Matt. 20:7

Matt. 20:7 (h.a.)

            ...λεγουσιν
αυτω οτι ουδεις ημας εμισθ-
ωσατο λεγει αυτοις υπαγετε 
και υμεις εις τον αμπελωνα
και ο εαν η δικαιον ληψεσθε

"They *said to him,
`Because no one hired us.'
He *said to them, `You go
also into the vineyard.'
and you'll get whatever is fair.'

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INCLUDE LINE: C*, W, Δ, f13, 22, 33, Maj, f, h, q, Sy-C, Sy-P, Sy-H, Sy-Pal ms Byz Maj (Majority of MSS), add αμπε λωνα μου και... C(Corr3), N, 174, 346, 828(=f13-part), 565, 1241, pc

OMIT: א, B, (D), L, (Z),Θ, (085), f1, 892, Lat, (Sy-S), Co αμπελωνα D, Z, 085, it, Sy-S, sa, mae-2 (+ εργαζεσθε ) NA has txt + mou for C(Corr3), but it reads Byz + mou as Swanson has it. K. Witte from Muenster confirmed this.

B: no umlaut

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Once again Haplography strikes the tired copyist. Similar beginning spells the end for a useful but unessential clause. We can understand this as an accidental loss much better than as any kind of "copyist's explanatory gloss".

There are hundreds of unique statements in Matthew that scream out for explanation, yet copyists resisted the temptation to expand for hundreds of years. There is no probability in any copyist or editor straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel here.

The features of 'homoioarchton' are classic here. Simliar beginning and just the right length for a fumble.

W. Willker says: "Probably a harmonization to verse 4. There is no reason for an omission." - but the blatant homoioarcton is right in front of us!

W/H follow Aleph/B, with Nestle and UBS-3 in tow. No footnote is found in UBS-2, and most modern versions give no warning that another half-verse has been lost via clumsy error by the ancestor of Aleph/B.