Matt 7:12 αν

The form εαν (ℵ C O W Θ Σ f13 1500) is favored by Bover, Greeven, Merk, and Tischendorf (8th), but Lachmann, Soden, Tischendorf (7th), and Vogels print αν as in most manuscripts (including B E G K L M N S U V X Δ Π Φ Ω 047 0211 Byz f1.35 33. 565. 1424. 2224). Weiss (86), but probably too mechanically, receives αν on the ground that critics preferred εαν after the relative pronoun. While such might explain the presence of εαν in some witnesses (e.g., ℵ C Θ), it is at least as likely that in the other witnesses (i.e., O W Σ f13 1500) scribal assimilation to the εαν form that occurs in 7:9, 10 may be blamed. Since Matthew is not averse to using both forms (cf., e.g., 5:19, 32, where both constructions appear even in the same verse), and in light of the above considerations, it seems best not to spurn the well-supported αν in this place.