Mark 1:41 — was Jesus angry, or moved with compassion?
Mark 1:41 is transmitted with Jesus becoming angry (ὀργισθεὶς) in some witnesses and moved with compassion (σπλαγχνισθεὶς) in others. The editions and witnesses supplied here divide sharply over that emotion.
What the APB prints.
Every witness, on the record.
What a blind committee did here.
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. Whatever it did at this verse, it did on the language alone — and its record is public.
The blind committee record supplies no rationale note for this crux. Its pericope audit verdict is 'clean'. The APB prints the compassion reading at Mark 1:41: Jesus is moved with compassion, stretches out his hand, touches the man, and speaks the cleansing command.
The case for each reading.
If “angry”
Reading A, ὀργισθεὶς, is printed by SBL Greek New Testament (Holmes) and Codex Bezae (D). The supplied material describes it as the rarer, harder reading and notes that SBLGNT prints the minority reading with the Westcott-Hort margin. Its case begins with that limited but concrete witness base and with the possibility that an uncomfortable emotion could have been replaced by compassion. Codex Bezae is identified here as the chief Greek witness, and its note frames the issue as a reading no scribe would invent from compassion. The apparatus also places Holmes and WHmarg with ὀργισθεὶς.
If “compassion”
Reading B, σπλαγχνισθεὶς, is printed by NA28 and by the site's APB: the verse presents Jesus as moved with compassion before he touches the man. The apparatus aligns WH, Treg, NA28, and RP with this reading, while the NA28 witness note says that the major editions read compassion. That broader edition support is the central case for B. It also corresponds to the sequence displayed in the APB, where the response includes a touch and the words I will; be clean. The supplied material locates the disagreement in the participle, presenting two emotions rather than two different healing outcomes.
The supplied evidence does not settle why the two readings arose or how their witness support should be weighed. What changes is the emotion attributed to Jesus at this point in the scene. The supplied material does not present a different healing outcome. Broader doctrinal claims do not rest on this one variant alone; doctrines are supported across many passages.
Asked plainly.
Does Mark 1:41 say Jesus was angry or compassionate?
Both readings are represented in the supplied witnesses. ὀργισθεὶς means becoming angry, while σπλαγχνισθεὶς means moved with compassion.
Which reading does the APB print at Mark 1:41?
The APB prints σπλαγχνισθεὶς, presenting Jesus as moved with compassion before he touches the leprous man.
Does this variant change the healing in Mark 1:41?
The supplied difference concerns Jesus' emotion. The APB still describes his touch, his command to be clean, and the leprosy departing.
More places where the manuscripts argue.
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. Nothing on this page declares a winner — the evidence is the point.
Weigh it yourself.
The registry doesn't tell you which reading is true. It puts every witness on one page, shows what a blind committee did with the same language, and leaves the verdict where it belongs — with the reader.