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Astonishing text variants in John 5:2 - Astonishingly well supported !!!
What do you think?
Is it the pool of „Bethesda“ or „Bethseda“ or „Bethzatha“ or „Bethzetha“ or „Belzetha“ or "Belzatha" or „Bethsaida“ or „Besaida“?
John 5:2 King James Version
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
"Bethesda" is the Byzantine reading. Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Bezae, P66 und P75 have a different reading.
laparola
Βηθεσδά] A C E F G H K (N) Xcomm Δ Θ Π 078 0141 0233 f1 f13 28 33 157 180 205 565 579 597 700 892 1006 1009 1010 1071 1079 1195 1216 1230 1241 1242 1243 1253vid 1292 1342 1344 1365 (1424) 1505 1546 1646 2148 2174 Byz Lect itf itq vgmss syrc syrp syrh(gr)(mg) syrpal arm geo slav Diatessaron Amphilochius Didymusdub Chrysostom Cyrillem ς NR ND Riv Dio Nv
Βηθζαθά] א (L ite Βηζαθά) 33 (itb itff2* vgmss Betzetha) (itl Betzata) (Eusebius) (Cyril) WH NA CEI TILC NM
Βελζεθά] D (ita Belzatha) itd itr1
Βηθσαϊδά] (see John 1:44) (p66* Βηδσαϊδάν) (p66(c) Βηδσαϊδά) p75 B T Wsupp (Ψ Βησσαϊδά) 0125 pc itaur itc itff2(c) vg syrh copsa coppbo copbo copach2 eth Diatessarons Tertullian Chromatius Jerome
Wieland Wilker wrote
TVU 63
32. Difficult variant
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Witnesses:
Eusebius writes in his Onomastikon (ca. 324-330 CE):
"Bezatha, a pool in Jerusalem, which is the sheep [pool] formerly having five porches. It is now identified with the twin pools, both are supplied by the periodic rains, but the water of one is unexpectedly of a reddish color, a trace, they say, of the carcasses of the sacrifices which were formerly cleansed in it before offering, whence also it was called sheep [pool]."
The Pilgrim of Bordeaux writes (333 CE):
"Within the city are the twin pools [piscinae gemellares], with 5 porticoes, called Betsaida. There persons who have been sick for many years are cured. The pools contain water which is red when it is disturbed [in modum coccini turbatam]."
Cyrill of Jerusalem writes (Hom. in Paralyt. ca. 348-386):
"In Jerusalem there was a sheep pool with five porticoes, four running around it, but the fifth being in the middle of it. In it were lying a lot of sick."
Jerome's translation of Eusebius' Onomasticon (ca. 390 CE):
"Bethsaida piscina in Ierusalem quae uocobatur probatikh,. haec quinque quondam porticus habuit, ostendunturque gemini lacus, quorum unus hibernis pluuiis adimpleri solet, alter mirum in modum rubens quasi cruentis aquis antiqui in se operis signa testatur. nam hostias in eo lauari a sacerdotibus solitas ferunt, unde et nomen acceperit."
(Jerome accepts Bethsaida in his Vulgata.)
Theodor of Mopsuestia († 428) writes regarding the pool (Comm. in Evang. Johannis, Catena, see Jeremias, p. 13-14):
"Because besides the four running around, it had another in the middle."
Bethsaida ("House of Fish") is a city on the Sea of Galilee. Probably an early error. But Hort thinks "a tank hewn in the rock might naturally bear the name." The support for Bethsaida is surprisingly strong. That such an error can occur can be seen in the Byzantine minuscule 2737, which also reads thus. Also possibly E*.
Bethesda means in Hebrew "House of Mercy". Though widely supported, it is also suspect as a scribal alteration, because of its "edifying etymology" (Metzger). Alleged support got Bethesda from the Copper Scroll from Qumran, which in the ed. pr. contains a reference to a pool at "bebeyt 'eschdatayin" ("place of poured out [water]") or "bebeyt ha'aschuchiyn" ("place of the (two) pools"). The NET Bible comments: There is some new archeological evidence (published by M. Baillet, J. T. Milik, and R. de Vaux in Les “petites grottes” de Qumran): Copper scroll 3Q15 from Qumran seems to indicate that in the general area of the temple, on the eastern hill of Jerusalem, a treasure was buried in Bet *Esdatayin, in the pool at the entrance to the smaller basin. The name of the region or pool
itself seems then to have been Bet *Esda, “house of the flowing.” It appears with the dual ending in the scroll because there were 2 basins. Bhqesda. seems to be an accurate Greek rendition of the name, while Milik suggests Bhqzaqa. is a rendition of the Aramaic intensive plural Bet *Esdata. All of this is not entirely certain, but is certainly plausible; if Milik is correct, both the textual variants would refer to the same location, one a Greek rendering of the Hebrew name, the other a Greek rendering of the Aramaic. This would be an unusual instance where two textual traditions which appear to be in conflict would both be correct."
But according to a new reconstruction of the Copper Scroll published in 2006 (ref. below), the line in question only mentions some sort of installation (building) with two reservoirs, but contains no proper name.
Bezetha is attested by Josephus as the name of a quarter of the city near the northeast corner of the temple area. He reports that the Syrian Legate Cestius burned this suburb in his attack on Jerusalem in October A.D. 68. He mentions the name Bezetha, 5 times in his History of the Jewish War (2:328 = II 15:5, 2:530 = II 19:4, 5:149 = V 4:2, 5:151 = V 4:2, 5:246 = V 5:8). The name
occurs in several spellings (Bezetha,, Bezatha.). He explains the name in 5:151: "This newly built part of the city was called 'Bezetha' in our language, which, if interpreted in the Greek language, may be called 'the New City'." This area is north of the tower Antonia.
The external evidence is curiously divided. Unfortunately the most suspect reading is supported by the best witnesses.
An interesting fact is that if one changes two letters in Bethesda, one is getting Bethseda, which sounds the same as Bethsaida in Koine pronunciation (if one does not know the correct diaeresis pronunciation). Bethseda is actually supported by the (Byz) manuscript 582. Perhaps this contributes to the origin of Bethsaida? I don't see that the etymology is a strong argument against Bethesda. It could very well be that the pool or place had that name.
For the UBS committee the reading Bathzatha was the least unsatisfactory reading.
In view of the many hospitals and sanatoria bearing the name Bethesda I think the place and the incident will always be remembered as Bethesda, whatever else the critical editions print.
The location of the pool was for a long time not clear:
1. Prior to archeological digs, the pool of Bethesda was identified with the Pool of Israel, close to the northern temple wall. This was the dominant tradition of the late middle ages.
2. Others identified it with the Siloah spring, which is the one true spring in Jerusalem. It seems to be an intermittend spring, which could explain the moving water. But compare Jo 9:7, where John explicitly mentions the Siloah pool, why then not in 5:2 also?
3. In digs conducted in the late 19th century, a large cistern situated about 100 feet north-west of St. Anne's church was discovered (between the Pool of Israel and the northern wall, in the Bezetha valley). Most of the associated building has disappeared, but it would seem to have been a church of perhaps the fourth or fifth century. In addition to the testimony of the ruins to the sacredness of the site, various objects were found among the rubbish, indicating that this was a place where cures had been supposed to occur. Especially noticeable was the marble model of a foot with a Greek inscription which had been placed there by one Pompeia Lucilia in thankfulness for the cure of some disease (ca. 120-140 CE!). In later digs (ca. 1914-38), archaeologists unearthed a rectangular pool with a portico on each side and a fifth one dividing the pool into 2 separate compartments. The pool was about 90 m long and 50/65 m wide. The dividing portico was about 6,5 m wide. The pillars were about 7 m high and the complete building about 8.5 m. The above mentioned cistern was located next to this portico and was probably part of a church. Also found were faded frescoes of the miracle of Christ's healing. This pool is matching Cyrill's description. Lying in the Bezetha valley, it was well suited to collect the rainwater. Its position next to the temple suggests a cultic function. It is possible that it had been built under Herod the Great during the temple expansion. Perhaps at the position of an earlier pool, which was called sheep-pool? Problematic is the fact that a "sheep-pool" is nowhere mentioned in the non-Christian literature. It has been suggested that sheep-pool meant that the pool was close to the Sheep Gate or Market. The Sheep Gate is not exactly located, but was in the north-eastern corner of the wall (Neh 3:1, 3:32, 12:39). It was called the Sheep Gate because it led out to the sheep markets, where lambs were sold for sacrifice in the Temple.
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Rating: 1? or - (NA probably wrong or indecisive)
slight tendency to accept Bethesda