CNT-08 Various Readings in the Sermon on the Mount

The following collection, prepared with much pains, and carefully revised and corrected by Prof. Ezra Abbot, one of the American Revision Committee, exhibits at a glance the VARIOUS READINGS IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

Matthew 5 :

Verses 4-5—“Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” In some MSS. these two verses are transposed.

Verse 11—“Say all manner of evil against you falsely.” Some MSS. and editors omit “falsely.” Some MSS. also omit the word rema, denoting “word" or “thing;” but this does not affect the meaning or the translation.

Verse 13—“It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Some au­thorities read, “but, being cast out, to be trodden under foot of men.”

Verse 19—“Whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great,” etc. A few manuscripts read, houtos [with a long ’o’] for houtos [with a short ’o’], “Whosoever shall do and teach so, shall be called great,” etc.

Verse 20—“Your righteousness,” literally “the righteousness of you.” Some MSS. change the order, reading, “Of you the righteousness,” making the “your” emphatic.

Verse 22—“Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause." Some MSS. and editors omit “without a cause.”

Verse 25—“Whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer.” Some MSS. and editors read, “Whiles thou art with him in the way; lest at any time the ad­versary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge to the officer.”

Verse 27—“Ye have heard that it was said by [or to] them of old time.” The best MSS. and the critical editors omit “by them of old time.” It was added here in the later MSS. from verse 21, where it is genuine.

Verse 30—“And not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” Some MSS. read, “And not thy whole body go into hell.”

Verse 32—“Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornica­tion, causeth her to commit adultery.” Some MSS. read, “Every one that putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, maketh her an adulteress.”

Some omit the clause, “and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”

Verse 37—“But let your communication be Yea, yea; nay, nay.” Some MSS. read, “But your communication shall be, Yea, yea; nay, nay.”

Verse 39—“Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek.” Some MSS. read, “Whosoever smiteth thee;” some read “the right cheek” instead of “thy right cheek.”

Verse 44—“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” The oldest MSS. and other authorities read, “Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you.” The words omitted in the oldest authorities were probably transferred to this place in the later MSS. from Luk 6:27-28, where they are gen­uine.

Verse 45—“That ye may be the children of [literally, “sons of”] your Father which is in heaven.” Three MSS. read, “That ye may be like your Father which is in heaven.”

Verse 46—“Do not even the publicans the same?” Some read, “Do not even the publicans so?”

Verse 47—“And if ye salute your breth­ren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so?” Some MSS. read, “friends” instead of “breth­ren.” The oldest and best MSS. read, “Do not even the Gentiles the same?” Others read, “so” for “the same.”

Verse 48—“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Some read, “Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Matthew 6 :

Verse 1—“Take heed.” Tischendorf, with some ancient MSS., reads, “But take heed.—That ye do not your alms before men.” The oldest MSS. and the critical editors read, “That ye do not your right­eousness before men.”

Verse 4—“Thy Father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly.” Some read, “Thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee.”

Verse 5—“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.” Some read, “And when ye pray, ye shall not be."

Verse 6—“Thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” Some omit, “openly.”

Verse 8—“Your Father knoweth.” Some read, “God your Father knoweth.”

Verse 12—“As we also forgive our debt­ors.” Some read, “As we also have for­given our debtors.”

Verse 13—“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen.” This is omitted by the oldest MSS. and other weighty authorities. Others give the doxology in different forms. It was probably introduced in the later MSS. from the ancient liturgies. Compare 1Ch 29:11.

Verse 15—“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses.” Some omit, ‘‘their trespasses.”

Verse 18—“Shall reward thee openly.” Many MSS. omit “openly.”

Verse 21—“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Some read, “For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.” Some omit “also.”

Verse 22—“Is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single.” Some read, “is thine eye,” and some omit “therefore;” some read “the eye” for “thine eye,” and some have “is” for “be.”

Verse 24—“Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Some MSS. have “mamon.”

Verse 25—“What ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink.” Some read, “and" for “or.” Hort brackets as doubtful, “or what ye shall drink.”

Verse 33—“The kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” Some read, “his king­dom and righteousness,” and some “his righteousness and kingdom.”

Verse 34—“The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” Some read, “The morrow shall take thought for itself.”

Matthew 7 :

Verse 2—"It shall be measured to you again.” Some omit “again.”

Verse 4—“Out of thine eye.” Some read, “from thine eye.”

Verse 8—“To him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Some read, “It is opened.”

Verse 9—What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?” Some read, “What man of you, of whom his son shall ask bread will give him a stone?”

Verse 10—“Or if he ask a fish.” Some read, “and if he ask a fish;” some, “or shall ask a fish.”

Verse 12—“For this is the law and the prophets.” Some read [houtos (with long ’o’) for hou­tos (with short ’o’)], “for so is the law and the prophets.”

Verse 13—“Wide is the gate, and broad is the way.” Some omit “the gate,” and read, “Wide and broad is the way.”

Verse 14—“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way.” Some read, “How strait is the gate, and some, omit­ting "the gate," read, “strait and narrow is the way.”

Verse 15—“Beware.” Some MSS. read, “But beware.”

Verse 19—“Every tree.” Some MSS. add, “therefore."

Verse 21—“He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Some add, “he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Verse 24—“These sayings of mine” [lit­erally, “of me"]. Some omit “these,” and read, “the sayings of me,” i.e. “my sayings.” “I will liken him unto a wise man.” Some read, “shall be likened unto a wise man.”

Verse 29—‘’And not as the scribes.” Some read, “their scribes.” Some add, “and the Pharisees.”

Here, then, are the results of the researches of the ablest scholars in the world, throughout a period of more than three centuries, and especially during the present generation. After hunting old libraries, exploring musty manuscripts, wearing out their eyes on faded parchments, and gathering up everything they could find in the way of variations and discrepancies, in hundreds of ancient man­uscripts, translations, and quotations, they have found only such trifles as these, which in an ordinary writer would pass unnoticed, and which would not pay for the trouble of looking them up, were it not that they pertain to the utterances of Him who spake as never man spake, and who has said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the words that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”—John 12:48. This exhibit illustrates the utter emptiness of all the talk about the corruptions of the New Testament, and the uncertainty of the Greek text. No book on earth has ever stood the test of such searching criticism as the New Testament; and after all that has been said and done, this book has emerged from the flames of historic criticism, scathless as the Hebrews from the burning fiery furnace. From all these facts cited, it most clearly appears that the New Testament books must have been copied with scrupulous care, and that special pains must have been taken to secure…