Laudator Temporis Acti

Gospel According to Mark 1:40-42 (tr. Richmond Lattimore):

[40] A leper came to him and entreated him, saying: If you wish, you can make me clean. [41] He took pity on him, and stretched out his hand and touched him, saying: I wish it; be clean. [42] And at once the leprosy went from him, and he was made clean.

[40] καὶ ἔρχεται πρὸς αὐτὸν λεπρὸς παρακαλῶν αὐτὸν [καὶ γονυπετῶν] καὶ λέγων αὐτῷ ὅτι ἐὰν θέλῃς δύνασαί με καθαρίσαι. [41] καὶ σπλαγχνισθεὶς ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἥψατο καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· θέλω, καθαρίσθητι· [42] καὶ εὐθὺς ἀπῆλθεν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἡ λέπρα, καὶ ἐκαθαρίσθη.

41 σπλαγχνισθεὶς: ὀργισθεὶς D: iratus a ff² r^1*

Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, 1975), pp. 76-77 (on Mark 1:41):

It is difficult to come to a firm decision concerning the original text. On the one hand, it is easy to see why ὀργισθείς ("being angry") would have prompted over-scrupulous copyists to alter it to σπλαγχνισθείς ("being filled with compassion"), but not easy to account for the opposite change. On the other hand, a majority of the Committee was impressed by the following considerations. (1) The character of the external evidence in support of ὀργισθείς is less impressive than the diversity and character of evidence that supports σπλαγχνισθείς. (2) At least two other passages in Mark, which represent Jesus as angry (3.5) or indignant (10.14), have not prompted over-scrupulous copyists to make corrections. (3) It is possible that the reading ὀργισθείς either (a) was suggested by ἐμβριμησάμενος of ver. 43, or (b) arose from confusion between similar words in Aramaic (compare Syriac ethraḥam, "he had pity," with ethra‘em, "he was enraged").<sup>2

2</sup> Although Ephraem in his Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron shows knowledge of the reading ὀργισθείς, all Syriac versions (syr^x,p,h,pa1; Curetonian hiat) combine in support of σπλαγχνισθείς.

Robert A. Guelich, Mark 1:1-8:26 (Dallas: Word Books, Publisher, ©1989 = Word Biblical Commentary, 34a), pp. 71-72, adopts the reading ὀργισθεὶς and translates:

⁴⁰ And a leper came appealing to Jesus and kneeling said, "If you want, you can make me clean." ⁴¹ Being angered, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said, "I do. Be clean." ⁴² And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

See e.g.

• Bart D. Ehrman, "A Leper in the Hands of an Angry Jesus," in his Studies in the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (Leiden: Brill, 2006), pp. 120-141
• Peter J. Williams, "An Examination of Ehrman's Case for ὀϱγισϑείς in Mark 1:41," Novum Testamentum 54.1 (2012) 1-12
• Peter E. Lorenz, "Counting Witnesses for the Angry Jesus in Mark 1:41: Interdependence and Insularity in the Latin Tradition," Tyndale Bulletin 67.2 (2016) 183–216