Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Short Note on Mark 7:16

  

If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. (Εἴ τις ἔχει ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω) (Mark 7:16)

 

This verse, while it appears in later Greek manuscripts and many English translations is absent in the earliest Greek textual witnesses of the Gospel of Mark.

 

Manuscripts that omit this verse are:

 

א B L Δ* 0274

 

Witnesses that include the verse include:

 

A D W Θ f1.13 33 Maj

 

It appears that the extra verse was a scribal gloss, borrowing from Mark 4:23 (cf. 4:9) to provide an ending to an otherwise very short passage (7:14-15).