Introductory Notes

Section XXXVI

Page 43 of 468

¹²⁴⁵⁶ Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever keepeth my word shall not see death² for ever.²⁴⁵⁷ The Jews said unto him, Now we know that thou hast demons. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, Whosoever keepeth my word shall not³ taste death for ever.²⁴⁵⁸ Art thou haply greater than our father Abraham, who is⁴ dead, and than the prophets, which are dead? whom makest thou thyself?²⁴⁵⁹ Jesus said unto them, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: my Father is he that⁵ glorifieth me; of whom ye say, that he is our²⁴⁶⁰ God;²⁴⁶¹ and yet ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say that I know him not, I should become⁶ [Arabic, p. 137] a liar like you: but I know him, and keep his word.²⁴⁶² Abraham your father⁷ longed to see my day; and he saw, and rejoiced.²⁴⁶³ The Jews said unto him,⁸ Thou art now not fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?²⁴⁶⁴ Jesus said unto⁹ them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.²⁴⁶⁵ And they take²⁴⁶⁶ stones to stone him:²⁴⁶⁷ but Jesus concealed himself, and went out of the temple. And he passed through them, and went his way.

¹⁰²⁴⁶⁸ And as he passed, he saw a man blind from his mother's womb.²⁴⁶⁹ And his¹¹ disciples asked him, and said, Our Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, so¹² that he was born blind?²⁴⁷⁰²⁴⁷¹ Jesus said unto them, Neither did he sin, nor his parents:¹³ but that the works of God may be seen in him.²⁴⁷²²⁴⁷³ It is incumbent on me to do the deeds of him that sent me, while it is day: a night will come, and no man will be¹⁴ able to busy himself.²⁴⁷⁴ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.¹⁵²⁴⁷⁵ And when he said that, he spat upon the ground, and made clay of his spittle, and¹⁶ smeared it on the eyes of the blind man, and said unto him,²⁴⁷⁶ Go and wash thyself in¹⁷ the pool²⁴⁷⁷ of Siloam.²⁴⁷⁸²⁴⁷⁹ And he went and washed, and came seeing. And his neighbours, which saw him of old begging, said, Is not this he that was sitting begging?¹⁸²⁴⁸⁰ And some said, It is he; and others said, Nay, but he resembles him much. He [19, 20] said, I am he.²⁴⁸¹ They said unto him, How then were thine eyes opened?²⁴⁸² He answered and said unto them, A man named Jesus made clay, and smeared it on my eyes, and said unto me, Go and wash in the water of Siloam: and I went and²¹ washed, and received sight.²⁴⁸³²⁴⁸⁴ They said unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. [22, 23] [Arabic, p. 138]²⁴⁸⁵ And they brought him that was previously blind to the Pharisees.²⁴⁸⁶ And the day in which Jesus made clay and opened with it his eyes was a sabbath²⁴ day.²⁴⁸⁷ And again the Pharisees asked him, How didst thou receive sight? And he said²⁵ unto them, He put clay on mine eyes, and I washed, and received sight.²⁴⁸⁸ The people²⁴⁸⁹ of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he keepeth not the sabbath. And others said, How can a man that is a sinner do these signs? And there came²⁶ to be a division amongst them.²⁴⁹⁰ And again they said to that blind man, Thou, then, what sayest thou of him that opened for thee thine eyes? He said unto them,²⁷ I say that he is a prophet.²⁴⁹¹ And the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he was blind, and received sight, until they summoned the parents of him who received²⁸ sight, and asked them,²⁴⁹² Is this²⁴⁹³ your son, of whom ye said that he was born blind?²⁹ how then, behold, doth he now see?²⁴⁹⁴ His parents answered and said, We know³⁰ that this is our son, and that he was born blind:²⁴⁹⁵ but how he has come to see now, or who it is that opened his eyes, we know not: and he also has reached his prime;³¹ ask him, and he will speak for himself.²⁴⁹⁶ This said his parents, because they were fearing the Jews: and the Jews decided, that if any man should confess of him that³² he was the Messiah, they would put him out of the synagogue.²⁴⁹⁷ For this reason³³ said his parents, He hath reached his prime; ask him.²⁴⁹⁸ And they called the man a second time, him that was blind, and said unto him, Praise God: we know that this³⁴ man is a sinner.²⁴⁹⁹ He answered and said unto them, Whether he be a sinner, I know³⁵ not: I know one thing, that I was blind, and I now see.²⁵⁰⁰ They said unto him again,³⁶ [Arabic, p. 139] What did he unto thee? how opened he for thee thine eyes?²⁵⁰¹ He said unto them, I said unto you, and ye did not hear: what²⁵⁰² wish ye further to hear?³⁷ ye also, do ye wish to become disciples to him?²⁵⁰³ And they reviled him, and said unto him, Thou art the disciple²⁵⁰⁴ of that man; but as for us, we are the disciples of³⁸ Moses.²⁵⁰⁵ And we know that God spake unto Moses: but this man, we know not³⁹ whence he is.²⁵⁰⁶ The man answered and said unto them, From this is the wonder,⁴⁰ because ye know not whence he is, and mine eyes hath he opened.²⁵⁰⁷ And we know that God heareth not the voice of sinners: but whosoever feareth him, and doeth⁴¹ his will, him he heareth.²⁵⁰⁸ From eternity hath it not been heard of, that a man⁴² opened the eyes of a blind man, who had been born in blindness.²⁵⁰⁹ If then this man⁴³ were not from God, he could not do that.²⁵¹⁰ They answered and said unto him, Thou wast all of thee born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they put him forth without.

⁴⁴²⁵¹¹ And Jesus heard of his being put forth without, and found him, and said unto⁴⁵ him, Dost thou believe in the Son of God?²⁵¹² He that was made whole answered⁴⁶ and said, Who is he, my Lord, that I may believe in him?²⁵¹³ Jesus said unto him,⁴⁷ Thou hast seen him, and he that speaketh to thee is he.²⁵¹⁴ And he said, I believe, my Lord. And he fell down worshipping him.

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.
2456
.
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).
2457
.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
2458
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
2459
.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
2460
cf. Peshitta. The Sinaitic omits our.
2461
.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
2462
.
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.)
2463
.
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.
2464
.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
2465
.
2466
The Vat. ms. has took him, probably omitting stones, though Ciasca does not say so. Take is probably a copyist's error (change in diacritical paints) for took.
2467
John viii. 60 [reckoned to verse 59 in the Greek.].
10
[cf. John passim.]
2468
.
2469
.
11
[cf. .]
12
[cf. ; .]
2470
A different word in Arabic from that used in verses 1 and 6.
2471
.
13
[cf. .]
2472
The Vat. ms. has that we may see the works of God in him. By the addition of a diacritical point this would give the same sense as in the text above, and more grammatically.
2473
.
14
[cf. ; .]
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.
15
[cf. .]
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.
16
[cf. .]
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.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
2477
The Arabic word properly means baptism. The Syriac has both meanings.
2478
Lit. Shiloha, as in Syriac.
2479
.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
2480
.
2481
.
2482
.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
2483
Lit. saw.
2484
.
2485
.
2486
.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
2487
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
2488
.
2489
An easy clerical error for Some.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
2490
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
2491
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28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
2492
.
2493
Lit. them, whether this be.
29
See below, 13.
2494
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30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
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31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
2496
.
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.
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33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
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34
See below, note to Subscription.
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35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
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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.
2501
.
2502
Or, why (cf. note, § 7, 38).
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.
2503
.
2504
Disciples is probably simply a misprint in Ciasca's text.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
2505
.
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.
2506
.
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).
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41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
2508
.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
2509
.
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.)
2510
.
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.
2511
.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
2512
.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
2513
.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
2514
.

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.