Josep Rius-Camps - Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, «The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Aspostles (XXV) (Acts 18:24–19:40).» filologia-neotestamentaria, Vol. 26 (2013) 127-163 page 148

Vol 26 (2013)

Josep Rius-Camps - Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, «The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Aspostles (XXV) (Acts 18:24–19:40).», Vol. 26 (2013) 127-163

In the text of Acts according to Codex Bezae, a fourth and final part of the book begins at 18.24. It is Paul’s ultimate goal of Rome that separates it from the earlier missionary phases and confers unity on the remainder of the book. In this opening section (Section I), his activity will be centred for three years in Ephesus, the main city of Asia, where he will meet with some success despite hostility from some of the Jews. In his dealings with the Gentiles, opposition will also be encountered because of the threat posed by his teachings to the trade of the city. The Bezan narrator indicates plainly that Paul’s travel to Ephesus should have been the initial stage of his journey to the imperial capital. Additional references in Codex Bezae to the directions given to Paul by the Holy Spirit make clear that his visit had been prepared for by the work of Apollos; however, it was contrary to his own intentions, which were rather to go back to Jerusalem. The struggle against the divine leading is seen as Paul terminates his stay in Asia once he has carefully prepared for his return to Jerusalem.

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148 Josep Rius-Camps and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger D05, however, links this new sentence with asyndeton, presenting the information as an expansion of the previous one. In this text, the people who burn their books are a large number of the believers mentioned in the first sentence. τῶν τὰ περίεργα (πραξάντων) B P74 ‫ א‬DB rell, qui curiosa (gesserunt) d || τῶν περὶ τὰ ἔργα D*. D05 has inverted the syllables περὶ τά by metathesis. καὶ (τὰϛ βίβλουϛ) D, et (libros) d || om. B P74 ‫ א‬rell. D05 highlights the fact that books were brought, by means of the adverbial καί. καὶ (εὗρον) B P74 ‫ א‬DB rell || om. D* d. D05 introduces the information about the price of the books without a connective, as a simple expansion of the previous verb, again a device that highlights the information. 19:20 (κατὰ κράτοϛ) τοῦ κυρίου ὁ λόγοϛ ηὔξανεν καὶ ἴσχυεν (-σεν ‫)*א‬ B ‫ *א‬A | ὁ λ. τοῦ κ. ηὔξ. κ. ἴσχυεν (-σεν ‫א‬2) P74 ‫א‬2 L P (+ σφόδρα Ψ) 33. 36. 181. 307. 453. 610. 614. 945. 1175. (1409). 1678. 1891. 2344 M dem vgAM syh (sa) bo; Chr Hier | ὁ λ. τ. θεοῦ ηὔξ. κ. ἴσχ. E it vg arm || ἐνίσχυσεν καὶ ἡ πίστιϛ τοῦ θεοῦ, ηὔξανε(ν DD) καὶ ἐπλήθυνε(το DD) D* (convalescebat et fides dei, crescebat et convalescebat d, roborabatur et multiplicabatur fides dei syp). The form of the summary is somewhat different in each text. B03 speaks of the word growing and becoming strong. It is grammatically possible that τοῦ κυρίου qualifies ὁ λόγοϛ, but the unusual fronted posi- tion (unique in Luke’s writings) would confer an emphasis that is unwar- ranted here. It is thus more natural to take it as qualifying κράτοϛ. In D05, it is faith in God that is the focus of concern, the subject first of ἐνίσχυσεν and then of two further verbs linked to it by asyndeton, ηὔξανε καὶ ἐπλήθυνε. Corrector D has assumed that the verb should be middle (ἐπλήθυνετο, ‘multiply’), the final syllable having been acciden- tally omitted through homoioteleuton because of the following τότε (‘le copiste de D écrit ἐπλήθυνε au lieu de ἐπληθύνετο, dont la syllabe finale a sauté devant le τότε qui suit’, Delebecque, Les deux Actes, p. 116). The similarity of the statement with that of Acts 12:24 (ὁ δὲ λόγοϛ τοῦ θεοῦ ηὔξανεν καὶ ἐπληθύνετο) supports this conjecture. However, the fact that the two words are separated here by a line break tells against it. It is, in any case, unnecessary since Luke uses the verb πληθύνω in the active, ‘proliferate, expand’ (Acts 6:1 [Zerwick and Grosvenor, Analysis, p. 368];