Josep Rius-Camps - Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, «The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles (XX) (Acts 14:1-27)», Vol. 22 (2009) 107-132
Acts 14:1-27 continues the story of the mission of Paul and Barnabas among the Gentiles, illustrating what happened when they had decided to turn from the Jews (cf. 13.46-47) to devote their attention to the Gentiles. Following an account of Paul's initial struggle with this decision, brought out more clearly in Codex Bezae, Luke describes the mitigated success of his first deliberate attempts to talk with the Gentiles about the gospel. The establishment of the first churches as a result of the missionary work of Paul and Barnabas is described as the passage concludes by bringing the missionaries back to Antioch of Syria, where Luke is careful to maintain the focus on the Gentiles.
118 Josep Rius-Camps and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger
ger, The Bezan Text, pp. 272–74). Furthermore, the instruction to walk
as well as to stand is included in D05 but not B03.
(καὶ) ἥλατο καί (– B) B P74 ) rell || εὐθέωϛ παραχρῆμα ἀνήλ- (ἀνήλλ-
DC) καί D* syp.hmg mae | παρ. ἐξήλλ- καί E.
The use of the compound verb ἀνάλλομαι D05 is unique in the New
Testament, although the verb is found occasionally in other writings.
The juxtaposition in D05 of the two adverbs expressing immediacy
has the effect of stressing how the healing followed instantly from Paul’s
command. A combination of the same adverbs is found in the WT at 9.18
(D05 lac.; see The Message of Acts, II, Critical Apparatus, p. 182). The
absence of insistence in B03 is in line with the relative prominence given
to the reaction of the crowd in the following sentence (see below).
14.11 (οἵ) τε B P74 ) A 36. 453. 1837 pc || δέ D, autem d C E H L P Ψ 049.
056. 33. 1739 M gig vg syh sa mae.
The conjunction τε in B03 gives prominence to the event it intro-
duces, and so has the effect of downplaying the healing of the lame man in
favour of the response of the crowd (see comment above). This is the first
occurrence of τε in a series of three (cf. 14.12, 13), observed elsewhere in
Acts (cf. 2.43-46) where D05 reads δέ each time. With δέ in D05 here, the
healing is portrayed as the climax of the first part of the story, with the
reaction of the crowd providing the corresponding response.
(ἐπῆραν) τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῶν B P74 )2 A C E H L P Ψ 33. 614. 1739 M |
αὐ. τ. φ. 049. 056. 1. 104. 330. 448. 1854. 2147. 2492 | τ. φ. )* || φ. αὐ. D
1838.
The absence of the article can be accounted for by the fact that the
anarthrous phrase ἐπῆραν φωνήν is a stock one. It is found in the LXX
with the article (Judg. 2.4; 9.7; 2 Kgdms 13.36), and in the New Testament
only in the work of Luke, where there are both arthrous and anarthrous
references: Lk. 11.27; 17.13; Acts 2.14 (arthrous); 4.24; 14.11; 22.22 (ar-
throus). The arthrous form of the phrase may arise here at 14.11 B03
because of the qualification that the people spoke in their own language
of Lycaonia, so undoing the set nature of the phrase (cf. 2.14, where in
D05 Peter raises his voice first; and 22.22, where the people interrupt Paul
to raise their voice to prevent him using his voice).
τοῖϛ (ἀνθρώποιϛ) D 1 pc sa mae || om. B P74 ) rell.
The article in D05 before ἀνθρώποιϛ possibly causes the reference
to be more specifically applied to Paul and Barnabas than humans in
general.