332 Proceedinf/s of the Royal Irish Academe/. 



supposed to live in the town ; he is bidden to go to his house, hut is 

 forbidden to enter the town. 'Now, is that possible ? The Revised 

 Version, in accordance with the best authorities, leaves out the second 

 injunction, that he is not to tell it, and in this way makes the 

 difficulty remain as it was. But there are a large number of other 

 readings besides, everyone of which is better than either of these two. 

 The longest one runs thus : " He sent him away, saying : Go to your 

 house, and when you enter the town, do not even tell it in the town." 

 Or else, we may read with other witnesses simply: "saying, do not 

 even tell it in the town." The true Mark is both consistent and clear; 

 it is the scribes who have marred the text, and the editors who have 

 not used their own reason, but preferred to follow the thoughtlessness 

 of scribes. 



Again, we read in the next chapter (ix. 11 f.) : "And they asked 

 him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come ? And 

 he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth 

 all things ; and how is it written of the Son of Man, that he must 

 suffer many things, and be set at nought (?) " ^ I cannot iinderstand 

 this, but can understand what is attested by the MS. D, which 

 introduces one short word more : " i/'Elias cometh first, and restoreth 

 all things: how, then, is it written — ?" For the Greek words koI 

 ttSs, commonly translated by, " and how," in the altered construction 

 get the meaning, "how then," according to general use in N. T. 

 Greek, which may easily be established. So the sense is this : If the 

 scribes are right in interpreting the prophecy of Malachi, and Elias, 

 as the precursor of the Messiah, is to put all things in readiness for 

 his coming in glory : how is this consistent with the other prophecies, 

 according to which the Messiah himself is to be rejected ? Our Lord 

 goes on saying : " But I say unto you, that Elias is indeed come, and 

 they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, even as it is written 

 of him." Here we again find a stumbling-stone in our way. Is 

 there any prophecy that Elias, at his second coming, will be ill- 

 treated or put to death? Ko, there is none. But as soon as we come 

 to the various readings, that stone also is removed. The Latin k, 

 which preserves a very ancient and independent translation much 

 older than either ^ or B, renders the words thus: "Elias is indeed 

 come, and has done whatsoever he was to do, even as it is written of 

 him." This is the true Mark, whereas the common text is Matthew 

 introduced into Mark. Por Matthew has (xvii. 12) : "Elias is come 



1 E. V. with note of interrogation (?), A. V. with a full stop (.). 



