# Missing: Mark 1:2

**Mark 1:2**: In some manuscripts, the verse reads, "_<mark style="color:red;">**As it is written in Isaiah the prophet**</mark><mark style="color:red;">,</mark>_" while others say, "_<mark style="color:red;">**As it is written in the prophets.**</mark>_"

Misquoting Jesus [p.94-95](https://archive.org/details/Prof.BartEhrman-MisquotingJesus/page/n105/mode/2up):

> Sometimes scribes changed their texts because they thought the text contained a factual error. This appears to be the case at the very beginning of Mark, where the author introduces his Gospel by saying, "Just as is written in Isaiah the prophet, 'Behold I am sending a messenger before your face. . . . Make straight his paths.'" The problem is that the beginning of the quotation is not from Isaiah at all but represents a combination of a passage from Exod. 23:20 and one from Mai. 3:1. Scribes recognized that this was a difficulty and so changed the text, making it say, "Just as is written in the prophets. ..." Now there is no problem with a misattribution of the quotation. But there can be little doubt concerning what Mark originally wrote: the attribution to Isaiah is found in our earliest and best manuscripts.

<figure><img src="https://2974054734-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FRyrzH2LnjA4dzZNkW3E9%2Fuploads%2FLRVGQGfy5JXQXLNuCU9d%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=bd1d54b0-5e29-44f0-bcfa-40a20f342c8b" alt=""><figcaption><p><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1%3A2&#x26;version=RSV">https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1%3A2&#x26;version=RSV</a></p></figcaption></figure>
