Mark 1:41, was Jesus angry, or moved with compassion?
Mark 1:41 has both readings: some witnesses say Jesus became angry, while others say he was moved with compassion. The wording changes his stated emotion as he reaches out to heal the leper.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB is translated by a committee of language models that works blind. The translators are never told they are translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and never shown the witnesses listed above. Where the manuscripts disagree, the choice between readings is made before translation by the same kind of translator working the same way: it sees the competing readings and the witnesses by age and class, but never a reference or a manuscript name. There are 14,877 such places. For APB 4.0 every one was decided again in October 2026. GPT-6.1 Sol decided every one first. Claude Fable 5.1, from another model family, decided 2,483 of them second, including every place where the first translator left the base text. A departure from the base text needs both translators to agree and the first to be at least 0.8 confident. There is no third translator, so the base text stands when the two disagree. APB 4.0 is translated over those decisions. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“Some copies read “angered” or “becoming indignant” in place of “moved with compassion.” The committee followed the reading of most early copies.”
“The base text reads καὶ σπλαγχνισθεὶς. The copies also carry ὁ Ἰησοῦς σπλαγχνισθεὶς [later majority tradition], καὶ [greek majuscule; early greek manuscript tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The supplied surrounding ὀργισθεὶς is not a selectable wording and has no assigned witnesses. The listed evidence favors the default.”
“The base text reads καὶ. The copies also carry Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς [greek majuscule; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. Earlier support and the explanatory expansion favor the default.”
“The base text reads ὀργισθεὶς. The copies also carry σπλαγχνισθεὶς [greek majuscule; early greek manuscript tradition; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text.”
“The base text reads αὐτοῦ ἥψατο. The copies also carry ἥψατο αὐτοῦ [greek majuscule; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The default has earlier support and explains the reordered alternative.”
The APB 4.0 decision entry for the competing emotion words says the committee kept anger: “The base text reads ὀργισθεὶς.” Its concluding statement is “the committee kept the base text.” GPT-6.1 Sol (OpenAI), the first translator, retained that base text; no second translator considered the unit. Another textual note says, “The committee followed the reading of most early copies.” After the run, the chair changed the verse from angered to moved with compassion. The chair's stated reason was that the committee had voted for compassion but the decision had not been applied. The committee's printed text now reads “And, moved with compassion”. These records differ over which reading the run retained.
Before: And, angered, he
After: And, moved with compassion, he
“Textual audit 10/1: the committee voted this reading (gk:Mar.1.41:001; σπλαγχνισθείς, two majuscules and five early witnesses, against ὀργισθείς) but the decided layer never applied it (apply_decisions' 'base text stood' branch); our source carried the other reading. Applied: the English now follows the committee's vote.”
The argument for each reading
If “angry”
The case for becoming angry rests on Codex Bezae and the editorial choice of the SBL Greek New Testament (Holmes). Codex Bezae is the chief Greek witness for this reading. The SBLGNT prints it, and its apparatus places the Westcott-Hort margin alongside that choice. Anger therefore has both manuscript support and a place in a critical edition, despite being the minority reading.
The argument for anger also concerns the difficulty it creates. Compassion fits readily with Jesus touching and cleansing the leper. Anger raises a question about his response to the encounter. That difficulty supports an argument that a scribe might replace anger with compassion. It does not establish that such a change occurred. If anger is read, the sentence does not identify the object of Jesus' anger.
If “compassion”
The case for moved with compassion rests on its broader support across the editions identified for this comparison. Nestle-Aland 28 prints compassion, as do Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, and the Byzantine text. The SBLGNT apparatus records this agreement even though its own text prints anger. This gives compassion substantial editorial support, while leaving the disagreement visible.
Compassion also makes Jesus' emotion fit directly with the action that follows: he reaches out, touches the leper, and agrees to cleanse him. That coherence explains the stakes of the wording, though it cannot by itself settle the textual question. The APB's published translation uses compassion. Under this reading, Jesus' stated emotion and his act of healing both express a compassionate response to the man's plea.
The witnesses preserve a disagreement about Jesus' emotion, and the APB's decision entries and chair ruling do not give a consistent account of the committee's initial choice. The published wording is clear: the APB prints compassion. Neither reading changes Jesus' willingness to cleanse the leper, his touch, or the healing reported immediately afterward. Anger would leave its object unstated. This variation alone does not settle a broader account of Jesus' character.
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited from the sources linked above.