Acts 7:43

Acts 7:43 evpe,keina Babulw/noj

The reading of codex Bezae evpi. @ta. me,#rh Babulw/noj (“into the parts of Babylon”), instead of evpe,keina Babulw/noj (“beyond Babylon”; compare the Septuagint of Amos 5:27, evpe,keina Damaskou/), is received as original by Blass and Hilgenfeld, and its originality is judged “not impossible” by Knowling. ¹⁶¹ It is difficult to imagine, however, that a corrector would have replaced the Septuagint evpe,keina (which is hapax legomenon in the New Testament) by evpi. ta. me,rh without also altering Babulw/noj to the Septuagint Damaskou/. With Ropes and Haenchen the Committee regarded the Western reading as a scribal improvement, bringing the statement into better agreement with historical fact.

¹⁶¹ The Expositor’s Greek Testament, vol. II, p. 195.