Matthew 10:8

Matthew 10:8 nekrou.j evgei,rete

The clause nekrou.j evgei,rete involves five variant readings. (1) The words are absent from a considerable number of (mostly later) witnesses, including C³ L X Y G Q P, about one hundred fifty minuscule manuscripts, syr^{p, pal} cop^sa arm eth^{2 mss} geo^{1, B} Eusebius Basil. (2) In other witnesses the clause stands after kaqari,zete (16 348 372 1093 1579, followed by the Textus Receptus), or (3) after evkba,llete (P W D 566 1573 2145 syr^h), or (4) before avsqenou/ntaj (vg^ms). Finally, (5) the reading adopted as the text is supported by a wide variety of witnesses, including a* B C* D N S F ¦¹ ¦¹³ 22 33 157 349 399 543 565 it^{a, b, c, h, k, l, q} vg syr^s cop^bo eth geo^A arab Cyril Hilary.

Although variation in position of a word or phrase sometimes arouses suspicion of interpolation, in this case the divergence of order seems to have arisen either accidentally (owing to similarity of endings of successive clauses), or deliberately (in order to produce what was regarded as a more appropriate or a more emphatic sequence of the four clauses). While it is true that Matthew is fond of grouping items in threes — and therefore it may be argued that the fourth item here was added by scribes — it is unlikely that they would have introduced an ambiguous command (is it the physically or the spiritually dead?). On balance, a majority of the Committee regarded the shorter reading as due to accidental omission and preferred the reading attested by representatives of the Alexandrian, the Western, and other types of text.