The phrase εἶπεν δὲ in Luke and in the Marcionite gospel.
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 10:10 pm
The Greek phrase εἶπεν δὲ means "and/but he said" (δὲ can be translated either as "and" or as "but"). Amongst the synoptic gospels, its frequency is given by John S. Hawkins as 0-0-59+15, meaning that neither Matthew nor Mark use the term at all, while Luke uses it 59 times in the gospel and another 15 times in Acts. It is, in other words, a thoroughly Lucan expression. (The instance in Matthew 12.47 is not counted because the verse is textually suspect. Even if we counted it, however, that would be one Matthean instance against 59 Lucan.)
The Marcionite gospel is notoriously difficult to reconstruct, and there are many, many passages about which we cannot be sure, but when I searched the Roth version of it for this Greek expression, I found the following. Of the 59 instances in canonical Luke, only 2 are actually attested as having been present in the Marcionite text (12.20 and 16.25), 1 is attested as having been changed from εἶπεν δὲ to ὁ δὲ εἶπεν (16.31), 10 are attested as having been part of material that is totally absent from the Marcionite text (such as the infancy narratives), and the rest are not attested as either present or absent (a few of these fall in verses that are generally attested in concept, but with no hope of reconstructing the specific wording).
Naturally, nothing can be built upon this factoid alone, especially since so many of the Lucan instances simply go unattested either way, but I thought it might be interesting.
Ben.
The Marcionite gospel is notoriously difficult to reconstruct, and there are many, many passages about which we cannot be sure, but when I searched the Roth version of it for this Greek expression, I found the following. Of the 59 instances in canonical Luke, only 2 are actually attested as having been present in the Marcionite text (12.20 and 16.25), 1 is attested as having been changed from εἶπεν δὲ to ὁ δὲ εἶπεν (16.31), 10 are attested as having been part of material that is totally absent from the Marcionite text (such as the infancy narratives), and the rest are not attested as either present or absent (a few of these fall in verses that are generally attested in concept, but with no hope of reconstructing the specific wording).
Naturally, nothing can be built upon this factoid alone, especially since so many of the Lucan instances simply go unattested either way, but I thought it might be interesting.
Ben.