Luke 22:34

Textual Embellishments

The phrase μὴ εἰδέναι in Luke 22:34 is attested in early and critical editions (e.g., Westcott & Hort 1881, Nestle 1904) without the object pronoun με (“me”), contrasting with later Byzantine and Textus Receptus traditions which added με. The shorter reading is text-critically favored (lectio brevior potior), especially when the longer reading is easily explained as a "scribal/scholar clarification."

The syntactic construction μὴ εἰδέναι—without an object—intensifies the abstraction of the denial, potentially implying not just disavowal of a person, but a categorical refusal of recognition or understanding.