The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles 153 There are two differences here between B03 and D05: first, the choice of verb and secondly the aspect of the verb. προσ γω ‘bring forward’, echoes the statement of Herod’s intention in v. 4, ‘to bring him before the people’. προ γω has a similar meaning but is found elsewhere in the context of a trial22, as at 17:5 (not D05); 25:26 (D05 lac.). As for the aspect, the aorist of B03 presents the action in a global sense whereas with the continuous aspect of the present in D05 the narrator takes the audience into the detail of the action as it unfolds. ρ δη ) B P74 ) rell ‖ om. D; Chr. ( The presence of the article is expected, given that Herod has already been introduced into the narrative at 12:1. Its absence therefore draws attention to him, first because Peter has become the focus of attention and secondly, as a means of marking his plan to kill Peter as particularly salient. Compare 12:19, where Herod’s name will be anarthrous as he re-enters the story as the principal character23. (φ λακ ) τε B P74vid ) rell ‖ δ D d e. It is possible here that τε was the intended connective, the clause add- ing a supplementary detail to the description of Peter’s prison. Although δ would mark the clause as a particularly significant parenthetical detail, stressing the circumstances in which Peter was imprisoned, this information adds nothing to the narrative at this point and therefore was probably not intended. 7 ( π στη) τ Π τρ D 1243. 2344 d p vgR sy(p).h** sa mae aeth ‖ om. B P74 ) rell; Lcf. Peter is kept clearly in focus with the repetition of his name in D05. (φ ) λαμψεν ν τ ο κ ματι B P74vid ) rell (refulgens in illo loco d gig p) ‖ π λαμψεν τ. ο κ. D 1243. 2344 syhmg mae. The verb πιλ μπω in D05 suggests that the light emanated from the angel (as is spelt out in some versions which add in varying positions π α το [retroversion] (gig p r syhmg; Lcf)24. Furthermore, the verb is rare, being found only once in the LXX at Isa. 4:2 to refer to God shining forth in the last days (cf. Isa. 2:2) from the sanctified city of Jerusalem. The 22 B-A-G, προ γω, 1. 23 J. Heimerdinger and S.H. Levinsohn, ‘The Use of the Definite Article before Names of People in the Greek Text of Acts with Particular Reference to Codex Bezae’, FN 5 (1992) 25-26. 24 See Boismard and Lamouille, II, 83.