Acts 1:5

Acts 1:5 evn pneu,mati baptisqh,sesqe a`gi,w|

The great majority of witnesses read VIwa,nnhj me.n evba,ptisen u[dati( u`mei/j de. baptisqh,sesqe evn pneu,mati a`gi,w|. Several important witnesses have a different order of words, involving chiasmus: thus a* B 81 915 Didymus read…evn pneu,mati baptisqh,sesqe a`gi,w|, and D Hilary Augustine read evn pneu,mati a`gi,w| baptisqh,sesqe. The chiastic order of words does not seem to be merely an Alexandrian refinement, for it is not confined to the Alexandrian text.

The less elegant order in the great bulk of witnesses can be explained as a harmonization with the sequence of words in the parallel reported in the Synoptic Gospels, all of which place evn pneu,mati a`gi,w| after the word baptize ( Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16).

The envelope construction of the Alexandrian text (placing the verb between the noun and the adjective) may be an editorial refinement, or it may reproduce an emphasis intended by the author. A majority of the Committee preferred the Alexandrian text, considering the weight of a* B 81 915 Didymus to be superior to that of D (the evidence of Latin Fathers does not count for much on a point concerned with the presence or absence of the envelope construction in Greek).