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(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
Given the recent discovery and publication of the Gnostic Gospel of Judas1 and renewed interest in the historical figure of Judas Iscariot, it may be timely to analyze again the suggestions made concerning the epithet of the betrayer of Jesus. As William Klassen has noted, "the last word has not been said or written about the meaning of this word."2 There is little scholarly agreement about what exactly the epithet means, despite the etymological explanations offered to account for it.3 Bart D. Ehrman notes that "some of the best scholars have concluded that we simply don't know what Iscariot means."4 It is then a little daunting to begin an assessment of the arguments thus far proposed. I offer here a suggestion only with considerable caution.
I. THE EPITHET IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
The name of Jesus' apostle and betrayer is found as ... in Mark 3:19 ..., B, C, L, ..., et al.); 14:10 ..., B, C*vid); and Luke 6:16 (p4, )*, B, L, 33, Marcion, itd: Inscarioth); as a manuscript variant in Matt 10:4 (C and l150); and as an addition in Luke 22:47 (D, 0171vid, [f1] pc [l]). It appears as ... in Matt 10:4 and John 12:4, and as a variant in Mark 3:19 (A, K, W, Π, 0134, f1, f13 et al.); 14:10 (A, C2, K, W, X, ..., Π, f1 et al.); 14:43; and Luke 6:16 ()c, A, K, W, X, Δ, Θ, Π, Ψ, f1, f13 et al.). In Luke 22:3 it is written that Satan entered ..., and in Matt 26:14 likewise Judas "is called" by this name: ....
In some versions of Mark 14:10-the basis of Matt 26:14 and Luke 22:3-there is a definite article, reading ..., 565, 892); if this reading is original, then it may be that the derivative developments are independent amplifications of this definite article.
John 6:71a has ..., though the manuscript tradition that here has ... (K, Δ, Π, f1, et al.) brings the epithet in line with John 12:4 as relating to Judas rather than his father, a designation also indicated in the reference to a "Judas not the Iscariot" in John 14:22 (...). Elsewhere in the Fourth Gospel (John 13:2, 26) the name appears as...