(6) St. Luke xi. 54. 'The Scribes and Pharisees began to urge Him vehemently and to provoke Him to speak of many things (ενεδρευοντες θηρευσαι),
α. Laying wait for Him to catch something out of His mouth.
β. Seeking to get some opportunity (αφορμην τινα) for finding out how to accuse Him ('ινα ευρωσιν κατηγορησαι); or, for accusing Him ('ινα κατηγορησωσιν αυτου).
Trad. Text. Laying wait for Him, and seeking to catch something (ζητουντες θηρευσαι τι) out of His mouth, that they might accuse Him.'
The evidence is—
α. [Symbol: Aleph]BL, Bohairic, Ethiopic, Cyril Alex. (Mai, Nov. Pp. Bibliotheca, ii. 87, iii. 249, not accurately).
β. D, Old Latin except f, Curetonian.
Trad. Text. AC + twelve Uncials, all Cursives (except five which omit ζητουντες), Peshitto, Lewis (with omission), Vulgate, Harkleian, Theophylact (i. 363).
As to genuineness, the evidence is decisive. The reading Α is Alexandrian, adopted by B[Symbol: Aleph], and is bad Greek into the bargain, ενεδρευοντες θηρευσαι being very rough, and being probably due to incompetent acquaintance with the Greek language. If α was the original, it is hard to see how β could have come from it. That the figurative language of α was replaced in β by a simply descriptive paraphrase, as Dr. Hort suggests, seems scarcely probable. On the other hand, the derivation of either α or β from the Traditional Text is much easier. A scribe would without difficulty pass over one of the participles lying contiguously with no connecting conjunction, and having a kind of Homoeoteleuton. And as to β, the distinguishing αφορμην τινα would be a very natural gloss, requiring for completeness of the phrase the accompanying λαβειν. This is surely a more probable solution of the question of the mutual relationship of the readings than the laboured account of Dr. Hort, which is too long to be produced here.