Josep Rius-Camps - Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, «The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles (XXIII) (Acts 16:1–40)», Vol. 24 (2011) 135-164
In Acts 16, Paul sets out again on his missionary journey but without Barnabas, Instead he is accompanied by Silas and Timothy, and in part by a group of companions referred to by Luke in the 1st person. His itinerary follows the leading given by successive divine interventions designed to move him westwards, towards Rome. Most of the action takes place in Philippi, his first stopping place after leaving Asia where he had worked previously. On his arrival there, Paul first seeks out the Jewish community. However, a conflictual encounter with local people leads to his imprisonment, when the jailor provides him with the opportunity to speak about the gospel to Gentiles. Paul’s failure to make the most of this opportunity occasions implicit ciriticism from the narrator of Codex Bezae.
The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles 137
[b'] 3c (for his father, they all knew that 3c (for they all knew that his father
he had been Greek). had been Greek).
[a'] 4 Going through the cities, they 4 As they were travelling through
preached to them and delivered to the cities, they delivered to them for
them with all boldness the Lord Je- their observance the rules that had
sus, the Messiah, at the same time been decided by the apostles and el-
delivering also the commands of ders who were in Hierosoluma.
the apostles and elders who were in
Hierosoluma.
Critical Apparatus
The text of chapter 16 has a high incidence of variant readings, with
over a third (34.6%) of the Bezan text affected by variation, which is
second only to the 40% of variant text found in chapter 18. Around half
of that variation is made up of material not read by the Alexandrian text,
a proportion that is exceptionally high compared with other chapters
of Acts (overall, the Bezan text of Acts is only 6.6% longer than the
AT – the usual figure of 10% that is bandied around is an exaggeration
of the calculations based on a reconstituted, fictitious ‘Western’ text;
see Metzger, Commentary, p. 223). A further third of the variation in
chapter 16 is made up of alternative material (that is, it exists in the AT
but in a different lexical or grammatical form); the remaining variation
is made up of word order differences, or material present in the AT but
not in D05. (All figures are taken from Read-Heimerdinger, The Bezan
Text, pp. 6–21, where further comparison of the amount of variation in
the narrative compared with speech is presented.)
16:1 Κατήντησεν δέ B P45.74 אrell || ∆ιελθὼν δὲ τὰ ἔθνη ταῦτα κατ. D
(Pertransiens gentes istas d) a (b gig) vgDO (syhmg; Cass).— καὶ εἰς ∆έρβην
B P45vid A Ψ 33vid. 36. 69. 181. 242. 257. 431. 453. 467. 522. 614. 913. 1108.
1175. 1270. 1595. 1611. 1739. 1799. 1891. 1898. 2138. 2298. 2344. 2412.
2495 al syh | om. P74 || εἰς ∆έρ. D, Derben d אC E H L P 049. 056 M latt
syp.hmg; Cass.— καὶ εἰς Λύστραν B P45.74 אA Ψ 81. 181. 257. 467. 614. 913.
1108. 1175. 1505. 1518. 1611. 1799. 1838. 1898. 2138. 2344. 2412. 2495
syhmg; Theoph || καὶ Λύσ. D C E H L P 049. 056. 1739 M gig vg sa.
A series of variants characterizes the opening of the new section. D05
links it closely with the previous sentence, referring to Syria and Cilicia,
which Paul visited when he left Antioch with Silas, as τὰ ἔθνη ταῦτα;
the towns of Derbe and Lystra are then introduced without particular
highlighting, as being the cities he was heading for according to his plan
set out in the last sequence (cf. 15:36); the single preposition εἰς groups
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