Diatessaron

Tatian, ANF 9

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and all the things which came…

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and all the things which came to pass at his hand; and he marvelled, for he had obtained excellent information concerning him.¹ 2And some men said that John the Baptist was risen from among the dead; 3and² others said that Elijah had appeared; and others, Jeremiah; and others, that a prophet of the old prophets was risen; 4and others said that he was a prophet like one of the prophets. 5Herod said to his servants, This is John the Baptist, he whom I beheaded; he is risen from among the dead: therefore mighty works result from him. 6For Herod himself had sent and taken John, and cast him into prison, for the sake of Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had taken. 7And John said to Herod, Thou hast no authority to take the wife of thy brother. 8And Herodias avoided him and wished to kill him; and she could not. 9But Herod feared John, for he knew that he was a righteous man and a holy; and he guarded him, and heard him much, and did, and obeyed him with gladness. 10And he wished to kill him; but he feared the people, for they adhered to him as the prophet. 11And there was a celebrated day, and Herod had made a feast for his great men on the day of his anniversary,³ and for the officers and for the chief men of Galilee. 12And the daughter of Herodias came in and danced in the midst of the company, and pleased Herod and those that sat with him. And the king said to the damsel, Ask of me what thou wilt, and I will give it thee. 13And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask, I will give it thee, to the half of my kingdom. 14And she went out, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask him?⁴ She said unto her, The head of John the Baptist. 15And immediately she came in hastily to the king, and said unto him, I desire in this hour that thou give me on a dish the head of John the Baptist. 16And the king was exceeding sorry; but because of the oath and the guests he did not wish to refuse her. 17But immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded that he should bring the head of John: and he went and cut off the head of John in the prison, 18and brought it on a dish, and delivered it to the damsel; and the damsel gave it to her mother. 19And his disciples heard, and came and took his body, and buffed it. And they came and told⁵ Jesus what had happened. 20And for this cause Herod said, I beheaded John: who is this, of whom I hear these things. And he desired to see him. 21And Jesus, when he heard, removed thence in a boat to a waste place alone, to the other side of the sea of the Galilee of Tiberias.⁶

And many saw them going, and knew them, and hastened by land⁷ from all the cities, and came thither beforehand; for they saw the signs which he was doing on the sick. 23And Jesus went up into the mountain, and sat there with his disciples. 24And the feast of the passover of the Jews was near. 25And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and saw great multitudes coming to him. And he was moved with compassion for them, for they were like sheep that were without a shepherd. 26And he received them, and spake to them concerning the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. 27And when the evening approached,⁸ his disciples came to him, and said unto him, 28The place is desert, and the time is past; send away the multitudes of the people,⁹ that they may go to the towns and villages which are around us, and buy for themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat. 29But he said unto them, They have no need to go away; give ye them what may be eaten. 30They said unto him, We have not here enough. He said unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? 31And he said that proving him; and he knew what he was resolved to do. 32Philip said unto him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread would not suffice them after¹⁰ every one of them hath taken a small amount. 33One of his disciples said unto him (namely, Andrew the brother of Simon Cephas), 34Here is a lad having five loaves of barley and two fishes: 35but this amount, what is it for all these?¹¹ But wilt thou that we go and buy for all the people what may be eaten? for we have no more than these five loaves and the two fishes.¹² 36And the grass was plentiful in that place. Jesus said unto them, Arrange all the people that they may sit down on the grass, fifty people in a company. 37And the disciples did so. And all the people sat down by companies, by hundreds and fifties. 38Then Jesus said unto them, Bring hither those five loaves and the two fishes. 39And when they brought him that, Jesus took the bread and the fish, and looked to heaven, and blessed, and divided, and gave to his disciples to set before them; 40and the disciples set for the multitudes the bread and the fish; and they ate, all of them, and were satisfied. 41And when they were satisfied, he said unto his disciples, Gather the fragments that remain over, that nothing be lost. 42And they gathered, and filled twelve baskets with fragments, being those that remained over from those which ate of the five barley loaves and the two fishes. 43And those people who ate were five thousand, besides the women and children. 44And straightway he pressed his disciples to go up into the ship, and that they should go before him unto the other side to Bethsaida, while he himself should send away the multitudes. 45And those people who saw the sign which Jesus did, said, Of a truth this is a prophet who hath come into the world. 46And Jesus knew their purpose to come and take him, and make him a king; and he left them, and went up into the mountain alone for prayer.

And when the nightfall was near, his disciples went down unto the sea, and sat¹³ in a boat, and came to the side of Capernaum. 48And the darkness came on, and Jesus had not come to them. 49And the sea was stirred up against them by reason of a violent wind that blew. 50And the boat was distant from the land many furlongs, and they were much damaged by the waves, and the wind was against them.

Notes

There can be little doubt that this is the meaning of the Arabic. There is nothing like it in the Peshitta; the Curetonian is of course lacking; but the phrase in the Sinaitic is very similar.
Here begins verse 8a in Greek.
Perhaps appointment (cf. Moesinger, p. 165; but Isho‘dad [Harris, Fragments, p. 65] and the Brit. Mus. text of Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib’s Commentary have the ordinary reading).
Or simply ask.
Or, to tell.
A misunderstanding at slavish reproduction of the Syriac. The Brit. Mus. text of Ibn-aṭ-Ṭayyib’s Commentary has of Galilee, Tiberias.
cf. Syriac versions and margin of R. V.
Or, came.
cf. the addition in the Sinaitic Syriac.
Probably a mistaken rendering of the ordinary Syriac reading.
Luke ix. 13b; considerably changed.
John vi. 10b; and Luke ix. 14b, 15a.
cf. Syriac versions.