A Textual Commentary On The Greek NT

Jude 1:23

ver. Jude 1:23 ou]j de. sw,|zete evk puro.j a`rpa,zontej {C}

Besides the highly condensed form of text in î⁷² (see comment on verses 22-23), other witnesses (syr^ph cop^sa Clement^lat al) omit ou]j de. sw,|zete and replace a`rpa,zontej with a`rpa,zete, thus providing a suitable main clause after the relative clause(s). Still other witnesses transpose the phrase evn fo,bw| from the third relative clause to a position either after a`rpa,zontej (C 630 syr^h al) or before sw,|zete (K L P 056 Byz Lect). The phrase, however, clearly belongs to the third clause, in which it supplies the reason for the addition of the explanatory phrase misou/ntej … citw/na. The singular reading of B kai. ou]j me.n evlea/te diakrinome,nouj sw,|zete evk puro.j a`rpa,zontej( ou]j de. evlea/te evn fo,bw| (“and those, whom you pity when they contend [or doubt], save and snatch from the fire, but some pity in fear”), can scarcely be correct, for it involves, as Hort admits, “the incongruity that the first ou[j must be taken as a relative, and the first evlea/te as indicative.” ³ It is probable that the scribe of B accidentally omitted ou]j de, before sw,|zete, in which case his archetype would have agreed with the text preserved in a^c A Y 33 81 1739 vg cop^bo arm Ephraem.

³ “Notes on Select Readings,” p. 107. In Hort’s opinion, “Some primitive error evidently affects the passage.”

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A Textual Commentary On The Greek NT

Jude 1:23

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