Introductory Notes

Section XXIV

Page 31 of 468

¹¹⁶⁷⁹ And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There be here now some standing that shall not taste death, until they see the kingdom of God come¹⁶⁸⁰ with strength,¹⁶⁸¹ and the Son of man who cometh in his kingdom.

²¹⁶⁸² And after six days Jesus took Simon Cephas, and James, and John his brother,³ and brought them up into a high mountain, the three of them only.¹⁶⁸³ And while they⁴ were praying, Jesus changed, and became after the fashion of another person;¹⁶⁸⁴ and his face shone like the sun, and his raiment was very white like the snow, and as⁵ the light of lightning, so that nothing on earth can whiten¹⁶⁸⁵ like it.¹⁶⁸⁶ And there appeared⁶ unto him Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus.¹⁶⁸⁷ And they thought that the time⁷ of his decease which was to be accomplished at Jerusalem was come.¹⁶⁸⁸ And Simon and those that were with him were heavy in the drowsiness of sleep; and with effort they roused themselves, and saw his glory, and those two men that were standing with him.⁸ [Arabic, p. 93]¹⁶⁸⁹ And when they began to depart from him, Simon said unto Jesus, My⁹ Master, it is good for us to be here:¹⁶⁹⁰ and if thou wilt, we will make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah;¹⁶⁹¹ not knowing¹⁰ what he said, because of the fear which took possession of them.¹⁶⁹² And while he¹¹ was yet saying that, a bright cloud overshadowed them.¹⁶⁹³ And when they saw Moses¹² and Elijah that they had entered into that cloud, they feared again.¹⁶⁹⁴ And a voice was heard out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, whom I have chosen;¹³ hear ye therefore him.¹⁶⁹⁵ And when this voice was heard, Jesus was found alone.¹⁴¹⁶⁹⁶ And the disciples, when they heard the voice, fell on their faces from the fear which¹⁵ took hold of them.¹⁶⁹⁷ And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, be not¹⁶ afraid.¹⁶⁹⁸ And they lifted up their eyes, and saw Jesus as he was.

¹⁷¹⁶⁹⁹ And when they went down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, and said unto them, Tell not what ye have seen to any man, until the Son of man rise from¹⁸ among the dead.¹⁷⁰⁰ And they kept the word within themselves, and told no man in¹⁹ those days what they had seen.¹⁷⁰¹ And they reflected among themselves, What is this²⁰ word which he spake unto us, I, when I am risen from among the dead?¹⁷⁰² And his disciples asked him, and said, What is that which the scribes say, then, that Elijah²¹ must first come?¹⁷⁰³ He said unto them, Elijah cometh first to set in order everything, [Arabic, p. 94] and as it was written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things,²² and be rejected.¹⁷⁰⁴ But I say unto you, that Elijah is come, and they knew him not, and have done unto him whatsoever they desired, as it was written of him. [23, 24]¹⁷⁰⁵ In like manner the Son of man is to suffer of them.¹⁷⁰⁶ Then understood the disciples that he spake unto them concerning John the Baptist.

²⁵¹⁷⁰⁷ And on that day whereon they came down from the mountain, there met him a multitude of many people standing with his disciples, and the scribes were discussing²⁶ with them.¹⁷⁰⁸ And the people, when they saw Jesus, were perplexed,¹⁷⁰⁹ and in the²⁷ midst of their joy hastened¹⁷¹⁰ and saluted him.¹⁷¹¹ And on that day came certain of the Pharisees, and said unto him, Get thee out, and go hence; for Herod seeketh²⁸ to kill thee.¹⁷¹² Jesus said unto them, Go ye and say to this fox, Behold, I am casting out demons, and I heal to-day and to-morrow, and on the third day I am perfected.²⁹¹⁷¹³ Nevertheless I must be watchful¹⁷¹⁴ to-day and to-morrow, and on the last day I shall depart; for it cannot be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem.

³⁰¹⁷¹⁵ And after that, there came to him a man from that multitude, and fell upon his knees, and said unto him, I beseech thee, my Lord, look upon my son;¹⁷¹⁶ he is my³¹ only child: and the spirit cometh upon him suddenly.¹⁷¹⁷ A lunacy¹⁷¹⁸ hath come upon³² him, and he meeteth with evils.¹⁷¹⁹ And when it cometh upon him, it beateth him about;¹⁷²⁰³³ and he foameth, and gnasheth his teeth, and wasteth;¹⁷²¹¹⁷²² and many times it hath thrown him into the water and into the fire to destroy him, and it hardly leaveth him after³⁴ [Arabic, p. 95] bruising him.¹⁷²³ And I brought him near to thy disciples, and they could³⁵ not heal him.¹⁷²⁴ Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, till when shall I be with you? and till when shall I bear with you? bring thy son³⁶ hither.¹⁷²⁵ And he brought him unto him: and when the spirit saw him, immediately³⁷ it beat him about; and he fell upon the ground, and was raging and foaming.¹⁷²⁶ And Jesus asked his father, How long is the time during which he hath been thus? He³⁸ said unto him, From his youth until now.¹⁷²⁷ But, my Lord, help me wherein thou³⁹ canst, and have mercy upon me.¹⁷²⁸ Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe! All⁴⁰ things are possible to him that believeth.¹⁷²⁹ And immediately the father of the child⁴¹ cried out, weeping, and said, I believe, my Lord; help my lack of faith.¹⁷³⁰ And when Jesus saw the hastening of the people, and their coming at the sound, he rebuked that unclean spirit, and said to it, Thou dumb¹⁷³¹ spirit that speakest not, I command⁴² thee,¹⁷³² come out of him, and enter not again into him.¹⁷³³ And that spirit, devil,¹⁷³⁴ cried out much, and bruised him, and came out; and that child fell as one dead, and⁴³ many thought that he had died.¹⁷³⁵ But Jesus took him by his hand, and raised him⁴⁴ up, and gave him to his father; and that child was healed from that hour.¹⁷³⁶ And the people all marvelled at the greatness of God.

⁴⁵¹⁷³⁷ And when Jesus entered into the house, his disciples came, and asked him⁴⁶ privately,¹⁷³⁸ and said unto him, Why were we not able to heal him?¹⁷³⁹ Jesus said unto [Arabic, p. 96] them, Because of your unbelief. Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove hence;⁴⁷ and it shall remove; and nothing shall overcome you.¹⁷⁴⁰ But it is impossible to cast out this kind by anything except by fasting and prayer.

⁴⁸¹⁷⁴¹ And when he went forth thence, they passed through Galilee: and he would not⁴⁹ that any man should know it.¹⁷⁴²¹⁷⁴³ And he taught his disciples, and said unto them,⁵⁰¹⁷⁴⁴ Keep ye these sayings in your ears and your hearts: for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and when he is killed, he⁵¹ shall rise on the third day.¹⁷⁴⁵ But they knew not the word which he spake unto them, for it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they feared to⁵² ask him about this word.¹⁷⁴⁶ And they were exceeding sorrowful.

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.
1679
.
1680
i.e., already come.
1681
b.
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).
1682
.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
1683
a.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
1684
b; b.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
1685
Or, become white. In the Pesh. the verb is transitive. In Sin. the clause is omitted.
1686
b; .
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
1687
b.
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.)
1688
.
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.
1689
a.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
1690
b.
1691
c.
10
[cf. John passim.]
1692
b; a.
11
[cf. .]
1693
b.
12
[cf. ; .]
1694
b.
13
[cf. .]
1695
a.
14
[cf. ; .]
1696
.
15
[cf. .]
1697
.
16
[cf. .]
1698
.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
1699
.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
1700
a; c.
19
See below, 12, (2).
1701
b.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
1702
a; b.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
1703
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
1704
.
1705
b.
1706
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
1707
.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
1708
.
1709
This rendering assumes that the diacritical point is due to a clerical error. The text as printed can hardly be translated without forcing.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
1710
This Arabic word repeatedly represents a Syriac ran (cf. § 53, 11). A different word is so used in § 26, 21.
1711
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
1712
.
29
See below, 13.
1713
.
1714
The Syriac word used in the Peshitta is here translated just as it was translated in § 1, 79 (see note); but the Greek shows that in the present passage the Syriac word means go about (cf. Cur.).
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
1715
a; b.
1716
b.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
1717
a; b.
1718
Lit. The son-of-the-roof, a Syriac phrase meaning a demon of lunacy.
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.
1719
a.
1720
A word used in Arabic of the devil producing insanity; but here it reproduces the Peshitta.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
1721
Lit. becometh light; but a comparison with the Peshitta suggests that we should change one diacritical point and read withereth, as in Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary. An equally easy emendation would be wasteth.
1722
c; c.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
1723
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
1724
.
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.
1725
.
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.
1726
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
1727
b.
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.
1728
.
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).
1729
.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
1730
.
1731
In Syriac, but not in Arabic, the word means deaf or dumb, according to the context.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
1732
Ciasca's Arabic follows Vat. ms. in inserting a that (pronoun) after thee.
1733
.
1734
Doubtless alternative renderings of the same Syriac word (demon).
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.)
1735
a; b.
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.
1736
b; a.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
1737
.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
1738
Lit. between themselves and him.
1739
.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
1740
b.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
1741
.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
1742
Or, about him.
1743
a; a.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
1744
b.
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.
1745
.
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.
1746
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.