Acts 15:16-18

From: Jim Beale (jbeale@gdeb.com)
Date: Thu Sep 14 1995 - 19:08:48 EDT

Friends,

I have a question concerning the text of Acts 15:16-18. The difference
between the MT and the NU are slightly confusing to me. Perhaps
someone will help me understand this a little better.

Majority (Byzantine):
   16 META TAUTA ANASTREYW KAI ANOIKODOMHSW THN SKHNHN DAUID
   THN PEPTWKUIAN KAI TA KATESKAMMENA AUTHS ANOIKODOMHSW
   KAI ANORQWSW AUTHN

   17 OPWS AN EKZHTHSWSIN OI KATALOIPOI TWN ANQRWPWN TON
   KURION KAI PANTA TA EQNH EF OUS EPIKEKLHTAI TO ONOMA
   MOU EP AUTOUS LEGEI KURIOS O POIWN TAUTA PANTA

   18 GNWSTA AP AIWNOS ESTIN TW QEW PANTA TA ERGA AUTOU

Critical (NA26):
   16 META TAUTA ANASTREYW KAI ANOIKODOMHSW THN SKHNHN DAUID
   THN PEPTWKUIAN KAI TA KATESKAMMENA AUTHS ANOIKODOMHSW
   KAI ANORQWSW AUTHN

   17 OPWS AN EKZHTHSWSIN OI KATALOIPOI TWN ANQRWPWN TON
   KURION KAI PANTA TA EQNH EF OUS EPIKEKLHTAI TO ONOMA
   MOU EP AUTOUS LEGEI KURIOS POIWN TAUTA

   18 GNWSTA AP AIWNOS

If this is a quote from Amos 9:11-12 then it seems to be captured
better in the MT than in the NU. The LXX actually has

   LEGEI KURIOS O QEOS O POIWN TAUTA (LXX)
   LEGEI KURIOS O POIWN TAUTA PANTA (MT)
   LEGEI KURIOS POIWN TAUTA (NU)

But the real question for me is: Does verse 18 according to NU make any
sense following this? In the MT, verses 16-17 seem to correspond to Amos
9:11-12 nicely, whereas vs. 18 seems to be either a quote from somewhere
else, or the thought of James. In the NU, on the other hand, vs. 18 is
conflated to the quotation of the OT, seemingly changing the meaning and
making for a very free quote indeed.

If GNWSTA AP AIWNOS follows LEGEI KURIOS POIWN TAUTA musn't the
translation of POIWN be "making" rather than the more common "doing"?
This presents a problem to my thinking. In Amos 9:12, POIW=N is
definitely translated "doing" whereas if the NU is correct, the sense of
the original quote is lost. Also, it seems that POIW=N is usually
translated "doing" (18/23 in NT) and the context of Acts 15 seems to
require it.

I realize that "the shorter reading is the more probable reading" but is
that necessarily true? This case, at least to me, seems to favor the
longer reading.

Any thoughts? 

--
In Christ,
Jim Beale
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  The Logos is the true Light, which lights 
  every man that comes into the world.
  (John 1:9)

  And this is the true end set before the Soul, to take that light, 
  to see the Supreme by the Supreme and not by the light of any 
  other principle -- to see the Supreme which is also the means to 
  the vision; for that which illumines the Soul is that which it is 
  to see -- just as it is by the sun's own light that we see the sun. 
  (Plotinus, Fifth Ennead, Third Tractate)
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