The Idea in Brief
The passage leans more toward the reading σπλαγχνισθεὶς based on various textual readings to include Ephraem Syrac's commentary on Tatian's Diatessaron.
Discussion
Based on best evidence, Arland et al (2012) provided this verse as follows in their Fourth Edition of The Greek New Testament:
Mark 1:41 (mGNT)
41 καὶ σπλαγχνισθεὶς ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἥψατο καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ θέλω καθαρίσθητι:
The footnotes acknowledge the variant reading for ὀργισθείς; for example, the earliest occurrence in Greek (and Latin) occurs in the Codex Bezae (which is the second word on line seven here), where no emendations or corrections are evident in either the Latin or Greek leaves. According to Cambridge University, which hosts the text (and website), the Codex Bezae is dated to end of the 4th century to the early fifth century. Nonetheless the editors and Committee of The Greek New Testament ascribe their level of confidence as {B} ("almost certain") that the best reading is σπλαγχνισθείς, since more compelling evidence was available. The late Bruce Metzger (1994), who was one editor and Committee member for The Greek New Testament, commented in greater detail regarding this verse.
It is difficult to come to a firm decision concerning the original text. On the one hand,
it is easy to see why ὀργισθείς (“being angry”) would have prompted over-scrupulous copyists
to alter it to σπλαγχνισθείς (“being filled with compassion”), but not easy to account for the
opposite change. On the other hand, a majority of the Committee was impressed by the following
considerations: (1) The character of the external evidence in support of ὀργισθείς is less
impressive than the diversity and character of evidence that supports σπλαγχνισθείς;
(2) At least two other passages in Mark, which represent Jesus as angry (3:5) or indignant
(10:14), have not prompted over-scrupulous copyists to make corrections; (3) It is possible
that the reading ὀργισθείς either (a) was suggested by ἐμβριμησάμενος of ver. 43, or (b) arose
from confusion between similar words in Aramaic (compare Syriac ethraḥam, “he had pity,” with
ethra’em, “he was enraged.”)
Metzger then makes mention of Nestle (1901), who commented on this passage and suggested the confusion between ὀργισθείς and σπλαγχνισθείς was based on the similarity of guttural pronunciation of words, which copyists mistook for related homonyms. Please click here. Thus Metzger and his colleagues had come to the conclusion that σπλαγχνισθείς was the more certain reading than ὀργισθείς, since the confusion seems to have originated from homonyms in the original Syriac of the Diatessaron. That is, the original source of “being angry” was the Syriac translation of the commentary of Ephrem Syrus on Tatian's Diatessaron, where “being angry” had occurred; however, the Arabic version, which was based on the Armenian translation of this text, reflects “he had pity,” and thus casts more ambiguity on the original sources for these texts.
Conclusion
The Codex Bezae, which is written in Greek and Latin, appears to have received “being angry” from the Latin translations of the commentary on Tatian's Diatessaron by Ephrem Syrus, which was in Syriac, but survives today in Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian among others. In some cases, the phrase “being filled with compassion” occurs in these various versions, which were based on other translations. In other words, the translations of translations in various languages (Syriac/Greek -> Arabic/Latin -> Armenian, etc.) increase the likelihood of the original error, which was the copyist misinterpretation of the original Syriac homonyms in their context. So as Metzger indicated, the original Syriac ethraḥam, “he had pity,” is the homonym of ethra’em, “he was enraged.” So when the latter word was translated into other languages, such as appeared in Greek as ὀργισθείς, the variant reading appeared. However, some copyists (such as the Arabic translation of the Diatessaron in the Armenian language) did not copy the same error, but preserved the meaning of “he had pity.” In summary, the most accurate reading in the Greek New Testament therefore is σπλαγχνισθείς.
REFERENCES:
Arland, Kurt, et al. (2012). The Greek New Testament (Fourth Edition). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 122.
Metzger, Bruce (1994). A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Fourth Edition). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 65.
Nestle, Eberhard (1901). Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the Greek New Testament. Edinburgh: Williams & Norgate, 262-263.