Textual variant in Jude 1:6 - αλυτοις

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PhillipLebsack
Posts: 83
Joined: January 17th, 2018, 10:31 am

Textual variant in Jude 1:6 - αλυτοις

Post by PhillipLebsack »

Hello fellow Greekers. I found that two codices in Jude 1:6, codices 33 and 2344, read:

...εἰς κρίσιν μεγάλης ἡμέρας δεσμοῖς αλυτοις και ἀϊδίοις ὑπὸ ζόφον τετήρηκεν·

instead of

...εἰς κρίσιν μεγάλης ἡμέρας δεσμοῖς ἀϊδίοις ὑπὸ ζόφον τετήρηκεν· (NA28 text)

I've checked BDAG, and a few other online lexicons for this word. I also tried searching for αλυτ and αλυ, but with no luck, except for one reference in BDAG where there is a word αλυτως from a work of Josephus. But it doesn't give the meaning.

Google says that there is an Ancient Greek river called αλυς (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C4%B1z% ... rmak_River) but having a dative plural form of a word for a river doesn't really make sense. So, it seems like this isn't the meaning of the word.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance.
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Textual variant in Jude 1:6 - αλυτοις

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

ἄλῠτος, ον, poet. ἄλλυτος Phanocl.2.1, AP6.30 (Maced.), not to be loosed, ἀ. .. δεσμοῖς Aristid. Quint.1.3, Cod.Just.8.10.12.7 or broken, indissoluble, πέδαι, δεσμοί, Il.13.37, Od.8.275, A.Pr.55; ἀδάμας AP12.93 (Rhian.); Μοιράων νῆμα Phanocl. l.c., cf. Epigr.Gr.520 (Thessalonica); πτολέμοιο πεῖραρ Il.13.360; κύκλος (of the wheel of the ἴϋγξ) Pi.P.4.215; irremediable, S.El.230 (lyr.): of substances, insoluble, Arist.Mete.384b7. Adv. -τως Pl.Ti.60c.
2. of arguments or evidence, not to be confuted, irrefutable, Arist.Rh.1357b17, 1403a14; συλλογισμός Arist.APr.70a29.
II. undissolved, Pl.Ti.60e.


Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S., & McKenzie, R. (1996). A Greek-English lexicon (p. 74). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Stirling Bartholomew
Posts: 1141
Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Re: Textual variant in Jude 1:6 - αλυτοις

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

The expression ἀλύτοις δεσμοῖς is found in

Aeschylus Prometheus vinctus
L.155

εἰ γάρ μ' ὑπὸ γῆν νέρθεν θ' Αἵδου
τοῦ νεκροδέγμονος εἰς ἀπέραντον
Τάρταρον ἧκεν,
δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις ἀγρίως πελάσας,
ὡς μήτε θεὸς μήτε τις ἄλλος
τοῖσδ' ἐγεγήθει.
νῦν δ' αἰθέριον κίνυγμ' ὁ τάλας
ἐχθροῖς ἐπίχαρτα πέπονθα.

It is found frequently in the Church fathers and pseudo epigrapha.

Testamentum Salomonis
14. ὅτε δὲ ἐγένοντο, τότε συν<*>ῆκα καὶ ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ μου ἔγραψα
τὴν διαθήκην ταύτην πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἔδωκα αὐτοῖς
ὥστε εἰδέναι τὰς δυνάμεις τῶν δαιμόνων καὶ τὰς μορφὰς αὐτῶν
καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐν οἷς καταργοῦνται οἱ
δαίμονες. 15. καὶ δοξάσας κύριον τὸν θεὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκέλευσα
περιδεθῆναι τὸ πνεῦμα δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις.

Lampe (abridged)
A. not to be loosed or broken, 1. indissoluble or indestructible, irremediable, 2. not to be resolved, 3. irrefutable, insoluble, B. undissolved, unimpaired ? for ἀπόλυτος unhampered
Last edited by Stirling Bartholomew on June 18th, 2018, 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Textual variant in Jude 1:6 - αλυτοις

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Stirling Bartholomew wrote: June 18th, 2018, 2:30 pm The expression ἀλύτοις δεσμοῖς is found in

Aeschylus Prometheus vinctus
L.155

εἰ γάρ μ' ὑπὸ γῆν νέρθεν θ' Αἵδου
τοῦ νεκροδέγμονος εἰς ἀπέραντον
Τάρταρον ἧκεν,
δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις ἀγρίως πελάσας,
ὡς μήτε θεὸς μήτε τις ἄλλος
τοῖσδ' ἐγεγήθει.
νῦν δ' αἰθέριον κίνυγμ' ὁ τάλας
ἐχθροῖς ἐπίχαρτα πέπονθα.
Maybe the scribe was a fan of Aeschylus... :lol:
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Stirling Bartholomew
Posts: 1141
Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Re: Textual variant in Jude 1:6 - αλυτοις

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

Samples from pseudepigrapha

Fragmenta evangelii Bartholomaei
Fragment 1, section 20, line 1

Τότε εἰσῆλθον καὶ ἐμάστιξα αὐτὸν καὶ ἐδέσμησα αὐτὸν δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις | καὶ
ἐ]ξ̣έβαλον πάντας τοὺς πατριάρχας καὶ ἦλθον πάλιν ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ.

Samples from church fathers:

Joannes Chrysostomus Ad populum Antiochenum (homiliae 1–21) MPG 49.
Vol 49, pg 101, ln 51

πολλάκις γοῦν ὑπὸ θυμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς κατεχόμενοι
διωμοσάμεθα μηδέποτε διαλλάττεσθαι τοῖς λελυπηκόσιν,
εἶτα τῆς ὀργῆς σβεσθείσης, καὶ τοῦ θυμοῦ χαλασθέντος,
βουληθέντες καταλλαγῆναι, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης κατ-
εχόμενοι τῶν ὅρκων, ἠλγήσαμεν ὥσπερ τινὶ παγίδι κατ-
εχόμενοι, καὶ δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις συνδεδεμένοι.

Joannes ChrysostomusIn Genesim (homiliae 1–67) MPG
Vol 53, pg 265, ln 26


Δεινὸν γὰρ, δεινὸν, ἀγαπητὲ, ἡ μέθη, καὶ ἱκανὴ
πηρῶσαι τὰς αἰσθήσεις, καὶ καταβαπτίσαι τὸν λογισμόν.
Τὸν γὰρ λογικὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ τὴν κατὰ πάντων ἀρχὴν
ἀναδεδεγμένον, καθάπερ νεκρὸν καὶ ἀνενέργητον, δεσμοῖς
τισιν ἀλύτοις
πεδήσασα κεῖσθαι παρασκευάζει· μᾶλλον
δὲ καὶ νεκροῦ χεῖρον.


Eusebius Praeparatio evangelica
Book 3, chapter 4, section 2, line 7

οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις Ἀνάγκης, ἣν Εἱμαρμένην λέγουσιν,
πάντα καταδήσαντες καὶ πάντα τούτοις
ἀνάψαντες τοῖς θεοῖς, οὓς ὡς λυτῆρας τῆς Εἱμαρμένης μόνους ἔν τε ἱεροῖς καὶ
ξοάνοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις θεραπεύουσιν.”

Gregorius Nazianzenus De vita sua
Line 1301

τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀκούσιον κρατούμενον βίᾳ,
ὥσπερ βέλος νευρᾷ τε καὶ χερσὶν δεθέν
ἢ ῥεῦμ' ἐν ὁλκῷ πάντοθεν στενούμενον,
καιροῦ διδόντος τὴν βίαν περιφρονεῖ.
τὸ δ' ἑκούσιον βέβαιον εἰς πάντα χρόνον
δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις τῶν πόθων ἐσφιγμένον –
ταῦτ' ἐννοῶν ἔμοιγε τὸν φόβον δοκεῖ
τέως κατασχὼν πάντας ἕλκειν ἡμέρως
προθεὶς τὸ βούλεσθ' ἄγραφον πειθοῦς νόμον.

Cyrillus De exitu animi MPG 77.
page 1076, line 45

καὶ διχάσαντες αὐτὴν, ῥίπτουσιν αὐτὴν δεδεμένην
δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις, εἰς γῆν σκοτεινὴν καὶ ζοφερὰν, εἰς
τὰ κατώτερα μέρη, ἐν τοῖς καταχθονίοις δεσμωτη-
ρίοις, καὶ φυλακαῖς τοῦ ᾅδου· ἔνθα τυγχάνουσιν ἀπο-
κεκλεισμέναι αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, τῶν ἀπ'
αἰῶνος κεκοιμημένων,


Also found in Philo

Philo De specialibus legibus
1, § 137, l 6

ἤδη μέντοι καὶ προσυπερ-
βάλλων ὁ νόμος οὐ μόνον ἀπὸ τῆς κτήσεως καθ' ἑκάστην ἰδέαν ἀπάρ-
χεσθαι προστάττει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων ψυχῶν τε καὶ σωμάτων·
μέρη γὰρ διαιρετὰ γονέων παῖδές εἰσιν, εἰ δὲ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν,
ἀδιαίρετα, συγγενικῷ αἵματι καὶ λόγοις προγόνων, ἀοράτοις εἴδεσιν, εἰς
ἐκγόνους διήκουσι φίλτροις τε ἑνωτικῆς εὐνοίας καὶ φύσεως δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις
ἡρμοσμένοι.


Philo De praemiis et poenis 2.
§ 81, line 3

ἐὰν γὰρ οἷα τὰ βουλεύματα τοιοῦτοι οἱ λόγοι καὶ οἷα τὰ λεγόμενα τοιαίδε
αἱ πράξεις ὦσι, καὶ ταῦτα ἀλλήλοις ἀντακολουθῇ δεθέντα ἁρμονίας
ἀλύτοις δεσμοῖς, εὐδαιμονία κρατεῖ, τουτέστιν ἡ ἀψευδεστάτη σοφία καὶ
φρόνησις, σοφία μὲν [γὰρ] πρὸς θεραπείαν θεοῦ, φρόνησις δὲ πρὸς
ἀνθρωπίνου βίου διοίκησιν.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
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