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.
124 Josep Rius-Camps and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger
forces with them against Paul; D05 has the Jews urging the crowds on,
probably with the idea that they used scare tactics (L-S-J, 1, ἐπισείω).
ἔσυρον B P74 ) A C H P 049. 056. 33. 81 pm || ἔσυραν D E L 614. 945.
1739 pm.
B03 reads the imperfect of σύρω, D05 the aorist (cf. 17.6 where the sa-
me vl is found). The imperfect is probably to be interpreted as inceptive:
‘they started dragging…’.
νομίζοντεϛ αὐτὸν τεθνηκέναι B P45.74 ) rell | νομίσαντεϛ αὐ. τεθνηκέναι
C 323. 927. 945. 1270. 1739. 1891. 2344 | νομίσαντεϛ αὐ. τεθνᾶναι E H L
P 049. 056 M || νομίζοντεϛ τεθνᾶναι αὐ. D, existimantes mortuum esse
eum d.
Both B03 and D05 read the present participle of νομίζω. Both the long
and the short forms of the perfect active infinitive are attested outside the
New Testament (for examples, see B-A-G; L-J-S, θνῄσκω).
14.20 κυκλωσάντων δὲ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτόν B P74 ) A C DB (– αὐτόν
Ψ) 33vid. 81. 614. 927. 1175. 1611. 1646. 1837. 2147. 2344. 2412 | κυ. δὲ
αὐτὸν τ. μαθ. (+ αὐτοῦ E) H L P 049. 056. 1739 M || κυκλώσαντεϛ δὲ
τῶν μαθητῶν τ. μαθ. (! οἱ μαθηταί, cf. d vgF; Ephr) αὐτοῦ D* (+ αὐτόν
P45vid, circumeuntes enim discipuli eius d).
The nominative participle read by D05 must be presumed to be an
error for the genitive, since there is no nominative subject. The genitive
pronoun αὐτοῦ is, however, possible, leaving the object of the participle
(Paul, expressed by αὐτόν in B03) implicit.
Λύστραν D d || om. B P74 ) rell.
The name of the city is unnecessary from the point of view of clarity,
but it contributes to the coherence of the narrative from the structural
point of view.
τῇ (ἐπαύριον) B P45.74 ) Ds.m. rell || τήν D*.
D* reads the accusative article rectified by a later corrector. This is
the only example in the New Testament of ἐπαύριον with the accusative,
so it would seem to be an error, although there are other instances of
the accusative expressing a point of time rather than duration (e.g. Acts
20.16; cf. Robertson, Grammar, pp. 470–71).