Matthew 14

Matthew 14:3

:TEXT: “because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife”

S B C K L W X Delta Theta Pi f1 f13 28 33 565 700 892 1010 1241 Byz Lect some lat syr cop

KJV ASV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV RANK: BNOTES: “because of Herodias, his brother’s wife”

D some lat vg

RSVnCOMMENTS: While it is possible that the name “Philip” was added to make this verse read like Mark 6:17, it is much more likely that some Western copyists deleted the name “Philip,” either to make the text like that of Luk 3:19 or to harmonize Matthew with Josephus’ report that Herodias’ first husband was named Herod also (see Antiquities, XVIII.v.4).

Matthew 14:12

:TEXT: “his disciples came and took the corpse and buried him”

S* B 0106 (“body”) two lat syr(c,s) few cop(north)

ASV NASVn (“body”) RANK: -NOTES: “his disciples came and took the corpse and buried it”

S1 C D L Theta f1 f13 33 700 892 1010 1241 1424 two lat syr(p) most cop(north)

noneNOTES: “his disciples came and took the body and buried it”

W X Gamma Delta Pi Philippians 28 Byz most lat vg syr(h) cop(south)

KJV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV

The difference between “it” (Greek auto) and “him” (Greek auton) is only one letter. In the UBS text that letter is in brackets. While most manuscripts read “it,” it is more likely that “him” was changed to “it” than vice versa, because “it” agrees in gender with the neuter words “corpse” and “body.” In choosing between those two words, “corpse” is more likely to be original. It is found in earlier manuscripts, and the rarer word “corpse” was more likely to be changed to the more familiar word “body” than vice versa.

Matthew 14:24

:TEXT: “the boat was already many stadia distant from the land”

B Theta f13 700 syr(c,p,pal) most cop

ASVn RSV NASV NIV NEB RANK: DNOTES: “the boat was already in the middle of the sea”

S C D K L P W X Delta Pi 084 f1 28 33 565 892 1010 1241 Byz Lect lat vg syr(h) some cop

KJV ASV RSVn NEBn : There are four different variations of the text reading, involving word order changes, the omission of “from the land,” and the use of “considerable” instead of “many.” There are also three different variations of the reading in the notes. While it is possible that the reading in the text was suggested by John 6:19 (“when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia”), it is more likely that the text is original and the reading in the notes is a result of copyists changing Matthew to read like Mark 6:47.

Matthew 14:29

:TEXT: “Peter walked on the water and went toward Jesus”

B C*(vid) 700 1010 syr(c,s) cop(south)

ASVn RSV NASV RANK: BNOTES: “Peter walked on the water to go toward Jesus”

Sc C2 D K L P W X Delta Theta Pi 073vid f1 f13 28 33 565 892 1241 Byz Lect lat vg syr(p,h,pal) cop(north)

KJV : “Peter walked on the water to go. Therefore he went toward Jesus”

S* OTHER: “Peter walked on the water toward Jesus”

none

NIV NEB TEV

Since the word translated “toward” can also be translated “to,” the reading “went to Jesus” may have seem too strong to many copyists, and thus was changed to “to go.” The reading of S* seems to be a mixture of the two. NIV and NEB have omitted the verb “go” not on the basis of text, but to make for smoother reading English.

Matthew 14:30

:TEXT: “when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid”

B2 C D K L P X Delta Theta Pi f1 f13 28 565 700 892 1010 1241 Byz Lect lat vg syr

KJV ASVn RSVn NEB TEV RANK: CNOTES: “when he saw the wind, he was afraid”

S B* 073 33 cop

ASV RSV NASV : “when he saw the very strong wind, he was afraid”

W

Although it can be argued that the word “strong” was added to heighten the effect just as manuscript W added the word “very,” it is more likely that “strong” was accidently omitted from some manuscripts in the Egyptian type of text due to a mistake of the eye. In Greek the word for “wind” and the word for “strong” have the same ending, and it is probable that the eye of an early copyist in Egypt skipped over the word “strong.”