Introductory Notes

Section XXIX

Page 36 of 468

¹¹⁹⁹⁶ Verily I say unto you, It is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of² heaven.¹⁹⁹⁷ And I say unto you also, that it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of³ a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.¹⁹⁹⁸ And the disciples were wondering at these sayings. And Jesus answered and said unto them again, My children, how hard it is for those that rely on their possessions to enter the⁴ kingdom of God!¹⁹⁹⁹ And those that were listening wondered more, and said amongst⁵ themselves, being agitated,²⁰⁰⁰ Who, thinkest thou, can be saved?²⁰⁰¹ And Jesus looked at them intently, and said unto them, With men this is not possible, but with God it is:⁶ [Arabic, p. 111] it is possible for God to do everything.²⁰⁰² Simon Cephas said unto him, Lo, we have left everything, and followed thee; what is it, thinkest thou, that we⁷ shall have?²⁰⁰³ Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, Ye that have followed me, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also⁸ shall sit on twelve thrones, and shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel.²⁰⁰⁴ Verily I say unto you, No man leaveth houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or kinsfolk, or lands, because of the kingdom of God, or for⁹ my sake, and the sake of my gospel,²⁰⁰⁵ who shall not obtain²⁰⁰⁶ many times as much in this¹⁰ time, and in the world to come inherit eternal life:²⁰⁰⁷ and now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecution;¹¹ and in the world to come everlasting life.²⁰⁰⁸ Many that are first shall be last,²⁰⁰⁹ and that are last shall be first.

¹²²⁰¹⁰ And when the Pharisees heard all this, because of their love for wealth they¹³ scoffed at him.²⁰¹¹ And Jesus knew what was in their hearts, and said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves before men; while God knows your hearts: the thing that is lofty with men is base before God.

¹⁴²⁰¹² And he began to say, A certain man was rich, and wore silk and purple, and enjoyed¹⁵ himself every day in splendour:²⁰¹³ and there was a poor man named Lazarus, and¹⁶ he was cast down at the door of the rich man,²⁰¹⁴ afflicted with sores, and he longed to fill [Arabic, p. 112] his belly with the crumbs that fell from the table of that rich man; yea,¹⁷ even²⁰¹⁵ the dogs used to come and lick his sores.²⁰¹⁶ And it happened that that poor man died, and the angels conveyed him into the bosom of Abraham: and the¹⁸ rich man also died, and was buried.²⁰¹⁷ And while he was being tormented in Hades,¹⁹ he lifted up his eyes from afar, and saw Abraham with²⁰¹⁸ Lazarus in his bosom.²⁰¹⁹ And he called with a loud voice, and said, My father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to wet the tip of his finger with water, and moisten my tongue²⁰ for me; for, behold, I am burned in this flame.²⁰²⁰ Abraham said unto him, My son, remember that thou receivedst thy good things in thy life, and Lazarus his afflictions:²¹ but now, behold, he is at rest here, and thou art tormented.²⁰²¹ And in addition to all this, there is between us and you a great abyss placed, so that they that would cross unto you from hence cannot, nor yet from thence do they cross unto²² us.²⁰²² He said unto him, Then I beseech thee, my father, to send him to my father's²³ house;²⁰²³ for I have five brethren; let him go, that they also sin not,²⁰²⁴ and come to²⁴ the abode of this torment.²⁰²⁵²⁰²⁶ Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the²⁵ prophets; let them hear them.²⁰²⁷ He said unto him, Nay,²⁰²⁸ my father Abraham: but²⁶ let a man from the dead go unto them, and they will repent.²⁰²⁹ Abraham said unto him, If they listen neither to Moses nor to the prophets, neither if a man from the dead rose would they believe him.

²⁷²⁰³⁰ The kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a householder, which went out early²⁸ in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard.²⁰³¹ And he agreed with the labourers on²⁹ one penny a day for each labourer, and he sent them into his vineyard.²⁰³² And he went³⁰ [Arabic, p. 113] out in three hours, and saw others standing in the market idle.²⁰³³ He said unto them, Go ye also into my vineyard, and what is right I will pay you.³¹²⁰³⁴ And they went. And he went out also at the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise,³² and sent them.²⁰³⁵ And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said unto them, Why are ye standing the whole day idle?³³²⁰³⁶ They said unto him, Because no one hath hired us. He said unto them, Go ye³⁴ also into the vineyard, and what is right ye shall receive.²⁰³⁷ So when evening came, the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the labourers, and pay them³⁵ their wages; and begin with the later ones, and end with the former ones.²⁰³⁸ And³⁶ those of eleven hours²⁰³⁹ came, and received each a penny.²⁰⁴⁰ When therefore the first came, they supposed that they should receive something more; and they also³⁷ received each a penny.²⁰⁴¹ And when they received it, they spake angrily against the³⁸ householder, and said,²⁰⁴² These last worked one hour, and thou hast made them equal³⁹ with us, who have suffered the heat of the day, and its burden.²⁰⁴³ He answered and said unto one of them, My friend, I do thee no wrong: was it not for a penny that⁴⁰ thou didst bargain with me?²⁰⁴⁴ Take what is thine, and go thy way; for I wish to⁴¹ give this last as I have given thee.²⁰⁴⁵ Or am I not entitled to do with what is mine²⁰⁴⁶⁴² what I choose?²⁰⁴⁷ Or is thine eye perchance evil, because I am good? Thus shall the last ones be first, and the first last. The called are many, and the chosen are few.

⁴³²⁰⁴⁸ And when Jesus entered into the house of one of the chiefs of the Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, and they were watching him to see what he would [44, 45] do,²⁰⁴⁹ and there was before him a man which had the dropsy,²⁰⁵⁰ Jesus answered and⁴⁶ said unto the scribes and the Pharisees, Is it lawful on the sabbath to heal?²⁰⁵¹ But [Arabic, p. 114] they were silent. So he took him, and healed him, and sent him away.⁴⁷²⁰⁵² And he said unto them, Which of you shall have his son or his ox fall on the sabbath day into a well, and not lift him up straightway, and draw water for⁴⁸ him?²⁰⁵³ And they were not able to answer him a word to that.

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.
1996
.
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).
1997
.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
1998
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
1999
.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
2000
cf. note, § 1, 14. Borg. MS, omits being agitated.
2001
.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
2002
; <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.)
2003
.
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.
2004
b.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
2005
.
2006
Lit. meet with; or, be recompensed with.
10
[cf. John passim.]
2007
b.
11
[cf. .]
2008
.
2009
The Arabic words are not so strong.
12
[cf. ; .]
2010
.
13
[cf. .]
2011
.
14
[cf. ; .]
2012
.
15
[cf. .]
2013
.
16
[cf. .]
2014
.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
2015
Or, so that.
2016
.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
2017
.
19
See below, 12, (2).
2018
Or, and.
2019
.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
2020
.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
2021
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
2022
.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
2023
.
2024
The Syriac and Arabic versions here agree with the Greek. For a plausible suggestion as to the origin of the strange reading in the text, see Harris, The Diatessaron of Tatian, p. 21, who cites a parallel from Aphraates.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
2025
This may be simply a corruption of the Peshitta.
2026
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
2027
.
2028
Or, Surely. The word is omitted by Borg. ms.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
2029
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
2030
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
2031
.
29
See below, 13.
2032
.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
2033
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
2034
.
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.
2035
.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
2036
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
2037
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
2038
.
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.
2039
i.e., probably the eleventh hour (cf. § 21, 10).
2040
.
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.
2041
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
2042
.
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.
2043
.
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).
2044
.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
2045
.
2046
Lit. my thing.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
2047
.
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.)
2048
.
2049
.
2050
.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
2051
.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
2052
.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
2053
.

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.