Introductory Notes

Section X

Page 17 of 468

¹ [Arabic, p. 38]⁷⁵³ No man can serve two masters; and that because it is necessary that he hate one of them and love the other, and honour one of them and despise the² other.⁷⁵⁴ Ye cannot serve God and possessions. And because of this I say unto you, Be not anxious for yourselves,⁷⁵⁵ what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink; neither for your bodies, what ye shall put on. Is not the life better than the food, and the body³ than the raiment?⁷⁵⁶ Consider the birds of the heaven, which sow not, nor reap, nor store in barns; and yet your Father which is in heaven feedeth them. Are not ye⁴ better than they?⁷⁵⁷ Who of you when he trieth is able to add to his stature one⁵ cubit?⁷⁵⁸ If then ye are not able for a small thing, why are ye anxious about the [6, 7] rest?⁷⁵⁹ Consider the wild lily, how it grows, although it toils not, nor spins;⁷⁶⁰ and I say unto you that Solomon in the greatness of his glory was not clothed like one of⁸ them.⁷⁶¹ And if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow⁹ is cast⁷⁶² into the oven, how much more shall be unto you, O ye of little faith!⁷⁶³ Be not anxious, so as to say, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With¹⁰ what shall we be clothed?⁷⁶⁴ Neither let your minds be perplexed in this:⁷⁶⁵ all these things the nations of the world seek; and your Father which is in heaven knoweth¹¹ your need of all these things.⁷⁶⁶ Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;¹² [Arabic, p. 39] and all these shall come to you as something additional for you.⁷⁶⁷ Be not anxious for the morrow; for the morrow shall be anxious for what belongs to it. Sufficient unto the day is its evil.

¹³⁷⁶⁸ Judge not, that ye be not judged:⁷⁶⁹ condemn⁷⁷⁰ not, that ye be not condemned:¹⁴⁷⁷¹ forgive, and it shall be forgiven you: release, and ye shall be released: give, that ye may be given unto; with good measure, abundant, full, they shall thrust⁷⁷² into your¹⁵ bosoms.⁷⁷³ With what measure ye measure it shall be measured to you. See to it what ye hear: with what measure ye measure it shall be measured to you; and ye¹⁶ shall be given more.⁷⁷⁴ I say unto those that hear, He that hath shall be given unto; and he that hath not, that which he regards⁷⁷⁵ as his shall be taken from him.

¹⁷⁷⁷⁶ And he spake unto them a parable, Can a blind man haply guide a blind man?¹⁸ shall⁷⁷⁷ they not both fall into a hollow?⁷⁷⁸ A disciple is not better than his master;¹⁹ every perfect man shall be as his master.⁷⁷⁹ Why lookest thou at the mote which is in the eye of thy brother, but considerest not the column that is in thine own eye?²⁰⁷⁸⁰ Or how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, I will take out the mote from thine eye; and the column which is in thine eye thou seest not? Thou hypocrite, take out first the column from thine eye; and then shalt thou see to take out the mote from the eye of thy brother.

²¹⁷⁸¹ Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and return and wound you.

²²⁷⁸² And he said unto them, Who of you, that hath a friend, goeth to him at midnight,²³ and saith unto him, My friend, lend me three loaves;⁷⁸³ for a friend hath come²⁴ to me from a journey, and I have nothing to offer to him:⁷⁸⁴ and that friend shall [Arabic, p. 40] answer him from within, and say unto him, Trouble me not; for the door is shut, and my children are with me in bed, and I cannot rise and give thee?²⁵⁷⁸⁵ And verily I say unto you, If he will not give him because of friendship, yet because²⁶ of his importunity he will rise and give him what he seeketh.⁷⁸⁶ And I also say unto you, Ask, and ye shall be given unto; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be²⁷ opened unto you.⁷⁸⁷ Every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and²⁸ he that knocketh, it shall be opened to him.⁷⁸⁸ What father of you, shall his son ask for bread—will he, think you, give him a stone?⁷⁸⁹ and if he ask of him a fish, will he,²⁹ think you,⁷⁹⁰ instead of the fish give him a serpent? and if he ask him for an egg, will³⁰ he, think you, extend to him a scorpion?⁷⁹¹ If ye then, although being evil, know the gifts which are good, and give them to your children, how much more shall your³¹ Father which is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?⁷⁹² Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: this is the law and the prophets.

³²⁷⁹³ Enter⁷⁹⁴ ye by the narrow gate; for the wide gate and the broad way lead to destruction,³³ and many they be which go therein.⁷⁹⁵ How narrow is the gate and straitened the way leading to life! and few be they that find it.

³⁴⁷⁹⁶ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's⁷⁹⁷ clothing, while within³⁵ they are ravening wolves.⁷⁹⁸ But by their fruits ye shall know them.⁷⁹⁹ For every tree is known by its fruit. For figs are not gathered⁸⁰⁰ of thorns, neither are grapes plucked of³⁶ briers.⁸⁰¹ Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but the evil tree bringeth³⁷ [Arabic, p. 41] forth evil fruit.⁸⁰² The good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can the³⁸ evil tree bring forth good fruit.⁸⁰³ The good man from the good treasures that are in his heart bringeth forth good things; and the evil man from the evil treasures that are in his heart bringeth forth evil things: and from the overflowings of the³⁹ heart the lips speak.⁸⁰⁴ Every tree that beareth not good fruit is cut down and cast [40, 41] into the fire.⁸⁰⁵ Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.⁸⁰⁶ Not all that say unto me, My Lord, my Lord, shall enter the kingdom of the heavens; but he that doeth⁴² the will of my Father which is in heaven.⁸⁰⁷ Many shall say unto me in that day, My Lord, my Lord, did we not prophesy in thy name, and in thy name cast out⁴³ devils, and in thy name do many powers?⁸⁰⁸ Then shall I say unto them, I never⁴⁴ knew you: depart from me, ye servants of iniquity.⁸⁰⁹ Every man that cometh unto⁴⁵ me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to what he is like:⁸¹⁰ he is like the wise man which built a house, and digged and went deep, and laid the⁴⁶ foundations on a rock:⁸¹¹ and the rain came down, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and shook that house, and it fell not: for its foundation was laid on⁴⁷ rocks.⁸¹² And every one that heareth these my words, and doeth them not, is like⁴⁸ the foolish man which built his house on sand, without foundation:⁸¹³ and the rain descended, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house, and it fell: and the fall of it was great.

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.
753
.
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).
754
.
755
Or, your souls; or, your lives.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
756
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
757
.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
758
.
759
.
760
.
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.
761
.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
762
Lit. falleth (cf. Syriac).
763
.
10
[cf. John passim.]
764
b.
765
.
11
[cf. .]
766
.
12
[cf. ; .]
767
.
13
[cf. .]
768
.
769
b.
770
The word means to contend successfully, but is used throughout by our translator in the sense of condemn.
14
[cf. ; .]
771
.
772
This is the reading adopted by Ciasca in his Latin version. The diacritical points in the Arabic text, as he has printed it (perhaps a misprint), give second person plural passive instead of third plural active.
15
[cf. .]
773
b.
16
[cf. .]
774
.
775
cf. b. Our translator uses the same word in § 50, 5=b; and in both cases it represents the same word in the Syriac versions.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
776
.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
777
Or, Do.
778
.
19
See below, 12, (2).
779
.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
780
.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
781
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
782
.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
783
.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
784
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
785
.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
786
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
787
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
788
.
789
The Arabic might also be rendered, What father of you whom his son asketh for bread, will (think you) give him a stone? But as the Peshitta preserves the confused construction of the Greek, it is probably better to render as above.
29
See below, 13.
790
.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
791
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
792
.
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.
793
.
794
There is nothing about striving. The verb is walaga, which means enter (cf. § 11, 48).
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
795
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
796
.
797
Or, lambs'.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
798
a.
799
.
800
The verbs might be singular active, but not plural as in Syriac versions (cf., however, § 38, 43, note, end). In the Borg. ms. the nouns are in the accusative.
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.
801
.
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.
802
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
803
.
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.
804
.
805
.
806
.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
807
.
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.)
808
.
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.
809
.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
810
.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
811
.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
812
.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
813
.

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.