Introductory Notes
Section XXXIII
Page 40 of 468
1 [Arabic, p. 125]2241 And when evening came, Jesus went forth outside of the city, he and his2 disciples.2242 And as they passed in the morning, the disciples saw that fig tree3 withered away from its root.2243 And they passed by, and said, How did the fig tree dry4 up immediately?2244 And Simon remembered, and said unto him, My Master, behold,5 that fig tree which thou didst curse hath dried up.2245 And Jesus answered and said6 unto them, Let there be in you the faith of God.2246 Verily I say unto you, if ye believe, and doubt not in your hearts, and assure yourselves that that will be which7 ye say, ye shall have what ye say.2247 And if ye say to this mountain, Remove, and8 fall2248 into the sea, it shall be.2249 And all that ye ask God in prayer, and believe, he [9, 10] will give you.2250 And the apostles2251 said unto our Lord, Increase our2252 faith.2253 He said unto them, If there be in you faith like a grain of mustard, ye shall say to this fig tree, Be thou torn up, and be thou planted in the sea; and it will obey you.112254 Who of you hath a servant driving a yoke of oxen or tending sheep, and if he12 come from the field, will say unto him straightway, Go and sit down?2255 Nay,2256 he will say unto him, Make ready for me wherewith I may sup, and gird thy waist, and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink also.132257 Doth that servant haply, who did what he was bid, receive his praise? I think14 not.2258 So ye also, when ye have done all that ye were bid, say, We are idle servants; what it was our duty to do, we have done.
152259 For this reason I say unto you, Whatever ye pray and ask, believe that ye16 [Arabic, p. 126] receive, and ye shall have.2260 And when ye stand to pray, forgive what is in your heart against any man; and your Father which is in heaven will17 forgive you also your wrong-doings.2261 But if ye forgive not men their wrong-doings, neither will your Father forgive you also your wrong-doings.
182262 And he spake unto them a parable also, that they should pray at all times, and19 not be slothful:2263 There was a judge in a city, who feared not God, nor was ashamed20 for men:2264 and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, and said,21 Avenge me of mine adversary.2265 And he would not for a long time: but afterwards he said within himself, If of God I have no fear, and before men I have no shame;222266 yet because this widow vexeth me, I will avenge her, that she come not at all times [23, 24] and annoy me.2267 And our Lord said, Hear ye what the judge of injustice said.2268 And shall not God still more do vengeance for his elect, who call upon him in the night25 and in the day, and grant them respite?2269 I say unto you, He will do vengeance for them speedily. Thinkest thou the Son of man will come and find faith on the earth?
[26, 27]2270 And they came again to Jerusalem.2271 And it came to pass, on one of the days, as Jesus was walking in the temple, and teaching the people, and preaching the28 gospel,2272 that the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came upon him, and said unto him, Tell us:2273 By what power doest thou this? and who gave thee this29 power to do that?2274 And Jesus said unto them, I also will ask you one word, and if30 ye tell me, I also shall tell you by what power I do that.2275 The baptism of John, from31 what place is it? from heaven or of men?2276 Tell me.2277 And they reflected within themselves, [Arabic, p. 127] and said, If we shall say unto him, From heaven; he will say unto32 us, For what reason did ye not believe him?2278 But2279 if we shall say, Of men;33 we fear2280 that the people will stone us, all of them.2281 And all of them were holding228234 to John, that he was a true prophet.2283 They answered and said unto him, We know35 not.2284 Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you also by what power I work. What think ye? A man had two sons; and he went to the first, and said unto him, My36 son, go to-day, and till in the vineyard.2285 And he answered and said, I do not wish37 to: but finally he repented, and went.2286 And he went to the other, and said unto38 him likewise.2287 And he answered and said, Yea, my lord: and went not. Which of these two did the will of his father? They said unto him, The first. Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, The publicans and harlots go before you into39 the kingdom of God.2288 John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and harlots believed him; and ye, not even when ye saw, did ye repent at last, that ye might believe in him.
402289 Hear another parable: A man was a householder, and planted a vineyard, and surrounded it with a hedge, and digged in it a winepress, and built in it a tower, [41, 42]2290 and gave it to husbandmen, and went to a distance for a long time.2291 So when the time of the fruits came, he sent his servants2292 unto the husbandmen, that they might43 send him of the produce2293 of his vineyard.2294 And those husbandmen beat him, and44 sent him away empty.2295 And he sent unto them another servant also; and they45 stoned him, and wounded2296 him, and sent him away with shameful handling.2297 And he sent again another; and they slew him. And he sent many other servants unto46 them.2298 And the husbandmen took his servants, and one they beat, and another they47 stoned, and another they slew.2299 So he sent again other servants more than the first; and48 [Arabic, p. 128] they did likewise with them.2300 So the owner of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will see him and be [49, 50] ashamed.2301 So at last he sent unto them his beloved son that he had.2302 But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said amongst themselves, This is the heir. [51, 52]2303 And they said, We will slay him, and so the inheritance will be ours.2304 So they took53 him, and put him forth without the vineyard, and slew him.2305 When then the lord54 of the vineyard shall come, what will he do with those husbandmen?2306 They said unto him, He will destroy them in the worst of ways,2307 and give the vineyard to55 other husbandmen, who will give him fruit in its season.2308 Jesus said unto them, Have ye never read in the scripture,
The stone which the builders declared to be base,
2309 The same came to be at the head of the corner:
And it is wonderful in our eyes?
572311 Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and58 given to a people that will produce fruit.2312 And whosoever falleth on this stone shall be broken in pieces: but on whomsoever it falleth, it will grind him to59 powder.2313 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they60 perceived that it was concerning them he spake.2314 And they sought to seize him; and they feared the multitude, because they were holding to him as the prophet.
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.
- 2241
.
- 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).
- 2242
.
- 3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
- 2243
b.
- 4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
- 2244
.
- 5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
- 2245
.
- 6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
- 2246
.
- 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.)
- 2247
b.
- 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.
- 2248
Syr.
- 2249
.
- 2250
.
- 2251
The Syriac word.
- 2252
Lit. Increase us in.
- 2253
.
- 11
[cf. .]
- 2254
.
- 12
[cf. ; .]
- 2255
.
- 2256
Or, But.
- 13
[cf. .]
- 2257
.
- 14
[cf. ; .]
- 2258
.
- 15
[cf. .]
- 2259
.
- 16
[cf. .]
- 2260
.
- 17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
- 2261
.
- 18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
- 2262
.
- 19
See below, 12, (2).
- 2263
.
- 20
See also below, 6, and 20.
- 2264
.
- 21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
- 2265
.
- 22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
- 2266
.
- 2267
.
- 2268
.
- 25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
- 2269
.
- 2270
a.
- 2271
.
- 28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
- 2272
a.
- 2273
b.
- 29
See below, 13.
- 2274
a; b.
- 30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
- 2275
a.
- 31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
- 2276
b.
- 2277
b.
- 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.
- 2278
a.
- 2279
Verse 26 begins here in the Greek.
- 33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
- 2280
From Mark.
- 2281
b; b.
- 2282
cf. Syriac.
- 34
See below, note to Subscription.
- 2283
.
- 35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
- 2284
.
- 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.
- 2285
.
- 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.
- 2286
.
- 38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
- 2287
.
- 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.
- 2288
.
- 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).
- 2289
a.
- 2290
b.
- 2291
Mark xxi. 34.
- 2292
The difference between singular and plural is very slight in Arabic.
- 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.)
- 2293
Lit. property.
- 2294
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.
- 2295
.
- 45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
- 2296
A word used specially of wounding the head.
- 2297
a.
- 46
Published at Venice in 1836.
- 2298
.
- 47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
- 2299
.
- 48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
- 2300
.
- 2301
a.
- 2302
a.
- 2303
b.
- 2304
.
- 53
cf. the words of Aphraates, senior contemporary of Ephraem: "As it is written in the beginning of the Gospel of our Vivifier: In the beginning was the Word." (Patrol. Syr., pars i., tom. i., 21, lines 17-19).
- 2305
.
- 54
Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellsch. der Wiss., etc., March 17, 1886, No. 4, p. 151 ff.
- 2306
.
- 2307
cf. Syriac versions.
- 55
See notes to § 1, 81, and § 4, 29.
- 2308
a.
- 2309
b.
- 56
See note to § 55, 17.
- 2310
c.
- 57
The Armenian version of Ephraem is supposed to date from the fifth century.
- 2311
.
- 58
Mai, Script. vet. nov. Coll., x., 191.
- 2312
.
- 59
Overbeck, S. Ephraemi, etc., Opera Selecta, p. 220, lines 3-5.
- 2313
.
- 60
Phillips, Doct. Add., p. 36, 15-17 [E. Tr. p. 34].
- 2314
.