8:28. —We here find the word “Gadarenes” instead of “Gergesenes.” In Mark 5:1, where the same events are related, we read “Gadarenes,” in the Authorized, and “Gerasenes” in the Revised Version. Gadara was the chief town of Perica. Gerasa was at some distance from Gadara, between Petraea and Arabia. Gergesa, according to Origen, was situated on the sea of Galilee, but no other writer mentions the existence of the place. Some have explained the difficulty by supposing that “Gadara” was a name applying not only to the town itself, but to the surrounding district, and that Gerasa or Gergesa was the particular locality in which the events here recorded took place.
9:2. — “Thy sins are forgiven.” This is undoubtedly the meaning of the passage. The rendering of the Authorized Version, “thy sins be forgiven thee,” sounds like the expression of a wish, and not like a positive statement.
9:13. — “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” The words “to repentance,” which are added in the Authorized Version, have been omitted by the Revisers.
9:17. — “Old wine-skins.” The ancients, as is well known, kept wine either in large jars or in the skins of animals. The latter custom seems to have been universal in Palestine.
10:3. — “Thaddaeus.” Other authorities have “Lebbaeus” only, and some “Lebbaeus whose surname was Thaddaeus,” which is the reading of the Authorized Version. The names Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus signify “my breast,” and “my heart,” respectively; it is therefore easy to understand how both names could belong to the same person.
(To be continued.)