John 9:38,39

John 9:38-39 o` de. e;fh … kai. ei=pen o` VIhsou/j {B}

Several witnesses lack the words o` de. e;fh( Pisteu,w ku,rie\ kai. proseku,nhsen auvtw|/) kai. ei=pen o` VIhsou/j (î⁷⁵ a* W it^{b, (1)} cop^ach; Diatessaron^v lacks verses John 9:38 and John 9:39 entirely ¹³). Since e;fh is rare in John (only at John 1:23 and in some witnesses at John 9:36) and since proskune,w occurs nowhere else in John concerning Jesus, Brown suggests that the words may be “an addition stemming from the association of John ix with the baptismal liturgy and catechesis.” ¹⁴ Apart from the question whether such liturgical influence would have been likely as early as î⁷⁵, in view of the overwhelming preponderance of external attestation in favor of the longer text it appears that the omission, if not accidental, is to be regarded as editorial, made in the interest of unifying Jesus’ teaching in verses John 9:37 and John 9:39.

¹³ The editor, Alberto Vaccari, suggests that the two verses have dropped out accidentally because verses John 9:37 and John 9:39 begin in the same way (Dixit ei Iesus).

¹⁴ Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (i—xii) (New York, 1966), p. 375.