The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles 145 ν δ πολλ γαλλ ασι D d (p w vgR mae); Aug BarS ‖ om. B P45.74 ) rell. The joyful impact made on the church in Antioch by the visit of the prophets from Hierosoluma is noted by D05 but not by B03. γαλλ ασι is a noun that occurs on three other occasions in Luke’s writings: Lk. 1:14, anticipating the response to John the Baptist; 1:44, the response of John in his mother’s womb to the greeting of Mary, mother of Jesus; Acts 2:46, the attitude shared by the first community of believers. Otherwise it is found in the New Testament at Heb. 1:9 and Jude 24. Heb. 1:9 cites Ps. 44:8 LXX (45:8 MT) referring to ‘the oil of gladness’ ( λαιον γαλλι σεω ) with which David was anointed by God as king14. The joy that is expressed by γαλλ ασι is especially associated with experiencing something of the divine. The following variant makes it clear that the observation is made from a first-hand point of view, as if the narrator were actually present at the time. 28 συνεστραμμ νων δ μ ν D d p w vgR mae; Aug ‖ om. B P45.74 ) rell. This is the second of two lines present in D05 but absent in B03. With the verb in the first person plural, this is the earliest evidence of the ‘we’- group in the book of Acts, preceding the first occurrence in the AT at 16:10. The verb itself is συστρ φω ‘bring/gather together’.15 Outside Acts, it is only found at one other place in the New Testament at Mt. 17:22, but not in D05. Within Acts, there is one other firm occurrence in the active at 28:3 referring to Paul gathering sticks, but nowhere else in Luke’s writ- ing except three times more in Acts D05, always in the active: 10:41 D05 (of the disciples who gathered together with Jesus after his resurrection); 16:39b D05 (of the mob who might assemble in Philippi); 17:5 D05 (of the Jews who gathered men in Thessalonica). Here the verb is in the middle and the perfect tense, describing the setting for Agabus’ prophecy that follows as one in which the disciples in Antioch were gathered together. ναστ δ B P45.74 ) rell | κα ν. gig vg | ν. p; Aug ‖ φη D d. The setting for the prophetic warning given by Agabus has already been established in the previous clause in D05 with a genitive absolute (see above variant). This being absent from B03, a new clause is intro- duced here, connected with δ and using the participle ναστ to set the scene for the prophecy. 14 ‘The central ritual of kingship’, A. Berlin and M.Z. Brettler (eds), The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford 2004) 1332, cf. 1285. 15 Cf. B-A-G, συστρ φω, 1 and 2.