When Jesus heals a leper in Mark 1:40-45, some early manuscripts state in v. 41 that Jesus was moved with anger, not compassion. This paper will explore the external and internal evidence for both readings and propose that this variant reading arose in Latin due to the emotional ambiguity of the Greek verb "splagchnistheis" (normally translated as "moved with compassion"). Since the three usages of this verb in Mark represent the earliest known usages of the verb in a metaphorical sense for emotions, the variant possibly arose as Latin translators interpreted "splagchnistheis" differently as either compassion ("misertus") or anger ("iratus"). The reading of "orgistheis" (anger) in Codex Bezae then originated from cross-pollenization with the Latin side of the bi-lingual manuscript which "anger." The reading "splagchnistheis" is argued to be the preferred reading, but with the intended meaning of anger, not compassion.