Colossians 4:8

Colossians 4:8 gnw/te ta. peri. h`mw/n {B}

The reading i[na gnw/te ta. peri. h`mw/n (“that you may know how we are”), which is adequately supported by good representatives of the Alexandrian, Western, and Eastern types of text (A B D* G P 33 81 it<sup>ar, b, d, g, mon</sup> syr<sup>pal</sup> cop<sup>sa</sup> arm eth Ephraem al), best explains the origin of the other readings. Through inadvertence copyists produced nonsense either by substituting u`mw/n for h`mw/n (“that you may know how you are” a* 1241) or by accidentally dropping &te before ta, (“that he may know how we are” 330 451 ù<sup>598</sup>). The reading gnw|/ ta. peri. u`mw/n (î⁴⁶ a^c C D^c K Y 614 1739 Byz Lect vg syr^{p, h} cop^bo goth al) was produced when copyists tried to make sense of i[na gnw/te ta. peri. u`mw/n (a) by taking it as i[na gnw|/ te ta. peri. u`mw/n and then (b) omitting te as awkward and superfluous. The reading adopted for the text is congruent with the writer’s declared purpose of Tychicus’s visit (verses Colossians 4:7 and Colossians 4:9).