Acts 3:3-5

The usual text reads, “Seeing (o]j ivdw,n) Peter and John about to go into the temple, he [the lame man] asked…And Peter directed his gaze (avteni,saj) at him, with John, and said, ‘Look at us’ (ble,yon). And he fixed his attention (o` de. evpei/cen) upon them …” Codex Bezae rewrites the passage, using the verb avteni,zein of the lame man: ou-toj avteni,saj toi/j ovfqalmoi/j auvtou/ kai. ivdw,nevmble,yaj de. o` Pe,troj eivj auvto.n su.n VIwa,nh| kai. ei=pen\ VAte,neison eivj h`ma/j) o` de. avtenei,saj auvtoi/j

These changes are especially curious in view of the fact that in stories of miracles it is usual to employ avteni,zein of the person who effects the cure. Lake and Cadbury comment on this passage: “If it were not for general considerations it would by tempting here to accept the Western text as original and regard the B-text as an accommodation to the typical vocabulary of a miraculous story.” 94


94 The Beginnings of Christianity, vol. IV, p. 33.

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Old Testament