45 STRIKING SHEPHERD THE the “scattering of the sheep” refers to the flight of the disciples at Jesus’ arrest (cf. 18,8); Justin, Dial. 53,5, interprets “they will be scattered ” from Zech 13,7 as referring to the dispersion of the dis- ciples after the crucifixion, and according to Irenaeus, Epid. 76, the scattering announced by Zechariah happens when Jesus is arrested. In any case, whereas in the Hebrew text the shepherd could play either a positive or a negative role, he functions here as a positive figure, as one who is on God’s side. The textual form of the quotation is remarkable. It shares the verb patassein and the substantives poimhn and probata with the ¥ ¥ ¥ LXX, but this is not very telling, because these are the usual transla- tions of their Hebrew equivalents. For more than two thirds of the occurrences of hkn hiphil in the Hebrew Bible, the LXX offers the translation patassein. Poimhn translates in the LXX the sub- ¥ ¥ stantive h[r in more than three quarters of the occurrences of the Hebrew word, and probata renders –ax in more than 80% of all in- ¥ stances. Any translator would probably arrive at these equivalents. There are also three evident deviations from the LXX, and two of these bring the quotation closer to the Hebrew text. Instead of the 2nd pl. aor. impv. patajate, Mark’s quotation has the 1st sg. fut. indic. ¥ patajw ; neither patajate nor patajw is an adequate rendering of ¥ ¥ ¥ the Hebrew sg. impv. Èh. Mark’s singular ton poimena is a better ù ¥ rendering of the Hebrew h[rhAta than the LXX’s plural toyv poime- ù ¥ nav. Finally, diaskorpisuhsontai in the second line of the quota- ¥ tion is a good translation of –yxwpt, whereas the LXX’s ekspasate ß ¥ is not. In comparison with the Hebrew text and the LXX version of this line, the sequence of predicate and subject has been inverted in the quotation; this might be an effort to create a chiasmus (“I will strike — the shepherd — and the sheep — will be scattered”). What type of text do we have here? The two details where the quotation renders the Hebrew better than the LXX did, suggest that we have to do either with a fresh translation from the Hebrew, or with a LXX that had been revised to bring it closer to the develop- ing Hebrew standard text. A decision between these two options is not possible. Another question is whether the quotation comes from a run- ning text, or from a collection of testimonia, or that it is a Chris- tian ad hoc creation, that is, an OT fragment that was supposed to bear witness to Christ and that was transmitted in a more or less fixed textual form. Here, the first word of the quotation may offer