Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 5. Originals That Matter
Mark 1:41 — did Jesus feel compassion, or become angry?
In short
- 1.Most manuscripts read **SPLANCHNISTHEIS**, 'moved with compassion'.
- 2.Codex Bezae and Old Latin witnesses read **ORGISTHEIS**, 'becoming angry'.
- 3.By the harder-reading criterion, 'angry' is original: no scribe would make Jesus angry at a leper.
- 4.Matthew and Luke, both using Mark, **omit the word entirely** — precisely what you would expect if their copies said 'angry'.
The claim being examined
Jesus heals a leper 'moved with compassion' — a text used to characterise his whole ministry.
The Islamic position
The earliest recoverable reading portrays a more human, emotionally complex Jesus; the softened reading is later editorial care.
Analysis
This is Ehrman's flagship example in chapter 5, and its strength is the internal evidence rather than the manuscript count. He notes that Mark elsewhere portrays an angry Jesus (3:5; 1:43 uses harsh verbs — *embrimesamenos*, 'snorting with indignation', and *exebalen*, 'threw him out'), so the reading fits the author. Matthew and Luke's shared omission of the emotion word is difficult to explain if their source read 'compassion', since both are happy to call Jesus compassionate elsewhere.
From the Qur'an
Q 5:75
مَّا ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ ٱلرُّسُلُ
The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a messenger; messengers have passed on before him.
From the Bible
Mark 1:41
Greek: orgistheis / splanchnistheis
And becoming angry [or: moved with compassion], he stretched out his hand and touched him.
Read it in their BibleMark 1:43
Greek: embrimesamenos… exebalen
And sternly warning him, he immediately threw him out.
Read it in their BibleSources
Bart D. Ehrman · Bart D. Ehrman, *Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why* (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005), ch. 5 'Originals That Matter', pp. 133-139
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