Acts 2:23

Acts 2:23 – The authoritative reading, supported by the earliest and most reliable witnesses (𝔓^74, א, A, B, C, D, and followed by critical editions such as Nestle-Aland 28, Westcott-Hort, and Tischendorf), reads:

διὰ χειρὸς ἀνόμων προσπήξαντες ἀνείλατε,

without the participle λαβόντες.

Hacking to "clarify"

The addition of λαβόντες (“having received” or “taken”) appears in later Byzantine and ecclesiastical traditions (e.g., Textus Receptus, Majority Text, Greek Orthodox), likely as a "clarifying gloss" to emphasize human agency in the reception of the delivered one.

Its omission in the earlier text preserves the more abrupt and rhetorically forceful structure, directly connecting προσπήξαντες ("having affixed") with ἀνείλατε ("you killed/took up"). The singular χειρὸς is also the preferred reading over the plural χειρῶν, aligning more closely with the formal usage of agency in instrumental expressions.