Introductory Notes

Section XI

Page 18 of 468

¹ [Arabic, p. 42]⁸¹⁴ And when Jesus finished these sayings, the multitudes were astonished² at his teaching;⁸¹⁵ and that because he was teaching them as one having authority, not as their scribes and the Pharisees.

³⁸¹⁶ And when he descended from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

⁴⁸¹⁷ And when Jesus entered Capernaum, the servant of one of the chiefs was in an⁵ evil case, and he was precious to him, and he was at the point of death.⁸¹⁸ And he⁶ heard of Jesus, and came to him with the elders of the Jews;⁸¹⁹ and he besought him, and said, My Lord, my boy is laid in the house paralysed,⁸²⁰ and he is suffering grievous⁷ torment.⁸²¹ And the elders urgently requested of him, and said, He is worthy that⁸ this should be done unto him:⁸²² for he loveth our people, and he also built the synagogue [9, 10] for us.⁸²³ Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him.⁸²⁴ That chief answered and said, My Lord, I am not worthy that my roof should shade thee; but it sufficeth¹¹ that thou speak a word, and my lad shall be healed.⁸²⁵ And I also am a man in obedience to authority, having under my hand soldiers:⁸²⁶ and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant that he do this,¹² and he doeth it.⁸²⁷ And when Jesus heard that, he marvelled at him,⁸²⁸ and turned and said unto the multitude that were coming with him,⁸²⁹ Verily I say unto you, I have¹³ not found in Israel the like of this faith.⁸³⁰ I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob¹⁴ [Arabic, p. 43] in the kingdom of heaven:⁸³¹ but the children of the kingdom shall be cast¹⁵ forth into the outer darkness: and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.⁸³² And Jesus said to that chief, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so shall it be unto thee.¹⁶⁸³³ And his lad was healed in that hour. And that chief returned to the house and found that sick servant healed.

¹⁷⁸³⁴ And the day after, he was going to a city called Nain, and his disciples with him,¹⁸ and a great multitude.⁸³⁵ And when he was come near the gate of the city, he saw a crowd⁸³⁶ accompanying one that was dead, the only son of his mother; and his mother was a widow: and there was with her a great multitude of the people of the¹⁹ city.⁸³⁷ And when Jesus saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep²⁰ not.⁸³⁸ And he went and advanced to the bier, and the bearers of it stood still; and²¹ he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.⁸³⁹ And that dead man sat up and began²² to speak; and he gave him to his mother.⁸⁴⁰ And fear came on all the people: and they praised God, and said, There hath risen among us a great prophet: and, God²³ hath had regard to his people.⁸⁴¹ And this news concerning him spread in all Judæa, and in all the region which was about them.

²⁴⁸⁴² And when Jesus saw great multitudes surrounding him, he commanded them to²⁵ depart to the other side.⁸⁴³ And while they were going in the way, there came one of the scribes and said unto him, My Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou²⁶ goest.⁸⁴⁴ Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have²⁷ nests; but the Son of man hath not a place in which to lay his head.⁸⁴⁵ And he said unto another, Follow me. And he said unto him, My Lord, suffer me first to go and²⁸ bury my father.⁸⁴⁶ Jesus said unto him, Leave the dead to bury their dead; but thou,²⁹ follow me and preach the kingdom of God.⁸⁴⁷ And another said unto him, I will follow [Arabic, p. 44] thee, my Lord; but first suffer me to go and salute my household and³⁰ come.⁸⁴⁸ Jesus said unto him, There is no one who putteth his hand to the plough⁸⁴⁹ and looketh behind him, and yet is fit for the kingdom of God.

³¹⁸⁵⁰ And he said to them on that day in the evening, Let us go over to the other side³² of the lake; and he left⁸⁵¹ the multitudes.⁸⁵² And Jesus went up and sat in the ship,³³ he and his disciples, and there were with them other ships.⁸⁵³ And there occurred on the sea a great tempest⁸⁵⁴ of whirlwind and wind,⁸⁵⁵ and the ship was on the point of³⁴ sinking from the greatness⁸⁵⁶ of the waves.⁸⁵⁷ But Jesus was sleeping on a cushion in the stern of the ship;⁸⁵⁸ and his disciples came and awoke him, and said unto him, Our³⁵ Lord, save us; lo, we perish.⁸⁵⁹ And he rose, and rebuked the winds and the turbulence of the water, and said to the sea, Be still, for thou art rebuked;⁸⁶⁰ and the wind³⁶ was still, and there was a great calm.⁸⁶¹ And he said unto them, Why are ye thus³⁷ afraid? and why have ye no faith?⁸⁶² And they feared greatly.⁸⁶³ And they marvelled, and said one to another, Who, think you, is this, who commandeth also the wind and the waves and the sea, and they obey him?

³⁸⁸⁶⁴ And they departed and came to the country of the Gadarenes, which is on the³⁹ other side, opposite the land of Galilee.⁸⁶⁵ And when he went out of the ship to the land,⁸⁶⁶ there met him from among the tombs a man who had a devil for a long time,⁴⁰ and wore no clothes, neither dwelt in a house, but among the tombs.⁸⁶⁷ And no man was [Arabic, p. 45] able to bind him with chains,⁸⁶⁸ because any time that he was bound with chains⁴¹ and fetters he cut the chains and loosened the fetters;⁸⁶⁹ and he was snatched⁸⁷⁰⁴² away of the devil into the desert,⁸⁷¹ and no man was able to quiet him; and at all times, in the night and in the day, he would be among the tombs and in the mountains;⁸⁷² and no man was able to pass by that way;⁸⁷³ and he would cry out and wound himself⁴³ with stones.⁸⁷⁴ And when he saw Jesus at a distance, he hastened and worshipped⁴⁴ him, and cried with a loud voice and said,⁸⁷⁵ What have we to do with thee, Jesus,⁴⁵ Son of the most high God?⁸⁷⁶ I adjure thee by God, torment me not. And Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man: and he had suffered⁸⁷⁷ a long⁴⁶ time since the time when he came into captivity to it.⁸⁷⁸ And Jesus asked him, What is thy name? He said unto him, Legion; for there had entered into him many⁴⁷ devils.⁸⁷⁹ And they besought him that he would not command them to depart into⁴⁸ the depths.⁸⁸⁰ And there was there a herd of many swine, feeding in the mountain, and those devils besought him to give them leave to enter the swine; and he gave⁴⁹ them leave.⁸⁸¹ And the devils went out of the man and entered into the swine.⁸⁸² And that herd hastened to the summit and fell down into the midst of the sea, about two⁵⁰ thousand, and they were choked in the water.⁸⁸³ And when the keepers saw what⁵¹ happened, they fled, and told those in the cities and villages.⁸⁸⁴ And the people went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man whose [Arabic, p. 46] devils had gone out, clothed, modest,⁸⁸⁵ seated at the feet of Jesus; and they⁵² feared.⁸⁸⁶ And they reported what they saw, and how the man was healed who had a devil,⁸⁸⁷ and concerning those swine also.

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.
814
.
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).
815
.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
816
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
817
a; .
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
818
.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
819
b; .
820
i.e., so as to be unable to walk.
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.)
821
b.
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.
822
.
823
.
824
.
11
[cf. .]
825
.
826
Or, bodies of soldiers.
12
[cf. ; .]
827
a.
828
Or, it.
829
b.
13
[cf. .]
830
.
14
[cf. ; .]
831
.
15
[cf. .]
832
.
16
[cf. .]
833
.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
834
.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
835
.
836
Lit. company.
19
See below, 12, (2).
837
.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
838
.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
839
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
840
.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
841
.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
842
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
843
a; .
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
844
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
845
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
846
.
29
See below, 13.
847
.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
848
.
849
Lit. plough of the yoke.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
850
; d.
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.
851
cf., e.g., at § 17, 19, § 23, 16, where the same Arabic and Syriac word is used; cf. also the ambiguity of the Greek (R.V. has left).
852
a; b.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
853
c; a.
854
Lit. commotion.
855
c.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
856
Or, abundance.
857
a.
858
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
859
b.
860
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.
861
.
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.
862
b.
863
The last clause belongs in the Greek to verse 41.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
864
.
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.
865
a.
866
b; c.
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).
867
b.
868
a.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
869
c.
870
Imperfect tense.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
871
b, 5a.
872
b.
873
b.
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.)
874
.
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.
875
a; b.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
876
c; a.
877
Lit. and it was for him.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
878
.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
879
.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
880
.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
881
.
882
b.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
883
.
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.
884
.
885
cf. Syriac versions.
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.
886
.
887
b.

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.