Acts 12:20-22

Acts 12:20-22

The account in the Western text of the last days and death of Herod Agrippa I differs in several respects from that in the commonly received text. By using ga,r instead of de, (ver. Acts 12:20) the scribe of D indicates more clearly the reason why it was that, according to ver. Acts 12:19, Herod had gone down “from Judea to Caesarea”— it was to hold an audience with representatives from two neighboring cities, Tyre and Sidon.

The non-Western text declares that the people of Tyre and Sidon “came to him in a body” (o`moqumado.n de. parh/san pro.j auvto,n). Taken literally this is clearly an exaggeration; the Western reviser, however, skillfully rewrote it, while still retaining o`moqumado,n, to suggest that some from both of the cities came in a body to the king (oi` de. o`moqumado.n evx avmfote,rwn tw/n po,lewn parh/san pro.j to.n basile,a, D (614 syr^{h with *})).

Between verses Acts 12:21 and Acts 12:22 the Western text inserts katallage,ntoj de. auvtou/ toi/j Turi,oij (D it^p (syr^{h with *}) cop^G67; it^p2 vg^mss continue with et Sidoniis), that is, “And on the occasion of his reconciliation with the Tyrians (and the Sidonians).”