Matthew 21:32

Matthew 21:32 ouvde,

The confusion that marks the transmission of Matthew 21:29-31 seems to have affected also the text of the final clause of this verse. Instead of ouvde, (which is read by B O Q S F 0138 1 ¦¹³ 22 33 157 543 565 700 892 1579 1582 most of the Old Latin vg cop^bo eth) other witnesses (including a C L W X P 28 118 209 the Byzantine text and cop^sa) read ouv. D and syr^s omit the negative; it^{c, e, h} alter its position (quod non credidistis). D omits the entire clause (from u`mei/j de, to the end of the verse), perhaps by homoeoteleuton.

The omission of the negative is probably accidental, for the resulting sense (“but you, when you saw it, at last repented [i.e. changed your minds] so as to believe in him”) seems to be an extremely inappropriate conclusion of Jesus’ saying; likewise the transfer of the negative to the final verb is no less infelicitous (“… repented later because you did not believe on him”). The reading ouvde,, supported by early and widely diversified witnesses, seems to have been altered to ouv by copyists who did not see the force of the argument (“and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterwards so as to believe him”).