Josep Rius-Camps, «The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles (XIX) (Acts 13:13-43).», Vol. 20 (2007) 127-146
In Acts 13:13-43, Paul and Barnabas are seen continuing their missionary activity, notably in Antioch of Pisidia where Luke describes their visit to the synagogue. He recreates in some detail Paul’s first speech, which is noteworthy for the way in which he presents Jesus as the Messiah first and foremost for Israel, a perspective with which Luke is at odds in Codex Bezae. Paul’s overriding concern for his own people, the Jews, to accept his message is strongly in evidence. However, their negative reaction when he extends the message of Jesus to Gentiles causes him, together with Barnabas, to turn from the Jews to the Gentiles. In the Alexandrian text, their announcement of this fact refers to a change on a local scale within Antioch, but in the Bezan text they make a declaration that represents a radical decision and an event of momentous significance in the history of Israel: in view of the Jews’ hostility to the message of Jesus, they will no longer have privileged possession of the Word of God, the Torah that had originally been entrusted to Israel, since it is to be henceforth shared with the Gentiles. The idea of the sharing of the heritage of Israel with the Gentiles is one that will provoke opposition to Paul wherever he preaches to the Jews in future locations, and a theme that Luke will develop over the subsequent chapters.
146 Josep Rius-Camps and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger
synagogue they had been in: (á¼Î¾Î¹á½¹Î½Ï„ων δὲ αá½Ï„ῶν) á¼Îº τῆϛ συναγωγῆϛ
τῶν Ἰουδαίων.
τὰ (ῥήματα) B P74 ) DE rell ‖ om. D*.
The absence of the article in the demonstrative phrase in D05 is unu-
sual in Greek but not unknown (see Robertson, Grammar, pp. 701-702,
who cites Acts 1:5; 24:21 as well as various examples found in inscrip-
tions, though all with the demonstrative in pre-noun position). It may be
a way of expressing that the people did not want to hear exactly the same
things repeated, but some-thing like them.
13:43 (λυθείσηϛ δὲ) αá½Ï„οῖϛ )* ‖ om. B D d P74 )2 rell.– Ï„á¿· ΒαÏναβᾷ B P74
) rell ‖ ΒαÏναβᾷ D 216. 1175 mae; Chr.
The dative pronoun in )01* apparently refers to the agent of the pas-
sive participle λυθείσηϛ, presumably Paul and Barnabas. The absence of
the article before Barnabas in D05 causes them to be viewed as a united
pair, acting in harmony (see Heimerdinger and Levinsohn, ‘The Use of
the Article’, p. 29).
ἔπειθον (αá½Ï„ούϛ) B P74 ) Ds.m. rell ‖ á¼Ï€Îµá½·Î¸Î¿Î½Ï„ο D* (per-suadentes d) 919.
B03 has the aorist active where D05 has the imperfect middle.
(θεοῦ.) á¼Î³á½³Î½ÎµÏ„ο δὲ καθ’ ὅληϛ τῆϛ πόλεωϛ διελθεῖν τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ D
(factum est autem per totam civitatem transire verbum domini d syhmg) |
á¼Î³. δὲ κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν φημισθῆναι τὸν λόγον E w vgΘ (mae); Bedamss
‖ om. B P74 ) rell.
acc. to
The narrative comment with which D05 closes this first sub-sequence
[DA] in Antioch refers to the spread throughout the whole city of teach-
ing about God in general and not to the message of Jesus in particular.
According to the pattern regularly maintained elsewhere by D05, the
spread of ‘the word of God’ always occurs among Gentiles since, in the
form of the Torah, it has been known by Jews since the very beginning.
Receiving the word of God is a necessary prelude to the acceptance of the
message of Jesus, as will be seen in Paul’s speech the following week.
The sentence may have dropped out of B03 through haplography: τοῦ
θεοῦ ends the previous sentence, and the following one in B03 (see on
13:44 in the following sub-sequence [D´A]).
Josep RIUS-CAMPS Jenny READ-HEIMERDINGER
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