1st Timothy 6:7 (h.t.)

1st Timothy 6:7 (Traditional Text)

- homoioteleuton


When we naturally read "it is certain", in a cherished passage of Holy Scripture, we can be absolutely certain that even the simplest and most obvious of haplographic blunders will be duly recorded and foisted on the critical Greek text, even in (or perhaps especially in) the total absence of testimony from Codex Vaticanus.


..ουδεν γαρ εισηνεγκαμεν
εις τον κοσμον δηλον οτι ουδε
εξενεγκειν τι δυναμεθα


'For we brought nothing into this world,
and it is certain that we can carry nothing out.'


The English reader simply misses the full impact of the conspiracy between the lovely 'sing-song' of the rhythm here in the Greek, ("en" / "on") and the early Majuscule/Uncial form of the letters, virtually lullabying the scribe to sleep in blunder-land as he recites the lines to himself while writing.


Its worth taking a special look at what the Egyptian scribe must have had to read, in the days when spaces between words were minimized to save papyrus and rounded 'e' and 's' ruled the calligraphic la-la land:

'ΕΙCΤΟΝΚΟCΜΟΝΔΗΛΟΝΟΤΙΟΥΔΕ'

Or perhaps the sleepy scribe saw something more like this:

'ΕΙCΤΟΝΚΟCΜΟΝΔΗΛΟΝΟΤΙΟΥΔΕ'

depending on how the ink had dried and worn on his exemplar.

All that is left for Englishmen is the terrible irony of the meaning that is all but lost in the resulting 'modern' translations.

For although we can be given the sacred treasure of the Holy Scripture, and be warned to take our duty to protect it in determined solemness, it is certain that we will probably leave this world with a washed-down ceremony minus any doctrinal commitment or Christian hope, and be buried against our wishes and common sense with some groaner of a paraphrase tucked under our head.

The only consolation for this farce will be the knowledge that this corrupt text will be appropriately left in the coffin by grave-robbers looking for more lasting treasures, like cheap gold rings and shoes.

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Include Phrase: א (c) D(c) K P Ψ (88) 104 181 326 330 436 451 614 629 630 1241 1877 1962 1984 1985 2127 2492 2495 Byz Maj (Majority of all continuous MSS) Lectionaries Syr-P/H, Italic-c/dem/div/f/mon/x/s, Vg, Basil, Macarius, Chrysostom Euthalius, Theodoret, John-Damascus, Marcion too!
(subst. alethes) D* Italic-ar/d/m (Syr-Hmarg) Goth Cyprian Ambrosiaster Pelagius Theodore(Lat) Augustine Paulinus -Nola


Omit: א* A G 048 061 33 81 1739 1881 ital-g/r1 Origen(!)... apparently omit: Ephraem Orsisius Jerome Augustine (Lat) Cyril

*When we consider the patristic 'evidence', we have to remember that the early fathers are paraphrasing from memory a third of the time, with predictable results. Thus for omissions and creative variants we must apply to them with great caution! By nature omissions are 'arguments from silence'.

We can see from the list that even 5 great uncials and their correctors are not enough to stay the cutting and snipping.