Josep Rius-Camps - Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, «The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles (XVIII).», Vol. 19 (2006) 99-112
13:1-12 is the section covered by these notes, a passage that marks
an important development in the narrative as Paul becomes the main
protagonist for the rest of the book of Acts. It is in these verses that the
Holy Spirit calls him, by his name of Saul, to be the collaborator of Barnabas
for the work of spreading the message of Jesus to the Gentiles. The mission
begins in Cyprus, where Paul’s strategy of visiting the Jews first, in order to
prepare them for the entry of the Gentiles into Israel, will be shown up by
Luke, in the text of Codex Bezae, to be out of step with the plan of Jesus.
110 Josep Rius-Camp and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger
gaze of someone exercising divine power. It is the latter that is the case
here, with καί in the Bezan text separating it from the previous participle
πλησθείϛ and thus highlighting its presence26.
10 πάσηϛ (ῥαδιουÏγίαϛ) B P45.74 a DB rell ‖ om. D* d P 383*. 2147 pc
gig aeth; Lcf Vig Orlat Ephr.
D05 omits the second occurrence of the adjective πᾶϛ in this clause.
(Ï„á½°Ï› á½Î´Î¿á½ºÏ›) τοῦ κυÏίου B a* pc ‖ κυÏίου D P74 a2 A C E H L P Ψ 049.
056. 33. 1739 M; Did Tit.— Ï„á½°Ï› εá½Î¸Îµá½·Î±Ï› B P74 a Ds.m. rell ‖ Ï„. οὔσαϛ εá½Î¸.
D*, quas sunt rectas d sa mae; Vig.
D05 omits the article in this fixed expression which, like other familiar
phrases from the Jewish Scriptures, is similarly anarthrous in the LXX (cf.,
e.g., Isa. 40:3; Ezek. 18:25.29, and see next variant).
The presence of the present participle underlines the force of the
adjective εá½Î¸Îµá½·Î±Ï›, thus signalling the parallels with two previous
references in Luke’s work to the ‘straight paths’ of the Lord at Lk. 3:4-5
and Acts 9:11, as well as the indirect allusion to Scriptures such as Isa.
40:3-4 or Hos. 14:9.
11 ἡ (χείÏ) D* 1243 ‖ om. B P45.74 a Dp.m.? rell.
The phrase without the article before Ï‡Îµá½·Ï is another fixed expression
that frequently recurs in the LXX. The presence of the article reactivates
the phrase as a live expression, as it were. Usually, the expression has a
positive connotation referring to the blessing of the Lord but, in this case,
Paul’s reference to ‘the hand of the Lord’ has negative force for which the
stereotyped phrase may be considered inappropriate. (In the MS of D05
there is a dot above the article to indicate that the letter η is an error but this
would seem to have been inserted by a corrector rather than the first hand).
ἄχÏι καιÏοῦ B P45.74 a rell ‖ ἕωϛ κ. D.
M. Wilcox27 refers to an unpublished note of Torrey and Wensinck
claiming that ἄχÏι καιÏοῦ is a Semitism. It occurs already at Lk. 4:13
(ἄχÏι χÏόνου D05). The alternative reading of ἕωϛ καιÏοῦ in D05 is not
found elsewhere.
παÏαχÏῆμα δέ B P74 A E H L P 049. 056. 33. 614. 1739 M syh sa arm ‖
π. τε P45 a C Ψ 81. 623. 1175 pc vg syp aeth | καὶ π. 1270, et confestim d
‖ καὶ εá½Î¸á½³Ï‰Ï› D bo.
Cf. on 13:7 above.
26
M. Wilcox, The Semitisms of Acts (Oxford 1965) 24.
27
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