁵⁶⁰ And after that, Jesus went out, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting²⁶ among the publicans:⁵⁶¹ and he said unto him, Follow me.⁵⁶² And he left²⁷ everything, and rose, and followed him.⁵⁶³ And Levi made him a great feast in his house. And there was a great multitude of the publicans and others sitting with him.²⁸⁵⁶⁴ And the scribes and Pharisees murmured, and said unto his disciples, Why do ye eat²⁹ and drink with the publicans and sinners?⁵⁶⁵ Jesus answered and said unto them, The physician seeketh not those who are well, but those that are afflicted with grievous [30, 31] sickness.⁵⁶⁶⁵⁶⁷ I came not to call the righteous, but the sinners, to repentance.⁵⁶⁸ And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast always, and pray, and the³² Pharisees also, but thy disciples eat and drink?⁵⁶⁹ He said unto them, Ye cannot make³³ the sons of the marriage feast⁵⁷⁰ fast, while the bridegroom is with them.⁵⁷¹ Days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them; then will they fast in those³⁴ days.⁵⁷² And he spake unto them a parable:⁵⁷³ No man inserteth a new patch and seweth it in a worn garment, lest the newness of the new take from the worn, and³⁵ there occur a great rent.⁵⁷⁴ And no man putteth fresh wine into old skins, lest the wine burst the skins, and the skins be destroyed, and the wine spilled; but they put³⁶ the fresh wine in the new skins, and both are preserved.⁵⁷⁵ And no man drinketh old wine and straightway desireth fresh; for he saith, The old is better.

³⁷⁵⁷⁶ And while Jesus was walking on the sabbath day among the sown fields, his disciples [Arabic, p. 29] hungered. And they were rubbing the ears with their hands, and³⁸ eating.⁵⁷⁷ But some of the Pharisees, when they saw them,⁵⁷⁸ said unto him, See,³⁹ why⁵⁷⁹ do thy disciples on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?⁵⁸⁰ But Jesus said unto them, Have ye not read in olden time what David did, when he had need and⁴⁰ hungered, he and those that were with him?⁵⁸¹ how he entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the table of the Lord, which it was not lawful that any should eat, save the priests, and gave to them that were with him also?⁴¹⁵⁸² And he said unto them, The sabbath was created because of man, and man was not⁴² created because of the sabbath.⁵⁸³ Or have ye not read in the law, that the priests in⁴³ the temple profane the sabbath, and yet they are blameless?⁵⁸⁴ I say unto you now,⁴⁴ that here is what⁵⁸⁵ is greater than the temple.⁵⁸⁶ If ye had known this:⁵⁸⁷ I love mercy,⁴⁵ not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned⁵⁸⁸ those on whom is no blame.⁵⁸⁹ The⁴⁶ Lord of the sabbath is the Son of man.⁵⁹⁰ And his relatives heard, and went out to take him, and said, He hath gone out of his mind.

⁴⁷⁵⁹¹ And on the next⁵⁹² sabbath day he entered⁵⁹³ into the synagogue and was teaching.⁴⁸⁵⁹⁴ And there was there a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day,⁴⁹ that they might find the means of accusing him.⁵⁹⁵ But he knew their thoughts, and said unto the man whose hand was withered, Rise and come near into the midst of⁵⁰ the synagogue.⁵⁹⁶ And when he came and stood, Jesus said unto them, I ask you, which is lawful to be done on the sabbath day, good or evil? shall lives be saved or⁵¹ [Arabic, p. 30] destroyed?⁵⁹⁷ But they were silent.⁵⁹⁸ Regarding⁵⁹⁹ them with anger, being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts. And he said unto the man, Stretch out thy hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand became straight.⁵²⁶⁰⁰ Then he said unto them, What man of you shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a⁵³ well on the sabbath day, will not take it and lift it out?⁶⁰¹ And how much is man better than a sheep! Wherefore it is lawful on the sabbath to do good.

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.
523
.
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).
524
.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
525
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
526
.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
527
.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
528
.
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.)
529
.
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.
530
.
531
b.
532
.
533
This may represent a Syriac as.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
534
.
535
See above, note to § 6, 46, which applies, although the Arabic words are different.
10
[cf. John passim.]
536
.
537
Lit. son-of-the-roofs, a Syriac expression (cf. § 24, 31, note).
538
.
539
.
540
This is the end of verse 1 in the Greek.
13
[cf. .]
541
b.
14
[cf. ; .]
542
.
15
[cf. .]
543
.
544
This word may be either a singular or a plural.
16
[cf. .]
545
.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
546
.
547
This word ordinarily means to forge lies against; but our translator uses it regularly as here.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
548
.
19
See below, 12, (2).
549
.
550
Peshitta has easier.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
551
.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
552
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
553
a.
554
b.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
555
a.
556
a.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
557
b.
558
c.
559
c.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
560
.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
561
See above, note to § 6, 46.
562
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
563
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
564
.
29
See below, 13.
565
.
566
A Syriacism.
567
.
568
.
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.
569
.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
570
The Arabic word, which occurs here in many of the Arabic versions, could also be read bridegroom. The Syriac word for marriage chamber is also used in the sense of marriage feast.
571
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
572
a.
573
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
574
.
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.
575
, .
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.
576
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
577
a.
578
.
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.
579
Syr. In Arab. it means what?
580
.
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).
581
.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
582
.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
583
.
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.)
584
.
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.
585
This may be simply a misinterpretation of the ordinary Syriac reading, which in all probability agrees with the masculine reading found in the Text. Rec. of the Greek.
586
.
587
Is it possible that the Arabic word after known is not meant simply to introduce the quotation, but is to be taken in the adverbial sense, how representing the Syriac what that is?
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
588
See § 10, 13, note.
589
.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
590
.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
591
.
592
Lit. other. The definite article is a mistake of the translator.
593
Here, at the end of leaf 17 of Vat. ms., is a note by a later hand: "Here a leaf is missing." This first lacuna extends from § 7, 47 to § 8, 17.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
594
.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
595
.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
596
.
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.
597
b.
598
.
599
An easy clerical error for And so he regarded (cf. Peshitta).
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.
600
.
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).
601
.

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.

Notes

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.

523

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).

524

Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .

525

I know no other instance of stauriskein.

526

cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."

527

The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.

528

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.)

529

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.

This may represent a Syriac as.

The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.

534

535

See above, note to § 6, 46, which applies, although the Arabic words are different.

[cf. John passim.]

536

537

Lit. son-of-the-roofs, a Syriac expression (cf. § 24, 31, note).

538

539

540

This is the end of verse 1 in the Greek.

[cf. .]

[cf. ; .]

[cf. .]

This word may be either a singular or a plural.

[cf. .]

545

For further explanation of the method followed see 20.

546

547

This word ordinarily means to forge lies against; but our translator uses it regularly as here.

See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.

548

See below, 12, (2).

549

550

Peshitta has easier.

See also below, 6, and 20.

551

Bibl. Or., i., 619.

552

Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.

553

554

cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.

555

556

See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.

557

558

559

See below, § 28, 43, note.

560

See below, foot-notes, passim.

561

See above, note to § 6, 46.

562

The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.

563

Can this be a misprint for 95?

See below, 13.

A Syriacism.

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.

569

cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.

570

The Arabic word, which occurs here in many of the Arabic versions, could also be read bridegroom. The Syriac word for marriage chamber is also used in the sense of marriage feast.

571

See below, note to Subscription.

572

573

See a glaring case in § 52, 11.

574

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.

575

, .

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.

576

The text is given below in full at its proper place.

577

578

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.

579

Syr. In Arab. it means what?

580

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).

581

Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.

582

Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.

583

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.)

584

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.

585

This may be simply a misinterpretation of the ordinary Syriac reading, which in all probability agrees with the masculine reading found in the Text. Rec. of the Greek.

586

587

Is it possible that the Arabic word after known is not meant simply to introduce the quotation, but is to be taken in the adverbial sense, how representing the Syriac what that is?

Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.

588

See § 10, 13, note.

589

Published at Venice in 1836.

590

The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.

591

592

Lit. other. The definite article is a mistake of the translator.

593

Here, at the end of leaf 17 of Vat. ms., is a note by a later hand: "Here a leaf is missing." This first lacuna extends from § 7, 47 to § 8, 17.

Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).

594

Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.

595

Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.

596

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.

597

598

599

An easy clerical error for And so he regarded (cf. Peshitta).

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.

600

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).

601