Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Nestle-Aland in Mark 11: Alexandrian or Eclectic?

          In the preceding three posts, I observed that even though the Nestle-Aland/UBS compilation of the Greek New Testament is often described as an eclectic edition, based on hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts, in three sample-chapters it is almost entirely Alexandrian, and it hardly contains any distinctive Byzantine readings which represent the vast majority of extant Greek manuscripts.  To be precise, in Galatians 1, NA is .3% distinctly Byzantine; in Luke 15, NA is 1% distinctly Byzantine, and in NA’s 2,812-letter compilation of John 20, there is only one letter (and a bracketed letter, at that) which is in the Byzantine Text and not in Vaticanus (B) or Sinaiticus (À).
          Let’s make another investigation; this time, we will look at the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of Mark, which describes Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the cleansing of the temple, and some other incidents that occurred during the final week of Jesus’ ministry.  In Reuben Swanson’s comparison of the readings of some major manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark, chapter 11 is divided into 59 text-lines.  In 45 of those text-lines, NA agrees precisely with B.  (One of those lines is repeated, however, due to a printing error, so the real total is 58 text-lines, of which B agrees precisely in 44.)   Out of the remaining 14 text-lines, three agree precisely with À (after nomina sacra contractions are taken into consideration).  This means that if we are to find distinctly Byzantine readings in Mark 11 in the Nestle-Aland compilation, they will be somewhere in the remaining 11 text-lines.  Here is what we find there:

● At the beginning of verse 1, NA adopts À’s spelling of Βηθφαγη (disagreeing with B’s Βηδφαγη and with the Byzantine Text’s Βηθσφαγη – though the Byzantine Text is divided at this point; RP2005 has Βηθφαγη in the margin) and then rejects À’s inclusion of εις (agreeing with B and with the Byzantine Text).  Thus, while the line as a whole agrees with relatively few manuscripts (such as W Δ f1), each component agrees with either B or À

● In the second half of verse 1, NA disagrees with B’s reading το (disagreeing with των which is read by À and the Byzantine Text), and then agrees with B’s reading of the next word, Ελαιων, disagreeing with À’s Ελεων.  The line as a whole thus agrees with the Byzantine Text; however, neither component agrees with the Byzantine Text distinctly; each component agrees with either B or À

● At the end of verse 3, NA adopts B’s spelling ευθυς (instead of the Byzantine reading ευθεως) but then adopts the word-order found in À (disagreeing with B).  NA also adopts the word παλιν near the end of verse 3; the word is not in the Byzantine Text.  Next, NA adopts και απηλθον (read by B and À) instead of απηλθον δε, which is read by the Byzantine Text.  NA also does not include τον before πωλον, although τον is read by À.  Thus, this text-line does not entirely agree with B, or with À, or the Byzantine Text.  Swanson lists only one manuscript – Codex L – that has the combination of readings selected in NA.  Yet, taken individually, each component agrees with either B or À.

● In a text-line which ends with the first three words of verse 6, NA rejected the spelling found in B, À, and in the Byzantine Text (ειπον), adopting instead ειπαν, which is read by a small but respectable cluster of manuscripts (including A, L, Δ, and Π).  This component stands as a non-Byzantine reading which disagrees with À and B.

● Midway through verse 7, NA reads επιβάλλουσιν (agreeing with B and À against the Byzantine Text’s reading επέβαλον) but after the word ιμάτια, NA reads αυτων (agreeing with the Byzantine Text and disagreeing with B’s reading εαυτων and À’s reading αυτω).  The text-line as a whole thus agrees with relatively few manuscripts (including Codices C and L) and its last featured reading (αυτων after ιμάτια) is a Byzantine reading not supported by B or À.

● In the next text-line (in which verse 8 begins), NA adopts εκάθισεν (agreeing with B and the Byzantine Text but disagreeing with À’s reading εκάθισαν), and then adopts και πολλοι (agreeing with B and À but disagreeing with the Byzantine Text’s πολλοι δε), and then, after ιμάτια, adopts αυτων (agreeing with À and the Byzantine Text but disagreeing with B’s reading εαυτων).  The line as a whole thus agrees with relatively few manuscripts (including Codices C, Δ, and 579).  However, each component agrees with either B or À.    

● In the second half of verse 11, NA disagrees with À’s reading οψε (reading οψιας instead, agreeing with B and with the Byzantine Text), and also disagrees with B’s non-inclusion of της ωρας (thus agreeing with À and with the Byzantine Text).  Thus, as a whole, this text-line agrees with the Byzantine Text.  Individually, however, each component agrees with either B or À.

● At the beginning of verse 21, NA rejects the spelling of Ραββει, adopting instead Ραββι and thus agreeing with the Byzantine Text.

● At the beginning of verse 25, NA adopts στήκετε as the third word in the verse, thus disagreeing with B and with the Byzantine Text (which read στήκητε)  and with À (which reads στητε).    

● At the beginning of verse 30, NA includes το after βαπτισμα (agreeing with B and À but disagreeing with the Byzantine Text) but does not adopt B’s spelling of John’s name (Ιωάνου), agreeing instead with À and the Byzantine Text, which read Ιωάννου.  Then NA disagrees with À’s inclusion of the word ποθεν.  As a whole, this text-line agrees with relatively few manuscripts (including Codices A, D, and L).  Individually, each component agrees with either À or B. 

● At the end of verse 33, NA adopts οχλον instead of λαόν, thus agreeing with B and À against the Byzantine Text.  But then NA rejects À’s reading παντες, adopting instead απαντες which agrees with B and with the Byzantine Text.  But then, NA rejects B’s spelling of John’s name (Ιωάνην), reading  Ιωάννην instead.  And next, NA includes the words οντως οτι, agreeing at this point with B but disagreeing with À (which has only οτι) and with the Byzantine text (which transposes these two words).   The text-line as a whole thus agrees with none of Swanson’s witnesses except for a corrector of À.  Taken individually, each component agrees with either B or À.

          Thus, when the variant-units are examined individually, the distinctly Byzantine readings in Mark 11 in the Nestle-Aland compilation consist of the following:
(1)  In verse 7, NA reads αυτων (agreeing with the Byzantine Text and disagreeing with B’s reading εαυτων and À’s reading αυτω), and  
(2)  In verse 21, NA rejects the spelling Ραββει, adopting instead Ραββι and thus agreeing with the Byzantine Text.
          Thus, in Mark 11, the impact of the Byzantine Text is felt by the absence of one letter (ε) in verse 7, and by the absence of one letter in verse 21.  Reckoning that the text of Mark 11 in NA consists of 563 words, and that the Byzantine Text’s contribution to the compilation is discernible in two words, this implies that .4% of the Nestle-Aland compilation of Mark 11 is distinctly Byzantine.  Or, calculating that the text of Mark 11 in NA consists of 2,752 letters, one could say that the Byzantine Text’s existence is manifest in less than .02% of the Nestle-Aland compilation.  The rest originates with other witnesses, primarily Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Codex L.

Postscript:  In the course of this series of posts, a point has been raised in the comments:  because the Byzantine Text and the Alexandrian Text agree so frequently, the Byzantine Text’s existence cannot be manifested in 100% of the compilation, but can only be expressed at those points where the Alexandrian and Byzantine texts disagree.  That is undoubtedly true, but how can one answer the question being asked – To what extent is the Nestle-Aland compilation an eclectic text rather than an Alexandrian text? – if not by identifying non-Alexandrian readings (especially Byzantine readings) and seeing how much of the compilation they constitute?  Nor does it affect the answer to the question:  whether one looks at the whole compilation, or only at the parts where the Alexandrian and Byzantine Texts disagree, it is obvious that the Nestle-Aland compilation contains hardly any readings that are found in the Byzantine Text and not in the Alexandrian Text.     

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