Mark 14:72

εὐθὺς : omitted in the MSS. which insert a first cock-crow in Mark 14:68, as implying that this was the first crow at that hour, as in Mt. ἐκ δευτέρου (omitted in [141] [142] because apparently implying a first cock-crow during the denial, which they omit) must be understood with Weiss as referring to the second time of cock-crowing (three in the morning), the first being at midnight. ἐπιβαλὼν : another puzzle in Mk.'s vocabulary; very variously interpreted. Most modern interpreters adopt the rendering in the A. V [143] and R. V [144], “when he thought thereon” (ἐπιβαλὼν τὸν νοῦν). Weizsäcker: “er bedachte es und weinte”. Theophylact took ἐπιβ = ἐπικαλυψάμενος τὴν κεφαλήν, having covered his head (that he might weep unrestrainedly), a rendering which Fritzsche and Field (Otium Nor.) decidedly support. Field remarks: “it may have been a trivial or colloquial word, such as would have stirred the bile of a Phrynichus or a Thomas Magister, who would have inserted it in their Index Expurgatorius, with a caution: ἐπιβαλὼν μὴ λέγε ἀλλὰ ἐγκαλυψάμενος ἢ ἐπικαλυψάμενος ”. Brandt (Die Ev. Gesch., p. 31), adopting a suggestion by Holwerda, thinks the original word may have been ἐκβαλὼν = going out, or flinging himself out. Klostermann ingeniously suggests: “stopped suddenly in his course of denial, like a man, running headlong, knocking suddenly against an obstacle in his way”. The choice seems to lie between the renderings: “thinking thereon” and “covering his head”.

[141] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[142] Codex Regius--eighth century, represents an ancient text, and is often in agreement with א and B.

[143] Authorised Version.

[144] Revised Version.