The reconstruction of the gospel texts below is based on the critical edition of E. Nestle's Novum Testamentum Graece presented with a fuller critical apparatus in Kurt Aland's Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum ed. ii (Stuttgart: Württembergische Bibelanstalt, 1964) pp. 172-173. The matched column format & color coding employed here is the original work of the author of this electronic edition. The accented Greek script used to compose this synopsis is the unicode font, Palatino Linotype.

** Note: Matt 12:47 is not in the two earliest codices (before 400 CE): Sinaiticus & Vaticanus. But it is found in most mss. after 400 CE. Which explanation of these facts is more plausible?

• It was omitted by accident. Scribes copying a ms. in which the same words occurred a line or so apart sometimes omitted the words between them. Note that the ending of Matt 12:47 echoes the narrative in Matt 12:46. Or...

• It was added by later scribes to bring Matthew in line with the other synoptic versions of this anecdote. Note parallels to Luke 8:20.

If Matt 12:47 was missing from later mss., a scribal lapse would be clear. But since it is lacking in both of the oldest mss., accidental omission is less likely. This verse was in the Diatesseron, a 2nd c. harmony of the four gospels. But there is no evidence for it in Greek mss. of Matthew before the 5th c. CE.

*** Note: This reference to Jesus' sisters in Mark 3:32 is found in the orthodox Byzantine recension and a few other 5th c. mss. (notably codex Alexandrinus and codex Bezae) but not in codices of the 4th c. CE (Sinaiticus & Vaticanus) or other mss. of the Egyptian recension. Which explanation of these facts is more plausible?

• It was omitted by accident. Scribes copying a ms. might overlook the second of two phrases with similar wording.  In Greek the only difference between "brothers" (οἱ ἀδελϕοί) and "sisters" (αἱ ἀδελϕαί) are in vowels that look similar (ο and α). Or...

• It was inserted by some later scribe to account for the reference to "sister" (ἀδελϕὴ) in Jesus' climactic pronouncement (Mark 3:35).

If the phrase καὶ αἱ ἀδελϕαὶ σοῦ was missing from later mss., a scribal lapse would be clear. But since it is lacking in the oldest mss., accidental omission is less likely.  If this phrase was part of the original text at this point, it is odd that there is no mention of the presence of Jesus' sisters in any version of the narrative introduction to this scene or in Jesus' rhetorical question in Mark 3:34.