Acts 18:2-4

Acts 18:2-4

The original form of the Western text, which in verses Acts 18:2 and Acts 18:3 codex Bezae presents in a form somewhat accommodated to the Alexandrian text, appears to have been the following (reconstructed by Ropes, chiefly on the basis of it^h and syr^hmg): kai. eu-ren VAku,lan( Pontiko.n tw|/ ge,nei( VIoudai/on( prosfa,twj evlhluqo,ta avpo. th/j VItali,aj su.n Priski,llh| gunaiki. auvtou/( kai. prosh/lqen auvtoi/j\ ou-toi de. evxh/lqon avpo. th/j ~Rw,mhj dia. to. tetace,nai Klau,dion Kai,sara cwri,zesqai pa,ntaj VIoudai,ouj avpo. th/j ~Rw,mhj\ oi] kai. katw,|khsan eivj th.n VAcai,an) o` de. Pau/loj evgnwri,sqh tw|/ VAku,la| (3) dia. to. o`mo,fulon kai. o`mo,tecnon ei=nai( kai. e;meinen pro.j auvtou.j kai. hvrga,zeto\ h=san ga.r skhnopoioi. th|/ te,cnh|) (4) eivsporeuo,menoj de. eivj th.n sunagwgh.n kata. pa/n sa,bbaton diele,geto( kai. evntiqei.j to. o;noma tou/ kuri,ou VIhsou/( kai. e;peiqen de. ouv mo,non VIoudai,ouj avlla. kai. {Ellhnaj (“And he found Aquila, [a man] of Pontus by race, a Jew, who had lately come from Italy with Priscilla, his wife, and he went to them. Now these had come out from Rome because Claudius Caesar had commanded all Jews to leave Rome; and they settled in Greece. And Paul became known to Aquila (3) because he was of the same tribe and the same trade, and he stayed with them and worked; for they were tentmakers by trade. (4) And entering into the synagogue each sabbath day, he held a discussion, introducing the name of the Lord Jesus, and persuaded not only Jews but also Greeks”).

Lake and Cadbury remark on verses Acts 18:2 and Acts 18:3 that “the awkwardness of the Greek in the B-text may be at least partly responsible for the interesting and smoother version of the Western text.” ³³⁵ (On hvrga,zeto in ver. Acts 18:3, see the comment on that verse.) In ver. Acts 18:4 the Western addition implies that in his expounding of the Old Testament scriptures Paul would “insert the name of the Lord Jesus” where, according to Christian theology, it was appropriate. Compare also the addition in D syr^hmg it^h at the beginning of ver. Acts 18:6. At the end of ver. Acts 18:3 codex Bezae and it^gig lack the statement, “for they were tentmakers by trade”; the absence is due no doubt to accidental omission of a line of text.

³³⁵ The Beginnings of Christianity, vol. IV, p. 221.