Josep Rius-Camps - Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, «The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles (XXIII) (Acts 16:1–40)», Vol. 24 (2011) 135-164
In Acts 16, Paul sets out again on his missionary journey but without Barnabas, Instead he is accompanied by Silas and Timothy, and in part by a group of companions referred to by Luke in the 1st person. His itinerary follows the leading given by successive divine interventions designed to move him westwards, towards Rome. Most of the action takes place in Philippi, his first stopping place after leaving Asia where he had worked previously. On his arrival there, Paul first seeks out the Jewish community. However, a conflictual encounter with local people leads to his imprisonment, when the jailor provides him with the opportunity to speak about the gospel to Gentiles. Paul’s failure to make the most of this opportunity occasions implicit ciriticism from the narrator of Codex Bezae.
138 Josep Rius-Camps and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger
the cities as a unit, because they are the combined goal of Paul’s journey
according to the plan in his mind.
B03 omits any reference to the areas of Syria and Cilicia (as it had also
omitted any reference to the delivery of the commands of the elders in
those places, cf. 15:41), and therefore underlines the arrival of Paul in the
next cities, treating each one as independent with the repetition of not
only the preposition εἰς but also καί.
ἦν ἐκεῖ B P45.74 אrell, erat ibi d || ἐκ. ἦν D.
The variant involves simply the word order. The placing of the adverb
before the verb in D05 underlines the location and thus stresses that
Timothy was already there, in the area of Derbe and Lystra (according
to B03, in Lystra alone since the town was named independently in the
previous sentence), as a disciple. The description of Timothy that follows
in 16:2 indicates that the area he was associated with was general and
wide (Lystra and Iconium), and yet also specific (ἐν τοῖς τόποις ἐκείνοις,
v. 3).
The word order of D05 may, possibly, express a play on words, already
noticed at 7:4 (The Message of Acts, II, pp. 51, 73), that frequently occurs
in the Hebrew Bible in order to hide the unutterable name of the divine
in two successive steps: 1) the consonants M# represent the word ‘name’
(shem) or ‘there’ (sham), according to the vocalization, and 2) hwhy, the
consonants for the name of God, also represent the third person of the
verb ‘to be’. In consequence, the phrase ἐκεῖ ἦν is found in the LXX as a
translation of the Hebrew device to express the name, and presence, of
God (cf. 1 Samuel 19:3). Here in Acts 16:1b, there is a suggestive echo of
the hidden meaning of ἐκεῖ ἦν in the next two words presenting Timothy,
ὀνόματι Τιμόθεος, where ἐκεῖ (representing M#, ‘name’) corresponds to
ὀνόματι, and Τιμόθεος, meaning ‘honouring God’, corresponds to ἦν
(representing hwhy, YHWH).
16:3 (ἤδεισαν γὰρ) ἅπαντες B P45cj. Aland אA E H L P Ψ 040. 056. 33.
1739 M || πάντες D, omnes d P74 C 69. 181. 255. 917. 1175. 1646. 1828.
1874. 1898 pc vg .— ὅτι ῞Ελλην ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ (ὑπῆρχεν) B P74 אA
C Ψ 36. 69. 81. 181. 242. 431. 453. 467. 522 945. 1175. 1739. 1837. 1891.
1898. 2298. 2344 pc vg co || τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ (+ ἅπαντες 257. 383. 614.
913. 1505. 1518. 1611. 1799. 1838. 2138. 2147. 2412. 2495) ὅτι ῞Ελλην
D, patrem eius quod Graecus esset d P45cj. Aland E H L P 049. 056. (614) M
gig syp.
B03 (with א01) has a tendency to read ἅπας against πᾶς in D05
at places of variant reading, so stressing ‘all without exception’ (see
Read-Heimerdinger, ‘The Distinction between ἅπας and πᾶς in the Work
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