Introductory Notes

Section XXX

Page 37 of 468

¹²⁰⁵⁴ And he spake a parable unto those which were bidden there, because he saw² them choose the places that were in the highest part of the sitting room:²⁰⁵⁵ When a man invites thee to a feast, do not go and sit at the head of the room; lest there³ be there a man more honourable than thou,²⁰⁵⁶ and he that invited you come and say unto thee, Give the place to this man: and thou be ashamed when thou risest and⁴ takest²⁰⁵⁷ another place.²⁰⁵⁸ But when thou art invited, go and sit last; so that when he that invited thee cometh, he may say unto thee, My friend, go up higher: and⁵ thou shalt have praise before all that were invited with thee.²⁰⁵⁹ For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and every one that abaseth himself shall be exalted.

⁶²⁰⁶⁰ And he said also to him that had invited him, When thou makest a feast²⁰⁶¹ or a banquet,²⁰⁶² do not invite thy friends, nor even thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy⁷ rich neighbours; lest haply they also invite thee, and thou have this reward.²⁰⁶³ But when thou makest a feast, invite the poor, and those with withered hand, and the⁸ lame, and the blind:²⁰⁶⁴ and blessed art thou, since they have not the means to reward⁹ thee; that thy reward may be at the rising of the righteous.²⁰⁶⁵ And when one of them that were invited heard that, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

[10, 11]²⁰⁶⁶ Jesus answered again in parables, and said,²⁰⁶⁷ The kingdom of heaven hath been likened [Arabic, p. 115] to²⁰⁶⁸ a certain king, which made a feast²⁰⁶⁹ for his son, and prepared a¹² great banquet,²⁰⁷⁰ and invited many: and he sent his servants at the time of the feast to inform them that were invited,²⁰⁷¹ Everything is made ready for you; come. And¹³ they would not come, but began all of them with one voice to make excuse.²⁰⁷² And the first said unto them, Say to him, I have bought a field, and I must needs go out¹⁴ to see it:²⁰⁷³ I pray thee to release²⁰⁷⁴ me, for I ask to be excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine them: I pray thee¹⁵ to release me, for I ask to be excused.²⁰⁷⁵ And another said, I have married a wife,¹⁶ and therefore I cannot come.²⁰⁷⁶ And the king sent also other servants, and said, Say to those that were invited, that my feast is ready, and my oxen and my fatlings are¹⁷ slain, and everything is ready: come to the feast.²⁰⁷⁷ But they made light of it, and¹⁸ went, one to his field, and another to his merchandise:²⁰⁷⁸ and the rest took his¹⁹ servants, and entreated them shamefully, and killed them.²⁰⁷⁹ And one of the servants²⁰ came, and informed his lord of what had happened.²⁰⁸⁰ And when the king heard, he became angry, and sent his armies; and they destroyed those murderers, and²¹ burned their cities.²⁰⁸¹ Then he said to his servants, The feast is prepared, but those²² that were invited were not worthy.²⁰⁸² Go out quickly into the markets and into the partings of the ways of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and those with pains, and the lame, and the blind. And the servants did as the king commanded them.²³²⁰⁸³ And they came, and said unto him, Our lord, we have done all that thou commandedst²⁴ us, and there is here still room.²⁰⁸⁴ So the lord said unto his servants, Go out into the roads, and the ways, and the paths, and every one that ye find, invite²⁵ [Arabic, p. 116] to the feast, and constrain them to enter, till my house is²⁰⁸⁵ filled.²⁰⁸⁶ I say unto you, that no one of those people that were invited shall taste of my feast.²⁶²⁰⁸⁷ And those servants went out into the roads, and gathered all that they found, good and²⁷ bad: and the banquet-house was filled with guests.²⁰⁸⁸ And the king entered to see those²⁸ who were seated, and he saw there a man not wearing a festive garment:²⁰⁸⁹ and he said unto him, My friend, how didst thou come in here not having on festive garments?²⁹²⁰⁹⁰ And he was silent. Then the king said to the servants, Bind his hands and his feet, and put him forth into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and³⁰ gnashing of teeth.²⁰⁹¹ The called are many; and the chosen, few.

³¹²⁰⁹² And after that, the time of the feast of unleavened bread of the Jews arrived,³² and Jesus went out to go to Jerusalem.²⁰⁹³ And as he went in the way, there met him³³ ten persons who were lepers, and stood afar off:²⁰⁹⁴ and they lifted up their voice, and³⁴ said, Our Master, Jesus, have mercy upon us.²⁰⁹⁵ And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go and shew yourselves unto the priests. And when they went, they³⁵ were cleansed.²⁰⁹⁶ And one of them, when he saw himself cleansed, returned, and³⁶ was praising God with a loud voice;²⁰⁹⁷ and he fell on his face before the feet of³⁷ Jesus, giving him thanks: and this man was a Samaritan.²⁰⁹⁸ Jesus answered and said,³⁸ Were not those that were cleansed ten? where then are the nine?²⁰⁹⁹ Not one of them turned aside to come and praise God, but this man who is of a strange³⁹ people.²¹⁰⁰ He said unto him, Arise, and go thy way; for thy faith hath given thee life.²¹⁰¹

⁴⁰²¹⁰² And while they were going up in the way to Jerusalem, Jesus went in front of them; and they wondered, and followed him fearing. And he took his twelve disciples apart,⁴¹ and began to tell them privately²¹⁰³ what was about to befall him.²¹⁰⁴ And he said unto [Arabic, p. 117] them, We are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things shall be fulfilled⁴² that are written in the prophets concerning the Son of man.²¹⁰⁵ He shall be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death,⁴³ and deliver him to the peoples;²¹⁰⁶²¹⁰⁷ and they shall treat him shamefully, and scourge⁴⁴ him, and spit in his face, and humble him,²¹⁰⁸ and crucify him, and slay him:²¹⁰⁹ and on⁴⁵ the third day he shall rise.²¹¹⁰ But they understood not one thing of this; but this word was hidden from them, and they did not perceive these things that were addressed to them.

⁴⁶²¹¹¹ Then came near to him the mother of the (two) sons of Zebedee, she and her (two) sons, and worshipped him, and asked of him a certain thing.²¹¹² And he said⁴⁷ unto her, What wouldest thou?²¹¹³ And James and John, her two sons, came forward, and said unto him, Teacher, we would that all that we ask thou wouldest⁴⁸ do unto us.²¹¹⁴ He said unto them,²¹¹⁵ What would ye that I should do unto you?⁴⁹²¹¹⁶ They said unto him, Grant us that we may sit, the one on thy right, and the other⁵⁰ on thy left, in thy kingdom and thy glory.²¹¹⁷ And Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am to drink? and with the⁵¹ baptism that I am to be baptized with, will ye be baptized?²¹¹⁸ And they said unto him, We are able. Jesus said unto them, The cup that I drink ye shall drink; and⁵² with the baptism wherewith I am baptized ye shall be baptized:²¹¹⁹ but that ye should sit on my right and on my left is not mine to give; but it is for him for whom my Father hath prepared it.

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.
2054
.
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).
2055
.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
2056
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
2057
Lit. at thy rising and taking.
2058
.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
2059
.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
2060
.
2061
Practically synonymous words.
2062
Practically synonymous words.
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.)
2063
.
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.
2064
.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
2065
.
2066
; .
2067
b.
2068
Borg. ms., is like.
2069
Used specially of a marriage feast.
12
[cf. ; .]
2070
Lit. bread, the Syriac word for which (not that in the versions) means also feast.
2071
; b.
13
[cf. .]
2072
.
14
[cf. ; .]
2073
.
2074
Or, omit.
15
[cf. .]
2075
.
16
[cf. .]
2076
.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
2077
.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
2078
.
19
See below, 12, (2).
2079
a.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
2080
.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
2081
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
2082
c.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
2083
.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
2084
a; b.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
2085
Or, that my house may be.
2086
b; .
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
2087
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
2088
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
2089
.
29
See below, 13.
2090
.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
2091
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
2092
a.
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.
2093
; .
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
2094
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
2095
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
2096
.
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.
2097
.
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.
2098
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
2099
.
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.
2100
.
2101
Or, saved thee.
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).
2102
.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
2103
Lit. between himself and them.
2104
b.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
2105
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.)
2106
i.e., Gentiles.
2107
a.
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.
2108
An obscure expression; perhaps it was originally a repetition of the preceding clause. It might be emended into point at him (the finger of scorn).
2109
.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
2110
.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
2111
.
2112
a.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
2113
.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
2114
.
2115
Lit. of course the two of them, and so all through the conversation.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
2116
.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
2117
.
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.
2118
.
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.
2119
.

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.