Introductory Notes

Section XIV

Page 21 of 468

¹¹⁰¹² Verily I say unto you, There hath not arisen among those whom women have borne a greater than John the Baptist; but he that is little now in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

² [Arabic, p. 54]¹⁰¹³ And all the people which heard, and the publicans, justified¹⁰¹⁴ God, for³ they had been baptized with the baptism of John.¹⁰¹⁵ But the Pharisees and the scribes wronged¹⁰¹⁶ the purpose of God in themselves, in that they were not baptized of⁴ him.¹⁰¹⁷ And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is⁵ snatched away by violence.¹⁰¹⁸ The law and the prophets were until John; and after that, the kingdom of God is preached, and all press to enter it:¹⁰¹⁹ and they that exert themselves [6, 7] snatch it away.¹⁰²⁰ All the prophets and the law until John prophesied.¹⁰²¹ And if ye⁸ will, then receive it, that he is Elijah, which is to come.¹⁰²² Whosoever hath ears that hear⁹ let him hear.¹⁰²³ Easier is the perishing of heaven and earth, than the passing away of¹⁰ one point of the law.¹⁰²⁴ To whom then shall I liken the people of this generation,¹⁰²⁵ and¹¹ to whom are they like?¹⁰²⁶ They are like the children sitting in the market, which call to their companions, and say, We sang to you, and ye danced not; we wailed to you,¹² and ye wept not.¹⁰²⁷ John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine;¹³ and ye said, He hath demons:¹⁰²⁸ and the Son of man came eating and drinking; and ye said, Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drinker of wine, and an associate of publicans [14, 15] and sinners!¹⁰²⁹ And wisdom was justified of all her children.¹⁰³⁰ And when he said that, they came to the house. And there gathered unto him again multitudes,¹⁶ so that they found not bread to eat.¹⁰³¹ And while he was casting out a devil which was dumb, when he cast out that devil, that dumb man spake. And the multitudes¹⁷ [Arabic, p. 55] marvelled.¹⁰³² And the Pharisees, when they heard, said, This man doth not cast out the devils, except by Beelzebul the chief of the demons, which is in him. [18, 19]¹⁰³³ And others requested of him a sign from heaven, to tempt him.¹⁰³⁴ And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them in parables, Every kingdom that withstandeth itself shall become desolate; and every house or city that disagreeth with itself shall not²⁰ stand:¹⁰³⁵ and if a devil cast out a devil, he withstandeth himself; neither shall he be²¹ able to stand, but his end shall be.¹⁰³⁶ Then how now shall his kingdom stand? for ye²² said that I cast out devils by Beelzebul.¹⁰³⁷ And if I by Beelzebul cast out the devils, then your children, by what do they cast them out? And for this cause they shall²³ be judges against you.¹⁰³⁸ But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then the kingdom²⁴ of God is come near unto you.¹⁰³⁹ Or how can a man enter into the house of a valiant man, and seize his garments,¹⁰⁴⁰ if he do not beforehand secure himself¹⁰⁴¹ from²⁵ that valiant man? and then will he cut off¹⁰⁴² his house.¹⁰⁴³ But when the valiant man is²⁶ armed, guarding his house, his possessions are in peace.¹⁰⁴⁴ But if one come who is more valiant than he, he overcometh him, and taketh his whole armour, on which²⁷ he relieth, and divideth his spoil.¹⁰⁴⁵ Whosoever is not with me is against me; and²⁸ whosoever gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.¹⁰⁴⁶ For this reason I say unto you, [Arabic, p. 56] that all sins and blasphemies with which men blaspheme shall be forgiven²⁹ them:¹⁰⁴⁷ but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, there is no³⁰ forgiveness for him for ever, but he is deserving of eternal punishment:¹⁰⁴⁸ because they³¹ said that he had an unclean spirit.¹⁰⁴⁹ And he said also, Every one that speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to³² come.¹⁰⁵⁰ Either ye must make a good tree¹⁰⁵¹ and its fruit good; or ye must make an evil³³ tree¹⁰⁵² and its fruit evil: for the tree is known by its fruit.¹⁰⁵³ Ye children of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? from the overflowings of the heart the mouth³⁴ speaketh.¹⁰⁵⁴ The good man from the good treasures which are in his heart bringeth forth good things; and the wicked man from the evil treasures which are in his³⁵ heart bringeth forth evils.¹⁰⁵⁵ I say unto you, that every idle word which men shall³⁶ speak, they shall give an answer for in the day of judgement:¹⁰⁵⁶ for by thy sayings thou shalt be justified, and by thy sayings thou shalt be judged.

³⁷¹⁰⁵⁷ And he said to the multitudes, When ye see the clouds appear from the west,³⁸ straightway ye say that there cometh rain; and so it cometh to pass.¹⁰⁵⁸ And when³⁹ the south wind bloweth, ye say that there will be heat; and it cometh to pass.¹⁰⁵⁹ And when the evening is come, ye say, It will be fair weather, for the heaven has become⁴⁰ red.¹⁰⁶⁰ And in the morning ye say, To-day there will be severe weather, for the redness [Arabic, p. 57] of the heaven is paling.¹⁰⁶¹ Ye hypocrites, ye know to examine the face of the heaven and the earth; but the signs of this time ye know not to discern.

⁴¹¹⁰⁶² Then they brought to him one possessed of a demon, dumb and blind; and he⁴² healed him, so that the dumb and blind began to speak and see.¹⁰⁶³ And all the multitudes wondered, and said, Is this, think you, the son of David?

⁴³¹⁰⁶⁴ And the apostles returned unto Jesus, and told him everything that they had⁴⁴ done and wrought.¹⁰⁶⁵¹⁰⁶⁶ And he said unto them, Come, let us go into the desert alone, and rest ye a little. And many were going and returning, and they had not leisure, not even to eat bread.

⁴⁵¹⁰⁶⁷ And after that, there came to him one of the Pharisees, and besought him that he would eat bread with him. And he entered into the house of that Pharisee, and⁴⁶ reclined.¹⁰⁶⁸ And there was in that city a woman that was a sinner; and when she knew that he was sitting in the house of that Pharisee, she took a box of sweet ointment,⁴⁷ and stood behind him,¹⁰⁶⁹ towards his feet, weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears, and to wipe them with the hair of her head, and to kiss his feet, and⁴⁸ anoint them with the sweet ointment.¹⁰⁷⁰ And when that¹⁰⁷¹ Pharisee saw it, who invited him, he thought within himself, and said, This man, if he were a prophet, would know who she is and what is her history: for the woman which touched him was a sinner.

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.
1012
.
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).
1013
.
1014
Syriac. In Arabic the word ordinarily means believed.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
1015
.
1016
See below, § 20, 28, note.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
1017
a.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
1018
.
1019
b.
1020
.
1021
.
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.
1022
.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
1023
.
10
[cf. John passim.]
1024
b.
1025
See § 1, 49, note.
11
[cf. .]
1026
.
12
[cf. ; .]
1027
.
13
[cf. .]
1028
.
1029
.
1030
, and verse 19b.
16
[cf. .]
1031
.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
1032
.
1033
.
1034
.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
1035
a.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
1036
b; b.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
1037
b; .
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
1038
.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
1039
.
1040
The word used in the Syriac versions (Pesh. and Cur.) means garments as well as utensils, and the Arabic translator has chosen the wrong meaning (cf. § 42, 44).
1041
Certain derivatives from the same root signify bind, but hardly this word.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
1042
The two Arab. mss. differ in this word, but the meaning is about the same. Perhaps both are corrupt.
1043
.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
1044
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
1045
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
1046
.
29
See below, 13.
1047
.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
1048
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
1049
.
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.
1050
.
1051
Or, a tree good.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
1052
Or, a tree evil.
1053
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
1054
a.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
1055
.
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.
1056
.
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.
1057
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
1058
.
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.
1059
b.
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).
1060
.
1061
; this is reckoned to verse 3 in the Greek.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
1062
.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
1063
.
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.)
1064
.
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.
1065
Wrought may have arisen from taught by a transcriptional error (transposition of l and m) within the Arabic text. As it appears to occur in both mss., they would seem to have a common origin, which, however, can hardly have been the autograph of the translator.
1066
.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
1067
.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
1068
.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
1069
.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
1070
.
1071
A comparison with the Syriac text recommends this rendering.

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.