Ezra 7:6

7:6 This Ezra is the one who came up from Babylon. He was a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king supplied him with everything he requested, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

Mark 12:32-34

12:32 The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. ¹  12:33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength ²  and to love your neighbor as yourself ³  is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.

Luke 9:57-58

Challenging Professed Followers

9:57 As ⁴  they were walking ⁵  along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁶  9:58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky ⁷  have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ⁸ 

Luke 9:1

The Sending of the Twelve Apostles

9:1 After ⁹  Jesus ¹⁰  called ¹¹  the twelve ¹²  together, he gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure ¹³  diseases,

Colossians 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ¹⁴  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

¹ sn A quotation from Deut 4:35.

² sn A quotation from Deut 6:5.

³ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

⁴ tn Grk “And as.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁵ tn Grk “going,” but “walking” is an accurate description of how they traveled about.

⁶ tc Most mss (A C W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ 33 Ï) add κύριε (kurie, “Lord”) here, but scribes were prone to add to the text, especially appellations for the Lord. The shorter reading also enjoys significant ms support (Ì^45,75 א B D L Ξ Ë¹ lat co).

⁷ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

⁸ sn Jesus’ reply is simply this: Does the man understand the rejection he will be facing? Jesus has no home in the world (the Son of Man has no place to lay his head).

⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn An aorist participle preceding an aorist main verb may indicate either contemporaneous (simultaneous) action (“When he called… he gave”) or antecedent (prior) action (“After he called… he gave”). The participle συγκαλεσάμενος (sunkalesameno") has been translated here as indicating antecedent action.

¹² tc Some mss add ἀποστόλους (apostolou", “apostles”; א C* L Θ Ψ 070 0291 ˹³ 33 579 892 1241 1424 2542 pc lat) or μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ (maqhta" autou, “his disciples”; C³ al it) here, but such clarifying notes are clearly secondary.

¹³ sn Note how Luke distinguishes between exorcisms (authority over all demons) and diseases here.

¹⁴ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.