A Woman’s Misplaced Blessing

Luke 11:27-28

(Huck 151; Aland 190; Crook 217)^[52]

Updated: 13 March 2025

וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר אָמַר אֶת הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וַתִּשָּׂא אִשָּׁה מִן הָאֻכְלוּס אֶת קוֹלָהּ וַתֹּאמֶר לוֹ אַשְׁרֵי הַבֶּטֶן הַנֹּשַׂאֲךָ וְהַשָּׁדַיִם שֶׁיָּנַקְתָּ וַיֹּאמֶר לָאו אֶלָּא אַשְׁרֵי הַשּׁוֹמְעִים אֶת דְּבַר אֱלֹהִים וּמְשַׁמְּרִים

After Yeshua had said these things, a woman in the crowd called out in a loud voice, “How privileged is the womb that bore you! How honored the breasts you nursed!”

But Yeshua said, “I am neither specially blessed, nor do I impart special blessings to anyone. Rather, blessings belong to everyone who hears God’s word and keeps it.”^[53]

Reconstruction

To view the reconstructed text of A Woman’s Misplaced Blessing click on the link below:

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• ^[1] See Brad Young and David Flusser, “Messianic Blessings in Jewish and Christian Texts” (Flusser, JOC, 280-300, esp. 300). Cf. Manson, Sayings, 88. ↩
• ^[2] At one time Robert L. Lindsey suggested that A Woman’s Misplaced Blessing may have belonged to a literary complex containing Yeshua, His Mother and Brothers, but for reasons we have discussed in the introduction to the “Four Types of Hearers” complex, we have found Lindsey’s suggestion to be unsatisfactory. ↩
• ^[3] Cf. Young and Flusser, “Messianic Blessings in Jewish and Christian Texts,” 291. ↩
• ^[4] Cf. Fitzmyer, 2:926; Bovon, 2:129. ↩
• ^[5] See the discussion in C. H. Dodd, Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965), 353-354. ↩
• ^[6] The version of A Woman’s Misplaced Blessing in the Gospel of Thomas reads:

  A woman from the multitude said to Him: Blessed is the womb which bore Thee and the breasts which nourished Thee. He said to [her]: Blessed are those who have heard the word of the Father (and) have kept it in truth. For there will be days when you say: Blessed is the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not suckled. (Gos. Thom. §79 [ed. Guillaumont, 43-45])

  ↩

• ^[7] See Randall Buth and Brian Kvasnica, “Critical Notes on the VTS” (JS1, 259-317, esp. 269-270); Randall Buth, “Distinguishing Hebrew from Aramaic in Semitized Greek Texts, with an Application for the Gospels and Pseudepigrapha” (JS2, 247-319, esp. 311). ↩
• ^[8] On καὶ ἐγένετο/ἐγένετο δέ + time phrase + finite main verb as typical of translation Greek, see Buth and Kvasnica, “Critical Notes on the VTS” (JS1, 268-273); Buth, “Distinguishing Hebrew from Aramaic in Semitized Greek Texts, with an Application for the Gospels and Pseudepigrapha” (JS2, 263-270). ↩
• ^[9] Pace Manson (Sayings, 88), Bundy (349 §227), Fitzmyer (2:927), Young and Flusser (“Messianic Blessings in Jewish and Christian Texts," 291), Nolland (Luke, 2:648), and Wolter (2:110), who attribute the wording in L1 to Lukan redaction. ↩
• ^[10] See Fitzmyer, 1:119-120. In LXX καὶ ἐγένετο + ἐν τῷ + infinitive occurs as the translation of בְּ- + וַיְהִי + infinitive construct in Gen. 4:8; 11:2; 19:29; Num. 10:34[35]; 17:7; Josh. 15:18; Judg. 1:14; 13:20; 14:11; 1 Kgdms. 23:6; 2 Kgdms. 1:2; 3:6; 4:4; 3 Kgdms. 11:15; 18:4; 4 Kgdms. 2:1; 1 Chr. 15:26; 2 Chr. 5:11; 13:15; 25:16; Ezek. 10:6; Dan. 8:15. Likewise, ἐγένετο δέ + ἐν τῷ + infinitive occurs as the translation of בְּ- + וַיְהִי + infinitive construct in Gen. 35:18; 38:28. The analogous καὶ ἐγενήθη + ἐν τῷ + infinitive occurs as the translation of בְּ- + וְהָיָה + infinitive construct in 1 Kgdms. 16:23 and as the translation of בְּ- + וַיְהִי + infinitive construct in 1 Kgdms. 25:2; 2 Kgdms. 11:16; 3 Kgdms. 16:11 (cf. 1 Kgdms. 16:6). ↩
• ^[11] The LXX translators rendered הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה simply as τοῦτο or ταῦτα (leaving דָּבָר untranslated) in Gen. 20:10; Exod. 18:14; Isa. 24:3. ↩
• ^[12] The LXX translators rendered הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה simply as ταῦτα (leaving דָּבָר untranslated) in 3 Kgdms. 17:17 and Esth. 3:1. In Josh. 24:30[29] they rendered הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה simply as ἐκεῖνα (leaving דָּבָר untranslated). ↩
• ^[13] Moule (168) refers to Luke’s word order in the phrase ἐπάρασά τις φωνὴν γυνή as “whimsical”; however, Luke 18:18 has the same verb→τις→accusative→subject word order: καὶ ἐπηρώτησέν τις αὐτὸν ἄρχων ("and / he asked / certain / him / a ruler"). ↩
• ^[14] See Fitzmyer, 2:928. ↩
• ^[15] In the Gospel of Luke the word order noun→τις (both in the same case) predominates: Luke 1:5 ἱερεύς τις (“a certain priest”); 7:2 ἑκατοντάρχου...τινος (“of a certain centurion”), 41 δανιστῇ τινι (“to a certain moneylender”); 8:2 γυναῖκές τινες (“certain women”), 27 ἀνήρ τις (“a certain man”); 9:19 προφήτης τις (“a certain prophet”); 10:25 νομικός τις (“a certain Torah expert”), 30 ἄνθρωπός τις (“a certain man”), 31 ἱερεύς τις (“a certain priest”), 33 Σαμαρίτης...τις (“a certain Samaritan”), 38 κώμην τινά (“a certain village”), γυνὴ...τις (“a certain woman”); 12:16 ἀνθρώπου τινὸς πλουσίου (“of a certain rich man”); 14:2 ἄνθρωπός τις (“a certain man”), 16 ἄνθρωπός τις (“a certain man”); 15:11 ἄνθρωπός τις (“a certain man”); 16:1 ἄνθρωπός τις (“a certain man”), 19 ἄνθρωπος...τις (“a certain man”), 20 πτωχὸς...τις (“a certain poor person”); 18:2 κριτής τις (“a certain judge”), 35 τυφλός τις (“a certain blind person”); 19:12 ἄνθρωπός τις (“a certain man”); 20:9 ἄνθρωπός [τις] (“a [certain] man”); 22:50 εἷς τις (“a certain one”), 56 παιδίσκη τις (“a certain girl”), 59 ἄλλος τις (“a certain other”); 23:19 στάσιν τινά (“a certain insurrection”), 26 Σίμωνά τινα (“a certain Simon”); 24:22 γυναῖκές τινες (“certain women”).

  The reverse word order τις→noun is limited to the following examples: Luke 11:27 τις...γυνή (“a certain woman”); 13:31 τινες Φαρισαῖοι (“certain Pharisees”); 17:12 τινα κώμην (“a certain village”); 18:2 τινι πόλει (“a certain city”), 18 τις...ἄρχων (“a certain ruler”); 21:2 τινα χήραν (“a certain widow”).

  In Acts, however, the order τις→noun becomes far more frequent: Acts 3:2 τις ἀνήρ (“a certain man”); 5:1 τις Ἁνανίας (“a certain Ananias”), 34 τις...Φαρισαῖος (“a certain Pharisee”); 8:36 τι ὕδωρ (“some water”); 9:10 τις μαθητής (“a certain disciple”), 36 τις...μαθήτρια (“a certain disciple”), 43 τινι Σίμωνι (“a certain Simon”); 10:6 τινι Σίμωνι (“a certain Simon”); 14:8 τις ἀνήρ (“a certain man”); 15:2 τινας ἄλλους (“certain others”), 36 τινας ἡμέρας (“some days”); 16:14 τις γυνή (“a certain woman”); 17:6 τινας ἀδελφούς (“some brothers”), 34 τινὲς...ἄνδρες (“certain men”); 18:2 τινα Ἰουδαῖον (“a certain Jew”), 7 τινὸς...Τιτίου (“a certain Titus”); 19:1 τινας μαθητάς (“certain disciples”), 14 τινος Σκευᾶ (“a certain Sceva”); 20:9 τις νεανίας (“a certain youth”); 25:8 τι ἥμαρτον (“a certain offense”), 16 τινα ἄνθρωπον (“a certain man”); 27:1 τινας ἑτέρους δεσμώτας (“certain other prisoners”), 27 τινὰ...χώραν (“a certain land”). ↩

• ^[16] On the other hand, Luke’s εἶπεν δέ τις ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου αὐτῷ (“But a certain one from the crowd said to him”; Luke 12:13) should probably be reconstructed as וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ אֶחַד מִן הָאֻכְלוּס (“And one from the crowd said to him”). ↩
• ^[17] On καί + participle + aorist as the translation equivalent of vav-consecutive + vav-consecutive, see Return of the Twelve, Comment to L1. On participle + δέ + aorist as the equivalent of vav-consecutive + vav-consecutive, see Rich Man Declines the Kingdom of Heaven, Comment to L37-41. ↩
• ^[18] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:505. Dos Santos (137) indicates that ἐπαίρειν was one of the more common LXX translations of נָשָׂא. ↩
• ^[19] In LXX ἐπαίρειν occurs as the translation of נָשָׂא in the expression נָשָׂא קוֹל in Judg. 2:4; 9:7; 21:2; Ruth 1:9, 14; 2 Kgdms. 13:36; Ps. 92[93]:3. Fitzmyer (2:928) referred to the phrase ἐπαίρειν φωνήν (“to raise a voice”) as a “classical Greek expression” without offering any proof and without noting the LXX instances. Plummer (Luke, 305) did cite one classical Greek author, Demosthenes (De corona §369), but since this work is divided into 324 paragraphs, we have no idea what Plummer might have been referring to. ↩
• ^[20] The LXX translators omitted a possessive pronoun corresponding to a pronominal suffix attached to קוֹל in the following examples:

  וַיִּשָּׂא עֵשָׂו קֹלוֹ וַיֵּבְךְּ

  And Esau raised his voice and wept. (Gen. 27:38)

  ἀνεβόησεν φωνὴν Ησαυ καὶ ἔκλαυσεν

  Esau shouted [his] voice and wept. (Gen. 27:38)

  וַיִּתֵּן אֶת קֹלוֹ בִּבְכִי

  And he gave his voice with weeping. (Gen. 45:2)

  καὶ ἀφῆκεν φωνὴν μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ

  And he released [his] voice with weeping. (Gen. 45:2)

  וַתִּשָּׂא כָּל־הָעֵדָה וַיִּתְּנוּ אֶת קוֹלָם

  And the whole congregation raised and gave their voice.... (Num. 14:1)

  καὶ ἀναλαβοῦσα πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ ἔδωκεν φωνήν

  And raising, the whole congregation gave [its] voice.... (Num. 14:1)

  הֵמָּה יִשְׂאוּ קוֹלָם

  They will raise their voice.... (Isa. 24:14)

  οὗτοι φωνῇ βοήσονται

  These will shout with [their] voice.... (Isa. 24:14)

  קוֹלָהּ כַּנָּחָשׁ יֵלֵךְ

  Her voice will go like a snake.... (Jer. 46:22)

  φωνὴ ὡς ὄφεως συρίζοντος

  A voice like a hissing snake.... (Jer. 26:22)

  וַיִּשְׂאוּ קוֹלָם וַיִּבְכּוּ

  And they raised their voice and wept. (Job 2:12)

  καὶ βοήσαντες φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ἔκλαυσαν

  And shouting with a big voice, they wept. (Job 2:12)

  הֲתָרִים לָעָב קוֹלֶךָ

  Can you lift your voice to the clouds? (Job 38:34)

  καλέσεις δὲ νέφος φωνῇ

  But will you call a cloud with [your] voice...? (Job 38:34)

  ↩

• ^[21] See Marshall, 481. ↩
• ^[22] See Wolter, 2:110. ↩
• ^[23] Text according to M. Berthelot and Ch.-Em. Ruelle, Collection des Anciens Alchimistes Grecs (2 vols.; Paris: Georges Steinheil, 1887-1888), 2:298. ↩
• ^[24] See Menahem Kister, “Words and Formulae in the Gospels in the Light of Hebrew and Aramaic Sources,” in The Sermon on the Mount and its Jewish Setting (ed. Hans-Jürgen Becker and Serge Ruzer; Paris: Gabalda, 2005), 117-147, esp. 135-136; Wolter, 2:110. Cf. Manson, Sayings, 88. Bundy (349 §227) noted that a story similar to A Woman’s Misplaced Blessing is told of the Buddha, according to which a princess declared, “Happy the father and mother who have such an incomparable son! Happy the wife who is blessed with such an accomplished husband!” For the Buddhist story, see P. Bigandet, The Life or Legend of Gaudama: The Buddha of the Burmese (2 vols.; 3d ed.; London: Trübner, 1880), 1:58. ↩
• ^[25] Noted by J. Green, 460. Text and translation according to Frank Justus Miller, Ovid: Metamorphoses (Loeb Classical Library; 2 vols.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1916), 1:200-201. ↩
• ^[26] Noted by Boring-Berger-Colpe (213) and Kister (“Words and Formulae in the Gospels in the Light of Hebrew and Aramaic Sources,” 136). Text and translation according to Michael Heseltine, Petronius (Loeb Classical Library; New York: MacMillan, 1913), 186-187. ↩
• ^[27] The same Hebrew blessing is pronounced over Moses in the following midrashic text:

  וְהָיָה כְּצֵאת משֶׁה אֶל הָאֹהֶל יָקוּמוּ כָּל הָעָם—עוֹמְדִין מִכָּאן וּמִכָּאן וּמְכַבְּדִים אוֹתוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וְנִצְּבוּ אִישׁ פֶּתַח אָהֳלוֹ וְהִבִּיטוּ אַחֲרֵי משֶׁה מֶה הָיוּ אוֹמְרִים, אָמַר רַ′ יִצְחָק: אַשְׁרֵי יוֹלַדְתּוֹ מָה רוֹאָה בוֹ

  And when Moses went out to the tent all the people rose [Exod. 33:8]. They stood here and there and honored him, as it is said, And each stood at the opening of his tent and looked after Moses [Exod. 33:8]. What were they saying? Rabbi Yitzhak said, “Blessed is she who bore him! How she took pride in him!” (Exod. Rab. 45:4 [ed. Merkin, 6:170-171])

  The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, which scholars believe may have been composed in Hebrew in the second century C.E., may bear indirect witness to the Hebrew blessing אַשְׁרֵי יוֹלַדְתִּי (’ashrē yōladti, “blessed is she who bore me”), for in that work we read: “Blessed is my mother among those who bear, and praised among women is she who bore me” (2 Bar. 54:10; trans. Charlesworth, 1:640). On the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, see Michael E. Stone, “Apocalyptic Literature,” in Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period (CRINT II.2; ed. Michael E. Stone; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 383-441, esp. 408-410. ↩

• ^[28] See Kister, “Words and Formulae in the Gospels in the Light of Hebrew and Aramaic Sources,” 136. ↩
• ^[29] Pace Manson (Luke, 141) and Young and Flusser (“Messianic Blessings in Jewish and Christian Texts,” 300). ↩
• ^[30] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:773. ↩
• ^[31] Text according to Solomon Musajoff, Merkavah Shelemah (Jerusalem: Diffus Solomon, 1921). Young and Flusser (“Messianic Blessings in Jewish and Christian Texts,” 295-299) appear to assume that this blessing, like the one in Pesikta de-Rav Kahana (Supplement 6 [ed. Mandelbaum, 2:470]; cf. Pesikta Rabbati §37 [ed. Friedmann, 164a]), refers to the Messiah, but the context indicates that this blessing is pronounced over Rabbi Ishmael, who was privileged to witness a vision of the Messiah. On Merkavah Rabbah, see Ithamar Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism (Leiden: Brill, 1980), 174-180. ↩
• ^[32] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:773. ↩
• ^[33] See Jastrow, 158. ↩
• ^[34] Alternate possibilities for HR include אַשְׁרֵי הַבֶּטֶן שֶׁנָּשָׂא אוֹתְךָ (’ashrē habeṭen shenāsā’ ’ōtchā, “blessed is the womb that bore you”) and אַשְׁרֵי הַבֶּטֶן שֶׁנְּשָׂאֲךָ (’ashrē habeṭen shen^esā’^achā, “blessed is the womb that bore you”). The weakness of these two alternatives is that they do not reflect the Greek text. How are we to explain the Greek translator’s decision to render -שֶׁ (she-, “that”) with a definite article in L4 (ἡ [hē, “the”]) but with a relative pronoun in L5 (οὓς [hous, “which”])? And why did the Greek translator render a perfect verb with a participle in L4 (βαστάσασά [bastasasa, “bearing”]) but an aorist verb in L5 (ἐθήλασας [ethēlasas, “you sucked”])? Our reconstruction avoids such unanswered questions. ↩
• ^[35] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:898. ↩
• ^[36] See Hatch-Redpath, 1:650. ↩
• ^[37] See Dos Santos, 82. ↩
• ^[38] Additional instances of שָׁדַיִם used in conjunction with verbs from the י‑נ‑ק root are found in Joel 2:16; Job 3:12; Song 8:1; Lam. 4:3. Likewise, in post-biblical Hebrew we find examples such as this rabbinic comment:

  ויונקים אלו שיונקים משדי אמן

  And sucklings [Ps. 8:3]—these are ones that suck from their mother’s breasts. (Mechilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Shirata chpt. 1 [ed. Lauterbach, 1:175])

  ↩

• ^[39] It is only by including instances of μὲν οὖν (men oun), used in a quite different sense, that Nolland (Luke, 2:648) is justified in claiming that μενοῦν is “predominantly Lukan in the NT.” It is this mischaracterization of the evidence that leads him to attribute μενοῦν in Luke 11:28 to Lukan redaction. ↩
• ^[40] On the uses of μενοῦν see Moule, 162-164; Fitzmyer, 2:928-929; Bovon, 2:131-132. ↩
• ^[41] See Raymond E. Brown, Karl P. Donfried, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and John Reumann, Mary in the New Testament: A Collaborative Assessment by Protestant and Catholic Scholars (New York: Paulist Press, 1978), 171-172; Fitzmyer, 2:928-929; Nolland, Luke, 2:649. ↩
• ^[42] See Manson, Sayings, 88; Creed, 162; Marshall, 482. ↩
• ^[43] See our discussion in Yeshua, His Mother and Brothers, Comment to L35. ↩
• ^[44] See Hatch-Redpath, 2:1441-1444. ↩
• ^[45] See Dos Santos, 213. ↩
• ^[46] An example of שִׁמֵּר (shimēr, “keep,” “guard”) occurs in Jonah 2:9. ↩
• ^[47] See Kister’s insightful comments in “Words and Formulae in the Gospels in the Light of Hebrew and Aramaic Sources,” 136-137. ↩
• ^[48]

  A Woman’s Misplaced Blessing
  Luke’s Version		Anthology’s Wording (Reconstructed)
  ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ λέγειν αὐτὸν ταῦτα ἐπάρασά τις φωνὴν γυνὴ ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου εἶπεν αὐτῷ μακαρία ἡ κοιλία ἡ βαστάσα σε καὶ μαστοὶ οὓς ἐθήλασας αὐτὸς δὲ εἶπεν μενοῦν μακάριοι οἱ ἀκούοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ φυλάσσοντες		ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ λέγειν αὐτὸν ταῦτα ἐπάρασα γυνὴ ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου φωνὴν εἶπεν αὐτῷ μακαρία ἡ κοιλία ἡ βαστάσασά σε καὶ μαστοὶ οὓς ἐθήλασας εἶπεν δὲ μενοῦν μακάριοι οἱ ἀκούοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ φυλάσσοντες
  Total Words:	39	Total Words:	37
  Total Words Identical to Anth.:	37	Total Words Taken Over in Luke:	37
  Percentage Identical to Anth.:	94.87%	Percentage of Anth. Represented in Luke:	100.00%

  ↩

• ^[49] See Kister, “Words and Formulae in the Gospels in the Light of Hebrew and Aramaic Sources,” 136-137; Bovon, 2:130; Wolter, 2:110. ↩
• ^[50] Ben-Chorin’s interpretation of A Woman’s Misplaced Blessing is one of the more extreme examples of the misunderstanding of Jesus’ correction of the anonymous woman’s blessing. According to Ben-Chorin, “Jesus...did not intend to share with his mother something of the revelation which he disclosed to the people in his conduct and his person. He had nothing in common with her. ...He firmly deflected any praise of his mother.” See Schalom Ben-Chorin, “A Jewish View of the Mother of Jesus,” in Mary in the Churches (ed. Hans Küng and Jürgen Moltmann; Edinburgh: T&T Clark; New York: Seabury, 1983), 12-16, esp. 15. ↩
• ^[51] For the view that A Woman’s Misplaced Blessing aims to correct an inadequate view of women, see Rachel Conrad Wahlberg, “Jesus and the Uterus Image,” Theology Today 31.3 (1974): 228-230. In this essay Wahlberg criticized “the usual stereotyping of a woman in Jewish society of the first century” that reduced women to their procreative functions and their reproductive organs. Wahlberg suggested that readers “imagine someone coming up to a man, who had an outstanding son and saying, ‘Blessed is the semen which fertilized your wife’s egg.’ Or, ‘Blessed is the male organ that participated in the act which led to your conception.’” Then Wahlberg asks, “Is this any more ridiculous than praising Mary’s breasts and uterus?” Perhaps not, but Wahlberg appears to be completely oblivious to the fact that precisely the kinds of blessings she asks us to imagine are also attested in ancient Jewish sources. For instance, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai declared in response to his disciple’s exposition:

  אשריך אברהם אבינו שאלעזר בן ערך יצא מחלציך

  Blessed are you, Abraham our father, that Elazar ben Arach came forth from your loins! (t. Hag. 2:1; cf. Mechilta de-Rabbi Ishamel, Pisḥa chpt. 16 [ed. Lauterbach, 1:90]; Mechilta de-Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai to Exod. 20:1 [ed. Melamed, 159])

  A similar blessing was pronounced over Rabbi Akiva:

  אשריך אברהם אבינו שיצא מחלציך עקיבא

  Blessed are you, Abraham our father, that Akiva came forth from your loins! (Sifre Num. §70 [ed. Horovitz, 70])

  Such examples undercut Wahlberg’s portrayal of Judaism, as well as her thesis that the woman’s blessing expressed an inadequate view of women. For in order for her thesis to be correct, it must also be true that Abraham was valued only for his reproductive organs, which is clearly not the case. Moreover, Wahlberg’s projection of “bad” patriarchal views onto Judaism and “good” feminist views onto Christianity is simply a reiteration of Christianity’s long-held tradition of attributing every religious foible to Judaism and claiming every positive religious breakthrough for itself. It is high time for theologians to abandon the binary equation of vice with Judaism and virtue with Christianity. On this problematic aspect of Christian feminism, see Tal Ilan, Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Palestine (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1996), 9ff. ↩

• ^[52] For abbreviations and bibliographical references, see “Introduction to ‘The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction.’” ↩
• ^[53] This translation is a dynamic rendition of our reconstruction of the conjectured Hebrew source that stands behind the Greek of the Synoptic Gospels. It is not a translation of the Greek text of a canonical source. ↩