[B-Greek] Textual question (WAS: Rev 13:18)

EgwEimi at aol.com EgwEimi at aol.com
Wed Jul 7 12:08:42 EDT 2004


 
 
Anthony wrote:

I have  read that in the text of Revelation 13:18, the oldest manuscripts do 
not spell  out the number 666, but simply have three Greek letters: CXS. My 
UBS v.2 does  not support this.


Actually, that should be CXF'
(digamma or stigma [final sigma], not plain sigma).
 
UBS 3-4 does show an alternate reading here, found 
in p47 and some other manuscripts.  P47 is the oldest 
manuscript of that section of Revelation and might 
very well carry the correct reading, especially since 
the use of the letters as numerals was very common.
In my transcription of the verse (earlier), I have 
been presumptuous enough to suppose CXF' to be 
the original reading.
 
C = 600
X = 60
F = 6
 
In numeral form, this is a straightforward 666.
If original, it also tells the readers to use letters as 
numbers when calculating the number of the wild 
animal's human name, but that fact is probably 
something that they were used to already.
 
A saying recorded at the time (in this case, 
about Nero Caesar) was:
 
 
 
"Add the numerical values 
Of the letters in Nero's name, 
And in 'murdered his own mother' 
You will find they are the same."

(Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Nero 39, 
translated)
 
Since Nero HAD murdered his own mother, 
this was a humerous jab at the emperor who had 
done that very thing -- perhaps a way of saying 
that he was destined to kill mommy.  (Note:  
this was brought up at least once on B-Greek, in 
April, 2000.)  Similar "rhymes" and word games 
exist with other expressions.  For example (and 
digressing a bit), some say that the reason why 
the lineage of Jesus in Matthew's account is 
simplified into groups of fourteen generations is 
because the Hebrew consonantal form of "David" 
adds to 14 if calculated numerically.
This can be verified, but we don't know the 
author's rationale for certain.
 
Anyway, CXF' might very well be the original 
reading, instead of the spelled-out form.
 
Frank
 
Frank  Daniels
EgwEimi at aol.com




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