The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles 139 of Luke’, in Centre for the Dialogue between Science and Religion (ed.), Biblical Studies (Craiova: Universitaria), pp. 147–158). B03 expresses the matter concerning Timothy’s father in an indirect statement, saying that ‘they knew that...’, where the imperfect tense ὑπῆρχεν would normally signify that ‘he had been’ Greek, that is, that he is no longer living. D05 uses the typically Greek construction of prolepsis to express the same facts more forcefully: the subject of the content clause (introduced by ὅτι) is first stated as the object of the main clause (Dele- becque, Les Deux Actes, pp. 205–206, who cites several other instances of the same construction, even more common in the D05 text than in the AT). 16:4 ὡς δὲ διεπορεύοντο (τὰς πόλεις) B P45.74 ‫ א‬rell || διερχόμενοι δέ D, circumeuntes autem d (gig; Ephr). The introduction to the sentence is expressed by an imperfect verb in a circumstantial clause of time in B03, and with a present participle of the same verb in D05. παρεδίδοσαν αὐτοῖς B P45vid.74 ‫ א‬rell || ἐκήρυσσον καὶ παρ. αὐ. (– κ. παρ. αὐ. syhmg; Ephr) μετὰ πάσης παρρησίας τὸν κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστόν D, praedicabant et tradebant eis cum omnem fiduciam dominum Iesum Christum d (syhmg; Ephr).— φυλάσσειν τὰ δόγματα τὰ κεκριμένα ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων B P45vid.74 ‫ א‬rell || ἅμα παραδιδόντες καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς (+ τῶν DE) ἀποστόλων D*, simul tradentes et mandata apostolorum d. B03 has Paul and Silas undertake one action, that of delivering the let- ter, expressed as ‘the rules decided by the apostles...’, so that the churches would observe them. D05 sees them as undertaking two actions, presented in a double structure that is highly emphatic. First, the actions are stated on their own with two finite aorist verbs – ἐκήρυσσον καὶ παρεδίδοσαν. Then, they are re-stated: first, with the manner of the preaching described, and the contents specified; then, with the repetition of the second verb as a present participle, and again its contents specified. The contents of the preaching is potentially ambiguous, in that the Greek phrase τὸν κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστόν can be construed as one single component (‘the Lord Jesus Christ’), or as two with the verb εἶναι implied (‘that the Lord was Jesus, the Messiah’); in so far as the message was directed to a Jewish au- dience (rather than the churches), it is more likely that Luke intended the phrase to be read in the second way, as a declarative statement with its two components. The content of the letter they handed over is expressed more simply than in B03, as ‘the commands of the apostles...’.