Mark 1:41, was Jesus angry, or moved with compassion?
Mark 1:41 has witnesses for Jesus becoming angry and for Jesus being moved with compassion. The manuscripts divide over the emotion at the leper’s approach.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“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 surrounding line displays ὀργισθεὶς, but it is not among the supplied attested alternatives and cannot be selected.”
“The base text reads καὶ. The copies also carry Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς [greek majuscule; later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The default is retained because the earlier support and the likely direction of clarification agree.”
“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 evidence favors αὐτοῦ ἥψατο, but the chronological gap is not vast and the internal criterion is not decisive, so a second reader is desirable.”
The committee’s 3.5 decision record at Mark 1:41 contains divergent base-text entries. One says the base text reads καὶ σπλαγχνισθεὶς; another says it reads ὀργισθεὶς. Each records, "the committee kept the base text." The committee’s printed APB text has moved with compassion. Its readers worked blind to the reference and witness names; the pericope audit verdict is clean.
The argument for each reading
If “angry”
Reading A is ὀργισθεὶς, becoming angry. Its case begins with the supplied description of it as the rarer, harder reading. Codex Bezae, dated 5th century A.D., is identified as the chief Greek witness for this wording, while the SBL Greek New Testament, 2010, prints it as well. The witness description adds the internal consideration that no scribe would invent angry from compassion. That argument asks whether a copyist would be more likely to replace a difficult emotion with a familiar compassionate one than to make the reverse change. The apparatus also places ὀργισθεὶς on the Holmes side against σπλαγχνισθεὶς. The limited witness list means that this case rests on the minority reading’s difficulty and the particular support reported here.
If “compassion”
Reading B is σπλαγχνισθεὶς, moved with compassion. Nestle-Aland 28, dated 2012, reads this form, and its witness description says that the major editions read compassion. The supplied apparatus likewise sets σπλαγχνισθεὶς with WH, Treg, NA28, and RP, in contrast to ὀργισθεὶς with Holmes and WHmarg. The committee’s printed APB text also translates the verse as being moved with compassion. This reading fits the sequence printed in the surrounding APB lines: the leprous man pleads, Jesus touches him, says that he will cleanse him, and the leprosy departs immediately. The case for B therefore has the breadth of edition support reported in the packet and the wording of the committee’s published translation.
The supplied material does not resolve why the wording divided: it presents a minority, harder-reading case and a broad-edition case without a ruling. The variation changes the emotion attributed to Jesus in this scene. In the printed APB lines, the leprous man’s plea, the touch, the command, and the immediate departure of leprosy remain. No doctrine is decided here; most doctrines rest on many passages.
Common questions
Does the SBL Greek New Testament read angry in Mark 1:41?
Yes. The SBL Greek New Testament (Holmes), dated 2010, reads ὀργισθεὶς, becoming angry. Its witness row describes this as the minority reading.
What does NA28 read in Mark 1:41?
Nestle-Aland 28, dated 2012, reads σπλαγχνισθεὶς, moved with compassion. The supplied witness row says the major editions read compassion.
Why does the APB print compassion?
The printed APB line has being moved with compassion. Its 3.5 decision record, however, contains entries retaining both καὶ σπλαγχνισθεὶς and ὀργισθεὶς as base-text readings.
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 as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.