The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles (XVI) 87 Peter would have used the stronger term of comparison in speaking with Cornelius but the weaker one when speaking with the brethren in Jerusalem, as if he wanted to insist to Cornelius as a Gentile on his equality with the Jews; D05, on the other hand, has Peter use the stronger term in Jerusalem, emphasizing to his Jewish brethren how similar was the Gentiles’ experience of the Holy Spirit to their own, whereas it was not necessary for him to stress this point to Cornelius. 17 (αὐτοῖϛ) ὁ θεόϛ B P74 ) rell ‖ om. D d vgW; Aug Rebap. The subject of the verb ἔδωκεν is held over to the end of Peter’s question in D05, while it is made explicit in the first part of the sentence in B03. (τὸν θεὸν) τοῦ μὴ δοῦναι αὐτοῖϛ πνεῦμα ἅγιον πιστεύσασιν ἐπ’ αὐτῷ D d 467 (p) w (vgDΘO syh** mae) ‖ om. B P74 ) rell. The reading of D05 is not empty repetition but reiterates the critical element of his argument to make it quite clear to those he is speaking to. It has the effect of making the participle πιστεύσασιν in the first part of Peter’s sentence refer to the Jewish believers, in parallel to the second occurrence of the participle where it is a reference to the Gentile believers. The expression used for the Holy Spirit in the D05 reading is the usual one when the Spirit is referred to in a general way as God’s gift, for example, rather than for any precise activity (such as prophesying)59. Just before, in contrast, Peter had used the form that is the one typically used when explaining an incident concerning the Holy Spirit, τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον60. The same duality of language can be seen in the narrator’s account, 10:44, 45 D05*. 18 ἐδόξασαν B P74 ) DB 056. 81. 104. 440. 547. 614. 945. 1175. 1241. 1611. 1739. 1854. 1891. 2147. 2344. 2412. 2492 al, clarificaverunt d ‖ –ζον A E H L P Ψ 049. 33 M | Ε∆ΟΞΑΝ D*. A syllable has clearly dropped out of the D05* verb – this could either be -σα- of the aorist (= B03) or -ζο- of the imperfect (= M). The most likely explanation is that D05 read the imperfect and the syllable ΖΟ dropped through homoioteleuton: Ε∆ΟΞΑ<ΖΟ>Ν ΤΟΝ ΘΝ. τὴν (μετάνοιαν) B P74 ) rell ‖ om. D 2147 sa mae. The article in B03 causes the reference to repentance take on a specific character, i.e. the repentance that Peter has already so often talked about Read-Heimerdinger, The Bezan Text, pp. 160–61, 162. 59 Read-Heimerdinger, The Bezan Text, 163–64. 60