Introductory Notes
Section XXVI
Page 33 of 468
[1, 2]1807 And there came unto him publicans and sinners to hear his word.1808 And the scribes and the Pharisees murmured, and said, This man receiveth sinners, and3 eateth with them.1809 And Jesus, when he beheld their murmuring, spake unto them4 this parable:1810 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if one of them were lost, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go and seek the straying one5 till he found it?1811 Verily I say unto you, When he findeth it, he will rejoice over it6 more than over the ninety-nine that went not astray;1812 and bear it on his shoulders, and bring it to his house, and call his friends and neighbours,1813 and say unto them,7 Rejoice with me, since I have found my straying sheep.1814 So your Father which is in heaven willeth1815 not that one of these little ones that have strayed should perish,8 and he seeketh for them repentance.1816 I say unto you, Thus there shall be rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety-nine righteous persons that do not need repentance.
91817 And what woman having ten drachmas would lose one of them, and not light a10 lamp, and sweep the house, and seek it with care till she found it;1818 and when she found it, call her friends and neighbours, and say unto them, Rejoice with me, as I11 have found my drachma that was lost?1819 I say unto you, Thus there shall be joy [Arabic, p. 101] before the angels of God over the one sinner that repenteth, more than over the ninety-nine righteous persons that do not need repentance.
[12, 13]1820 And Jesus spake unto them also another parable:1821 A man had two sons: and the younger son said unto him, My father, give me my portion that belongeth to14 me of thy goods.1822 And he divided between them his property. And after a few days the younger son gathered everything that belonged to him, and went into a15 far country, and there squandered his property by living prodigally.1823 And when he had exhausted everything he had, there occurred a great dearth in that country.161824 And when he was in want, he went and joined himself to one of the people of a city17 of that country; and that man sent him into the field1825 to feed the swine.1826 And he used to long to fill his belly with the carob that those swine were eating: and no man18 gave him.1827 And when he returned unto himself, he said, How many hired servants now in my father's house have bread enough and to spare, while I here perish with19 hunger!1828 I will arise and go to my father's house, and say unto him, My father,1829 I20 have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy now to be called thy21 son: make me as one of thy hired servants.1830 And he arose, and came to his father. But his father saw him while he was at a distance, and was moved with compassion22 for him, and ran,1831 and fell on his breast,1832 and kissed him.1833 And his son said unto him, My father, I have sinned in heaven and before thee, and am not worthy to be23 called thy son.1834 His father said unto his servants, Bring forth a stately robe, and put24 it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and put on him shoes on his feet:1835 and bring and25 slay a fatted ox, that we may eat and make merry:1836 for this my son was dead, and is26 [Arabic, p. 102] alive; and was lost, and is found.1837 And they began to be merry.1838 Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and drew near to the house,27 he heard the sound of many singing.18391840 And he called one of the lads, and asked him28 what this was.1841 He said unto him, Thy brother hath arrived; and thy father hath29 slain a fatted ox, since he hath received him safe and sound.18421843 And he was angry,30 and would not enter; so his father went out, and besought him to enter.1844 And he said to his father, How many years do I serve thee in bondage, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and thou hast never given me a kid, that I might31 make merry with my friends?1845 but this thy son, when he had squandered thy32 property with harlots, and come, thou hast slain for him a fatted ox.1846 His father said unto him, My son, thou art at all times with me, and everything I have is33 thine.1847 It behoveth thee to rejoice and make merry, since this thy brother was dead, and is alive; and was lost, and is found.
341848 And he spake a parable unto his disciples: There was a rich man, and he had35 a steward; and he was accused to him that he had squandered his property.1849 So his lord called him, and said unto him, What is this that I hear regarding thee? Give me the account of thy stewardship; for it is now impossible that thou shouldest36 be a steward for me.1850 The steward said within himself, What shall I do, seeing that my lord taketh from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able; and to beg1851 I37 am ashamed.1852 I know what I will do, that, when I go out of the stewardship, they38 may receive me into their houses.1853 And he called one after another of his lord's39 debtors, and said to the first, How much owest thou my lord?1854 He said unto him, An hundred portions1855 of oil. He said unto him, Take thy writing, and sit down, and write40 quickly fifty portions.18561857 And he said to the next, And thou, how much owest thou my lord? He said unto him, An hundred cors of wheat. He said unto him, Take41 [Arabic, p. 103] thy writing, and sit down, and write eighty cors.1858 And our1859 lord commended the sinful steward1860 because he had done a wise deed; for the children42 of this world are wiser than the children of the light in this their age.1861 And I also say unto you, Make unto yourselves friends with the wealth of this unrighteousness;186243 so that, when it is exhausted, they may receive you into their tents for ever.1863 He who is faithful in1864 a little is faithful also in much: and he who is unrighteous in a44 little is unrighteous also in much.1865 If then in the wealth of unrighteousness ye were45 not trustworthy, who will intrust you with the truth?18661867 If ye are not found faithful in what does not belong to you, who will give you what belongeth to you?
Notes
- 1807
.
- 1808
.
- 3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
- 1809
.
- 4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
- 1810
.
- 5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
- 1811
.
- 6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
- 1812
b.
- 1813
.
- 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.)
- 1814
.
- 1815
Strictly, preferreth, but used also as in the text.
- 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.
- 1816
.
- 9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
- 1817
.
- 10
[cf. John passim.]
- 1818
.
- 11
[cf. .]
- 1819
.
- 1820
.
- 1821
.
- 14
[cf. ; .]
- 1822
.
- 15
[cf. .]
- 1823
.
- 16
[cf. .]
- 1824
.
- 17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
- 1825
This word is regularly used throughout this work in this sense.
- 1826
.
- 18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
- 1827
.
- 19
See below, 12, (2).
- 1828
.
- 1829
.
- 20
See also below, 6, and 20.
- 21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
- 1830
.
- 22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
- 1831
See above, § 24, 26, note.
- 1832
Did not Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary (Brit. Mus. text) also read breast, we might assume it to be a clerical error for a very similar (less common) word (same as the Syriac) for neck.
- 1833
.
- 23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
- 1834
.
- 24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
- 1835
.
- 25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
- 1836
.
- 26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
- 1837
.
- 1838
A different word.
- 27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
- 1839
cf. Peshitta.
- 1840
.
- 28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
- 1841
.
- 29
See below, 13.
- 1842
One word.
- 1843
.
- 30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
- 1844
.
- 31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
- 1845
.
- 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.
- 1846
.
- 33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
- 1847
.
- 34
See below, note to Subscription.
- 1848
.
- 35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
- 1849
.
- 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.
- 1850
.
- 1851
Vat. ms. (followed by Ciasca's text) has and if I beg, by a common confusion of grammatical forms.
- 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.
- 1852
.
- 38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
- 1853
.
- 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.
- 1854
.
- 1855
Or (otherwise vocalised), farks, a measure variously estimated.
- 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).
- 1856
Or (otherwise vocalised), farks, a measure variously estimated.
- 1857
.
- 41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
- 1858
.
- 1859
cf. Peshitta.
- 1860
Lit. steward of sin.
- 42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
- 1861
.
- 1862
Lit. injustice.
- 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.)
- 1863
.
- 1864
Or, intrusted with.
- 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.
- 1865
.
- 45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
- 1866
Or, true (wealth); but cf. Syriac.
- 1867
.
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.