Matt. 21:44

Matt. 21:44 (h.t.) 

.............................δια τουτο λεγω υμιν οτι αρ-
θησεται αφ υμων η βασιλεια του θεου και δο-
θησεται εθνει ποιουντι τους καρπους αυτης και
ο πεσων επι τον λιθον τουτον συνθλασ-
θησεται εφ ον δ αν πεση λικμησει αυτον και
ακουσαντες οι αρχιερεις και οι φαρισαιοι τας
παραβολας αυτου εγνωσαν οτι περι αυτων λεγει...

......................................"From this I say to you that
the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and
given to a people, producing the fruit of her and
he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces;
but on whomever it falls, like dust it will scatter him: and
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables,
they understood that He was speaking about them.

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Include Verse 44: א B ! C K L W X Δ Π (Θ 1079 1546) 0138 Family 1, Family 13, 28 565 700 892 1009 1010 1071 1195 1216 1230 1241 1242 1253 1344 1365 1646 2148 2174 Byz Maj (Majority of all Continuous MSS) Lect. it-aur/c/f/g1/h/l/q Vg Syr-C/p/h Copt-Sa/bo Arm Eth Geo Aphraates Ephraem Chrysostom Augustine Ps-Chrysos. etc.

Omit: D 33 it-b/d/e/ff1/ff2/r1 Syr-s Diat. Iren(Gk/Lat) Origen Euseb.

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One can see the obvious trouble brewing as soon as the unfortunate alignment by chance occurs in some copy of the right line length.

And another line of Holy Scripture bites the dust, and vanishes, under the wandering eye of the aging copyist.

The failure to notice the obvious haplographic features are due in part to the poor choice of verse division
introduced in the Middle Ages, which splits up the "KAI" and the
preceding "AUTOS/HN", making the similarities appear to shrink by half!

But there is no real excuse for not studying the context of ANY serious omission in careful detail.

How can we believe that Hort didn't know this was a homoioteleuton error? It isn't even found in his beloved Aleph/B! Only the Latin Groaner-MS Bezae drops it! Yet Hort is compelled to bracket the verse. The credibility of the "brilliant" textual critic is now strained to the breaking-point, and his complicity cannot be hidden.

None the wiser for their previous folly, Nestle and UBS follow suit and bracket the offending verse. The Revised Standard (RSV) and New English Bible (NEB) leap to delete the verses, perhaps TOO enthusiastically for other more sensible translators like those behind the NAS and NIV.

Still another perfectly good verse is cast into doubt and disrepute, without cause.