Introductory Notes
Section LI
Page 58 of 468
1 [Arabic, p. 192]3533 And when Pilate heard this saying, he took Jesus out, and sat on the tribune in the place which was called the pavement of stones, but in the Hebrew2 called Gabbatha.3534 And that day was the Friday of the passover: and it had reached3 about the sixth hour.35353536 And he said to the Jews, Behold, your King! And they cried out, Take him, take him, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests said unto him, We have no king except4 Cæsar.3537 And Pilate, when he saw it, and3538 he was gaining nothing, but the tumult was increasing, took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, and said, I5 am innocent of the blood of this innocent man: ye shall know.35393540 And all the people6 answered and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.3541 Then Pilate commanded to grant them their request; and delivered up Jesus to be crucified, according to their wish.
73542 Then Judas the betrayer, when he saw Jesus wronged, went and returned the8 thirty pieces of money to the chief priests and the elders,3543 and said, I have sinned in my betraying innocent blood. And they said unto him, And we, what must we do?9 know thou.3544 And he threw down the money in the temple, and departed; and he10 went away3545 and hanged3546 himself.3547 And the chief priests took the money, and said, We have not authority to cast it into the place of the offering,3548 for it is the price11 of blood.3549 And they took counsel, and bought with it the plain of the potter, for12 the burial of strangers.3550 Therefore that plain was called, The field of blood, unto13 [Arabic, p. 193] this day.3551 Therein3552 was fulfilled the saying in the prophet which said, I took thirty pieces of money, the price of the precious one, which was fixed14 by the children of Israel;3553 and I paid them for the plain of the potter, as the Lord commanded me.
153554 And the Jews took Jesus, and went away to crucify him.3555 And when he bare his16 cross and went out, they stripped him of those purple and scarlet garments which he17 had on, and put on him his own garments.3556 And while they were going with him, they found a man, a Cyrenian, coming from the country, named Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus:3557 and they compelled this man to bear the cross of Jesus.183558 And they took the cross and laid it upon him, that he might bear it, and come after Jesus; and Jesus went, and his cross behind him.
193559 And there followed him much people, and women which were lamenting and20 raving.35603561 But Jesus turned unto them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not21 for me: weep for yourselves, and for your children.3562 Days are coming, when they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that bare not, and the breasts22 that gave not suck.3563 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and23 to the hills, Cover us.3564 For if they do so in the green tree,3565 what shall be in the dry?
243566 And they brought with Jesus two others of the malefactors,3567 to be put to death.
253568 And when they came unto a certain place called The skull, and called in the Hebrew Golgotha, they crucified him there:3569 they crucified with him these two26 malefactors, one on his right, and the other on his left.3570 And the scripture was27 [Arabic, p. 194] fulfilled, which saith, He was numbered with the transgressors.3571 And they gave him to drink wine and myrrh, and vinegar which had been mixed with the myrrh;3572 and he tasted, and would not drink; and he received it not.
283573 And the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and cast lots for them in four parts, to every party of the soldiers a part; and his tunic was29 without sewing, from the top woven throughout.3574 And they said one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith,
They divided my garments among them,
And cast the lot for my vesture.
[30, 31]3575 This the soldiers did. And they sat and guarded him there.3576 And Pilate wrote on a tablet the cause of his death, and put it on the wood of the cross above his head.3577 And there was written upon it thus: This is Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the32 Jews.3578 And this tablet3579 read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city: and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.333580 And the chief priests said unto Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, He it is34 that3581 said, I am the King of the Jews.3582 Pilate said unto them, What hath been35 written hath been written.35833584 And the people were standing beholding; and they36 that passed by were reviling3585 him, and shaking3586 their heads, and saying,3587 Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,3588 save thyself if thou art the Son37 of God, and come down from the cross.3589 And in like manner the chief priests and the [Arabic, p. 195] scribes and the elders and the Pharisees derided him, and laughed one with [38, 39] another, and said,3590 The saviour of others cannot save himself.3591 If he is the Messiah, the chosen of God, and the King of Israel,3592 let him come down now from the40 cross, that we may see, and believe in him.3593 He that relieth on God—let him deliver him41 now, if he is pleased with him: for he said, I am the Son of God.3594 And the soldiers42 also scoffed at him in that they came near unto him,3595 and brought him vinegar, and43 said unto him, If thou art the King of the Jews, save thyself.3596 And likewise the two robbers3597 also that were crucified with him reproached him.
443598 And one of those two malefactors who were crucified with him reviled him, and45 said, If thou art the Messiah, save thyself, and save us also.3599 But his comrade rebuked him, and said, Dost thou not even fear God, being thyself also in this46 condemnation?3600 And we with justice, and as we deserved, and according to our deed,3601 have we been rewarded: but this man hath not done anything unlawful.473602 And he said unto Jesus, Remember me, my Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom.483603 Jesus said unto him, Verily3604 I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.
493605 And there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister,360650 Mary3607 that was related to Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.3608 And Jesus saw his mother, and that disciple whom he loved standing by; and he said to his mother,51 Woman, behold, thy son!3609 And he said to that disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto himself.
52 [Arabic, p. 196]3610 And from the sixth hour3611 darkness was on all the land unto the ninth53 hour,3612 and the sun became dark.3613 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and said, Yail, Yaili,3614 why hast thou forsaken me? which3615 is, My54 God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?3616 And some of those that stood there, when they heard, said,3617 This man called Elijah.
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.
- 3533
.
- 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).
- 3534
.
- 3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
- 3535
Lit. six hours.
- 3536
.
- 4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
- 3537
.
- 3538
Or, that.
- 5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
- 3539
cf. Peshitta. Or, Ye know (cf. Sinaitic).
- 3540
.
- 6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
- 3541
a.
- 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.)
- 3542
.
- 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.
- 3543
.
- 9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
- 3544
.
- 10
[cf. John passim.]
- 3545
Borg. ms. omits and he went away.
- 3546
Lit. strangled.
- 3547
.
- 3548
cf. § 32, 15, note.
- 11
[cf. .]
- 3549
.
- 12
[cf. ; .]
- 3550
.
- 13
[cf. .]
- 3551
.
- 3552
Or, at that (time).
- 14
[cf. ; .]
- 3553
.
- 15
[cf. .]
- 3554
b; b.
- 3555
a; b.
- 16
[cf. .]
- 17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
- 3556
a; b.
- 3557
b.
- 18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
- 3558
b.
- 19
See below, 12, (2).
- 3559
.
- 20
See also below, 6, and 20.
- 3560
Lit. being burned. The text is probably corrupt.
- 3561
.
- 21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
- 3562
.
- 22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
- 3563
.
- 23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
- 3564
.
- 3565
Lit. wood (cf. Syr. and Greek).
- 24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
- 3566
.
- 3567
Or, others, malefactors.
- 25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
- 3568
a; c.
- 3569
b.
- 26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
- 3570
.
- 27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
- 3571
a.
- 3572
b; b.
- 28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
- 3573
.
- 29
See below, 13.
- 3574
.
- 3575
.
- 3576
.
- 3577
.
- 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.
- 3578
.
- 3579
A different word from that in the preceding verse; in each case, the word used in the Peshitta (Cur. and Sin. lacking).
- 33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
- 3580
.
- 34
See below, note to Subscription.
- 3581
The Syriac words, retained in Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary (f. 366a), seem to have been transposed. Vat. ms. omits he, probably meaning but that he said.
- 3582
.
- 35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
- 3583
In a carelessly written Arabic ms. there is almost no difference between hath been written and I have written, as it is in Ibn-at-Tayyib (loc. cit., f. 366a).
- 3584
a; .
- 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.
- 3585
cf. § 7, 17, note. Borg. ms. has jesting at.
- 3586
The Arabic text has deriding (cf. § 51, 37). Either with is accidentally omitted, or, more probably, we should correct the spelling to shaking (cf. Syriac versions).
- 3587
a; .
- 3588
c.
- 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.
- 3589
.
- 3590
a.
- 3591
c; c.
- 3592
Verse 37 or Mt.
- 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).
- 3593
.
- 41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
- 3594
.
- 42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
- 3595
.
- 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.)
- 3596
.
- 3597
Borg. ms. has boys (an easy clerical error).
- 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.
- 3598
.
- 45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
- 3599
.
- 46
Published at Venice in 1836.
- 3600
.
- 3601
Our deed might be read we have done, and perhaps our translator's style would justify our writing as for to.
- 47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
- 3602
.
- 48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
- 3603
.
- 3604
Borg. ms. has Verily, verily.
- 49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
- 3605
.
- 3606
A single word in Arabic.
- 50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
- 3607
Vat. ms. has and Mary.
- 3608
.
- 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.
- 3609
.
- 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.
- 3610
a; b.
- 3611
Lit six hours and nine hours respectively.
- 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).
- 3612
Lit six hours and nine hours respectively.
- 3613
a; .
- 3614
In Vat. ms. the second word is like the first. The syllable Ya doubtless is the Arabic interjection O!
- 3615
The Borg. ms. omits from which to me.
- 54
Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellsch. der Wiss., etc., March 17, 1886, No. 4, p. 151 ff.
- 3616
.
- 3617
Borg. ms. omits when they, and has and said.
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.