With the puncutation shown below, I don’t know what to do with the καί (bolded).
- 15 Καὶ γίνεται κατακεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ αὐτοῦ,
καὶ πολλοὶ τελῶναι καὶ ἁμαρτωλοὶ συνανέκειντο τῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ·
ἦσαν γὰρ πολλοὶ καί ἠκολούθουν αὐτῷ.
16 καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς τῶν Φαρισαίων ἰδόντες ὅτι ἐσθίει μετὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν…
(NA27)
He was having dinner in his (Levi’s) house.
Many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples
for there were many [και] following him.
And the Pharisee’s scribes, seeing that he was eating with sinners…
- 15 καὶ γίνεται κατακεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ αὐτοῦ,
καὶ πολλοὶ τελῶναι καὶ ἁμαρτωλοὶ συνανέκειντο τῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ: ἦσαν γὰρ πολλοὶ,
καὶ ἠκολούθουν αὐτῷ 16 καὶ γραμματεῖς τῶν Φαρισαίων.
καὶ ἰδόντες ὅτι ἤσθιεν μετὰ τῶν τελωνῶν καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν...
(Tischendorf)
He was having dinner in his (Levi’s) house.
Many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many,
and the Pharisee’s scribes were even following him.
Seeing that he was eating with sinners…
Lenski objectiion to Tischendorf’s punctuation does not seem convincing to me: "The trouble with this reading is that the verb ἠκολούθων (some have the aorist) is always used with reference to faithfull following (compare for instance v. 14), not hostile to spy upon Jesus. In addition, the γάρ clause would be rather meaningless if it stated only that there were many publicans and sinners present, for the fact that they were numerous has already been stated. The presence of so many at Levi's feast is due to the fact that so many kept following Jesus and were thus glad to be invited to dine with him" (pg. 72-73).
Decker does deal with the καί in question, but suggests a solution that seems more complicated than Tischendorf's. Decker writes that the problematic καί is “functioning Semitically (= waw) and best translated here with a relative pronoun (so most standard English translations” (pg. 57).
Whether the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament prefers one way or the other, I can't tell. Maybe it's not intended to show a preference or maybe I just don't understand their mark-up. Whether the Lexham Syntactic GNT makes a choice, I also can't tell. It puts the καί in question in the γάρ clause, "Contained in: Explanatory Clause... The word καί modifies ἦσαν (verb) in Mk 2:15." The way I read that note, it could fit either NA27's or Tischendorf's punctuation.
What are your thoughts?
Decker. (2014). Mark 1-8 A Handbook on the Greek Text. Baylor.
Lenksi. (1934). The Interpretation of St. Mark’s and St. Luke’s Gospels. Lutheran Book Concern.
Lukaszewski, A. L., & Dubis, M. (2009). The Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament: Expansions and Annotations. Logos Bible Software.
NA27 Nestle, E., et al. (1993). The Greek New Testament (27th ed)
Runge. (2008–2014). The Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament . Lexham Press.
Tischendorf, C., et al. (1869–1894). Novum Testamentum graece.