Matthew 23:4

Matthew 23:4 bare,a @kai. dusba,stakta# {C}

Impressed by the weight of the external evidence supporting the longer text, a majority of the Committee explained the absence of kai. dusba,stakta in L ¦¹ 892 al as perhaps due to stylistic refinement or to accidental oversight (the eye of the copyist passing from one kai, to the other). Nevertheless, because it is possible that the words may be an interpolation from Luke 11:46, it was decided to enclose them within square brackets.

[The words kai. dusba,stakta should not stand in the text, for (a) if they were present originally, no good reason can account for their absence from such a wide variety of witnesses, and (b) the tendency of copyists to enhance the solemnity of Jesus’ words accounts for the prefixing of mega,la before bare,a in a, and for the interpolation after bare,a of the synonymous expression kai. dusba,stakta from Luke 11:46. B.M.M.]