Matt 2:19 κατ οναρ φαινεται

Some witnesses (ℵ B D Z Σ 0250 f1.13 157 1574 pc lat) reflect scribal assimilation to the exact expression six verses earlier (2:13) and thus have φαινεται κατ οναρ, but the less exact and slightly more remote passage of 1:20, where the manner of the appearance is given emphasis, demonstrates that κατ οναρ φαινεται is also Matthean, even though at that place some witnesses (Θ 543 788 826 1689 it) alter the word order to εφανη κατ οναρ (removing the emphasis). Fritzsche (98) thinks that Matthew "deliberately preposed κατ οναρ here so that the words more carefully fixed for making up expressions with φαινεται would not perpetrate an annoyance on the reader, had they been reckoned a broken series," namely, "he appears -- (indeed even) in his sleep -- to Joseph -- in Egypt -- with this mandate," etc. There is no good reason to abandon the intrinsically good and externally well-supported reading of the consensus. Note that in 2:13 Codex Vaticanus (B) alone has κατ οναρ εφανη, an obvious assimilation to 1:20, and εις την χωραν αυτων after αυτων, an accretion from 2:12.