Ephesians 4:28

Ephesians 4:28 tai/j @ivdi,aij# cersi.n to. avgaqo,n {C}

The differences of reading are numerous in this brief clause. As concerns the sequence of words, copyists would have been more likely to move to. avgaqo,n next to the participle than to separate them; furthermore, the stronger external evidence also supports such a sequence (î^{46, 49vid} a B D G 81 330 451 it vg syr^p cop^{sams, bo} goth arm eth). It is more difficult to decide whether ivdi,aij is an interpolation from 1 Corinthians 4:12, or whether it was deleted as superfluous, or whether it was accidentally omitted in transcription (taicidiaic,ercin). On the basis chiefly of external evidence (a* A D G 81 104 it^{d, (g), mon} syr^p goth arm eth), the Committee preferred the reading tai/j ivdi,aij cersi,n, the unclassical usage of ivdi,aij being common in colloquial Greek of the time. At the same time, however, in view of the absence of ivdi,aij from such early and notable witnesses as î^{46, 49vid} B, it was decided to enclose the word within square brackets. The omission of either to. avgaqo,n (cop^sa Tertullian) or tai/j $ivdi,aij% cersi,n (P 33 1739 1881 Clement Origen Speculum) may have arisen from the presumed incompatibility of to. avgaqo,n with manual labor.