Tag Archives: Paul

Textual Variant Acts ch 26 v 4

Here is a Greek textual variant in Acts chapter 26 verse 4 which makes a large difference in meaning, even though the variant is one two-letter word:

txt εν τε “and also in” 𝔓⁷⁴ ℵ A B E 181 1175 2464 vg-ms syr-hms Chrys SBL TH ECM ‖ εν “in” C H L P Ψ 049 056 33 1611 1735 1739 1891 Byz it-e vg syr-hms Chrys TR RP ‖ lac 𝔓²⁹ 𝔓¹¹² 048 096.

The problem with translations made from the Byzantine Greek text not containing τε is that they are saying Paul’s life was spent in Jerusalem from the beginning, when in fact his country was Tarsus in Cilicia (Acts 9:11; 21:39).

There isn’t any way to translate the majority text that can make it accurate or acceptable, as you can see in the following English translations based on the Byzantine text:

(KJV)  My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;

(NKJV)  My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know.

(EMTV)  Therefore my way of life from my youth, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation in Jerusalem, all the Jews know,

Majority text advocates say that an accidental dropping out of short words or a few letters is far more likely than them being added.  So here you go, majority text advocates, the little word τε probably accidentally dropped out of your line of transmission.  So thank God for Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus which sometimes have a more accurate Greek text than does the majority text. 

Here is my translation from the correct Greek text:

(DRP) My manner of life since youth therefore, which took place at first in my own country and also in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews.

Acts 27 verse 19

I am translating Acts chapter 27. In verse 18 it says that, because of being in a violent storm, they lightened the ship by throwing stuff overboard. Then in verse 19 it says they threw stuff overboard “with their own hands.” But wait, whose hands were doing the ship lightening in verse 18 then?

Was it because of this very problem that the Byz text of verse 19 has the main verb in the 1st person, to differentiate the actors from verse 18? So the Byz text says “WE threw the ship’s equipment overboard with our own hands.”

Who is “we”? Paul, Luke and Aristarchus?

Then again even later, in verse 38, the crew throws cargo overboard to lighten the ship.

Some possibilities I see are:

  1. The Byz text changed the verb in v. 19 to the 1st person in order to eliminate the seeming nonsense described above.
  2. The 𝔓⁷⁴ ℵ A B C text wrote the verse 19 verb in the 3rd person by unconscious assimilation to the 3rd person verbs in the preceding verse.
  3. A long shot, but perhaps the original text in v. 18 had the violent storm itself causing the cargo to fly off the ship, and then in v. 19 the crew starting throwing stuff off with their own hands.

Acts 27:19 txt ερριψαν 𝔓⁷⁴ ℵ A B C 33 181 1175 1739 1891 2464 latt cop SBL TH NA29 {\} ερριψαμεν L Ψ 049 056 1611 𝔐 syr eth Chrys TR RP lac 𝔓⁴⁵ 𝔓¹¹² D E H.

Read Acts so far here: https://bibletranslation.ws/acts.html

Rebuke the Government

John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul did not let their governments get away with breaking the law. They spoke up about it. In John’s case when he rebuked the king for having his brother’s wife, it cost him his life. In Paul’s case, it saved his hide, and got the authorities to treat him with more respect.
Acts 16:35-39
³⁵And when it was daytime, the magistrates sent the sheriffs, saying, “Release those men.” ³⁶So the prison warden declared these words to Paul, as follows: “The magistrates have sent orders that you be released. Now therefore, you may go in peace.”
³⁷But Paul said to them, “They gave us a beating in public without due process of law, though we men are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now they are pushing us away quietly? Certainly not! On the contrary they shall come personally and escort us out.”
³⁸So the sheriffs reported these statements to the magistrates. And when they heard that they were Roman citizens, they were afraid. ³⁹And they came and apologized to them. And they escorted them out, and asked them to go away from the city.
Acts 22:22-29
²²Now the crowd had been listening— until those words. Then they lifted up their voice, saying, “Remove such a man from the earth, for it is not fitting for him to live!” ²³And as they kept up their shouting, and were tossing off their cloaks, and throwing dust up in the air, ²⁴the commander ordered him brought inside the barracks, and said to give him a flogging until he talked, so that he could find out the reason for all this clamor over him.
²⁵But as they stretched him out in the straps, Paul said toward the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?”
²⁶And when the centurion heard this, he approached the commander and informed him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”
²⁷So the commander came up to Paul, and he said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸And the commander responded, “It took me a large sum of money to get that citizenship.”
And Paul said, “But I was actually born one.” ²⁹Then those about to interrogate him immediately withdrew from him. And even the commander was afraid, finding out that Paul was a Roman citizen and he had been strapping him up.
(Taken from my translation of Acts, which you can read here: https://bibletranslation.ws/trans/DRPbiblesofar.pdf )