John 7:4: A 12th-Century Scribe Added a Proverb to the New Testament Text

A scribe of a 12th-century New Testament manuscript added a proverb to the text because it fit the theme of the passage.

A scribe of a 12th-century New Testament manuscript added a proverb to the text because it fit the theme of the text.

“Patience is the key to relief”!!

“For no one does anything in secret and wants to be known publicly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”

παρρησίᾳ εἶναι. Εἰ ταῦτα ποιεῖς, φανέρωσον σεαυτὸν τῷ κόσμῳ.

A 12th-century manuscript, numbered 1186, adds at the end of the text a phrase that says:

Because no one can hide what he asks to be done.

Because no one can hide what he asks to be done.
Because no one can hide what he asks to be done.
Because no one can hide what he asks to be done.

For your info:
The scan shows a Greek New Testament manuscript page with the relevant line highlighted. A red arrow points to the enlarged transcription on the right side. The Arabic note identifies it as manuscript 1186 from the 12th century. The highlighted addition is presented as a scribal insertion connected to the theme of John 7:4. The Arabic explanation under the Greek transcription renders the added idea as: “Because no one can hide what he asks to be done.” This is being used as evidence that a later New Testament copyist could add a fitting proverb or explanatory wisdom into the manuscript text.

A 12th-century New Testament manuscript shows a scribal addition in John 7:4, where a proverb-like phrase was inserted because it suited the theme of the verse.

If a Qur’an copyist 1400 years later inserted a proverb such as “Patience is the key to relief”, critics would call it textual corruption immediately.

Yet here, in a New Testament manuscript, a later copyist could insert a wisdom/proverb into the text because it fit the context.