Matthew 7

Matthew 7:13

:TEXT: “because the gate [is] wide and the way [is] broad”

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

KJV ASV RSV NASV NIV NEB TEV RANK: CNOTES: “because the way [is] wide and broad”

S* 1646 some lat

ASVn RSVn NEBnCOMMENTS: It is possible that the words “the gate” were originally absent and were added from verse Matthew 7:14. But because of the great number of manuscripts of different text type that include them, it is probable that they are original.

Matthew 7:14

:TEXT: “How narrow the gate [is], and confined the way, that leads to life”

Sc B3 C K L W X*(vid) Delta Theta Pi f1 f13 28 565 700* 892 1241 Byz most Lect most lat vg syr

ASVn NIV (“But”) NEB (“but”) TEV (“But”) RANK: BNOTES: “Because the gate [is] narrow, and the way confined, that leads to life”

S* B* Xc 700c 1010 1071 1546vid some Lect cop

KJV ASV RSV : “How narrow and confined the way [is] that leads to life”

113 182* 482 544 some lat

NEBn

Two variations are found in this verse. The first involves the transition word. The difference is between ti (“which”) and hoti (“because”). Actually the different is less than that, since the Greek “h” is merely an apostrophe, and was sometimes omitted. Now ti was used as a Semitic exclamation to mean “How!” It is easy to understand therefore why copyists who did not comprehend this Semitism would modify it to read “because” just as verse 13 does. On the other hand, there is no reason for the great majority of copyists to modify the easily understood hoti to ti which would be clearly comprehended only by those who spoke Aramaic or Hebrew.

The second variation involves the unexplained absence of “the gate” from three Latin manuscripts dating from the fourth and fifth centuries and four Greek manuscripts dating from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries. The great majority of manuscripts clearly show that the words are original.