Acts 13:18

Acts 13:18 evtropofo,rhsen {C}

The evidence is singularly evenly balanced between evtropofo,rhsen (“he bore with [them]”) and evtrofofo,rhsen (“he cared for [them]”). ²⁵⁸ The author is doubtless alluding to Deuteronomy 1:31, where the Septuagint text, in rendering af'n", presents the same two variant readings: evtrofofo,rhsen (so B and 28 other mss.; evtropofor. ten mss.) se ku,rioj o` qeo,j sou( w`j ei; tij trofoforh,sei (B^c al; tropofor. B* N 75 Origen^3/6) a;nqrwpoj to.n ui`o.n auvtou/. In Acts a majority of the Committee regarded evtropofo,rhsen to be slightly better attested (by Alexandrian and several Western witnesses). On the other hand, one has the feeling that in the context it is more likely that reference should be made to God’s interposition and efforts in behalf of the Israelites rather than his forbearance in the face of their ingratitude; the problem is whether the greater appropriateness was sensed by the author or by copyists. On balance it seemed best to adopt the reading that differs from the prevailing Septuagint text, on the ground that scribes would have been more likely to accommodate the two than to make them diverge.

²⁵⁸ Lake and Cadbury raise the question whether there is evidence that the word trofoforei/n really existed in Greek, and refer to Blass’s statement, “Non video quomodo formari potuerit trofof), at est formatum tropof. (Cic. ad Att. 13, 29, 2) = fe,rein to.n tro,pon tino,j, patienter ferre aliquem. Etiam 2 Macc. 7.27 minime de trofh|/ agitur,” Acta apostolorum…editio philologica, p. 149.