Jude 1:3 'salvation and life' conflation - Aleph similarity to Codex Athous Lavrensis - Ψ - 044

Steven Avery

Administrator
James Snapp has many posts on this.

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Bill Brown on CARM


Seven Interesting Variants in Jude
James Snapp, Jr. - Dec 2021
https://www.thetextofthegospels.com/2021/12/seven-interesting-variants-in-jude.html

● In Jude verse 3, there is a contest, mainly between κοινῆς σωτηρίας (common salvation) (favored by a majority of manuscripts) and κοινῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας. (of our common salvation) Although the latter was adopted in Nestle-Aland (and by Tregelles and Souter – but not by Scholz,), it is not easy to discern why any scribe whose exemplar had the longer reading here would omit ἡμῶν. The sentence is easier to understand with ἡμῶν included – which is a point in favor of the shorter reading.

But there are couple of other horses in the race. Κοινῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας (our common salvation) has the support of P72, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, 1739, 2200 et al; κοινῆς σωτηρίας (common salvation) is supported by 018 020 025 049 and hundreds of minuscules, but what does א‎ say? Something very different: κοινῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας και ζωης – that is, “our common salvation and life.” (This reading also turns up in 044!) And nestled in the text of some members of the cluster of manuscripts known as the Harklean Group (a.k.a. family 2138 – MSS 206, 429, 522, 614, 630, 1292, 1505, 1611, 1799, 1890, 2138, 2200, 2412, and 2495 – but especially 2138) are the readings κοινῆς ἡμῶν ζωης (of our common life) (1611 2138) and κοινῆς υμῶν ζωης (of your common life) (1505 2495). Putting א‎’s reading alongside the others, it looks very, very much like a conflation of the readings in B and in family 2138.

In which case, in order for the conflation to have been made in א’s text, the Harklean Group’s text of this passage had to already exist before א was made, even though the Greek manuscripts which attest to it are medieval. This is an instructive demonstration of how precarious it is to assume that the readings in later manuscripts must themselves be later.

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Steven Avery

Administrator
Tommy Wasserman directly did call this a conflation, but he did not discuss the unlikelihood that such an early reading for "life" was used and then disappeared everywhere but the Sinaiticus conflation! (for c. 500 years).

The Epistle of Jude: Its Text and Transmission,
Tommy Wasserman
"A few witnesses, including the nucleus HK group, replace σωτηρίας with ζωής (1505 1611 2138 S:HPh), whereas a few important MSS attest a conflation, τής κοινής ήμών σωτηρίας και ζωής (01 (א) 044 2627Ζ). The attestation of ζωής by 01 (א) shows that the substitution is early. Sakae Kubo suggests that a scribe made the change “because σωτηρία did not cover the things which the scribe wrote" (A textual commentary on P72 at p.226)" - p.247,
 

Steven Avery

Administrator
Jude collation - 01 044

Facebook,- Hefin -
NTTextualCriticism


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Heflin Jones
“….so maybes and possiblies and we don't actually have the evidence...”

Here you can see 044 and Sinaiticus agreeing on 3 variants in Jude 1:3 against all other uncials. One a conflation that is especially difficult to explain as an early manuscript.

The three agreements against all uncials is also an indication of textual connection.


PIC

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Steven Avery #1. A genuine thanks. I'm looking for interesting Jude manuscripts and you've fully convinced me that 044 is interesting. I should go and look at it in a couple of weeks time. I'm on holiday and away from my laptop for the next 10 days.

#2. Only more complete collation of Jude in both 01 and 03 will confirm if this is more than random happenstance, and which direction dependence is likely.

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I also collated 01 and 044 in Jude snce returning from holiday and regaining access to relevant data and tech:

1. Yes 044 and 01 are closely related in Jude.

SA: maybe https://ntg.uni-muenster.de/Jude/ph4/comparison#ms1=01&ms2=044
Nope !


2. But in Acts 044 is further away from 01 than the majority text is. There are 1200+ differences between 044 and 01 in Acts alone. Here's the full data of every single variation between 01 and 044 in Acts:

https://ntg.uni-muenster.de/acts/ph4/comparison#ms1=01&ms2=044

3. In Mark 9 to 16 044 is somewhat closer to 01 than the MT but not by a significant margin. There are over 300 differences between 044 and 01 in the 7 extant chapters of Mark in 044. Here's the full data of every single variation between 01 and 044 in Mark 9-16:

https://ntg.uni-muenster.de/mark/ph35/comparison#ms1=01&ms2=044

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Hefin Jones - thanks!
Does Muenster have a url for a Jude comparison?
Do you have notes or publication on your
Jude collation?

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Steven Avery
Münster's work on Jude was fairly early so their online offerings for it are very limited in comparison with Acts or Mark.
I can flick an excel file with some collations in your direction.

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Hefin Jones - thanks! That would be Fantastico!
 
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Steven Avery

Administrator
David Robert Palmer -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NTT...25452271051&reply_comment_id=8050229111730685

“ ℵ Ψ 1611 often agree with the Syriac …”.

Fascinating. Amazing. Has there been any collation of their agreements?

Oh yes, I remember why I think the ζωης reading came from Syriac. Because in Acts and the General Epistles, ℵ Ψ 1611 often agree with the Syriac, and if not in agreement, show awareness and influence from Syriac. This is why I would bet that the reading ζωης came from the Syriac.

Steven Avery
Author
Top contributor
David Robert Palmer -
Thanks! And yes, I agree that the new Syriac translations of Jude in the 500s on likely inaugurated the “life” variant, which was even carried back to some “Harklean” Greek manuscripts. Very sensible.


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ζωης was an early reading, cf. eth, syr, conflated by ℵ Ψ with σωτηριας. Sakae Kubo suggests ζωης was substituted for σωτηριας

David Robert Palmer
Top contributor
The Epistle of Jude is not found in the Peshitta. Quoting the ECM, its "first appearance in the Syriac version is in the so-called Philoxeniana, commissioned in 507/8 by Philoxenus, the Monophysite bishop of Mabbug...The text represented by "Ph" is fr…
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David Robert Palmer
Top contributor
BTW the witnesses that read ζωης alone are syr-ph mss,h 1505 1611. So some Philoxenian mss read "life" and some read "salvation." My Syriac English translations are as follow: Murdock "life"; Etheridge and Lamsa, "salvation."
because the latter did not cover all the topics hereinafter.
Here is my Swanson style Jude in 62 manuscripts and 12 editions:
https://bibletranslation.ws/trans/judewgrkbyz.pdf
 
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Steven Avery

Administrator
Forgot the pitchfork :) lol
Ψ - Psi

ETC

The apparatus information on Jude 1:3 is especially interesting.

Jude 1:3 (AV)
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Sinaiticus has an unusual conflation reading:

κοινῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας και ζωης
“our common salvation and life.”

(This is also in Codex Athous Lavrensis, GA 044, curiously from Mt. Athos, so perhaps the 044 manuscript has a connection with Sinaiticus?)

For one of the two elements of the conflation, ζωῆς (life) extant evidence for the reading is late.

This leads to one of many Sinaiticus textual puzzles, how does a theorized 4th-century text conflate a later reading?

Tommy Wasserman, The Epistle of Jude: Its Text and Transmission, p. 247

"A few witnesses, including the nucleus HK group, replace σωτηρίας with ζωής (1505 1611 2138 S:HPh), whereas a few important MSS attest a conflation, τής κοινής ήμών σωτηρίας και ζωής (01 (א) 044 2627Ζ). The attestation of ζωής by 01 (א) shows that the substitution is early. Sakae Kubo suggests that a scribe made the change “because σωτηρία did not cover the things which the scribe wrote" (A textual commentary on P72 at p.226)"

However, this does not really solve the chronology difficulty, the conflation anachronism!

This (these) types of quirks are rather abundant in Sinaiticus studies.
 
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Steven Avery

Administrator

You cited Wasserman’s explanation which makes it cler that it was in Thomas of Harqel’s Greek Vorlagen of his translation in the early 7th century. What is the problem? It happens every now and then that an early reading attested in papyri or the great uncials then turns up in a late minuscule. It is not a conspiracy you know.

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Thanks, Anon!

To clarify an important point, the Harklean did not have "salvation and life", the Harklean line was split between "salvation" and "life" (with additional words.)

And thus it is highly unlikely that the Harklean Greek vorlagen had the conflation, since you would then expect the conflation to show up in Syriac manuscripts. Afawk, the conflation variant only exists in Greek manuscripts.

And very few manuscripts in Greek have the conflation, it is rare.

Putting aside Sinaiticus, which frequently has anachronism puzzles and is the tabula rasa issue at hand, the first "salvation and life" conflation is extant in the 8th ms. 044, Codex Athous Lavrensis, Ψ. (Also in the margin of 2627. 13th century.) And as we often see in Sinaiticus, this unusual variant connects Sinaiticus to a Mt. Athos manuscript, where we have an alternative production history for Sinaiticus.

Thanks for bringing up the Harklean connection, I wanted to give it more emphasis, and your post brought it to the fore.

The list of Sinaiticus textual anachronisms and connections to known historical manuscripts (sometimes text, sometimes correctors) is quite a fascinating and varied list.
 
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Steven Avery

Administrator
This may be censored by the ETC

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Thanks, Anon!

To clarify an important point, the Syriac Harklean (c. AD 600) did not have "salvation and life", the Harklean line was split between "salvation" and "life" (with additional words.)

And thus it is highly unlikely that the Harklean Greek vorlagen had the conflation, since you would then expect the conflation to show up in Syriac manuscripts. Afawk, the conflation variant only exists in Greek manuscripts.

And very few manuscripts in Greek have the conflation, it is rare.

Putting aside Sinaiticus, which frequently has anachronism puzzles and is the tabula rasa issue at hand, the first "salvation and life" conflation is extant in the 8th-9th century ms. 044, Codex Athous Lavrensis, Ψ. (Also in the margin of 2627, 13th century.) And as we often see in Sinaiticus studies, this unusual variant connects Sinaiticus to a Mt. Athos manuscript, where we have an alternative production history for Sinaiticus.

Thanks for bringing up the Harklean connection, I wanted to give it more emphasis, and your post brought it to the fore.

The list of Sinaiticus textual anachronisms and connections to known historical manuscripts (sometimes text, sometimes correctors) is quite a fascinating and varied list.
 
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