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Introductory Notes

Section XLV

Page 52 of 468

[1, 2] [Arabic, p. 170]3086 And one of his disciples was sitting3087 in his bosom, he whom Jesus loved.3088 To him Simon Cephas beckoned, that he should ask him who this was, concerning3 whom he spake.3089 And that disciple leaned3090 on Jesus' breast, and said unto him,4 My Lord, who is this?3091 Jesus answered and said, He to whom I shall dip bread, and give it. And Jesus dipped bread, and gave to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.53092 And after the bread, Satan entered him. And Jesus said unto him, What thou6 desirest to do, hasten the doing of it.3093 And no man of them that sat knew why he7 said this unto him.3094 And some of them thought, because Judas had the box, that he was bidding him buy what would be needed for the feast; or, that he might pay8 something to the poor.3095 Judas the betrayer answered and said, Can it be I, my9 Master? Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said.3096 And Judas took the bread straightway, and went forth without: and it was still night.

103097 And Jesus said, Now is the Son of man being glorified,3098 and God is being glorified309911 in him;3100 and if God is glorified in him, God also will glorify him in him, and straightway will glorify him.

123101 And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and divided;3102 and he13 gave to his disciples, and said unto them, Take and eat; this is my body.3103 And he [Arabic, p. 171] took a cup, and gave thanks, and blessed, and gave them,3104 and said, Take [14, 15] and drink of it, all of you.3105 And they drank of it, all of them.3106 And he said unto them,3107 This is my blood, the new covenant, that is shed for many for the16 forgiveness of sins.3108 I say unto you, I shall not drink henceforth of this, the juice of the vine, until the day in which I drink3109 with you new wine in the kingdom of17 God.3110 And thus do ye in remembrance of me.3111 And Jesus said unto Simon, Simon,18 behold, Satan asketh that he may sift you like wheat:3112 but I entreat3113 for thee, that thou lose not thy faith:3114 and do thou, at some time, turn3115 and strengthen thy brethren.

193116 My children, another little while am I with you. And ye shall seek me: and as20 I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; I say unto you now also.3117 A new commandment I give you, that ye may love one another; and as I have loved21 you, so shall ye also love one another.3118 By this shall every man know that ye are22 my disciples, if ye have love one to another.3119 Simon Cephas said unto him, Our Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered and said unto him, Whither I go, thou canst not now follow me; but later thou shalt come.

233120 Then said Jesus unto them, Ye all shall desert3121 me this night:3122 it is written, I24 will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.3123 But after my25 rising, I shall go before you into Galilee.3124 Simon Cephas answered and said unto26 him, My Lord, if every man desert thee, I shall at no time desert thee.3125 I am with thee ready for imprisonment and for death.3126 And my life will I give up for thee.27 [Arabic, p. 172]3127 Jesus said unto him, Wilt thou give up thy life for me?3128 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt to-day, during this night, before the cock crow28 twice, three times deny me, that thou knowest me not.3129 But Cephas said the more,3130 Even if it lead to3131 death with thee, I shall not deny thee, my Lord. And in like manner said all the disciples also.

293132 Then Jesus said unto them, Let not your hearts be troubled:3133 believe in God,30 and believe in me.3134 The stations3135 in my Father's house are many, else I should31 have told3136 you. I3137 go to prepare for you a place.3138 And if I go to prepare for you a place, I shall return again, and take you unto me: and so where I am, there ye [32, 33] shall be also.3139 And the place that I go ye know,3140 and the way ye know.31413142 Thomas said unto him, Our Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how is the way for34 us to the knowledge of that?31433144 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, and the truth,35 and the life: and no man cometh unto my Father, but through me.3145 And if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father: and from henceforth ye know3146 him,36 and have seen him.3147 Philip3148 said unto him, Our Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth37 us.3149 Jesus said unto him, Have I been all this time with you, and dost thou not know3150 me, Philip?3151 whosoever hath seen me hath seen the Father; how then sayest38 thou, Shew us the Father?3152 Believest thou not that I am in my Father, and my Father in me? and the saying that I say, I say not of myself: but my Father who dwelleth in39 me, he doeth these deeds.3153 Believe that I am in my Father, and my Father in me:40 [Arabic, p. 173] or else believe for the sake of the deeds.3154 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever believeth in me, the deeds that I do shall he do also; and41 more than that shall he do: I go unto the Father.3155 And what ye shall ask in my42 name, I shall do unto you, that the Father may be glorified in his Son.3156 And if ye [43, 44] ask me3157 in my name, I will do it.3158 If ye love me, keep my commandments.3159 And I will entreat of my Father, and he will send unto you another Paraclete, that he45 may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth:3160 whom the world cannot receive; for it hath not seen him, nor known him: but ye know him; for he hath dwelt316146 with you, and is in you.3162 I will not leave you orphans: I will come unto you.473163 Another little while, and the world seeth me not; but ye see me that I live, and ye48 shall live also.3164 And in that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Notes

  1. 3086

    .

  2. 3087

    The Syriac versions have reclining.

  3. 3088

    .

  4. 3

    Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .

  5. 3089

    .

  6. 3090

    Lit. fell.

  7. 4

    I know no other instance of stauriskein.

  8. 3091

    .

  9. 5

    cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."

  10. 3092

    .

  11. 6

    The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.

  12. 3093

    .

  13. 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.)

  14. 3094

    .

  15. 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.

  16. 3095

    .

  17. 9

    The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.

  18. 3096

    .

  19. 10

    [cf. John passim.]

  20. 3097

    .

  21. 3098

    A simple change of diacritical points would give the reading of the Greek and of the Syriac versions.

  22. 3099

    A simple change of diacritical points would give the reading of the Greek and of the Syriac versions.

  23. 11

    [cf. .]

  24. 3100

    .

  25. 12

    [cf. ; .]

  26. 3101

    a.

  27. 3102

    b.

  28. 13

    [cf. .]

  29. 3103

    a.

  30. 3104

    b.

  31. 3105

    b.

  32. 3106

    a.

  33. 3107

    .

  34. 16

    [cf. .]

  35. 3108

    .

  36. 3109

    Peshitta adds it. The reading of the Sinaitic is doubtful.

  37. 17

    For further explanation of the method followed see 20.

  38. 3110

    b.

  39. 3111

    .

  40. 18

    See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.

  41. 3112

    .

  42. 3113

    Past tense in Syriac versions.

  43. 3114

    We may translate, with the Syriac versions, that thy faith fail not, only if we assign a somewhat Syriac meaning to the verb, and assume either an error in diacritical points (t for y) or an unusual (Syriac) gender for faith.

  44. 3115

    cf. Syriac versions.

  45. 19

    See below, 12, (2).

  46. 3116

    .

  47. 20

    See also below, 6, and 20.

  48. 3117

    .

  49. 21

    Bibl. Or., i., 619.

  50. 3118

    .

  51. 22

    Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.

  52. 3119

    .

  53. 23

    cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.

  54. 3120

    .

  55. 3121

    The Arabic word is not unlike the word for stumble, and Borg. ms. omits me.

  56. 3122

    Vat. ms. omits this night.

  57. 24

    See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.

  58. 3123

    .

  59. 25

    See below, § 28, 43, note.

  60. 3124

    .

  61. 26

    See below, foot-notes, passim.

  62. 3125

    b.

  63. 3126

    b.

  64. 27

    The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.

  65. 3127

    a.

  66. 3128

    b.

  67. 28

    Can this be a misprint for 95?

  68. 3129

    b; .

  69. 3130

    Or, went on saying.

  70. 3131

    Lit. end in. Or, if I come to (the point of).

  71. 29

    See below, 13.

  72. 3132

    .

  73. 3133

    The diacritical points in both Vat. (followed by Ciasca) and Borg. mss. appear to demand a rendering inquire for be troubled. In Ibn-at-Tayyib's comments (not the text), however (with other points), we have the meaning wail (root nhb). Every Syriac version uses a different word.

  74. 30

    He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.

  75. 3134

    .

  76. 3135

    Or, ranks.

  77. 31

    See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.

  78. 3136

    Or, should tell.

  79. 3137

    Probably the Arabic represents a Syriac For I.

  80. 3138

    .

  81. 3139

    .

  82. 3140

    Different words.

  83. 3141

    Different words.

  84. 3142

    .

  85. 34

    See below, note to Subscription.

  86. 3143

    cf. Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary (f. 352a) and order of words in Peshitta (not Sin.).

  87. 3144

    .

  88. 35

    See a glaring case in § 52, 11.

  89. 3145

    .

  90. 3146

    Lit. have known.

  91. 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.

  92. 3147

    .

  93. 3148

    Different forms, as in Peshitta.

  94. 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.

  95. 3149

    .

  96. 3150

    More exactly, hast thou not come to know.

  97. 3151

    Different forms, as in Peshitta.

  98. 38

    The text is given below in full at its proper place.

  99. 3152

    .

  100. 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.

  101. 3153

    .

  102. 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).

  103. 3154

    .

  104. 41

    Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.

  105. 3155

    .

  106. 42

    Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.

  107. 3156

    .

  108. 3157

    The Borg. ms. has me clearly (cf. Peshitta). The Vat. ms. is ambiguous.

  109. 3158

    .

  110. 3159

    .

  111. 45

    Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.

  112. 3160

    .

  113. 3161

    Probably a misreading of the Peshitta (not Sin. or Cur.), since the next clause also agrees with it.

  114. 46

    Published at Venice in 1836.

  115. 3162

    .

  116. 47

    The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.

  117. 3163

    .

  118. 48

    Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).

  119. 3164

    .

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.