Here are some passages that are not commonly found in Biblical manuscripts, yet which contain no obvious disagreement with the doctrine found elsewhere in Scripture. My current opinion is that most of these are unlikely to be authentic, since they are lacking in the majority of Greek manuscripts handed down through the Church.
Do not consider this list as a reason to doubt the purity of Scripture. (The Lord knows how much trouble has already been sown by men disbelieving the traditionally received Word of God.) “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” I compiled this not to cause doubt in God’s unshakeable Word, but rather to give the learned something interesting to take into account when forming their opinions on textual basis for translations.
Note also that I am not listing anything already included in the majority of manuscripts of either the Textus Receptus, Septuagint, or Masoretic Text, since anything found in one of those three is by definition not particularly “rare”, and often already discussed frequently elsewhere.
“The Lord has reigned from the wood” – Psalm 96:10 (LXX 95:10)?
Say among the heathen, The Lord reigns from the wood: for he has established the world so that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people in righteousness.
Modified from Lexham English Septuagint Psalm 95:10
Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, quotes this passage thus: Ειπατε εν τοις εθνεσι, ὁ Κυριος εβασιλευσε απο του ξυλου, “Say among the nations, the Lord ruleth by the wood,” meaning the cross; and accuses the Jews of having blotted this word out of their Bibles, because of the evidence it gave of the truth of Christianity. It appears that this reading did exist anciently in the Septuagint, or at least in some ancient copies of that work, for the reading has been quoted by Tertullian, Lactantius, Arnobius, Augustine, Cassiodorus, Pope Leo, Gregory of Tours, and others. The reading is still extant in the ancient Roman Psalter, Dominus regnavit a ligno, and in some others. In an ancient MS. copy of the Psalter before me, while the text exhibits the commonly received reading, the margin has the following gloss: Regnavit a ligno crucis, “The Lord reigns by the wood of the cross.” My old Scotico-Latin Psalter has not a ligno in the text, but seems to refer to it in the paraphrase: For Criste regned efter the dede on the crosse. It is necessary, however, to add, that no such words exist in any copy of the Hebrew text now extant, nor in any MS. yet collated, nor in any of the ancient Versions. Neither Eusebius nor Jerome even refer to it, who wrote comments on the Psalms; nor is it mentioned by any Greek writer except Justin Martyr.
Adam Clarke’s commentary on the Psalms
Evidence for:
- Quoted by Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXXIII.
- Quoted by Tertullian, Lactantius, Arnobius, Augustine, Cassiodorus, Pope Leo, and Gregory of Tours, according to Adam Clarke.
- Apparently common in Old Latin manuscripts.
- Codex Veronensis (R), not to be confused with the other Codex Veronensis
Evidence against:
- Lacking in all surviving Greek manuscripts except in Veronensis (R).
- Short enough to be a gloss, and even appears as one in at least one Old Latin manuscript, according to Adam Clarke.
“We shall humble Him on a standard” – Ezra?
And Esdras said to the people, This passover is our Saviour and our refuge. And if you have understood, and your heart has taken it in, that we shall humble Him on a standard, and thereafter hope in Him, then this place shall not be forsaken for ever, says the God of hosts. But if you will not believe Him, and will not listen to His declaration, you shall be a laughing-stock to the nations.
“From the statements […] which Esdras made in reference to the law of the passover”, according to Justin Martyr
It seems that Justin Martyr is the only source for this passage, specifically Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXXII. Lacking any surrounding context, one cannot easily (if at all) determine what book he believed this quote to come from: whether Esdras A, Esdras B (Ezra–Nehemiah), or some obscure apocryphal writing attributed to Ezra.
If legit, I would have expected such a striking and obvious passage to be widely repeated by the Church fathers. Yet Justin Martyr is the only one, to my knowledge. That is, in part, an argument from silence, but when combined with the silence of our manuscripts, it leaves this passage seeming very dubious indeed.
It’s also possible that it is indeed part of the original text of a book… but not the inspired book of Ezra–Nehemiah (collectively also known as Esdras B, as NETS calls it). It may not even be from Esdras A.
“He descended to preach to them His own salvation.” – Jeremiah?
The Lord God remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in the graves; and He descended to preach to them His own salvation.
“from the sayings of Jeremiah”, according to Justin Martyr
And the holy Lord remembered His dead Israel, who had slept in the land of sepulture; and He came down to preach His salvation to them, that He might save them.
Attributed to Isaiah by Irenaeus in Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 20
The holy Lord remembered His dead Israel, who slept in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them to make known to them His salvation, that they might be saved.
Attributed to Jeremiah by Irenaeus in Against Heresies Book 4 Chapter 22
Evidence for:
- Quoted by Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LXXII.
- Quoted by Irenaeus in Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 20 as being by Isaiah (presumably a copyist typo, since there’s another passage quoted immediately before that actually is from Isaiah) and in Book 4 Chapter 22 as from Jeremiah (in agreement with Justin Martyr’s attribution).