On the Creation of the World (De opificio mundi)

...it provides [better] readings, since in more than sixty places it alone has preserved the true wording. I will illustrate this point with several examples.

42,15 This is what was previously read: "Furthermore, the planets, or the counter-balancing army of the fixed stars, are arranged in seven ranks." original Greek: οἵ γε μὴν πλάνητες ἢ τ’ ἀντίρροπος στρατιὰ τῆς τῶν ἀπλανῶν ἑπτὰ διακοσμοῦνται τάξεσι. Since this phrase makes no sense at all, the scholar Mueller judged that the entire statement "or the counter-balancing army of the fixed stars" should be deleted as a glossema|A marginal explanation or note that a later scribe accidentally copied into the main body of the text.. However, nothing but the tiny word "and" original Greek: τε / te disrupts the meaning. Codex M omits this word; once it is removed, the meaning becomes perfectly clear. Compare Allegorical Interpretation of the Laws I, 45: "For there are seven planets, moving in opposition to the fixed stars which move in the same and identical way."

49,20 "And what is about to be said does not fall short of what has been said" original Greek: τῶν δ’ εἰρημένων οὐκ ἀποδεῖ καὶ τὸ μέλλον λέγεσθαι is the reading in the vulgata|The standard or commonly accepted version of a text before a new critical edition is made.. The word "to fall short" original Greek: ἀποδεῖν / apodein means to be inferior (compare 53,18: "for the copies fall short of the archetypes|The original models or patterns."); it is clear that this meaning is not suitable for this passage, which instead requires the sense of "differing." Therefore, Codex M provides the true reading: "does not disagree" or "is not inconsistent" original Greek: οὐκ ἀπᾴδει / ouk apadei. Other examples of the verb "to be out of tune" or "to disagree" original Greek: ἀπᾴδειν / apadein in Philo's works include: On the Posterity of Cain I, 226: "the obvious appearance of the names being very much out of tune with the truth" (this is the reading in the manuscript according to Tischendorf in his Philonia page 84,4, not "falling short"). In the same work, I, 235: "since these things are out of tune with the truth." On Abraham II, 2: "that the established decrees are not out of tune with nature." In the works of Plato, the verb "to be out of tune" is used with the dative case|A grammatical case indicating the indirect object or the thing 'to' which something happens. or with the genitive case|A grammatical case indicating possession or source. and a preposition; it is used with the genitive alone by Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, Lucian, and others, as it is here in Philo.

56,3 "he may devise" original Greek: τεχνιτεύσῃ / techniteusē is found in Codex M, whereas the standard version has "he may devise for himself" middle voice: τεχνιτεύσηται / techniteusētai. In all instances, Philo uses the active form of the verb "to devise": compare On the Change of Names I, 583: "the Father who begat and devised [it]." On Dreams I, 685: "of the one devising the other form of gluttony," and 686: "those who intemperately devise matters concerning food." On Animals Fit for Sacrifice II, 239: "all the things that the diligence of bakers and chefs devise." Fragment II, 626: "whenever he might devise." Likewise, the active form is found in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Sextus Empiricus, and others.

57,10 In the other manuscripts, the text is passed down as: "moreover, calling back his own works" original Greek: προσέτι τῶν οἰκείων ἀνακαλῶν ἔργων. By comparing a similar passage in Fragment II, 653, the editor Mangey conjectured that one should write "for the display of his own works" original Greek: πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν τῶν οἰκείων ἀνακαλῶν ἔργων. However, Codex M provides an easier correction, in which "to something of his own works" original Greek: πρὸς τι τῶν οἰκείων ἀνακαλῶν ἔργων is written.