Acts 2:17-21

Acts 2:17-21

The quotation from Joel 2:28-32 (= LXX 3:1-5) is preserved in two forms, represented by codex Vaticanus and by codex Bezae. The former agrees almost exactly with the text of the Septuagint, whereas the latter embodies a series of changes from the Septuagint, most of which make the quotation more suitable for the occasion. This adaptation may be the work of the original author, and the agreement of the B-text with the Septuagint may have been produced by an editor. On the other hand, however, it is equally possible that the author copied exactly, or nearly so, from his Septuagint, and that the modifications were introduced by the Western reviser. In favor of the latter view is the fact that in other formal quotations the author of Acts displays a remarkable degree of faithfulness to the text of the Septuagint. Moreover, several of the Western modifications appear to reflect an emphasis on Gentile interests, ⁷⁴ sometimes approaching what has been called the anti-Jewish bias of the Western reviser. The problem is a complex one, however, and the possibility must be left open that occasionally the text of B represents a secondary development.

⁷⁴ See Elden J. Epp, The Theological Tendency of Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis in Acts (Cambridge, 1966).