Mark 11:8 [Textus Receptus (Elzevir) (1624)]161
Πολλοὶ δὲ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν ἔστρωσαν εἰς τὴν ὁδόν· ἄλλοι δὲ στοιβάδας ἔκοπτον ἐκ τῶν δένδρων, καὶ ἐστρώννυον εἰς τὴν ὁδόν.
MSS: S (f102arc2), 7, 22 (f92v-93r), 438 (f184v-185r), 439 (f94rc1)
Mark 11:8 [Codex Sinaiticus (א or 01) (4th century)]q77f1rc4
Και πολλοι τα ϊματια αυτων εστρωσαν εις την οδον· αλλοι δε στιβαδας κοψαντες εκ των αγρων
Mark 11:8 [Codex Alexandrinus (A02) (5th century)]14rc1
Πολλοι δε τα ϊματια αυτων εστρωσαν εν την οδω· αλλοι δε στοιβαδας εκοπτον εκ των δενδρων και εστρωννυον εις την οδον
Mark 11:8 [Codex Vaticanus Gr. 1209 (B03) (4th century)]32bc2
Και πολλοι τα ιματια εαυτων εστρωσαν εις την οδον αλλοι δε στιβαδας κοψαντες εκ των αγρων
Mark 11:8 [Codex Ephraemi Syri Rescriptus (C04) (5th century)]73
και πολλοι τα ιματια αυτων εστρωσαν εις την οδον αλλοι δε στοιβαδας εκοπτον εκ των αγρων·
Mark 11:8 [Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis (D05) (5th century)]324v|629
Πολλοι δε τα ϊματια αυτων εστρωννυον εις την οδον· αλλοι δε εστιβαδας εκοπτον εκ των δενδρων και εστρωννυον την οδον
Critical Apparatus :
(1) πολλοι δε : A, D, E, G, K, M, S, W, X, Y, Ω, 1, 7, 8, 9, 13, 22, 438, 439, 652, 700, 1582, ℓ339, Majority, Peshita (ܣܰܓ݁ܺܝܶܐܐ ܕ݁ܶܝܢ), Vulgate (multi autem)
(2) και πολλοι : א, B, C, L, Δ, 892
(3) αυτων : א, A, C, D, E, G, M, S, X, Y, Δ, Ω, 1, 7, 8, 13, 22, 438, 439, 652, 700, 1582, ℓ339, Majority
(4) εαυτων : B, 892
(5) αυτου : K
(6) OMIT αυτων : L, W
(7) εστρωσαν τα ιματια αυτων : 9§
(8) εστρωσαν : א, A, B, C, E, G, K, L, M, S, X, Y, Δ, Ω, 7, 8, 9§, 13, 22, 438, 439, 652, 892, ℓ339, Majority
(9) εστρωννυον : D, W, 1, 700, 1582,
(10) εις την οδον : א, B, C, D, E, G, L, S, W, X, Δ, Ω, 1, 7, 8, 13, 22, 438, 439, 892, 1582, ℓ339, Majority
(11) εν την οδω : A, K, 700
(12) εν τη οδω : M, Y, 9, 652
(13) δε (i) : א, A, B, C, D, E, G, K, L, M, S, X, Y, Δ, Ω, 7, 8, 9, 13, 22, 438, 439, 700, 892, ℓ339, Majority
(14) OMIT δε : 1, 652, 1582,
(15) OMIT αλλοι δε στοιβαδας εκοπτον εκ των δενδρων και εστρωννυον εις την οδον : W
(16) στοιβαδας : A, C, S, X, Y, Ω, 1, 7, 9, 22, 438, 439, 700, 1582, ℓ339, Majority
(17) στιβαδας : א, B, K, L, M, Δ, 13, 652, 892
(18) στειβαδας : E, G
(19) στυβαδας : 8
(20) εστιβαδας : D
(21) εκοπτον : A, C, D, E, G, K, M, S, X, Y, Ω, 1, 7, 8, 9, 13, 22, 438, 439, 652, 700, 1582, Majority
(22) εκοπτων : ℓ339
(23) κοψαντες : א, B, L, Δ, 892
(24) δενδρων : A, D, E, G, K, M, S, X, Y, Ω, 1, 7, 8, 9, 13, 22, 438, 439, 652, 700, 1582, ℓ339, Majority, Peshitta (ܐܺܝܠܳܢܶܐ), Vulgate (arboribus)
(25) αγρων : א, B, C, L, Δ, 892
(26) και εστρωννυον εις την οδον : A, E¹, G, S, 1, 7, 8, 22, 438, 439, 1582, ℓ339, Majority, Peshitta (ܘܰܡܫܰܘܶܝܢ ܒ݁ܽܐܘܪܚܳܐ), Vulgate (et sternebant in via)
(27) και εστροννυον εις την οδον : E*, 9
(28) και εστρωννοιον εις την οδον : Ω, 13
(29) και εστρωνυον εις την οδον : X
(30) και εστρωννυον εν τη οδω : K, M, Y, 652, 700
(31) και εστρωννυον εις οδον : 892mg
(32) και εστρωννυον την οδον : D
(33) OMIT και εστρωννυον εις την οδον : א, B, C, L, Δ, 892*
A Textual Commentary On Mark 11:8
(a) After speaking of “the alteration of Greek MSS. from Latin ones” as a “fact,” “to which it would be desirable that the attention of scholars should be more carefully directed than has hitherto been the case,” the Reviewer develops his theory thus :-
“The main origin of the comparison of Greek MSS. with Latin ones, is probably to be looked for in the intercourse which took place between some of the principal ecclesiastics of the Greek church and the church of Rome, during the time of the Arian troubles. Among others, Athanasius and his successor Peter, in the fourth century, and John, also bishop of Alexandria, in the fifth, passed a considerable time at Rome, and probably brought from thence not only an intimacy with the Latin language, but also copies of the Scriptures as used in the Latin churches. Now nothing would be more natural than for the possessor of any one of these, when he found a discrepancy between the Greek codex used in his own church, and his new acquisition, to note the variation in the margin, either in Latin (as it existed) or in its Greek equivalent, or perhaps in both ; the former for his own satisfaction, the latter for the information of his successors who might not be ‘docti sermones utriusque linguæ.’”
This theory is then illustrated by three passages : the third of these has just been mentioned ; the second is thus stated : “ Marc. xi. 8. The Textus Receptus has πολλοὶ δὲ (καὶ πολλοὶ· B C) τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν ἔστρωσαν εἰς τὴν ὁδόν, ἄλλοι δὲ στιβάδας ἔκοπτον ἐκ τῶν δένδρων, καὶ ἔστρωσαν (ἐστρώννυον D a b c) εἰς τὴν ὁδόν. For the last clause, the Vatican Codex (B) has the variation ἄλλοι δὲ στιβάδας κόψαντες ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν. Now it is not at all difficult to conceive how both these readings might be derived from a common original, if it were not for the strange discrepancy between αγρών and δένδρων. But these words can never have been directly interchanged with one another. The change must have come through a Latin version ; ‘arborum,’ the translation of δένδρων, became readily altered into (or taken for) ‘arvorum,’ and the Greek equivalent of this (ἀγρῶν) was placed in the margin as an alternative reading to δένδρων. The true reading is (we have little doubt) to be gathered from the combination of the two sources : καὶ πολλοὶ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν ἔστρωσαν εἰς τὴν ὁδόν, ἄλλοι δὲ στιβάδας κόψαντες ἐκ τῶν δένδρων.” (Edin. Rev. CXCI., July 1851, pp. 33, 34.)
There are a good many questions involved in this theory and its application. The examples ought themselves to be of the clearest nature, so as to be legitimate premises for a process of inductive reasoning ; and they ought, if applied to a particular theory, at least to involve no impossibility, an anachronism for instance.
To investigate the case before us, the evidence for ἀγρῶν (instead of δένδρων, of the common text) must first be stated : B C L Δ (Greek) ; the Memphitic version as edited by Schwartze, the Thebaic, and the margin of the Harclean Syriac ; also Origen twice. This last-cited authority upsets all connection of this passage with the Latinising theory now advanced ; for, as Origen twice cited ἀγρῶν in the third century, it could not have been introduced through Latin influence in the fourth. “The change must have come through a Latin version,” is only an assertion, requiring proof, and that is not supplied by a second assertion, that it took place in a certain manner : and whether “these words CAN never have been directly interchanged,” or not, must depend wholly on facts : few that have examined various readings are not aware that the most unaccountable changes have continually taken place — words have been mistaken for one another, wholly irrespective of sense or of resemblance. Δένδρων is a reading which may well. have arisen from an attempt, designed or not, to correct ἀγρῶν, the reading which has the support of the best MS. authority, as well as of good versions, and Origen. For δένδρων is the reading of the parallel place Matt. xxi. 8, and a copyist would easily enough exchange “cut branches from the fields,” for “cut branches from the trees.”* Proclivi scriptioni præstat ardua. The cases in which one evangelist had been corrected to produce verbal agreement with another, could hardly be over-estimated at the end of the fourth century.
* The reading δένδρων would affix definitely to στιβάδας (or στοιβάδας) the signification of branches. But this is not exactly the meaning of στιβάς, even though it might be so applied : “stuffings of leaves,” or cushions so made, is what the word implies ; so that here it might mean such herbage as was gathered from the fields to strew before our Lord. The nature of the case would almost exclude the notion of any branches being strewed in the way of the ass’s colt, except the small ones covered with fresh verdure.
(S.P. Tregelles, An Account of the Printed Text of the Greek New Testament, pp. 201-202)