1 Corinthians 7:34

καὶ μεμέρισται καὶ ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἡ παρθένος κ.τ.λ. The text here is in the greatest possible confusion, nor is it easy to give a clear idea of the various texts, punctuations and translations. First of all Tischendorf adds καί before and after μεμέρισται to the rec. text. He further accepts the rec. text as far as μεριμνᾷ on the authority of DEFG, Vetus Lat. Peshito, and some MS. of Vulg. After ἡ γυνή, Lachmann, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort add ἡ ἄγαμος, with B and Vulg. They leave these words out after ἡ παρθένος. אA have them in both places. There are thus the following main texts, καὶ μεμέρισται καὶ ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἡ παρθένος ἡ ἄγαμος μεριμνᾷ κ.τ.λ. (Tischendorf). καὶ μεμέρισται καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἄγαμος καὶ ἡ παρθένος μεριμνᾷ κ.τ.λ. (Tregelles, and Westcott and Hort), and καὶ μεμέρισται καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἄγαμος καὶ ἡ παρθένος ἡ ἄγαμος. So Lachmann. The punctuation also differs. The other editors mentioned place a period after μεμέρισται, connecting it with what goes before. Tischendorf and rec. have no stop there, and connect it with what follows. The Latin Fathers, apparently without exception, connect μεμέρισται with what follows. Tischendorf also places a colon after παρθένος. The uncials throw little light on the question of punctuation. It seems best on the whole to accept the rec. punctuation ‘quum pro testimoniorum gravitate, tum pro sensu atque sententiarum loci cohaerentia’ (Tischendorf). See more below.

ἀρέσῃ אABDEFG.

34. καὶ μεμέρισται. See Critical Note. The Vulgate, Calvin, Lachmann, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort and others place a period after μεμέρισται. Tischendorf decidedly rejects this (‘nihil nobis placet’), and Jerome himself (the translator of the Vulgate) admits that it is not the translation he has found in his Latin copies. But that translation he rejects as incompatible with ‘Apostolic truth.’ The objection to placing a period after μεμέρισται is twofold. (1) γυνή is used throughout this chapter in the sense of wife, as distinct from virgin. (2) μερίζω is not used in N.T. and seldom, if ever, elsewhere, in the sense of distract, which is (in N.T.) expressed by μεριμνάω or περισπάω (see below). On these grounds Tischendorf’s punctuation seems preferable. The literal rendering then is And both the wife and the virgin have been divided off from each other, and the sense is that a distinct path in life has been marked out for the wife and the virgin, or as Bp Wordsworth translates ‘the wife and the virgin, each has her appointed lot.’ So Chrysostom. For μερίζω see 1 Corinthians 7:17. Also 1 Corinthians 1:31 (where we could hardly translate ‘Is Christ distracted?’); Mark 3:26; Mark 6:41; Romans 12:3; 2 Corinthians 10:13. We may also compare the use of μεμερισμένον in Lucian, Deorum Dial. XXIV. 1 ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ νεκρικὰ συνδιαπράττειν μεμερισμένον.