49Section IV.

[1] ³⁰³³⁰³    John i. 18.No man hath seen God at any time; the only Son, God,³⁰⁴³⁰⁴    cf. Peshitta, etc. (not Cur.); cf. also Gildemeister, op. cit., p. 29, on Luke ix. 20. which is in the bosom of his Father, he hath told of him.

[2] ³⁰⁵³⁰⁵    John i. 19.And this is the witness of John when the Jews sent to him from Jerusalem priests [3] and Levites to ask him, Who art thou?  ³⁰⁶³⁰⁶    John i. 20.And he acknowledged, and denied not; [4] and he confessed that he was not the Messiah.  ³⁰⁷³⁰⁷    John i. 21.And they asked him again, What then?  Art thou Elijah?  And he said, I am not he.  Art thou a prophet?  He [5] said, No.  ³⁰⁸³⁰⁸    John i. 22.They said unto him, Then who art thou? that we may answer them that [6] sent us.  What sayest thou of thyself?  ³⁰⁹³⁰⁹    John i. 23.And he said, I am the voice that crieth in [7] the desert, Repair ye the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.  ³¹⁰³¹⁰    John i. 24.And they [8] that were sent were from³¹¹³¹¹    Lit. from the side of. the Pharisees.  ³¹²³¹²    John i. 25.And they asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest thou now, when thou art not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor a prophet?  [9] ³¹³³¹³    John i. 26.John answered and said unto them, I baptize with³¹⁴³¹⁴    Or, in. water:  among you is standing [10] one whom ye know not:  ³¹⁵³¹⁵    John i. 27.this is he who I said cometh after me and was before [11] me, the latchets of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose.  ³¹⁶³¹⁶    John i. 28.And that was in Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

[12] ³¹⁷³¹⁷    Matt. iii. 4.Now John’s raiment was camel’s hair, and he was girded with skins, and his food [13] [Arabic, p. 15] was of locusts and honey of the wilderness.³¹⁸³¹⁸    On the original Diatessaron reading, honey and milk of the mountains, or, milk and honey of the mountains, which latter Ibn-at-Tayyib cites in his Commentary (folio 44b, 45a) as a reading, but without any allusion to the Diatessaron, see, e.g., now Harris, Fragments of the Com. of Ephr. Syr. upon the Diat. (London, 1895), p. 17 f.   ^{319319    Matt. iii. 5.}Then went out unto him the people of Jerusalem, and all Judæa, and all the region which is about the [14, 15] Jordan; ³²⁰³²⁰    Matt. iii. 6.and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  ³²¹³²¹    Matt. iii. 7.But when he saw many of the Pharisees³²²³²²    The translator uses invariably an Arabic word (name of a sect) meaning Separatists. and Sadducees³²³³²³    Lit. Zindiks, a name given to Persian dualists and others. coming to be baptized, he said unto them, Ye children of vipers, who hath led you to flee from the wrath to come?  [16, 17] ³²⁴³²⁴    Matt. iii. 8.Do now the fruits which are worthy of repentance; ³²⁵³²⁵    Matt. iii. 9.and think and say not within yourselves, We have a father, even Abraham; for I say unto you, that God is able to [18] raise up of these stones children unto Abraham.  ³²⁶³²⁶    Matt. iii. 10.Behold, the axe hath been laid at the roots of the trees, and so every tree that beareth not good fruit shall be taken and [19] cast into the fire.  ³²⁷³²⁷    Luke iii. 10.And the multitudes were asking him and saying, What shall we do?  [20] ³²⁸³²⁸    Luke iii. 11.He answered and said unto them, He that hath two tunics shall³²⁹³²⁹    Grammar requires this rendering, but solecisms in this kind of word are very common, and in this work (e.g., § 48, 21) the jussive particle is sometimes omitted.  We should therefore probably render let him give, let him do, etc. give to him that [21] hath not; and he that hath food shall³³⁰³³⁰    Grammar requires this rendering, but solecisms in this kind of word are very common, and in this work (e.g., § 48, 21) the jussive particle is sometimes omitted.  We should therefore probably render let him give, let him do, etc. do likewise.  ³³¹³³¹    Luke iii. 12.And the publicans also came [22] to be baptized, and they said unto him, Teacher, what shall we do?  ³³²³³²    Luke iii. 13.He said unto [23] them, Seek not more than what ye are commanded to seek.  ³³³³³³    Luke iii. 14.And the servants³³⁴³³⁴    cf. Peshitta, where the word has its special meaning, soldiers. of the guard asked him and said, And we also, what shall we do?  He said unto them, Do not violence to any man, nor wrong him; and let your allowances satisfy you.

[24] ³³⁵³³⁵    Luke iii. 15 .And when the people were conjecturing about John, and all of them thinking [25] in their hearts whether he were haply³³⁶³³⁶    Our translator constantly uses this Arabic word (which we render haply, or, can it be? or, perhaps, etc.) to represent the Syriac word used in this place.  The latter is used in various ways, and need not be interrogative, as our translator renders it (cf. especially § 17, 6). the Messiah, ³³⁷³³⁷    Luke iii. 16.John answered and said unto them, I baptize you with water; there cometh one after me who is stronger than I, the latchets of whose shoes I am not worthy to loosen; he will baptize you with the [26] Holy Spirit and fire:  ³³⁸³³⁸    Luke iii. 17 .who taketh the fan in his hand to cleanse his threshing-floors, [Arabic, p. 16] and the wheat he gathereth into his garners, while the straw he shall burn in fire which can³³⁹³³⁹    Or, shall. not be put out.

[27] ³⁴⁰³⁴⁰    Luke iii. 18.And other things he taught and preached among the people.

[28] ³⁴¹³⁴¹    Matt. iii. 13.Then came Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized of him.  [29] ³⁴²³⁴²    Luke iii. 23a.And Jesus was about thirty years old, and it was supposed that he was the son of [30] Joseph.³⁴³³⁴³    The Vat. ms. here gives the genealogy (Luke iii. 23–38), of which we shall quote only the last words:  the son of Adam; who (was) from God.  If this were not the reading of the Peshitta (against Sin.) and Ibn-at-Tayyib’s Commentary, one might explain from as a corruption of the Arabic son of, the words being very similar.  On the Borg. ms. see § 55, 17, note.  ³⁴⁴³⁴⁴    John i. 29.And John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, This is the Lamb of [31] God, that taketh on itself the burden of the sins of the world!  ³⁴⁵³⁴⁵    John i. 30.This is he concerning whom I said, There cometh after me a man who was before me, because he was 50[32] before me.³⁴⁶³⁴⁶    cf. § 3, 54, note.  ³⁴⁷³⁴⁷    John i. 31.And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, [33] for this cause came I to baptize with water.  ³⁴⁸³⁴⁸    Matt. iii. 14.And John was hindering him and [34] saying, I have need of being baptized by thee, and comest thou to me?  ³⁴⁹³⁴⁹    Matt. iii. 15.Jesus answered him and said, Suffer this now:  thus it is our duty to fulfill all righteousness.  [35] Then he suffered him.  ³⁵⁰³⁵⁰    Luke iii. 21b.And when all the people were baptized, Jesus also [36] was baptized.  ³⁵¹³⁵¹    Matt. iii. 16b.And immediately he went up out of the water, and heaven opened [37] [Arabic, p. 17] to him,³⁵²³⁵²    For the statement of Isho’dad (see above, Introduction, 10), “And straightway, as the Diatessaron testifieth, light shone forth,” etc., see Harris, Fragments, etc., p. 43 f. ³⁵³³⁵³    Luke iii. 22a.and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the similitude of the [38] body of a dove; ³⁵⁴³⁵⁴    Matt. iii. 17.and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved [39] Son, in whom I am well pleased.  ³⁵⁵³⁵⁵    John i. 32.And John bare witness and said, I beheld the [40] Spirit descend from heaven like a dove; and it abode upon him.  ³⁵⁶³⁵⁶    John i. 33.But I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize with water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt behold the Spirit descending and lighting upon him, the same is he that [41] baptizeth with the Holy Spirit.  ³⁵⁷³⁵⁷    John i. 34.And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.

[42, 43] ³⁵⁸³⁵⁸    Luke iv. 1a.And Jesus returned from the Jordan, filled with the Holy Spirit.  ³⁵⁹³⁵⁹    Mark i. 12.And immediately the Spirit took him out into the wilderness, to be tried of the devil;³⁶⁰³⁶⁰    Lit. calumniator. ³⁶¹³⁶¹    Mark i. 13b.and he [44] was with the beasts.  ³⁶²³⁶²    Matt. iv. 2a.And he fasted forty days and forty nights.  ³⁶³³⁶³    Luke iv. 2b.And he ate nothing [45] in those days, and at the end of them he hungered.  ³⁶⁴³⁶⁴    Matt. iv. 2b, 3.And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, speak, and these stones shall become [46] bread.  ³⁶⁵³⁶⁵    Matt. iv. 4.He answered and said, It is written, Not by bread alone shall man live, but [47] by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  ³⁶⁶³⁶⁶    Matt. iv. 5.Then the devil³⁶⁷³⁶⁷    Lit. calumniator. brought [48] him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, ³⁶⁸³⁶⁸    Matt. iv. 6.and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down:  for it is written,

He shall give his angels charge concerning thee:

And they shall take thee on their arms,

So that thy foot shall not stumble against a stone.

[49] ³⁶⁹³⁶⁹    Matt. iv. 7.Jesus said unto him, And³⁷⁰³⁷⁰    Borg. ms. omits and. it is written also, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy [50] God.  ³⁷¹³⁷¹    Luke iv. 5.And the devil³⁷²³⁷²    Lit. backbiter, a different word from that used above in § 4, 43, 47. took him up to a high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms [51] [Arabic, p. 18] of the earth, and their glory, in the least time; ³⁷³³⁷³    Luke iv. 6.and the devil³⁷⁴³⁷⁴    Lit. backbiter, a different word from that used above in § 4, 43, 47. said unto him, To thee will I give all this dominion, and its glory, which is delivered to [52] me that I may give it to whomsoever I will.  ³⁷⁵³⁷⁵    Luke iv. 7.If then thou wilt worship before me, all of it shall be thine.