Mark 1:41

1:41 Moved with compassion, ¹  Jesus ²  stretched out his hand and touched ³  him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!”

John 5:8-10

5:8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your mat ⁴  and walk.” 5:9 Immediately the man was healed, ⁵  and he picked up his mat ⁶  and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.) ⁷ 

5:10 So the Jewish leaders ⁸  said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” ⁹ 

John 6:63

6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! ¹⁰  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ¹¹ 

¹ tc The reading found in almost the entire NT ms tradition is σπλαγχνισθείς (splancnisqei", “moved with compassion”). Codex Bezae (D), {1358}, and a few Latin mss (a ff² r^1*) here read ὀργισθείς (ojrgisqei", “moved with anger”). It is more difficult to account for a change from “moved with compassion” to “moved with anger” than it is for a copyist to soften “moved with anger” to “moved with compassion,” making the decision quite difficult. B. M. Metzger (TCGNT 65) suggests that “moved with anger” could have been prompted by 1:43, “Jesus sent the man away with a very strong warning.” It also could have been prompted by the man’s seeming doubt about Jesus’ desire to heal him (v. 40). As well, it is difficult to explain why scribes would be prone to soften the text here but not in Mark 3:5 or 10:14 (where Jesus is also said to be angry or indignant). Thus, in light of diverse mss supporting “moved with compassion,” and at least a plausible explanation for ὀργισθείς as arising from the other reading, it is perhaps best to adopt σπλαγχνισθείς as the original reading. Nevertheless, a decision in this case is not easy. For the best arguments for ὀργισθείς, however, see M. A. Proctor, “The ‘Western’ Text of Mark 1:41: A Case for the Angry Jesus” (Ph.D. diss., Baylor University, 1999).

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn Touched. This touch would have rendered Jesus ceremonially unclean (Lev 14:46; also Mishnah, m. Nega’im 3.1; 11.1; 12.1; 13.6-12).

⁴ tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” Some of these items, however, are rather substantial (e.g., “mattress”) and would probably give the modern English reader a false impression.

⁵ tn Grk “became well.”

⁶ tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in the previous verse.

⁷ tn Grk “Now it was Sabbath on that day.”

⁸ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. Here the author refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9).

⁹ tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.

¹⁰ tn Grk “the flesh counts for nothing.”

¹¹ tn Or “are spirit-giving and life-producing.”