Sometimes anti-Jewish variants are rather slight and do not catch one’s attention until some thought is given to the matter. For example, in the birth narrative of the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph is told to call Mary’s newborn son Jesus (which means “salvation”) “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). It is striking that in one manuscript preserved in Syriac translation, the text instead says “because he will save the world from its sins.” Here again it appears that a scribe was uncomfortable with the notion that the Jewish people would ever be saved.
