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The Bible in the Syriac Tradition
Q,ucslions 94
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Slom!
Welcome to .participate in . the SEERI. Correspondence
Course (SCC) which now offers a series of courses in Syriac Christ·
ian heri tage and in the Syr iac la nguage . The' Syriac Christian tra-
I! I
the Oriental Christian Churches those within the ISvriac
,. • • .." ,,.. • " \· ··..
cal tradition, may be said to hold pride of place, since ' they arc
liturgi-
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represe ntative of, a nd 'to some degree, direc t hcir~ to the Semitic
i ; .... : world out Qf which ,Qhristianity sprang. The Semitic world was
t,
the cradle ,of;Chri~liani~y", The, peoplc~fI1ppg y.: hom·it was" born
• . ' ',. I I 1 : '
" and fir st spread and developed set the m a rk of their own gen ius
o n its first forms of expressioll and natura ll y enough they have
.: ·co ntinucd to bc· the most fit to · think and · ,J ive it in acc·ordance
with what it was from the beginning. T he 'West has lost 'a t least
., ., something of the more humanly and re lig iously a mple c ha racter
.of early, Chfis\iar:t l ~cvei~tio~ .a~d ar expression o r its own original ,
fl avour whic h h ave beel1 )bp.tter conservcd in the Scmitic Christian
!: E as t. 'fhe Bible itself is
built on the Semitic tradition. There-
fore an understanding of the Bible in the Syriac tradition is con
4
'. 1 i :;! ductive to 'a b etter understanding of ~he original Christian re-
velat ion and C hristian life. So we begin our Correspondence
Cou rse with a course on ' Thc Bible in th e S yria c Tradition' . We
believe that wc cannot ge t a morc suitable person to guide this
., coursc th an the Oxford Pro fessor o f Semitic studies Dr. Sebastian
1'. Brock.
,The Lumin,o us E ye (Rome 1985)., Printed -Bibles only go bacK to the sixteenth century. Pre-
YlOUS to that ,Bibles had to be copied by hand, a laborious and
- The Syrian Fathcrs on Prayer a nd the SpIritual Life (Cistersian .s low proccss. TIle invention of printing ha,d two impor tant con-
Studies Series 101) Michigan 1987. sequences for the Bib'le: in the first place, printing has made it
.p ossible for BiLles Lo be circulated mu ch more widely a nd much
- 'T hc Teac hing of the Syrian Fathers on Prayer (Syriac Text) .more cheaply; an d seco ndly, printing has - h elped to standardize
(Bar Hebraeus Verlag, Holland 19,8 7). .the arrang·cmcllt and con·tents of the Bible. \Ve shall be looking
.at, Some of the, consequences of this revolutionary invention belo~ .
We hope that the SCC will lead you to the thrill or a great tra-
dition of lear ning and spirituality. The manuscript Bible was rarely a complcte Bible, for nor-
,rnally a biblical manuscript would only contain part of the Bible,
"
'such as the Gospels, or may be thc whcle New Testament. Each
Rev. Dr. GEEVARGHESE PANICKER , • 'book would bc de vidcd into chapters, but severa] ·different sy-
Director or SCC . .stems of c hap ter divisions werc current; thus, "for example, the
I, chapter division in Syriac and in Greek m a nuscripts differs from
rthat in OUI' printed Bibies. The chapter divisiun familiar to .us
:~ today in printed Bibles in fact belongs to the Latin translation
-by Jerome, known 'as tHe Vulgate; though 'the sys tem was only
:devised in the ~-1iddle Ages, "it was adopted in · the printed text
-of the Bible in all languages in the sixteenth centur y, and so
this particular s·ystem ·has now become universal. Manusc ript
"Bibles in languages 'other than Hebrew also lacked any form of
,.' ""lv erse div ision : our present verse divisions in the Old Testament
'derive fro m the H e brew Bible, and these were introduced into
, !printed Bibles in all languages in the r.oursc of the six teenth cen-
tury. In the New Testament the ·verse divisions and numberings
were first illl roduce d in some of the first printed editions of the
Gree k text.
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How does the Bible reach us 7
6 The Bibl e in the Syriae Traditio n
{ . Jews also translated th c Hebrew Bible into ! Aramaic·, and
t>.1anusc ript Bibles in all lang uages exce pt Hebrew were in
th ese tra nslatio ns arc kn own today a s the Targ ums. Frag ments
book, 0 1- ' codex', form. For purposes of st ud y the Jews would
. of-a pre-Christian Targum to J ob have been found at Q umran,
a lso write out the H ebrew Bible in codex form, but for litu rgic,d but the other Targ ums w hi ch survive probably originatcQ in th e
Uji C in S)'n agoguc they always wrote out the text on scrolls .(~
31 early centuries of t he Christian era, a nd the manuscripts contain-
Jl"""'lcticc which still exists). The scroll is in fac t a muc~ older in4 • ing !them are "almost all late medieval (twclfth to ·' sixteent h cen-
vcntion than the codex. The codex only came to be Widely used .~ l-ur.y) . Jews may a lso have translated some ·. book·s ' of the Bible
for literal'\" texts in the early ce nturies of th e Christian era, I and " , into an Aramaic di ,tlc c.t !resembling Syriac (Syriac originated :as
it seems tltat Christians httipcd popularize the new format by first , ~Ih c loca l Aramaic dialec t of Edcssa), land these were then ·taken'
employing it~for writing Ollt biblical texts in Greek. The codex Qvel' by the : early Syriac-spcaking ·_Cllristian - :" comm unity -to
has m any adva ntages oyer the scro ll : in particular, the codc~ : form t he beginnings ·of thc ·Peshitta Old 'Tcstamen,t . The earliest
is much casier to usc, and it can hold vcry much m ore tC:<,t than complete manuscript of the Syriac· Old Testament belongs to the
a scroll. :·' ~ ixth or scventh century. -.
J3cforc the invention of the codex pcoplc h ad . in~ariabJy ' . H1 ' lvlod~rn 't ra nslations of the Bible ar~ ~ade from particular
used the scrolt; thus, for example . the biblical manusr.;ripts in ~ dition s of th e Hebrew ,Old Testa~ent a nd ·, Greek New Tcsta-
Hebrew fo und at Qumran, on the DcaCl Sea, arc a ll in scroll form i,:ent. Su rviving manuscripts of th~ H cbrc·w Bible' ·I;ave a re-
(they d a tc from about the second century BC ~o the ~irs t c~nt~r y . mark~bly u niform text, and so t here is very little 'differe!1ce bet-
A D). 'I'his m ea ns that the origina l a uthors of the variOUS blbhcal ' ,veen one edition ·ofthc Hebrew Bible a nd ano t her; ·it is likely I th e
books wi ll havc first writtcn thei r h')oks d own on sc rolls, rather {ha t precise form of the Hebrew h ex t as we know it g<?cs back to
than in book form, jn cod ices. T his a lmost certainl y applies to the An aut horitative ed ition p rodu ced abou t the end ,.of th~ fir~ t .~en:
i aut hors of the New Testa ment books as we ll ~s to t hose of the Old tury A D. Defore t hat date th ere was evidcntly·' a certain amount
I Testament. ..?Ft..varia tion .betwcen diff<; rent manuscri p~s. , : ~ "I ~ . . .' ' .
Thc Liblical manu sc r i rt ~ fro m Qumran, which come fro m ...
, .. ' ,I::: , I n contrast to the Hebrew Bible, manuscripts of ~ he Greek
a co llect ion of texts often known as the " D cad Sea Scrolls", are Tes' - ment (Septuagi nt) and t he Greek New.!Testament' may
the · o ldest · surviving bibli ca l manuscripts · in H ebrcw. !vI.ost, of ;fro.u' one ano th erl considerably in details lo f lwording;'" a nd 'i
them arc · very fragmentar y, and th e 'earliest r:ompletc blbhed l modern e ditors havc ' used the earliest ava ila ble :manusc ripts ·
manuscripts in . H eb rcw date fr om very · much later, from the to providc' their readers with a .text ,as close as l possible , .
) . . ', . the text w ritten down by the original a uth ors. ·;This is·by (10
tent h ce ntury .
means a simple task, a nd as a result diffcrent editions of the
\"" The- uooks of the Hebrew !lible (the .Christia n O ld ~resta· qreck New Testament will o ften have slig htly diffcFent texts.
menr) were translated by Je ws ilt to· Grcek in· t he third 'and ,sccond . In most cases t hese modern editions will differ in many s ma ll !Vays
centuries B C. T his collection o f translatio ns came to be known J"r"om sixteenth-ce ntu ry editions, whose editors I Jnos tly relied on
I
'as the . Septuagint (Seven ty) since an earl y tradition claimcd. th at ;'·a'thcl· late manuscri pts. These differcnces arc t:eflected in _ lh~
th e · Pentateuch had bee n trans lated into ·Greek a t Alcxandna .b)' various English translati ons: one can easily discover this by· com:
seventy tra nslators frOln Palestine . The G ;'cek-spt::aking par t of " p~ring a passage in the King James version, ~adc in the sevcn:
the ca~ l v C hur ch took on: r t his transla tion from [he Jews, :and .teenth ccntUl·y, with any twentieth centu ry English translation:
n~' t 1 ~ • ~ , " • I •
,
in due course th e Jews thems\: Iv cS auan
'- d onc d',1 ... ' \ few sma ll :-:' , ' As we shall . see~ manu scrip ts of the standard Syriac Bible
.fra jp uent s o f th e Septuagint f rom t I\c sceon d al. f lrst ccnturies
ld
;tre re m ark ably un i ~orm in cha ractci·; in this respect they a re.com-
.n U su rvi,'c , b ut the earl iest com p Ietc manus e I' Ipt S :irc Christian I par,able to H cbrew . biblical manuscripts,. and unJike Greek ones. ,
olles of the four th ,and fifth centur il.: s ~nd later.
2. Biblical translation, some general problems l\,!tion. Once how eve r' th e Bible had ,become readil )', a va ilaiJlc .
ou t:;jde th e liturgy the.re was no longer an y m eans of co ntrol
Fas hio ns in biblical transaltion chang e Q\"cr the course o f over how th e Dible was to be interpreted, and in the course or
time. Twentieth-ce ntury biblical translators approach their task the Refo rmation peri od in Europe all sqrts of ext ra vagant inter-
very differentl y from t.h e way in whi ch th e anci ent translatol'3 ' prct~tion began to circulate. There w ere. t\yo main rC<l!{tio ns to
went ahout th eir wo rk. The aims and th e sc lf:'undcrstanding of this abuse oC the Bible at th~ time: th e Roman Gil.t holie Ghu·r ch
an cient and o f mo dern biblical transla tors were radicallr dirrc r~ tri ed to minimize th t! usc of the Bible ou L~ id e th,e co nt ext of
cnt. One can genera lize a nd say th at the a ncient translator was church se rvices, thus reducing the danger or misguided interpre-
o riente d tow;rrcl s th e orig ina l tex t, while th e mo dern tra ns lator is tation of the Bible uy individ.u aI5. T.he Reformation Ch u rches ,
oriented tow a rd s th e read er. As a result of this differ ent O riCllt~ on the o ther hand, dealt with the problem iq CllI,i te a diffe rent
a l io n the anc ie n t transla tor transla tes with g rea t deference to- ',vay, by a dopting a completely new attit1.,lde towarrls bi,b lical ,
wards t,he original text, striving to render it (word for word ' , translation its<r lf: from the time of St. .Jero me (late i'ourth century)
eve n if this may so me times r es ult in fIlOnSCIl!iC translations'; in to. the e nd o f the European Middle Ag es (fi~te enth centur y) th e
co ntras t, the m od e rn transla tol' see ks to r end er the te x t intelli- ideal a imed a t b y a ll hiblical tr a nsla tors had hee n (as we have
g ible to his reader and a s a conseq uence he 'translates 'sense ror seen) a ' word ror \Vord' , rather than fs ense fo r se nse', rcnd eriu g;
~c lls e' , rather thap 'word for word '; and he will avoid at a ll costs this meant that, ir the orig inal text was obscure, the translator was
allY no nsell se translations. Ancient tl'anslati9 ns will thus tend to content to pass the obscurity on to the reader, leav ing 'the matter
he mo rc litcral, and m od e rn o nes m ore rree and interpreta tive. Qf exposition to the p reacher. At th e Rerorm a tion th e ro lc or
\Vithin eac h t\'pe o r trallslati on. th e more literal and the more translato r ca~l1e to , be joined , to some ex.tent, to that of th e prea-
fr ee, th er e is in 'fa ct th e poss i!.,ili ty o i' ~ reat va riet >·, as we !-l hall see cher o r expositor, and so th e entire aim o r th e hiblica l tran slation
I:Her 0 11 , in con nec ti o n with th e Syri ae Bible, c ha nged : 11 0 lo nge r di d th e biulical t ransla tor c.;le fer tu th e u rig in ;d
tex t, ren d c rill ~ it f, vord for word'; instead .. he saw hi s task il $
Vi rtuall y all earl r hiiJliea l t ra nsla ti olls, intu "rhat c\'e r 1. '-11- co nveyin g to. lhc rCfld er his own understa,nding o f what th e uihli cal
gl1ag c , arl: basically tex t- ori ented . ra thcr than re a der- o ri ented . text mea nt. Accorclil)g ly, in the process of transla ting th e Bihle
""hen d id biblical tra nsla ti o n cha nge its p rac ticc a nd become into the v ar~o u s European spoken langua ges n r the time, th e R l:-
rcader- ori ented ? Rig ht up to th e cnd of the Europea n Middle Ages fo rmers fe lt th e need to be much ' more interpretative in th eir
wo rd ro r word trans lation remained th e norm for biblical transla- work or translation than earlier translators had iJf;en.
tio n, and it was onl y in th e sixtee nth cc ntur y that p ra cti ce chang -
Virtua ll y a ll m odern biblical tran s latio n ~ ha\'c inhe ritcd
ed. The re are good reasons fo r linkil!:.{ this important !;hift with
this ch;u,lgcd attitude to wa r d s the task o r th e IJiiJlica l tra nslator .
th e im'cntio n o f p r inting,
al,tI~oug h modcrn tr ans latio ns arc interprelati \'c in vc ry differe nt
Uclore the invention 0(' printing' tlte m ain context in which ~vays rro ~n s jxteenth~ce ntur y European translations.
the Bihle was read was durioKchu l"c h sCI' vices, but aft er t he in ven~
lion of printing it became much CII 0 l"C a vailable to he read br St. Jerome, who produced the revised Latin translation
individuals. at home . Since man y passagt': s in the Bible a re ex- known a s the Vulga te, was the first person to fo rmulate th e v iew
tremel y obsc ure . this lIew situation g-<l\' C rise to prublems lo r the that it was appropriate to translate the sacred tex t of the lliill c
Church, a ll th c mo re so sinc(' it coi nc ide d in tim e with tilt· move"- (' wo r d ror word '. rathe r than ' se nse for sense' , \Ve can, h owc\,('I'.
mcnt rOi' reform in EU l' oJl l:. As long as th e reading o f th c Bibl e see rrom the history or th e ca rl y biblical tra nsla ti ons th a t this
,",,'as large ly confined to th e context of th e liturgy . the Chllrch wa!f ideal had a lready Been put into practice lon g Ilcfore his tim e.
able to exe rctse it s authorilY in ma tters o f sc riptural interpretati on rri th e. case o f mos t ancient tra nslatio ns of th e Bible we ca n ob- "
Since biblical readin gs could be acco mpanied by homilctic c:tpla- serve th e same coursc of evc ntS: th e ea rliest tra ns la liolls int o a
,II
II
10 The Bi b le in the Syriac Traditi o n Bi b li cal Trans lat ion II
partic ular lang uage a r e rather inconsistent in ch a rac te r, since thf! an importa nt effec t o n the contents o f th e Bible; this is
trans lators lacked experie nce an d precedent; before long, h owever, I J cl- .~~ca u sc printing m akes possible the w idc criculat ion of a ' sing le
p eople noti ced th a t th e re we re differences be tween ' the origina l edition or tr a nslat ion, re sult ing in a kind of standard izati on that
and th e translation, and so they sta rted to revise th e original tran- was not p ossi ble before th e inve ntion of printing, \"ie h ave a l~
s lation, bring ing it closer into agreement w ith the original. This l seen one suc h ce nsequence, namely the hllrod u c ti ~·n of a
\
process of revisio n mi ght be repea ted, 01' go on D vel: a period of " . ...
-
i _cady
~ ,
\s~a~dfl~djzcd syste m of chapter and verse , numbering. Oth c r
I
\ time. In every case we end up \vith a n ex tremely litera l rencle~i~g\' 't . .~!~,d ~ of sta nd ar,d i zation intro duced by. printing 'can be s~en b y
i
I nf the ori ginal text: This mo\' c!11c nl ' towards a m orc and " morel
literal style of translat ion can be particularly we ll documented
co~paring the conte nts and order of books in differen t modern
franslations. Bibles produced ro r th e Catholic churc h 'will dirrer
[,
from the histor y o f bot h th e G re ek and th e Syriac Bible, for in fl'om t h ose produced for th e vario us Reformcd Churches: th e I
h oth cases ;we h ave somewhat in consisten t stylcs of translation at lfo~mer wi ll contain th e dc:utero-cano nical boo ks, wh ile t he la tter
thc earlies t stages, followed by a sc ries of revisions ,a imed to bring normally not; and the o rde r. of certa in old T es tament ' books
I I
the translatio ns eve r closOf'" into line with t~l e und e rl ying tcxt of
the original. .T he end re sults o f this. process o f revision we re highly
be differe nt. Orth odox Bible s w jli ~I gain differ frOl'u both
t..;a th olic an d R efor m ed Bibles. H ere we ca n sec th a t the invention
s.op histi catcd mirror t ranslat ions. r6( prinqng has stand a rdiz c:d the differe nces betwt.cn the v~r i o~ s
1
.Qh'u r ch t radit ions, '
But eve n the t ranslator who sets dut to provide su ch a
i mirror rcnd e ring cannot avoid being interpretative in places: W e Heed to (4).nsider one m o re problem w hic h needs to b e
II quite rrequently (a nd especia ll y in t he H e brew Old T esta ment ) face d by the mod c rn biblica l tran slat io n, since this a lso has a
, the orig ina l text is ambig uous or obscur e. and so th e transla tor is b eari ng on our att itude towards the S yri ac Biblc : What biblica l
,I
, rorce d to make: a c hoice b e tween two or more possibilities. I' At :text shou ld the tra nsla tor t reat as a uth o ritative and translate
c rea ti on (Gen, 1:2) is it 'the Spiri t of God' or a ' mighty wind ~ 'a b m? At first sig ht this see ms an easy qucsti o,n to c.lnswe r: ' th e
over the pri mordia l d eep? Both' ancien t a nd m odern tra nsla tor s 'Hebrew tex t for th e O ld Testament an d ;th e G I:eek tex t ' far ' th e,
are divided over this a nd many other suc h ambi guities. . ·Ind eed, ,- Testam e nt. As we sh all see, h owever, this is by ~1 0 means
.,1i'
so met imes the ve ry c hoice o r a literal rendering mig ht be co n- ;the onl y answer. Certailll y most m oder n transla ti ons ~ct out to
sidered interpre tat i ve: a good example is provided by the first trans late fr o m the H ebrew and t he Greek, but e,"en here
! word of the angel Gabri el's g reeting to Mary in Luke I :28: in Eng-
lish the familiar rendering of th e Greek Hchairc" is 'hail (Mary)',
proble ms arise : the edition of the Heb rew Bib le used is ih fac t a
medie va l J ewish o ne w h e re th e orig inally ·' co nso nan tal · text
The stand a rd Syriac biblical text of the New Testament has . "shlam 'h as b ee n :provid ed \';ith vow els; it is ' tr ue t hat the co nso nanta l
lek" 'Greetings to you', the equivalent Syriac form of the Greek "tex't goes· b ac k m ore o r less in its present ·fo r m to the late fir st
g reetin g (similarly, the New English Bible has, 'Greetin gs') , The ·c'elltllI"Y AD , but in m a ny cases (especia ll y 'in ' p oct ic 'b ooks) this
ve ry li teral seve nth- ce ntury Syriac version known as the H a rclean conso nantal text coul d be read with d irfcrc nt vo we ls., provid-
prefers to g ive instead the etymological equiva le nt to the Greek, "ing a somew h a t dilTerent meaning , 1vl odcrn translators n or- I
Ilamely the imperative ' rejoice', Sh ould the tl'allsla tor pay morc ' m alt y follow th e m edieva l Jewish tr a diti on or understan din g '1-
atte ntion to th e form ('"rej oice' ) or to t h e content ('gree tings' )?
Ancjent tra nslators like the author of th e Harclean New Testa-
'the text, but it wou ld a lso u e p ossible to take the conso na nta l
. . text a s \til e star ting poin t, without n ecessaril y follo{v ing the par-
,
[
~
'I , different fo rm s of text. Thus, as far as the Hebrew bible is con- The Peshitta New Testament is in fact a revision of an earlier
cer ned, it could be said that scriptural authenticity applies, not t~'~,ns l at i on, knmvn as the 'Old Syriae ' . The revision may h a ve
i 'only to the medieva l Jewish e ditio n of th e Hebrew, but also to m a d e over a p eri o d of time, but was co mpleted sometime in
i
It , its conso nantal basis which goes back to the I ~Hc first century I
a nd to lhe H o: bl'cw tcxt use d by the Jewish transla tors of the Old
~ -
the learly fifth ce ntury. The circulation of this revision provcd
.
~~ trcmel y effective, for the Peshitta rapidly replaced the Old
,
Testament into Greek . But sc riptuntl authenticity is b y no means ' Syriac a nd haq become the authori tat ive Syriac text of the New
co nfined to th e Hebrew Old Testamellt and the Greek New Test-'~ 1 , ,Testament before the schism between th e Syria~l Orthodo:x. Church
.unent: it applies just as much to the ancien t ' versions, the Grcek .. al~ d t lie Church of the East, brought about by the christological
~ ••• I " -. • , ,'
Septuagint and the Syriac Peshitta, 'sincc both these translations Fp ntroversies
J ).'1
9f
the mid fifth century.
l
,,~,
I ,' ' I .~
: h ave been regarded as authoritative biblical texts by the commu- rOIl. I".A large numuer of manuscripts of the Pc;shitta s~ryi.ve, and
nities using them. ' " , " ~1 the oldes t of these date from the fifth and sixth I centuries: Since
Ouce we realize that sc riptural authcntieity is not necessarily an entire Bible written out by hand was very bulky and awkward
I I confined to the odg inal biblical lang uages, it then becomes cleal"' to manage, most manusc ripts orily co ntain small groups 9f books
that modcrn biblical transla tion's should n ot cxclusively be made at a time a nd complete Bibles arc very rare. ' '-
fl'om Hcb re w and Greek: fo r the Greek 'and Russian Orthodox
I : 1 The rarity of complete Bibles before the coming of the printed
C hurc h it wou ld be just a s ,d e sirable' (especially for liturgic~ l usc)
to use translations from the Septuag int ; like wise, in the c,a se.or "book has ha.d an important ,consequence: the,precise contents and
II, th e C hurc h es of Syriac liturgical tradition , it will be important,to , .order of books in the Syriac Bibl~ has never become entirely fixed
make ava ilable translations from the Syriac Peshitta. T}~c sc trll- (even in mode rn printed editions 'the order i~ whi ch the biblical
~ nsbtions would 'primaril y be for usc in the 1iturgy (as we sha ll ' -books are printed may differ considerably, from . one edition to
sec, th e ' Syriac liturgica l tradition is rooted 'in the Syriac Bible); 1anoth,er). As far as contents are concerned, , the most ~important'
I!eatl\r~ , of the Syl'iac Bible is the absence ' from ' the,· original
~ IJu t for ot he r purposes too, lh ey cnu ld be profitably used a long-
side lhe existing translations from Hebrew a nd Gq:ck, thus pro- , .'~'I_ll\\<\ translation of the New Testament of some of the ,C~tholic
\' i<li ll!,; a n adJitional source for spirilUal insight. (2 Peter, 2-3 ]ohn,]ude) and the Revelation of ·S\. ]o.h n.
A Bird's Eye View . . , 15
14 The Bible in the Syriae Traditio n
-for ce rt a in whether he composed his Gospel harmony in Greek 0 1'
I:, (Apoca lypse); in most printed cditio ns of th c Syriac New T esta-
ment, however, the Syriac text of these boo ks has been supplied
;: in Syriac. In th e ea rl.~' Syriac C hurch, before th e birth of the
~ J)es hitla New Testam ent , the Diatessaron was evidently cOll s id~
from later Syriac translations. cred as a n a uth or itat ive Gospe l tex t, for St. Ephrem wrote a com-
mentaryon it in the f"ourlh ce ntury. Once the Pcs hitla ~ (: w Tcs t-
Although the Peshiua is the sta ndard biblical text, It is not '~ ~ ~ent ha d come into ex iste nce (cad y i n th e rifth cent ury) the
the onl y Sydac translat ion o f the Bible. ' ~Diatessaron fell out of I~, l vour, and as a res ult no ~o mplcte"man~
I,", J'ol' the Old Testament J there is a translation m ade from
, of it sur v ive:: .
sCl:ipts
Next in time a fter the Diatessaron c~",'' ' ' \he :' translation
I
th e Gree k Septuag int. This vers ion is known in Syriac a s ' the
Seventy' (IfSha b' in"); hut is called the ' S yro-hcxapla ' by m oclchi ' known as the 'Old-Syriac!,of-which only th e Foul' ~ospcls $urv ivc .
~ c holars; it was m ,tdc hy the S~' rian Orthodox ··scTlo l<\I' Paul or (preserve d in two very early manuscripts). The d ate when this
Tella o,"c,' the yca,·, · 6 14-6 16 in Al cxandr'i a (Egypt), Altho ug h transla tion \Vas made r emai ns u ncertain : some sc holars suggest
ii . the translat ion was probably never intcntcd for liturg ica l u sc, its ~the late sccond or early thin] fc ntury J while others prefer the
",t text is never theless sometimes to be found in Syriah. . Orthoda" .! ea rly four th century. In any case t he Old Syriac seems to be later i
1cctionarics. The Syro-hcxa pla sur vives in a number of m~nu. -th an the Diatc~saroli, a nd in many places it has ' been influenced,'
)
sc ript:-, but unfortunately we do no t ha ve th e complele ,"ex·," ( parti~ , b y th e Diatcssaron. I t is likel y that th e Old Syriac origin a lly
of the Penta teuch and Histod ca l Books arc missing).
":' , . '
extended to th e Act s or t he Apostles a nd th e Epistles,' but no
j,
I,
1 " manuscripts conta ining th e Old Syriac version' of these books
The Syrian Orthodox scholal' J~cob o f Ede.,a (died 10G) ,surv ives . .
;i made a revised ' Sy riac transla ti o n of ce rtai n [yooks of the O ld
']" csta mcnt, basing his wo rk ern i.J.)t h t he Greek Scp t uag in.t and the _" ' '''e. have already seen that the Peshitta Nc.w Testament is
a
Pcs hiua. Parts o f his work survin:s in. small num1xr of \I"ery old ion fact not a completely new translation from Greek, but a revi -
IT'ltlllusc ripls .. ,... s ion of the Old Syriac, correcting it against thc Greek text. Over
the' pori od fr om the fifth to th e seventh century Greek la nguage
A few other relics of transia llons of individual Old Testa ... and culturc became morc and m ore prestigious in th e eyes of
n lc nt boo ks fi-om- Greek in to Sy riac a lso survi ve;: these' nta y have' Syri ac biblica l sc ho lars J especiall y in the Syrian . Orthod ox I
r~
I
Greek origina l.
Jo~or the New Te<;tament We kno' . . . of a Jlunlher af other'
Syriac \'ersi01l£, be.s ideS' the rc s;hi tta ~ W e know that the chorepisc;opus Polycai'p ~omple ted a revi·
sion 'of t he Peshitta New Testa ment in 508. This work had been
The oldest S yri ac translatio n· of the Gospels WaS' almos t I commissioned b y the Syrian Orthodox theologian Philoxe nus, !I
certainly in the form o f a harm::my or the' (OUl" GOSpcl9, known a~~ : metropolitan of mabbug, and so is normally called the cPhiloxe-
the Diate s.s;lI ~o n , a Gree k w()'l'k mea nYllg Ct hrough four T, that is, a· iri nian' New Testa ment . The Philoxcnian version is unfortuna tely
sing le Gospe l texl d eriv cd rrom th e lo u r' Gospels. On ly very sma iL Jost: it was evidently never circ ula ted widely and no manuscripts
fragments of this sur vive. and much un ccl-ta lnt y sur'r ound s itg. ~f it survi ve; i t is possible, however, that the extant sixth-century
authorship and orig in _ '111c \ Diatcssaron IS' usua ll y thoug ht to' .translations of the rvHnor Catholic Epistles and Revela.tion may
havc been. com'posed by Tatian ~ a nat ive or th e Mesoputa min who belong to this re v ision J in whieh case we do have the Philoxenia n .
:;;tudied In R o me u nder JustIn ~vIart y r in th e m iddle or th e seco nd for a few books, at least.
century A D. an d tfu:n. rt: t.u~rlled to' h i<$·.llOmda nd. Il is- not knowil
J
16 The Bible in the Syria e Tradit io n
This lost Philoxcnian revision served as the basis foi' yet a SECTION II
furtlier re vision of the Syriac New Testament, co mpleted in 6 1G
! ,in Alexandria by the Syrian Orthod ox scholar Thomas of H arke I. HE SYRIAC BIBLE - A CLOSER LOOK '.
~. ~rhis revision, know n as th e ' Harc1can' J provid es a remarkable .,
•• mirror transla tion, refl ectin g every detail of the Greek original.
\ I', Testament ,' ;
The Harclca n was widely circulated in Syrian Orthodox circles ·
and was orlen used for Guspel lccti ona ries. The H a rclcan New
.. .. .1 ) " j'R.\NSLATED FROM HEBREW: "l'ESHITTA" ,
Testament survives complete, and include::; dIe Minor Catholic . ., ,[""--"
1
"
Epist les and Revelation. ;iit.. ,;' The name . 'Pcshltta' ,I]~cans '5traightforwar.d ::' .,si~P\ '~~ J;
il ,I
In tabular forIT} we have:
' w~~. given to the standard Syr iac version of tbe Bible (b.oth 'Old
a:;td New Testaments) in orde'r to distinguish them ' from the '9,~~
I
I OLD TESTAME NT Hebrew ...... ['e,hitta (c. 2nd cent, AD?) v~'n~h .. century translations, the Syro .. hexapla and the Harclean':
'l~he .tna·me is first enco untered in a ninth .. cc ntury writcr; earli~r
I
'authors had simply refcrred to thc Pl!shiua a s 'the Syriac'. ,
,I Grcek (Septuagint) ..... Syro-hexapla (G IG) , ! , ' , , .. "I
, The orig,ins of,the Pcshitta translation arC; 'vcl'y obscure and
,, ·NEW TESTAMENT Gr?ck ..... Dia tc>saron (2nd cenL AD) ~'~Yl'ja~ ~ al!thors had no clear m cmor y of how an..d when "the wor~
~.a~ , ca,t;ricd out (3; ~cw fm p,lausiblc guesscs wCl!e ' I ncve'rt~el~ss ·'cir...
'I {Gos pel Harmony),
-> Old Syriac (c. 3rd cenL )
A close study of thc tra nslation itself ca n' throw a, little
," from such a stud y we can deduce the ro:llo~~l i ng: ;
....... Pcshilla (C ' 400)
III ....... l'hi loxenian (508) -the Peshitta Old Testament tS not the work of a sing le
.tr~n s ~ a tol',
bl!t must have been carried out by many differ ent
- Ha"klean (G I6) .
!
" , PI' , : ' . 1
transiator.!l, perhaps working ovel' a c on si der ~ ble period of ,time.
, . ' . I'"'' .!, I ,)
'J , - the' translatOl's all worked basicall y fro m ,:H,c " tIcbrcw
-'
and ;this Hehrew text was bas icall Y the same as the conson~
:,
I: ur,o: "'IHi·l , Hcbre\~ , tcxt .ofour printcd Hcbrc~v ', Bibles, Si,i~e, \~e kn'~ w
.•
,'I!U:: ~ .• . , I, 1 ' , " II
..• ;i: thjs, conso nantal tcxt became l,the authoritativc' Hebrew text
., 'J f
,r\fprq.c: ti~c,: in' tI~e lalc fi~st cC~lt~ry 't;.. P;
it i~ !\i.l~~lY' !l~~~.• t~5J'~;~\1~:I~ .f;::
,.
,al~r~" wcrc .~xorkin,g ,after it ha~, ~feI1 11 yviqC;IYI J?ro~Hg~~~~; , ::"1( I '
fI "11; '! :'
,!.
' ~H:1 'II'l l , 'n," f." IIi · ' , I I " ··!t If" I! ,. . ..• ,: ! ,~, t ' ,"," ·t; ,: .1,
1 . "
/
" - in some books the t(ahslators seem to ha ve consulted or
use of other trans lati~ns':' thus at ' ' v~~ious ' P~B~~s. in ~ th ~
M·.
(1 J "
: ,n
~ Pcnlatellc h (Ge nesis Deuteronomy) " there a rc some remarkable ) er
; " : ,,( Jinks between the Peshitta and the Jewish Aramaic ;. 1
T" a rguIms; and ,r~,
• J
some of' the ' Prophets and Wisdom ,~oo.k s: t,h,e l tra1lsl,';ltors . pro ..
J
.1:) ,
1 "1 '
'" ..:~b ~bly ,consulted the Septuag,int on occasion, in order to seck help p,d
,I'ver a difficult :paSsage in the Hebrew. The lin~s with the T a r- II, I'
,
IftiJ-g ll~ Sin certain " books lcads ,us to suppose tha~ at le~s t , for.. tl~es.c ,? ~
18 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition
Olp Testament 19
books the translator (s ) were probably Jewi sh , rather than Chris.
tian. In olite r hoo ks, h oweve r, the e vidence perhaps points to (ut vi lll susp e nd" ). It is in tercsting to find that most modern
11 Christian translators, thou g h it is Ji kely that suc h people were of .. translators base th eir renderin gs o n the second inte rprctation , thus
J ewish oigin, for a knowled ge o f Hebrew would otherwise be following in th e foo tsteps of the Peshitta.
I,
I'
difficult to explain. , .
!'" .! .,-t-: . _,t n
-J f!)' ' j" ,
the next Vcrse (4 :8) the Hebrew h as e vid e ntly lost some
III For th e student of Bible translations it is of particu lar ii1~ words, fo r it r ¢ads "And Cain said to his brother ( : .. ),\ -'lnd
,, tcrest to look at the distinctive features of a translation. Here :\tl~gii ' thc y 'WCI' ~ in the field Cain rose lip again st his brothe~ bel
we shall conce nt ra te all so me unu sual interpreta ti ve r enderings :, ~ii'"d killed him" _ All the ancie nt v e rsions, including the Pesliittil
10 be fo und in differen t books o f the Pcshitta Old Testament; '\8~ pply s'o me appro priatc words, u'suall y fILet us g o out into the
lI1 a ny o f these h a ve their roots in J ewish exege tical tradition. fi eld 'l . But the Pcshitta translator d ocs somclhing else a s we ll:
i;l ~ tead of tra nslating the Hebrew word "field" lite rall y, he rend-
It was pointed out in Section I that even the tr~ns lator "I·· . ' ,
rs 'it b y' "valley" ' (C(pqa'ta" ) . What is th e reaso n for this sce-
who sets O~lt to provide a lite ral transla tio n c.ann ot avoid choosing 'i{{ing iy ~~ ilrlll alteration? A clu e to th c anS,'ler is to be found in
between two or more possible interpr e ta tions in cases where. the' ~\l; E'~ ~~ic1 ' 28: 12 -14, whct'e Parilclisc-:.is__descril'!t-rl- Rs a " mountain.
t L. · !.·r ·,. , '
Hebrew origina I is ambi guou s or obscure. The Hebrew text of "fhei·c is no hint of this in the 'Hebrew te xt of Genesis, but Jewish
God 's worel s to Ca in in Gen. 4:7, Hlf you do well, will you not ~\Ild Christian readers regularl y understood th e topog raphy of
be accepted" (R evised Standard V e rsio n), is capable o f se veral 'S;~ ncsi s 1-4 ill the lig ht of Ezekiel (the idea w as also popularized
possible intc rpl-etations, owing to th e ambig uity of the word Hs 't"· i ~ ·th<:; no n~can o nical book known a s Enoch ): Paradise was undcr-
f.' ~"1
(ct will you not be accepted ?" in th.c RSV). Hs't" derives frmn the , '
stood as a mountain, and ' 'lhen Adam and E ve were drivcn out
verb Hnasa " whi ch ca n have at least four different senses,' all '"oX ~aradi s e th ey took up reside nce Oil th c foothills, a t th e 'm oun-
possible in the context: ~tain' s b ase : Abel and Cdin made their sacrifice on ' Oti C of these
~ f~6 thills , but whe n Ca in too k abel o rf w-ith th e inte nt io n ' o f kill-
(I) fraise up', in the sC I~ se of ' oITe r' . This is h ow the '. i;lg him: he took him down on to lower ground , in othe r wo rd s.
C reek Septuagint takes it (H If you o ffer well . . ") . ;<:ihc " va lley" whi ch the Pcshitta tr a nsla to r h as a'ctu:ill y intro~
tI uced into , the biblical tc x t here. Earl v' co mmentaries on thc
(~) ' lift up', in the selJ,se of ' accept'. The Syriac transl a tol- passage ofle n understa nd the topography in this ''lay/ ' but the
opts for this undel'st.a,n ding, and he gives emphasis to it by cha ng- Pcshitta is th e onl y biblical translation whi ch Ihco rporatcs this
a
ing the tense: he translates using past tense, Hqabblet" literally ,uuderstanding into the Bible _itself. - '
rt I have received I accepted ", but in the context this wil1 ) ,1 '(11 ,1 1 , ' . L I, " rl ( ", " -,
either haye the nuan~e ttl win. certainly accept" (that ' is, ' if I' ".,: According ,to the, : Hebrew tc-:<-~ or I G~ n e~,i s 8:5. ~o?-l(~/\~f~
you (= Caill) act well iiI flltur~), ai' HI- I would·, have accepted!' .~", ~~JanC1~ d on m ount Ararat (in Armenia.~ modern north e'a s~ J Turk,e Yi)
(that is, if you had acted well on the first occasion).Two Jewish ~ iind-. ; fAl'arat'Jl,w ill" be . found ~n laU mod cl'n , tl'anslations. ', In 'the
<. '\~ " 1-:·" " · · '·"",I.':\"I"'~ lIll •. fl· .··"
Greek revisers ofthc. Greek Bible have l~ a similar ·understanding., ~.,~
_" _I '
. .. cshitt.a', h owever; .
"
,the ,, ,csts on · ,'the ·_, Jnou.ntail~s
Ark ,r" ,)of: f"'lardu',
of the word: 1 ' • • ,':1 (,.: " II ., :,r.JIL '. , ' 1 ~ f ' .H'<ld"><.: " ·'1 , I
~;~'t!lah is' ,to say,' considerably further south, .in ,K,~ ; d~st~n (~~R cnl
t
'i
Ge nesis 22 , on Ab ra ha m 's sacrifi ce o f Isaac, is a cha pter , und ersta ndin g of th e backgro und to Ge nesis 22 is e'' ''plieitly
to wh ic h we sha ll relurn la ter, in section 4. The Pcshitta tra nsla- , found in ca d y .Jewish exegetica l tra d iti o n; the Peshi tta, ho weve r
ti on of the cha p te r a lread y has a n u mber of d istin ctive features. .i s th e only a ncient t ra nslati on to have intro du ced a hint o f th~'
Th e t wo m os t p ro minct ones a re in verses 2 and 12. V erse two ' . ,. interpretation into t he ac tua l biblical lext. ..
1~'\ ' I • • .. , ,, '
provides t he location where th e sacrifice is to take place: th t; ..
.' ;1\" T he P cs hitta translation of, Genesis, a nd indeed of the Pen-'
H ebrew tex t has ' the la nd of Nfori a h' . w hi ch a llowe d la ter tradi,
S tateuch as a w hole, is pa rticul a rl y rich in li nks with co ntempora ry
lion to identify th e place as t he sile of th e T emple, since the only
.~Uewish excgetical tra dition, and this m a kes it likcly that t hese
oth er occurre nce of 1vl ori ah in t he H ebrew Bible is at 2 Chronic~
" ,books
, we re tra nslated by J ews ra th er th an b y Christia ns.
It: ~ 3: 1, which tell s h ow ' Solom on bega n to build , the H ouse ot
th e Lo rd in J eru salem o n i\{ OUllt lVl ori ah, wh ere the Lord had
Another place where the Peshitta tra nslation has a gre at
a ppeared to David hi s fa th er ' . !vl od crn tr ansla tions follow the
distin cti ve renderin gs, oftcn J ewish in cha ra cter, is the tw o
. H ebrew te xt ill speakin g o f tvl ol'i ah in both pa!sages, but th'e
of C hronicles. H er e, for ex am pic, ' a number o f th e place
a ncie nt tra nslators .kn ew o f so me qui te d iffe rent traditions: th t; :
nam es ha ve bee n ~update d' a nd identified with places in north
II G reek Septuagin t has ' hi gh la n~ ' in Genesis a nd 'mou ntain of
MesopGta mia which will have been m orc fa milia r to Syr iac read-
i th e Amorite' ill C h ro ni cles, w hile th e Sy ri ac Peshitta h as '1and of
- thus, fo r ·example., Aram 'Ma'acah- ( l- Chn 9:6 ) is .ide~~
·th e Amo rit es' in Ge nesis, and ' m ounta in ' of th e Amorites' in
'II
I " C h ro nicles. T he La tin t ra nsla ti on know n as"the Vulgate k nows
as H a rran,_a n.£i Ca rccmjsIL( 2-Chr--35: 20.)..with M ab buL.Q.uite
o ften ,till: Syriac tra nsla tor u se s ph raseOlogy wh ich is' typical of the
yet a nothe r exege ti cal t ra diti on, and in Ge nesis ' it h as (land of
visir)ll' , a n e tymologica l r en d eri ng o f iVloriah , Jinking i t 'with ' the ,J .ewish T a rgu ms (thoug h th ere are very few, liQ,ks with -the surviv-
'.Jng T a rgum to C hronicles, which is proba bl y la ter in date than
'I H eb'rew ver b ((ra 'ah," (to sec.' ; Jero me d eri ve d this rendering ....
fro m the earlier J ewish Greek re vision of th e, . H~brew I
Bible
•
by
'r
.Ilte 'Peshitla), Thus were the H ebrew has · .'In t ha t nigh t ' God
1p~rir'e d to Sol~mon (and sa id to him, Ask w hat ' I 'shall give
' ~ Symmachus, ..~ '(
S yriac; has ' In th a t nig h t the L ord w as revea,led i. ovcr-
The second distinctive feature of Ge nesis 22 in th e Peshitta The wording ,' was. reve a led ove r ' is ' charac teristic of
OCCllI' Sin ver se 12, where in the Hebrew (followed by the Septu- Pa lestinian Targ uffi tra diti on (a nd is occasionally a lso
Pcshitta P,cn.~ateuch), in co ntras t to the : R~ hylonian
I i I: agint and by all m odern translati qns) the an gel says 'fer now I
kn ow that you fear God'. By contrast the Peshitta r cads 'for now'" .. J~ r~~lar usc .of 'was rev ea led to'~ Another case where
, I hav~ m a d e known th a t you fear God' (th e text was often: later
_
' I ~ave made known' , or a s " a wda' t", ' you ha ve m a d e known ') . ....!";.," ~~~~brew h,as 'i~ t.hi,s House.a nd in Jerusalem ... I will 'put my "
ThiS m igh t not seem a very importa nt differe nce, b ut in facl it · 'name ~or eve r , hut In th e S Yflac the la st phrase a ppears a s .f I ' I
implies a ve r y different settin g for this tri a l o f Abra ham: : God
J a llows th e t r ial to ta ke p lace, no t to find out himself whether
, ... " . Luse m y Shekhina J the divi ne, prese nce) to reside for ever'.
; Gc.h~ ),h raseol.ogy is chracteristic of the Jewish T a rg ums,' a nd is "
Ab ra ha m 's love for God a nd his faith wer e stronger than - his love be~
., 1 found
:1 in' any -of ·the other, ancient , translations ' of the ·
for Isaac his son; rath er , God a llows it to ta ke pla~e because some '
of the angel s d oubt wheth er' Abraham is worth y of the ~l.'ec ia l "
Old Te, tament ·, 23
22 Th e Bibl e in the Syriac T raditio n
One oth el' book · in the II'('!s hiua has close links \vit h the It is against this general b~ckground of translation a:ctivit:t
T arg um, namc IY-Pl"oY..er.bs.- H crc the situation is u n iq ue, for the that we shou ld look a t th e Seventh-century Syriac bibli C:::fl l tra ns..
lations,. the Syro;.hexa pla for . the · Old TC~lamcnt) · an d ' the Hat' ..
II ])cshitta and · the T a rguffi·arc vir tua ll y word ror word the ~~mc
muc h of the time, a nd onc must definitel y derive from the other . clean for the Nc\-v . I,
. One would expect the Pcshitta to be derived (rom the T ar"gum,
\ but 0 11 ling uistic grounds it can be shown that in fact the Targum The ,Syro-hexap\~ was primarily :the work of Paul, bishop o f
must derive in this book from th e Peshitta. This means tha t the 'l,'el!a, a sch ola r wor king at the , monaster}" o f . the Alltonincs ' at
, Pcshitta translati on or.~· Provcr bs l is also li ke ly to ' have been th'c , tl~e EnnatoJ1 (or ninth milestone), just ', outsidc the great . citY ' o f
work o f Jews in north fv[csopotamia: it subseq uently came;: to be, Alt:xandria in Egy pt. W e know tha t he was' engaged in the
. taken over by Syriac.spcaking Christi a ns and by laier Jews (who ar duous task over the pel"i,od 6,15-6 17) . and these dates explain
w h y I;e w as ,wt looki~g after his . f1ock in'T ell,a , (in ,n orth Meso-
lightl y m odi fied ,th e d1" lec t) ,
potamia): in 6 14 the Persians had in vaded the Rom. n Empire an d
It si~zc.
g. , d ;' . not only north
\ . ,
" Syria and
,. ~1esopotamia,
'
but
. also
. the
; ' holy
' .
In othel' hooks of the P e, hilta O ld
,,
'1 with the Targums are mu c}:l m or e tenuous, or ~ ltogcthc r absent:'
city ' of Jerusalem . , Only shortly a fter ,Pa ul completed , his work
they al~? to?k ' Akxandria,."nd , it i; f~r.~unatF\h,at I!is. tr~,n s\~tioll
In these ot~lcr b ooks the translators h ave introdu'c d mu c;: h fCM'c:;r'
,10
was • not Idst th en, PaulI 'was thus a refugee, and' It .IS'worth
~hat grea~ w~s '
. ' . " , •
'interpreta tive elcm ~ nts, and their rend ering is usually rather close
'~'J 'LO the 'Hebrew, thoug h in some books they occasionally . ma ke
l'emcm. b
• . ..
ering .t.his
' . ,
work of scholar
at a um«; o,f great poh t.l~al turmo~l and, uncerta inty.
ship undertaken
· r ' · · ,,' ,
.,; I ,J
~sc of the Septuag int in isolated passages.
I
I t seems that the . tran slation was commissioned by th e
~ (2), TRANSLATED FROM GREEK :
Syrian Orthodox ' patriarch Atha~asius" .' Instead of using the,
ordinary t~xt 'o f the ' Septu ag int, Pa ul worked f rom O,rigen;~,
I, , revision of the ,:S eptua gint, bringing it into closer line with ,the
"SYRO-HEXAPLA"
Hebrew. original. Origen's revision, .u ndertaken in .the· early .t1i ird
iIi' , , , ce ntury, was incorporated into a m assive six columned' Bible l .. ',
-Over the course of t he firth to Scvc!lth ccntUl'ics AD Chri ... t~; .
.Ii known as the H exapla ('Six- fold'), which " probably · contained': ,, : ~
sthi n litcl"atu re in G reek came to have great prc s,l ige in the ,t;ycs. o~
the. Syriac Churches. This' was ' due to a number , of differept, the H ebrew text)' \ fir~t . in H ebrew cha racters and th en in GreekU"
i'casons, but the' most irnpoi'ta nt o r thrsc w as th~ fa'c t that' GI:e~I/;
-'I' ~
transcription; tw o Jewish Greek translations ' (Aquila ari d Symm ''''''
t " ,
"chus),; ' Origen's ' own ' r evision of th e Septuagint;! ,,,,d"'another ' '
was the ma in cultural language of the castcr~l Roman Empi~c;. '~~~l a
Jewish Greek translation, by ' Theodotion, ' '\'au t:' tra l1s1 ted ' the '
~o the theological controversies of the' fifth and fo llow ing ~,en~}l1 1
ric~ WCI'C conducted primarily In Gree k, Since Syriac readcrs
fifth :~olumn, containing the' revised Septuagint ...tcxt, (, but 'i'n" the ' ,:'
ll1argin< b e ,om etimes included information t"ken .from the othel, ,,,·(i :
were anxious to be brought up to date in theological d eve lopme nts 1
columns; , it is for this re ason that his tra nslatio\t' ,lis ' known ' ,!
huge numbe rs of th eological wOJ'''s \ve r c tl"a.nslated from Greek '
'I into Svriac, 'an d b\' th e end of thC"S evcnth 'ce ntury 'a lmos t all th'~ '~
today as the Syro-hexapla (Syriae writers themselves refer to ,i t "
',
II
II Greek'Fat hers ha d' been translated iuto Syriac, , either in who le ' :C;;JIt
under. another name, ' the Seventy') , th at is,· b lsed ' 01\ the
Septuagint. Paul's transla tion re flects the Greek ' ve ry" closely;" " 0 ,
lIi"
I
in part. > A ~ time went on. translators, tr ied to represent
" the Grcf':k
more and m orc exact ly in S yriac al~d by the .Seventh ce nt u ~y,~.
IT 4 «~;
.'
24 The Bib le in the Syri ac Tr ad it io n New Testament . 25
Th e Syro-hexap la enjoyed considerable popu larity ' in the 2, ·.; New Testa.ment
f l',' 1
S yri a n Orthodox Church a nd so metimes its text, ra ther than the
.,,( 1) DIATESSARON
Peshitta1~, was used in Old Tcstam '! nt Lec tionaries. Although
Timothy I , the patriarch of t he Church of the East, showed an "'-, " I ' · .
\!,' - J:: The harmony of thc fOUl' Gospels known as the Diatessa ron
interest in having a manuscript of t he S yro·hc xapla copied a t is' ass oc;iatcd with Tatian, an important Sy rian theologian w ho
the beginning of the eighth ce ntury, this version \vas neve,' used wrot~ in ·Greek just aftcr the middle of the second century ..... Tatia n
in the Lcctionaric3 of the Church of th e E 'lst; it is, hmvever, had stud ied in Rom e under Justin !V[artyr before returning to
quite often rel~lTe d to in se vera l of th e commt!l1tal' icsor
the ninth the ..east ,(his exact ho me is unknown). It is unce rtain w hen,
'l .... h~ .. ,. .- and in' what
ce ntury (sec Ser. tiofl 5), la nguagc, he compos cd the ' Diatessa ron ; the
I t js importa nt to rc'a lize that the Syro-hcxapl~ was , not work is unfortun a tcly . lo:;t, but traces of it can be ·fo und
the on ly source of knowledge of the Septuagint's biblical text . Christian wcst as wcll as in the Christian east. As [;\1' a s
for Sy riac readers. In the sixth centur y there were translation 9 Syri~c C .h urc1;tes a rc concerned , it is certain t)l a t the Dia tcss-
uf some individua l books o f the Old Testament m 3. d~ from Greek. nro~ circul ated w id ely in Sy'riac ~nd that it ~vas rcgarded . as an,
. authcirita.tivc form o f thc Gospc l te xt lIntil ~h c early fifth century,
(frag ments of a vers ion of I saia h survive), and it is p ossible that
these were commissioned by Phil oxc nu ~, bishop of Mabbug. ,Theil
. . ' . , ~
It was supprcssed In favo~r .o f the s~ par~tc - four.:. Gosp,e ls. ,
.
in his old ag~, jn thc early years of eigh t h century, the g reat 1<Yl : fo ~~~h ce nLU ~y ~t : Ephrem f vcn wrotq a .commcntary; on' ' i
SYl-ian Orthodox scholar Jacoq of Edessa undertook ano~hel' 1> ,
l.tcsS31'On,
", i i ' ,
and, it is this
.' I
work - which ist ·our
,
most
,·,
impo rtant
. I.
;'
;:..
trans lation from Greek, but also keeping sC"me clements fro m " i'ivitncss to the ac tu a l tcxt o f the DialCSSal'On' l l . • ~, : ~. I - 'f ~
....·'''';..,;:" I r.:\· : · ~lf'{ '. " ; ' 'I I.", '. ' ',' 't ~
lhe P es hiua.. His wor~ evidentl y cove red several books of the I . ' ~, . "
At,t thc time wh er:t Tatian '\\Ias com piling the Diatcssa ron
Old T es tament, but o nl y a few su rv ive today, (Pe ntateuch, 1-2 ·
Samuel, I Ki ngs, I s~ iah J E ie kiel and Da niel; some o f thcse cano ni ca l set o f fOlll' Gos'pels was P:o ni y .in its infancy,
'his /expla ins why he felt · ab le 'to take ccrtain' libcrt ics' with the
only in fragmentary• form ).
. ".'1 .
I,
...
"'l~xt ,In" !" 'llltro d
'eYl!n . up' ng, Il ~rt
' ~n d' . t I.tete ' lcat!-1:1'
r "e ~ W h'I" " "I l~O.t
Ie 1, ~.rp " to. ,,
\, .T here was onc further im portant source o f knowledgc of foUtia ' i~:th~ ' rour' Go~~p~.l sl· o f ~1atthcw , ~'Ial:k,; ~u~e.i:~l~'~l}~\~r~;,:,:
the . Septuagiat's ' biblica l tc::< t: this was not in th e form of an : : follo~v ~,n g (/a ~~ . thl~rC :~~laI?-p15s .of ' suS h . fca~~\l:es~ , l , ... ·• .1) ':I f ! I
a ctual biQlic.:"l.l translation, hut was nva ilable indirectly, in tran. .
!dation of the Greek Fathers into Syriac. Th~se Greek writers .. In M a tt, "f:4 ' and M~ rk 1:6. John the: ~aptist is , said ' to
ofcourse quoted the Old Testament from the Septuagint, and lived ! off ' locusts " and ' wild hOlley'. M any late~. read c)'s !
w hen thcir works werc translatcd in to Syriac thc practice of the that an asce tic' like John should have eaten a
r' " , . " • . • I" , ; . • ' !. ' ,' I
Syriac tran!lators from about AD 500 onward s was to translate ' llo.n..-vegc tarlal1 '· dlct;' wlt h l ' J ~cust~, and vanqus, .1I1~erpretatl qns
the biblica l quo ta tions from the Septuag int exactly a. they found tvc~~~ PUt < fOl"ward suggcs tin g that ' th e Greek ! wor,d ' ii' ' q1:lestion I .
", . ' ". t t' ". t. "I
. them (earlier they had often , adap ted the quot ations to the incant some SOft of !pla'nt. . T a tian evidently' took a more ..
Peshitta text, since that was the biblical text which was familiar radical l course;! re~ ovi.ng' th c offending word' u'sccI" '; by" Matthcv. . : ,. i.
to thcir rea ders) . It was through! these translations of Greck '!altoget h er~ and "subsisting " rm i'lk of the ' mountain !";"',!'
patristic texts that many exegetica l traditions base d on the :t.!t..":·\ ·~ .... l~;" ' n ~pti s t, accord ing to this new readi"ng, 'li vc'd off milk .
Septuagint, rath er than 011 the Pcsbitta, reachcd the Syriac in other words, ~ the food of thc Promised L and,
Churches; · we shall Jatel~ on look at IJilSsage .;"he re the di fferences de~teronom y 6:3), The Old Testament association was cc r- I
bctween the Greek and the Syriac causcd so m e intriguing pro- biUy~ii\t ehtionhl 'o n':T ntia;j's ' pa l' t:; for the ~htr y into ;th / ~ Pr1o- : I
blcms whic'h · have left: theil' mark in som c liturgical texts .". ~ ,Jas i seen as ta til t }i pb l~gittal "~9~ilterpa;tto 'CI1Hs't i ~~" ~ I'
hr,,; n"; ' : ,II', " , : l . ; ' _, , . e;:,' '! . I,' .) ,•• ,
(Section 7, on Cen 1:2)
" : :rhe Old Syriac ,version of lhc New T"esta'm e,J~{ i~ ' k~oW n" to
The familiar text of j esus' words to Peter in Ma\t 16:1B \IS,Qply Jfrom tw d ancient J malluscripts, both' co,\'tairy.ing just th~
reads 'on this rock will I build m y church, . an d the ga tes of Gospels. , There must have been a Syriac translatib n"of the !r,~s't" of
hell shall not' prevail against it'. Here the "precise meaning of Acts and the Epistles prior to th~' ti~c of ih~l pc;11itia ' ;revi~io~
'gatts of hell' is fa r from clear; nl~s t modern ' trans lati.ons take (c AOO), sincc Ephrcm comments on th ese book,s~ I, . very tiui<;, ,,\ ! how-
it as a metaphor and rcndc;!' it by "'powers ' of death' (thus e. g. evcr, can be recovered of lhe actual wo rdi ng u1 that ' part of lhe
Revised Stapdard Version, New English Bible). The Syrif1c Old Syriac ,"!n what follows ' the term O ld Syi'iae ,viii refer only
Diatcssaron had a rather different wording, employing 'bars to the Old Syriac tr an" lat io'it' olfthc ·'Gospcls. ,; 1 . , <:' ,1:':' , , t,
. ~t , '''l' '''V'l~ rI ,, 4'111 '
! of Sheol' instead (Sheol i,s the H,ebrew and Aramaic ,term ,' fOI:' 11
,
,.
, ,.',
: ; ,11' 1 " .. ' 'I" , ".:,~ • • '. , 1 ' 'li .:,,;j fl ,' , ' " • .•
. " , , r
. ' , y.,.
,I ' !'I'! .J..,!)~:-I .,,1 ,
, I '
(h~ place of th e de,ad).'!. At fir,st' sight this leaves the passage , '" ;,T he ': twoll imantlscript s' .c oniii.nin'g tHc O ld Syriac O~SP.F~S.
I. just as obscur~;- ~~t, if. we realize tl]at the ' mcntion of 'bars' , a rc today known as "dlc Cll~·eionia~.' (9;" a~lcf ~·· ~rill~.~~, ~f~l:l,rc.ib!~: 1
carries with it an a llusipn to two O ld Tes ta ment 'passages, Psalm its first editor) and thc 'Sina itic (8; sincc 'the man'uscript b'~ibrig~ :'
]07:16 and I saiah 45 :2, then the int cntion behind the alteration
to St Catherine's tvlonastcry in Sinai). Neithcr IS comp l e~e, and
becomes clear: these passages, w here God is described as 'sha tter-
thc Sinaitic manuSC11ipt iSlloftc n I illegiblc since the original text
ing the doors of br~nze and breaking the bars of iron' , were h as bcen',spongcdll off and a'n othcr ·1 quite 'differcht , t~xi '· H.~s"thch:
intcrpret,c d in th~ e~dy Church" l's l'cferring ~o : Christ's descent heen su pe rimposed',-, goth ' C ' a nd 'S hnye 'I thc"' t~t~~ ~'r'Gq'~'p2i'p.r 'tl1;c l
I
Ii ,." into S.hF.91; By introc;h,l cin!j' ,tnF.!,llusiqn ~o ih~&1' Old Testameht ,· , , " \ ' ,I ., r ' -- , , ., 1 · " 'Y ' I II
Sc!}arate d ~ Evangc l~s ~S!}>I «.' ~ \\Ia~g:li9n~ I, ~ a- !Yrc~ h~rrJs,l,l,t '\ )~~~i.~ h, l~;
passage~ ~ h ic ~l ware :l~lt~n , a~ ,' pr£: figw:i"g, Christ!s , descent into
I eV idently 'meant t o dlstmgUlsh ' thIs Iv'c rSlOn ' of the , four separate '
Gospels, from the ' Gospel of the " ~r1inglcd (Eva hgclisls) ' , :Ewa';lgc'~
Shcol, 'fa tian is providing the reader wit h a ,clue , how to Inter-
pret rvlatt '16: I 8: C hrist is p;omising PetcI: that the bars and ,
gates of Sheol will not be ,a ble ,to prcvail ag~insL thc Ch,urch, lion da -Me hallctc, \vhich rcfers to the Di,ttC$sarun.
, • • r ,',' ' ' ,I •. J
just as they w~uld "not b~ ' able ,it? pl·evail .. aga.u,l st him " a t h~ s : ' " ;, ",., ~d -: i ,;
coming dcscent in~o Sheol; just as, ,h e would "fs hatter, the d oors' The date when the Old Syriac tr anslation ' was mqcic 'is
and 'break tl~c bars; ~f She'o l as he, rose rro~ the dead, ' SO too , very uncerta in, th ough , it: is now , t hought certain
.' tha~
1 1' 1' 11it/ 'is,' .latc r,
thal~ the D iatcssaron . -The ,d a tes to wh ieh m odern ' seho ars ,I h avc.
.
would thc'
,
Church at thc fi~;~l.rcsurr~ctjon~
' , '
' ' " ,j
: ~ • I '
a ssigncd the translation range from ' the late second ccntury to
th e early' ' fOurth century" (the two ' mal1\lsc l 'ipts lhemselves pro-
In two of th ese changes to the wording of th e text Tatian
b as introduced allusio~l;S ,to tQc ,Old Testament. "This, is in itself .... bably both belong ·to the' fifth century).
, /.
of intercst, for he was wdti~g at a time when rvl arcion and his' '\
\' . ,.
''"{":it';!'''''''
.. "-", " .
~1(.,..:.;..l·~'; " "I, , ' , ,
28 The Bible in the Syriae Traditi on
New Testa ment 29
The t ext of the Old Syriac quite r. d 'ff.
hom the Pcshiua and th 's ' r . ~ ten J crs co nsiderably O ld Syri nc, bringing it into closer' line with th e Gree k. As
I 15 101 two maIn reason s' ( I) h
t e Old~
' . 3
Synac trans la ti on was made from G' k . . . \ve ~ h ave scen, the two Old Syriac manuscri pts C and S them-
.
In man y respects from the Greek t
a 1 cc text \\,]11 ch cliffe
.
are selves show tra ces of spora dic revision. It seems likely, th at the
, revision; and (2) the style of tra et~, un?erlYll1g the ' Peshitta , . of revi sion which resulted in the Pes hilta text as. we
least in I)' ~ ns a JOn I S mu ch m orc free (at
it was a long ' one, rcachin g · its completion in the , early
felt that :;::nlY;'i:~e~jd I~~:t~nmteernetstin(pg t1h'~ t th)e translator clearly . ce ntury. In its final form the revision seems to have bee n
. .. cs ltta llad great h
nty for ' his readers than the Gl'eek Nc T t cr, aut 0" 'Il:IaT' KC"Ca' very successfully, fer it evidently rapidly r.c placed
ada tOld l ' w es ament for he thc Old Syri ac a nd Diatessaron an d , became ' the standard tcxt
. p s cstament quota tions .in the G '
of th e Peshitta Old Testame t ' ' , b' ospels to the wording for la U the Syriac C hurches. Traces of the older versions, the
d' f ~ . n In anum cr · of cases 'h V h'
~ 1 fer s from th(' form of the qU 0 1::l tion found' I G cre t JS ano Old Syria c, did nevertheless surviv c here a nd
Testament Th' . . r In 1 le reek ""w,.,c both as isola ted readings in a few Peshitta manuscripts,
. IS IS In lac t a practice adopt db '
S)Tiac translators of Gree k patristic writinlTs a~ld i~ .manr ~arly. !ld . in quotations by later writers; thus, for example, ·the read-
abO llt AD 500 that transla tors chan e t e:' . I S on y rom ef the Syriac Diatessaron at Matt. 16:18; 'bars of SheaI'
to' transla tc bib!' I , ,' g heir attJlude a nd prefel' (as op posed to 'gates of Sheol' in both the Old Syriac a nd the
them ill thei r G lca kquotat JOns m the form in which they find Resh itta), is still known to many writers afte r th e fifth centur y,
ree . text. evcn when this '
WOI'ding of thc Peshitta Bible, may go agamst the l ong ~after the Diatcssaro n ilseif ha d been officially sup presse'd.
h',·,,.: It h'as been sugges ted th a t tl~e P esilitta rcvision was act-
.\ ,or I
Thc tcxt of the two m an uscri pts is by no' m ea ns u a!ly the work of the gre at bishop of Edessa, Rabbula ()v ho died
thoug h th ey have enoug h in common to ind o
both witnesses to the same t. I '
identica l,
Icate that th ey are
, ·.i ~\ ' 435), . This, h owevei·, . now scrm s unlik.cly, though Edcssa
, I ans a tlOn, Probably b tl (with its fam ous th eological school ) ma y 'h ave bee n ' t he place
cnpts have a tex t which l b . . . 0 1 m anus-
las ecn rCVIsed or '"corrccted' ' tram which the fin al form of th e rcvision w as propaga ted . It is
t I lC. Greek hel'c a nd th . TI " agam st
crc, li S wou ld explain f4 b interesting th a t man y early Pcshitta manuscripts co ntain , the
why S has the shorter endin of lVI k " "or exam Ie,
~~usebian canons' , which provide a co nvenient sys tem of cross
has the longe r ending (eoncluXing ata~G:;~),dmg at 16:8), while C
references bctween the different Gospels ' (each G ospel is divided
into numbered sections) : perh a ps this was a specific fea ture which
As one mjght exp t " h ' . '
of the Gospels the Old csc ~n t e ea ~'he" surviving Syriae te",, '
.. (>J
~i~tpinpanie d the new {edition' . of the Syriac N~w T estarrtent.
~~UI • ., 11 , II ' : :. . ' ,'" .,1 ;,: . } '
. ' ynac con tams a nu mbe f h' ~ ;tt:., , . The Peshitta covers o lll y th ose books which w ere regarde d
III gr'ammar and vocab I ' S. I' 0 arc alsms
to refle ct Pales t,'n,'a ll AU aJ y: r Ollletuncs these have been taken .by. the Syriac Ch Luch as authoritative, na m ely" the Gos pels, Acts,
ramalc .orms ( 'th th ' r '
" t~ c transla tors . were eithcr of . ~Vl • ~ Imp IcatlOn that ., Raulinc ' Epistles, James" I Peter, a n.d I J ohl], In ,; eN;ly
pDssiblY ·rhad access to oral tra:~~estm:an onglI~ ~hemselve~, or~ ;~~~~~~~:;:::~I~;~:::j:: the Catholic Epistles come betwl;Cn,Acts an,d
this suggest ' . I Ions 111 PaJestllllan , Aramaic): Y' ~ , Epistles, a,nd not after ', tlle latter .. ,.,2 Pet~~"~-~, Jqh!.', ,
Jon rests On . a mlsundcrsta d' r-
are best explai~cd as . 1 Ii n mg, Jor, the archaism.! t and R evelation ) were· not 'i translated lj into ) Syr.ia~ Ut;l!il 1 llis .
history of S ' , If survJVa s rom an earlier stagc in the century (possibly as part of the Philoxenian version,'though '
ynac ltse .
. .at all certain). A number of isolated
,not , , verses~ familiar
,
(3) PESHITTA '''''fr'
.:.'
<'II]"F.:n,[li"h translations of the Ncw Testament, are J' ,
also missing
Peshitta: Matt, 27:35 b, Luke 22:17-18,
.. John 7:5,3-8:11
~ , ,
The sta nd al'd form of th e S ' N T caught in adultery), Acts 8:37, , 15:34 and 28:29; il)-
. ynac ew estamcnt
]Jes hitta.t is
not a new translat ion from G k b ' " ~~wl~!',n printcd I ~ ditj ons tll ese arc usually , supp~ic.d .r.~9m ~o~~
ree, ut a reVISion of :
30 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition New Testament 31
There is remarkably little var iation between different
Gospels; furthermorc, in one of these (the ' Comm e~ta.ry on the
manuscripts of the Peshitta New Testament: on ly a rather small Prolog ue of J ohn) Philoxenus explains why he commlssloned 'thll
number of Pcshitta manuscripts preserve a few isolated readings reVISion. Philoxcnus, who lived at a time of heated theologica1
which go back to the Old Syriac. There arc, however, one or two co ntroversy, W..lS unh appy with some rather free rende:ings in
passages of theological interest where variation has crept in . The the Peshilta of passages such as Matt 1:1,1 : 18, Heb 5:7, and
most famou s of such passages is the end of Hebrews 2:9, where 10:5, a ll of which havt! important theological implications for a
manuscripts of Efist Syrian provenance regularly have 'for he proper understanding of the nature of thc_incarnation. Philoxenu5
(Jesus), apart from God, tasted death on behalf of everyone', complained that the rat her loose rend eri ng of these verses in the
while manuscripts of West Syrian origin have 'for by grace God Pes.hiLta gave possible scope for 'a Nestorian~ ' interpretation' (as
tasted death on behalf of everyone'. The variation has its origin he called i~) ; acco rding ly he saw .the need for a more exa~t rend~
in the Greek: there the majority of manuscripts have 'by the cring of the Greek ne\v Testament into Syriac: He himself ,pu~
grace of God' (Uchariti theou"), but a very s mall number have it as follows: ' '" ' '. I •
-R e ve lati on may belong to the Philoxcnian New Testa ment in SECTION III
which case th~y wou ld be the only surviving reprcsc ntat{ves
of this version. The style of translation would seem appropriate HOW DOES THE SYRIAC BIBLE REACH US?
______ for what we know of · the ' Philoxcnian, but against this we need .. ' , " • . \, . 1 J,
'jt' .. ,i' ;' 1 . L
to weig ht the fact that Philoxenus himself ne ver seems ~ lo quote
from these books, which would be a little surp r ising if he was the !: In this section we shall look at tl~e' w;~s in I which;;thc'
person who had commissioned thell' first trans lation into Syriac. Syriac Bible i! tr<1.nsmitled to us . Need less to say, no a utogr'aph~'
of any of the orig inal trans lators sur vive; in the case of the Syro..;
(5) HARCLEAN ' hcxapla and Harclean, however, w~ do have so me manuscripts
;,vhich must have been written less I than a . century after 1 these
The Harclean version represe nts · the cu lm ination of th e t l'ansl~tions h ad peen made. .! ., .,.. , ' J '{ d,,). '~:' I~drJ'", t I .
long proces's of rc~jsion of the Syriac translation of the New .• ' . i 't ' .; _; ! • 'il \j ' f,·· ,· r.';-I;.') 2 '/1; 1
Testament. Its author was Thoma.s of Harkei, who worked at I. " Biblical Ma nuscripts ,·t.,·; ,i ;, ,i..- ·' ,·",r.r.
•
the same monastery as Paul of Tclla, outside Alexa ndria, and at ··' P" . !If
th e sa me time; he completed his work in 616. Their tec hnique A very large nUlp.bcr of Syriac biblical manuscripts sur ..
of highly sop histica..!..':.d li teral transla tion is very similar. vive. These are always in codex, 01' book, format, and ~ the
, wr iting material used is . either vellum : or paper, (wh~~~ .,,~a.~
'. Thomas worked on the basis of the previous revision, the introduced in .the Middle. Ages) .. ; The . manusc~ipts ,; cal\_ y,a.ry in
P,h i loxc ni an, and he covered the entire N ew Testament, includ- s ize, from the .ertorQlOus ·,'pandccts'., ·containing,. the . w!'tole, Oh~
ing the minor Catholic Epistles and Revelation. In contrast Testament or. w.hole .New Testa ment (ve ry" ra r.ely . b,9.th ! togethc~), i
to' the Phil oxen ia~, . where the motivation seems to have been to miriiature manusc ripts ... written in a tiny I,sc rip'~ _, ~qnt;1injng', a
prilharily theological, ' the H .lrcican · displays ' a much greater single I !book ; on', small ·g roup.l of. books. I The . v~.s,t 'I maj~~ity. , ~\ of
interest in Philo logical detai l: every particle of th '.! Greek origi- manuscripts, however, are of more pra c~ica l sizes, and no~mal1y
na} ' is n'f!cctcd in the translatio n. Thomas regula rly strives'\ to ..~ they , cont~ in a group of. ! b.ooks at a ~imt; ~ Occasi9.nallYH0n.~ .m~);'
ach ieve a formal equivalence between the Greek and - the S yriac rind a ibiblical book incorporated into a manuscript which other ..
Ii. ~ext ~ with ~hc . result that it is possible for t he modt::rn scholh r ,vise contains nOh -biblical texts . '1 ,, 1,; ",. ; Ii ,~; ,, :o.t: .) .;t: .
1 ' • • ~o . 'rCCOl~stn.,t ~ t ' the r' q reek text 'which he must h~ve uscrd !as the
1
I •. ·.I .q ,,\,l ~ ' il l! ', .J:':;
I , .~ 1 . basis for his' revision: As a matter I of fact, Thomas'! did' hot con. . Many manuscripts have a colophon, .01' note by the .scribe ~ .
'. at the end,and this may give information about the place whe~e
'
\r'l . finc ' himse'If to ope Greek m inuscript, ' for th ~ col ~ phon, or note
at the end 'of .t he text; i n many HaJ~cleall' manusc ripts "speaks ~f thJ ' manuscript was writleri~ and the 'p ate, Normally ' the·jdatc- ds
his,having us~d. two or three different Creek ' m~nu scr ipts. It so given according ~o the S,cleucid era, or 'reckoning of. the Greeks\
happens that ' onc of ' the Greek m~'m.isd ripts I \vhich I }~e ' \J.se d in ,. or ,fo f .,Alexander · [!;he Great), , .,which l;>egan, in ,Oc~ober, I B C...!jl2.; ,,_
"1 Acts is o f great interest for the study of the transmission ' of the thus, for ex.a mple; · the year I 7} I of. the, S.clcucid era .\yi l,l .,~ort:~~ 7
.,!;
Gret;ki text' .pf. the New Testament, . since ,it l cont:dns . an ' .a rchaic pond to OClober. ,45,9 to Septem]Jer 46Q in \ h.e,9hristian .e ra ", "flu:
type of, the textual. tradition which is: . '.
not we ll attested elsewhere,
. . . 1, ()" .' I' II' ,~ .... .. 1 ;" ,- f" • : • • :·L)11I·'Pb'l1:; 1.;", i ~"'i!l::-' 1 1': 01
"r ! : . ~ .. ,',.' " ! / , 1/; . " '."'.' " ! \ • • <The oldest dated lSyriac biblica}.,mal.w .s:cript.. a Ir~gIllcnt
'I
~.. The Harclean vers!on soon became; popular ill the SY1:ian of I saiah in;th c British Library . (Add. 14512)"i" in f.lct dated to
Ortl10d ox Church and it was often used "in. Lectip nary.· ma.:1U- .771 .raccording to the .Greeks', that is, A l).t:159/~q; ~ nothcr
scrip~s, instead o f tl.le Peshitta. manuscript arso in ,London (Add . 14425) ;,: .c ontail}ing \Genq~is ' F!-n~
I
•
11
'for a' harmon}' of the : rour Gospels
It was al so used as the bas is
which covercd · the . :Passion Exodusj. is .dated : 463/4 . . For .the Pesh.itta . New :re s tamen~ l ~pe
, b!.l rrati~e·. i: .- ... ; \,' . ;. : :. :') . '~-.' -''1 . ~ .. \ . ,,'1 : , .'
earliest dated .manuscripts belong to the early sixth cc.ntu.ry ~ thcr,e
r l! \
h av.c the roll<?wing picture: gift. Usc was indeed made of ' th e Buchanan Dible'
manuscript came to be called ) in preparing the printed
~c<lit:iol1 , and when it was finally published (in 1823) copies werc
\. OLD TESTAMENT (I) PESHITTA to Kcrala. (This ed ition has recently (1979) been rc-issued
I United Bible Societies), I I
The order of books in the o ldest of these complete for b ooks ongmating in the patriarchal period . . This
Pes hitta Bibles, the codex .\Inbrosianus, has a number of . for J ob is in fact quit,e common in Syriac biblical man~.,
csting features which are worth looking at bricrJ y; the (thus it likewise follows th e Pentateuch in both the ,Pans
and contents a re as follows: Pentateuch, J ob, Joshua, luorr,eS!J ~"' ~" .I.. Cambridge ~omp lete Peshitla Bibles). " ' ' r ,', I
" Essene Community at Qumran, for the only biblical maI1USeI'llpt~·' 'seventeenth cent. - 26 ross
,,
.1 from ' Qumran written in the Old Hebrew script are :t'; eighteenth cent. - 17 mss
the Pentateuch an d Job: ev idently this particu lar script, . nineteenth cent. .:... 23 mss
I.
'I
'-
j~
38 The Bible in the Syri ac Tradition
Biblical Manuscripts 3,
For the rather large number of early manuscripts we owe a special
debt of gratitude to the abbot i\1oses of the Syrian Monastery ' \vhcl' C great variati on occur's); moreover, where var iants
in the Nitrian D eser t (be tween Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt)~ ,. , they arc c ~ly rarei y of mu ch co nsequence. Nevertheless
for in the early tenth century he coll ected toge ther a fine library ' pcshitta text is not entire ly uniform over the centuries, and
of old Syriac manusc ripts which he acquired in Mesopotamia. studies have suggested that the following is the general
i Subsequently m os t o f the manuscripts in the Syrian Monastery'g ,
Jibrary came to the Vatican Librar y (in the eighteenth
~tiattern of development in the histor), of the Pcshiua text for each
I·
FiilalIy, before leavi ng the Peshitta' Old, Testament, we
should look at the way in which the text itse lf has , been trans"
'by wbat
. criteria did he. work)?
• :' 1,-~ ,
.
product of a conscious revision by a particular' person (and if
.
mitted over th e centuries. On the whole one can sa y that Syriac ' . The following are a few typical examples of differences
scribes were ge nerall y very carefu l when th ey copied the l,Jiblical stagt?s 2 and 3, taken ,f rom Isaiah:
text. As a result, we rind ren)a rkabl y little , va riation between t he "
dirfercnt manuscripts (the situation is very c!iffercnt with the Scp::, 13:8 'their eyes will not have pity : on their
children') Textus Rcceptus h as (your children'.
I ~. " , ,
'cri \~':' ;; ,'l
,
Biblica l Manu script~ 41
40 The Bible in the Syr iac Tradit ion
12 Minor Prophets, .Jeremiah , Baruch, Lamentations, Le tter of
I sa iah 5?'.. 18
T .' tl·
lei 'C 'IS none who ta ke s he r b y her hand']
J ere miah, D an iel, Susanna, Bel and th e Dragon, Ez'ekicl and
exlus R ccc ptus adds 'and rai' ses IleI"
I . Isaiah. The manuscr ipt is written in a beautif~ l Estnmgclo hand,
sa .. h 66:2 1 'And I will also take rro m thl'm ,: and in the m a r gins arc large numbers of notes, usually providing
L ." '] T PIICSl s and
t CHtcs cxtU5 Rc ce ptus omits ' And ' variant readings derived from other columns of Origen's
1\- ost of
. the changes arc ve ry m. 11101, ' , an d arc'IP11"odl d' ' d Hexapla . In the sixteenth century the Syriac ~cholar Andreas
t o ac Illcve smoother rC3.ding. . Ice 111 or c r Nlasius h ad the use of anoth e r huge Syro-hexapia manuscript
\ vhich contained the fir st h a lf o f the Old Testament, ' but'
The Paris ma nusc ript of the ) . . unfortunately this precious manusc ript has subsequently di s-
srr 34 1-8 al) is r ' ,,' , entire I esllltta BIble (P.lris
. . 0 mtel cst 111 this co nn ection r. . I , ' app,e ared and must be presumed lost for good .
bv the ongll1al scribe bel . ) ol li e t~xt copIed
. oags to sta ge? !Jut at I
someone else has CO Ill C a l d " -, ~ some ate !' date The Ambr osian manusc rip t of the Syro-hexapla has a
i n order to make it COI~r o~g an I sys~cmatic~lly altered the text system of ch apter numbering whi c h is quite different from the 'one
01 m to tle 1 cxlUs Rcceptus (stage 3),
found in Peshitta ma nuscripts; it derives from one of the several
[4] In the course or the late r M'dd - .- current Greek system s, and tbe Greek na me kephalaion,
Rcccptlls itse lf underwent s I' I 1 Ie Ages the 1 cxtus 'chapter' (li tera ll y ' heading') , is emp loyed. R :n hcr surpr ising ly
. omc uri ler cleve l
m~oJving very minor changes ( robab l . opm~nts, mostly a later scr ibe has introduced this system into the ma rgin of
of scribes ) It so h i P Y due to th e madvertencc one famou s Peshitta ma nuscript, the complete Bible, 7a l, also
. appcns 11at the c·lI·r· t d
~ IC S prlllte
.
the Svriac Bible em I . d I editions of
• p 0\ C' ate manuscripts d h ' now in Milan.
r ep rese nts th e latest stag~ i tl I ' ' an so t ell" text
, Peshilta text. ~ It Ie lI ~ tory of the development of th e We shall pass ,over here the two other tr a nslations of the
O ld T es tament, made from Greek, the one p ossibly sponsorec\
b y Philoxenus, the oth er made by Jaco b of Edessa in his o ld '
OLD TESTAMENT [2] SYRO-I-JEXAI'LA a ge. Both these survive in fragmentar y form, in old manusc ripts .
I AD 779: the writing was sponged off, and the leaves were re -
used to form a. new codex in which a totally diITerent text was
copied (Lives of some women saints). The manuscript 'as we kno\o/
it today is thus a palimpsest, with ,the Old Syriac as the under-
scripts can tra ces he found of the earlier Old Syri~c version.
One of the few major variants, at Hebrews ,2:9, ,has a lre~dy ?ecn.
mentlOncd at an earlier stage. , .
wntmg~ Fortunately, 1f certain amount of the underwriting stiJl
1 shows th rough, and thanks to a great deal of patience, it was NEW · TE,5TAMEt'iT (4) . PHILOXENIAN
" .!
! eventually possible to pul>lish quite a large amount ,of this under- "
,
writing containing the Old Syriac. It is to be hoped that modern In the past scholars have occasionall y tried to identify
techniques for reading p;t!impsests 'w ill before long enable scholars
particular manuscripts as containil)g the Philoxe~ianJ ver~sion,
to read rather more of this text which is of such interest for
hut these attempts were misg uided , and it is now rcaliz,ed . that
biblical .tudics.
no manuscripts of the Philoxenian survive, with the possible exec·
ption of those whi.ch contain the sixth·century translation of the
NEW TESTAMENT (3) PESHITTA books absent from the Peshitta' Canon. Our only direct access to
the Philoxenian is thus bi' way or the quotations mad~ fro,m it
Quite a large number 'of manuscripts fram the sixth (and which can be found in Philox~nus' commentaries ~nd other works.
'1 a few ]i'OIn the fifth) century survive; normally these contain just
the Gospels (and many of them survive only in a fragmentary The sixth·century translat ion of the ,four Catholic Epistles
I
state), but one of the earliest dated manuscripts is , one .containing absent from the Peshitta (2 Peter,2-3 John, Jude) is preserved
the Pauline Epistles (A D 533/4). Perhaps the mo,t famous of in a fairly small number of manuscripts, ' of which the' oldest is
early Peshitta Ncw 'Testa'm ent manuscripts 13 a Gospel manuscript d a ted AD 823 . Most of these manuscripts contain the rest of
dated AD 586, in the Laurentian Library J Florence; this contains t:rrc-Ncwli..']truncnt in the Pcshilta ve rsion (t his, for exam pic)
I la remarkable se t of illustrations., executed by the monk R abbula,. is the case with the Buchanan Bible), For Revelation, however)
I '(hence the manuscript is often referred to as tthe Rabbula Gos-
pels'; . thi ...Rabbula- should of course bt: carefully distingui.h from
the sixtl~.ce'ntuJ'Y t'ranslation 'is preserved in a 'single ' manuscript)
dating fro~ the twcJft h or thIrteenth century. : As \Vas menti~ned
. Rabbula, bishop of Edessa). ' earlier it is ~lot certain 'whethcr these anonymous translations.ar'e
'1· to. 'be "identiried' as part of the Philo:<.enian New, .Testament,
, ( , , \;
The three Catholic Epistles (james, I Peter, I John) nor- or not.
.;
m.lly come between Act. and the Pauline Epistles. The order
" ,. ..
~4 The Bible in th e Syriac Tradition Printed' Edjtions ~S
NEW TESTAi\·lENT (5) HARCLEAN should jJrobabl y be reje.c tcd, for · two reasons: ( I) since biblica l
manusc ripts o f th e sixth and seventh ce ntury were provided with
The vast ~ajority of manuscri pts or the Harc1ean version ',: lectionary headings, they too would . h ave been subject to the same
contain only th e Gospels. Sc.::vcral of these belong to the' eight or wear and tear; (2) we suddenly ha ve quite a lot of lec tionary
ninth centuries . Fol' the rest of the New Testament, by contrast, manuscripts dating from the ninth cc ntury, and belonging to a ll
we arc not at a ll well off: for Revelation a small number of t hr ee Churches using Syriac as a liturgical lang uage-the Syrian
manuscripts arc avai lab le, but only two l1ul1uscripts (Oxford, Orthodox, the Ch ur ch of the East) and the Byzantine Orthodox
New College 333, of the eleventh celltury ,. and Cambridge, Add. (Melki te ) Church ill Syria and Palestine. It thus seems likely
1700;of 11 69/70) a rc d efinit e ly kn ow n to ha ve the Harelean text that the practice of collecting together the lections into special
of Acts and th e Epistles as well. manuscripts was introduced into all th e Syriac Churches at some
timc around AD 800.
2. Lectionaries
Since different parts of the Bi ble were read at different
The Bible was r~ad in the context of liturgical worship p .Jints in the liturg ical services, it became th e usua l practice to
from the very beginnings of the existence o f the Church (at first, have separate lectionarics for O ld Testament 1cctions) for Gospel
of course, it was just the Old Testament, before the written NeW' lections and for Iections from the Acts and the Epistles. The text
Testament had come into being). In the early centuries of the employed ill JJ.:..ctioifaries was normally the Peshitta, but iin the
Church's life biblical Inlnusc ripts co nlainil),g the ~elevant parts Syrian Orthodox Church use was a lso sometimes made of. the
of Scripture were use d. In the six th century some Syriac S.y~he:xapla_@p of the . Harclean : In particular) there arc many
biblical manusc ripts p rov ided help in locating lections by inserL Harclcan Cospel lectionaries which survive: Cri some Gospol
ing lccli ona~y hcadinl-{s (so mcttmcs in red) at the beginlling of
lectionary manusc ripts a harmony has been created for the
passages to be read o n p trti cula r fe as ts. Sometimes lis ts o f
Passion narrative, hascd on the text of the Harclean; two di£Tel'~
readings thro ughout th e lilU rgical year were compiled) but these
ent sequences ~r e attested J and one of these is asssoc iated (in a
did not include the text of the tl ectio ns; a sixth-ce ntury index of
colophon) with the names of a certain Rabban t\'Iar Danici and
icctiohs of this so rt survives in the British Library (Add . 14528).
his disciple Isaac.
The practice of in corporating lectionary headings at appropriat~
places in ordinary bihlical manusc ripts continued in the seventh
There appears to have been considerable variation' in the
and ei ~hth centuries, and so metimes later as well) even after the
allocation an d al:rangement of lections, not" only between the
adoption of the bright idea of hav ing se parate boo ks J conta ini ng
different Syriac Churches, but also within each of the Churches;
just the lections) and arranged in their liturgical order.
I n- the Church of the East two particular systems in due, course
·It is unkn ow n ·when this idea of having a specia l lectionary came to dominate the scene: firstly ~he (Cathedral' lectionary
manusc ript for lectiol1s was first introduced; the earliest Greek sys tem of the patriarchal church fo rmerly ·in ScIeucia-C,tesiphon,
lec tionary manuscripts ·(a ll very · fragmentary) seem to belong to and second ly the monastic lectionary cycle ' develope d ' at the
the fifth ce ntur y) but the idea does not appear to h ave become Upper Monastery in Mosul.
popular until some centu ries later. ·Certainly in the S)"riac Chur-
ches it is the case that there a re no Syriac lectionary m anuscripts 3. Printed Editions
daling from earlier than the ninth century. It is ofcourse possible
th ou eadicr lectiollary manuscripts did once exist) a nd that they The first printed edition of the Syriac New Testa:
have disa ppeared simply because they had more wear and tear ment "as publised by Johann Widmanstetter in 1555 at Vienna ..
than ordinary bib1ical manuscripts; this suggestion) however? In the wOI:k of preparing the edition Widmanstetter , had bee,;,
J
!i 46 The Bible in the Syriac Tr aditio n Printed. Edition~ 1?
II, the text was mostl y , derived fr om Walton' s Polyg lot, sQ rn~, u s~
assisted by a Syrian Orthodox pi-iest , ~1:oscs of !vIaJ'din, who
\'
, II spe nt some time in Europe acting as tcacher o f Syriac to va ri olls was made of the Buchan,an , ~ibl~ ! i~ : pr~pari~g t~li,s , )~ ~hi~~.~I~~
scholars. The te xt of this edition was oftell reprinted, so metim es edition . . The Old Testament
,
text IS unvocah2;c
, "
cl but
' !
th e" 'Newj'
Testament is vocalized. The contents of the Old Testamen.t
I in Hebrew ' characters.
Gahrie~ Sionita. The Paris Polyglot also il,l cludt;d the SyriJ.c New 'The fir st printecl" editi·on of the Peshitta base d 'at least in
Tes~ament, ' supplementing the Pc?hiua: text with the : Pocockc
part on East Sydan manuscripts , was published 1n Urmia ' (NW
~pist~cs' al~d the Harclean Apocalypse. '
[ra n ) in 1852 by th e American Pres~yteriari Mission. ,The
, , t ,he Syri~c
..., ,
text o,f the Paris 1'olyglot '~erved
1
as the ' basis edition ha s a yfodcrn Syriac translation (from' Hebrew j"'rather
for the next " edition ,of th e Peshitta " Bible, in Brian ,"Va lton's th an frorfl the Peshitta) in parallel columns. The Urmia edition
London J~olyglot (1655-;,7), - .., served as the basis for another edition usin g the East Syrian
,script, published by the Trinitarian Bible Society in ;N~w York
I n both the Polyg lot Bibles thc Syriac text is provided (1913) and ,often reprinted. , Both these editions follow the ordcr
with a Latin translation. Their text is not a very good one si nce of books" .ramili~r from most English tran s la~.i(;)J1s. '")" ' ,:
vcry late manuscripts (all ,"Vcst Syrian), wc;"c cW
mploycd "a1 the , ' ... ! : ['
I
I
I
~,
I;
Printed Editions ~9
Ii 48 The 8ib Ie' in the Syriac Tradition
I'
m~\ nuscrjpts,
without the text); Apocrypha :(P, de Lagarde, '1861;
f'>rchbishop of Damascus. and George Abdisho Khayya t, Cha i;
ba sed on early manuscripts in the British Library); vVisdom , of
,daean Archbishop o f Amid (Diya,'bekir ), The order of the Old
Solomon (J. A. Emerton, 1959) .
" Testament book is the sa me as that o f the Unnia editio n, but
.ill ~crlcd among them a rC the so-called D c ul c ro~canollical books
I' (abs'c nt fr om Protestant Bibles), such as \oVi sdom o f Solomon
_ In the 1950s the International Organisation for the Study
of the Old Testament began to make plans ior a critical edition
:al1d 'Ben Sira (between the Song of Songs a nd Isaiah) . The New
of the Peshitta Old Testament, and in 1959 Professor P eA. H. de
f )'cstament foll ows the stand,ard G reek order; fur the books not
in the Peshitta use is made of tlie . Pocockc Epistles' and the
Boer, of the Uni versity of ' Leiden in Holland: was appo inted
general editor. In 1961 the new Peshitta Institute at Leiden
!
J-Iarclcan Ravclation.
pllblished a preliminary List of Old Testament Peshitta Manu7
' The Beirut edition of the Peshitta (1952) is largely b as ed scripts, prepared largely by W. Baars and M. D. Koster. (Every
'on' the Mosul edition. now and then supplements to this invaluable basic list arc 'pub ..
r· ·'· . lished in the periodical ' Vetus Testamentum)', ' ;Five ,yea'rs later )
: ." . All tbe editions rn~ntioncd so far arc based on late and in 1966, 'a sample edition containing the Song of Songs, ,Tobit and
'bften hot very good manuscripts. ' For most purposes this,may not the Apocalypse of Baruch was ·published . . Over the follO\yil)g
matter very much, but for more -scholarly pui-poses it is obviously yea rs th e following volumes have appeared:
im'port~nt , to hav~ a r:t0~c reliable tcx,t of the Pcshitta available.,
I Genesis and Exodus (e d. T. Jansma,
b ased on the oldest manuscripts. This is essenthil,' for example, if
M. D. Koster, 1977). • .
'o ne 'wishes ~o study the Peshitta Old Tcstament as a translatiori
II
2 Jupges and Samuel (ed. P. B. Dirksen,
P. A. ,H. de Boer, 1978).
3 Psalms (ed. D. M. W a lter a nd others, 1980).
II' 4 ' Kings (cd. H. Gottlieb and E. Hammersh aimb
following are some of thc mOI-c imponant; 1976).
, ,t' I . .
(a) Old Testa.m ent (Pcs hitta) .II , 5 ~rov~rbs, Wisd.om of Solomon, Ecclesiastes;_'Song
of Songs (ed. A. A. di LelIa, J. A .'Emerton;· i .' ,
- Beginning in 1876 A.M. Ceriani started to publish a n. J ; Lane) .- ___ "i '~""r :i: , !" ';""~
photo-lithographic repmd lIctinn of the Old Testament te .• t of the
III Isaiah (ed. S. P. Brock, 1987). . .. ..
fairious Ambros ian manuscript of th e Pcshilta (7a l); this work,
completed in 1883, made available for the first time the text of III la Job (ed. , L. G. Ringnell, 1982). '
the oldest surviving manu script of the complete Peshitta O ld III 3 Ezekiel (ed. M. J . Mulder, 1985).
Testament. III 4 Twelve Prophets, Daniel, Bel and \h~'l D(a~OI~" 'J'
scripts ava ilable. These include: th e Pentateuch (W. E. Barnes ~ Bidawid, 1973).
19 14; a revision cf the text in Lee's edition usjng old manuscripts) . '
IV 6 Canticles or Odes: Prayer of Manasseh, Apocry';'
, Psalms (W.E.Barnes, 1904); Isa iah (G. Dietlrich, 1905; no tex ~ is
phal P salms, Psalms of Solomon, Tobit, 1 (3) ,
gi,v en, but there is a full l~st o( variant readings to be found in 22
Esdras (cd .' H. Schneider, W. Baars " ; " . ,I,' i
manuscripts is g iven ); Lamentations (B. ~lb'r~kt!!on, 1963); Chro:,
J. C. H. Lebram, i972). .' '; '," . .. ..
nides (W. E. Barne!!, 1097; list' of variant readings in several early
1
\, I ' •. •• ",
50 The Bib le in the Syriac Tr adi ti o n
Printed ' Edit ions 51
It is hoped to complete the edit ion some time in the 19903 .
Estarngelo script is used throug hout. The text printed is basically - In 1983 The W.ay Internat iona l (New Knoxv ille, Ohio,
th at of the Ambrosian manuscript . . 7al, though its man ifest errors USA) publ i s h~d a volume e ntitled 'The Aramaic New T estament,
are corrected. Below the text there is an apparatlls wh ich gives 'Estran geio sc ript. based on the Peshilta and aarklean Versio~s'.
all the varian ts to be found in ma nuscr ipts before 1300 (ob vious 'I'he Peshiua text is taken from three early m anuscripts in the
errors and orthograph ica l differences arc excluded there, but British l.i brary. but for the books absent from the Peshitta, the
r eceive mention in the introductions to each volume, where the text of Gwynn's editions of the anonymous sixth- century' versions
manuscripts u sed a rc described ). Edit ions carlicr th an 1977 is used (the tit le page a nd Introduction mistakenly call th em the
give variants in later manuscripts as well, and the text in these Harc\ean). The order of books fo llows that of editions of the
volumes adheres more rig idly to 7al than is th e case in later Gree k text an d of modern translations. Thoug h in ' many ways
volumes. The importan ce of the Lcidcn edition lies ,in the fact this is a practi ca l edition} with a good text a nd clearly printed;
that it provides for the first time information ahout the carliest the abserice of a ny punctuation marks · (beyond dverse ivisions)
forms of th e Pcshitta text, before the deve lopment ot t he medi- ma kes for difficult reading, especia ll y in the Epistles.
eval Textus Receptus (w hi ch is t he ln sis of a ll th e o ld er editions
of · th e l'es hitta Bible). - The Institut fur neutcstame n tliche T ext forsc hung at
Munster '(West Germany) is in the process o f editing the Syria~
(b) NelY Testament ("<s hi tta) New Testament in both th e P eshitta and th~ Harclean versions:
The first volu me of this importa nt scholarly enterprise covers the
- Fo r the Peshi tta Gospels an edition (wit h f~lcillg L at in major Catholic Epistles (James, I Peter, I J ohn), and was pu b-
t rans lation ) b.tsed 011 a conside rah le number of the earliest sut'- lished in 1.986 (cd. B. Aland).- For the Peshitta a selected group
VIVWg manuscripts was prepared by P. E. Pusey and published of nine early manuscripts has been used, wh ile for the I-;larc1ea.n
(after Pusey' s d eath) b). G. H. Gw illi am in 190 1. The intent ion a ll three ava ilable manuscripts are employed . . A notable feature
had been to cover the: rest o f the New T estament, but this never of this ed ition is the extensive use made of quotations from the
came to fruition; the provisional text for this ed ition, however, New Testament in . Syriac writers. The text of the P es hitta,
was published . without any var i:lnt readings , by the British Harclcan and the various quotations is set out line by line so
and Foreign Bible Society in 1920. This edition of the Peshitta tllat that Olle can immediatel y sec th e differences between them :
Ne\\' 1~e s t ament, printc d ill voca li zed scrto sc ript, is the most There is a long introduction dc .... li ng · w ith the t ransmission o f
reliable o ne available, and it has been reprinted .m any times. the text and the relationships be t wc~1l th e Syriac texts fLn~t their
The Syriac order of books is fol lowed; wit h J ames, I Peter a nd underly ing Greek originals. . I
I J ohn coming after Acts . Use was made 'Or'the ' ano nymous
sixt h·century translation for th e minor Catholic Epistles (t he
'Pococke Epist les')' a nd R evelation , since these arc absent fr om
the Pcshitta; th e text of these was based on the exce llent editions
(c)
"'"
iviai ll Syriac ve rsi ons other than the Peshirta. : ':
For the Syro-hexapla the most impo rta nt ed itions 'are: ..... '
b y J. Gwynn (minor Catholic Epistles, 1909; Reve la ti o n, 1897) .
These a re a ll printed together at the cnd. For odd verses abse il t - the photo-Hthographic edition of the :M ilan m anusc ript
from the l'eshitta (notably John ·7:53 -0 :1 1) a later translatioll '(C: .3 13 ,InL ) containing the second h a lf . of the .Syr,q -hexapla,
has been inserted ' bet ween sq uare ' brackets. Besides the western published b y A. M. Ceriani (1874). .[
chapter an.d verse numbers, t.h e native Syriac section numbers
(!'sha hc") are given in. the marg in (these very rarely corres-pon d . - th e collection of all Syro-hexapla .texts aya!'ablefor th ~
: .
wit h the western chaptcl' ~ h:i s ioIl5) . first ha lf. of the O~d Testament by P. de L agarde and ,A.. .l~.ahlf~
(Biblio thecac Syriacae, 1892). . .
,. .
.'
,
"
52 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition
I Translations 53
1799,1803) . The work was given the misleading til Ie Versio Syriaca . The 0I1 ly .coniplete English translation o f tlie Pcshitta is by
Philoxc nian a; today, however, it is known for ce rtain that the C. Lamsa. This is unfortunately not always v~ry' accurate, and
text of vVhite's ed ition is the HarcJe,lll , and nol the Philoxcnia n. hj ~ claims that the Pcshitta Gospels represe nt the Ara maic
original underlying the Greek , Gospels are entirely w ithout found-
Ii The end . of White's manuscript is IpSl, anq so his edition ends at
:r.rcbrcws II :27. The rest of Heb rews \Vas published froff.1 anothel'
manuscript by R. Bensly (1889). The Hardean text of Revelation,
ation; such view~, which arc not infrequently found in : more
p op ular literature, are rcjected by all serious scholars . ." .. ; "
.,
l first published by L. Dc Dieu in 1627, appears in most subsequent
There is an ~l<;ler . English translation of the Peshitta
., New
editions of the SYI'iac New Testament published in the eig hteenth
Testament b y James Murdock ( 1893).
and nineteenth ce nturies. A photographic edition of a further
manuscript of the Harclcan text of Revelation has rccendy been A .good
I published by A. Voobus (1978) . T here is also a separate edition , modern , translation
'
of the Peshiua, or at least of
j passages used in the lectionary J is very much necdc?" . ,,: I
of the Harc1ean text of SI. John (G. H .Bernstein, 1853). I .
I (d) Tools
there seem to ue at least three translations of the Pcshitta
New Testament into Malayalam.
II There are no complete concordances to the Syriac Bible
available yet. For the Peshitta Old Testament there are a number
.,
.'----.
,
ment ( 1985) is in fact not a concord a nce, but a word list. A handy
Syriac-English dictionary ' to th e S yriac New Testament was '" ~ . .j'
published by W. Jennings (1926). . .•..
" Biblical Inte rpr etation, : . 55
I m eanings. '
Where historical intcrpretat ion is concerned we are d ealing
with facts, a nd we ca n speak of a historica l interpretation as
Bible and its ' Qackgrou nd is vastly ' sti perio r '10 :'th'~i \ ' 'of the
Syriac Fathers (t hanks to t he advances in biblical ,t s~ i; olarship
over the las t , centur y), wi)at th~ Syriac F at hers have to ' sayan
being 'correct' or 'incor rect', or as ' ri g ht' or 'wrong' (though the ' level ' o'f historical ' interpretation is''' v'c ry :ral'cly ' :"df morc
. . I. , :~' , ' . ,. .
,oft,en we do not have sufficient evidence to d ecide conclusive ly than ,.an~i.ql;l.arian ,Int~ res t., vV!'tat they .have to say in U~c area
between. the ~wo) .. This is quile different fl:om th e situation wi~h of spirjtual int'c rprctation, ' however; has' ' b'~ ' no r nie'~Ns ' been
sph'itu a l interpretation: here it is not a case of one interprenition superseded, \ an,d · much , of what ; ~hey s~y C~~ , P,c j~.ts.t . a ~ :I ~~
,. bcing ' lright and a noth er wrong, for thefe is never one' ~correct' ing f~~ to.d .~y as it w.as .to , . ~ h eir :. o~n . tirr\cs.. i ~C~?nli ~gf(' , ~~ ~
interpretation to t he exclus ion o r all 01 hers , Often severa l spir i- sha ll primarily
•
be looking at "
examples.
of their. spidtual ll1tel''':
,,:.1,11.' •
the biblica l tex t. Thus, for the Bible to 'comt: to life' and to \Vc shou ld realize that, if hc had not put on .~hc n~me s of
b ecome spiritually m eaningfu l there is need for openness to, and such things, ' ,
co-operation with, the Spirit on the part of the reader '(or jt would not .havc been possible for. him
hearer) .of the Bible, for only th~n wBI the reade r become aware to speak with us humans:
of the spiritual truths hidden within scripture. . Thus St. !.I he ,:lrew clo~c to 1:lS , bYn~e.an~, 9f " vh;:lt j.tbc.lppg~. ~o us; ,
Ephrcm says in onc of his hymns, <fThe Scriptures are laid he clothed him~elf I in qur ~ang~ag,e/! S0 : ,th~~ t},le" j might'
out like a mirror, and he whose eye is'· Jucid sees within them .. clothe us .. ' I.,,:' ,i ' , .1 .
the mirror of Truth" (Hymns on F~it h 67:8) . ' . ,. ,. in his mode . of.Iife .., I;I:c ~skc.d for-our form (Philippians 2.:7)
and put this on; thcn, as a father with his chjldrcri/ .
St. Ephrcm says emphatically ,on a number of " occasions he spoke with our childish statc. l.j.
that it is wrong to read the Bible in a literal way, forthi. will ' , ' ': '; . :. • I .,,1,',
lead to all sorts of misconceptions. Thus, for example, in one It is om> m'c taphors that h~ put Qn"":though 'he-;d id not
of his hymns on Paradise (11:6) he says, litcrally do so! ' I . I • • 1 ,"" \rt. "
If someone concentrates his attc.ntion He thcn too.1.: thcm ofT -":"without actu~lly \ dofn'g':so: \;:
solely ' on the metaphors \'vhich arc used of God's majesty, . when wearing them; ~c \\:,as at the "samc ' t'i me ' st~:i'ppcd of
them' I • ' . I. •
with which God has clothed himself fOl" m an's own benefit; thc: n, st rips it off [0 exchange' it for anothcr: , I
such a person is ungrateful to God's grace The fact thac.lle strips: 00' and puts o~ all so rts of '~'et~phors
which has bent down its stature to the level of human tcJl~ ~I S that 1 the me~aphor doe,} ' not apply ' to hi~ true Being;
because that Being is hidden, " I' I' 1"\ I
childishness:
Eve n though God has nothing in common with humanit y h e has dcpicted it by means, of what is visible.
nevertheless he clothed himself in the likeness of humanity (Hymns Oil Failh 31:1-3)
in order to bring humanity to the likeness of himself. A passagc of Scripture .. is cap~ble of only onc correct- hjsto~
I·jt:a l interpretation at a time; · such a restriction, ' however; docs
,Ephrcm often speaks of God as 'clot hillg himsel f in names lIot apply to spiritual interpretation: in that case, the mo'r e lucid
and luminous the inner cyc of [elith is, lhe more spiritual intcr~
(?r metaphors)' in the Old Testament, a s , a . pr.e ludc to his
"clothing himself in the human bod y' at the Incarnation. But
prc~~tions it ,w ill 'be ' capable of discovering. ~' ~-9 'EpHrem points
we should not abuse God's cond eSt:e nsion in making himse lf
out, lt .,,:ould b.~ very l>oring if" passage of Scripture ' had only
known to humanit y in this way by taking these metaphors tlllC spll'ltual meariing; .,
literally:
Let us g ive thanks to God If therc only existed ; a single se nsc 'for thc ' words of S cri-
who clothed himself in the nan.les of the body's variou..; . pturc, then the· ·first' commentator who came alo'n g would
parts: disco vcr it, and other hearcrs would · expcrience ncithcr
Scripture refcrs to his rears', thc . labour of searching, nor the joy of discovcry. Rather,
to tca ch us th at he listens to us; each word of OUT Lord has its own form , and each form
it speaks of his reyes', to show that he sees us. ' has its own mcmbers, and cach member has its own cha-
Tt was just the names of such things that he put on. l ' acte z:. , And each individual person understand s according
EarlieI' in the Commentary on th e Diatcss:lron 51. Ephrcm Ill S to be for , your ,own , ,~larm. G)v.c, ~~an~s .. for, whOl;t : you
the following excellen t advice (in the first paragraph he addresses , huve take n away) and do
no,t cotp.plain abou~ I;thc ,super-
Chris0: ' fluit Y "that is left over. "Vh~t you have la ken off with you
" , is your portion; what has been left behind can still beco me
"Vho is cap:1 hle o f compreitending th e extent of
what '-, ' y'our, inheritance, (CQ.lllIDentary on the Diatessaron,.I: 18-19)
is to be discovered in a 's ingle utterance of YOllrs?' For we I. ' ::
" .
leave behind in it far m orc than we take away frnm it.,. The type o f spiritual interpretation which is employed
like thi rst y people drinking frcm ,a: fountain. m ost frequently by the Syriac ' fathers can best ' be ' d escribed as
typological or 'symbolic ' interpretation. Ttlis tkind of intcrp're..t
The facet s of God's word arc far more numcrflllS thall lation can already he found in t~e New Test~m,ent, where" for
the faces of th ose ,vho learn from it. God . depicted hi ::. example, St. Pauf speaks of Christ 'as 'the : 131ter" Ada m' '( I Co~
•• ' , " . ~ ., '" • 1-, I '.
word with ma ny beauties, so that each of those who learn 15:45)_ Typology tS m fact a 'means of mdteatmg relatu')lishlps:
from it can examine that aspect of it which he likes. And rela tionships between
,
the, Old_. Testament
I " _
and tqe •
New",
,"
between
""
," God has hidden within his word all sorts of treasures, S ft th~ New T~~tam~ni ari d tI~e , Chui-~h ~ ,bet~veen the ' ma~~r~_~~ :v~rld
that each of us can be enriched by it: from whatever aspect and ' the hea:venly world, petween JlJston cal events and. persons
" I ' ,
in Script,ul"e and their, ~ piritt.laI meaning. Typ'cs, 'lI?~" sy.p',bf)Js
l
he meditates on. For God's ",,'ord is the Tree Qr l.ile which
extends to YOll blessed fruits from every dircct ivn; .it is like serve as pointers: from the standpoiri t of subjecti ve human , pers-
the R ock which a :!' str uck in the "Vilderlless, whic h became pective, a type or symbo l can be seen a s me r:. ns of revealing so me
~ spiritual drink for c\'cryune on all sides: 'They ate th e .aspcc,t of 'o.bjective divine' reaJilY , (Truth ,' in :Ephrcm's termino-
food of the Spirit and lhe)" drank the d raft of th e Spirit'. logy); alternately, from the standpoint of objective divine
pc.:rspcc live, a lype or symbol is a place in which some aspect
Anyone who encollnters Scripture shou ld not su ppoSe of di\'illc reality lies hidden. Althoug h the Greek word for type,
that the sing le one of its ri ches that he has found is th e on l ~r " typos", docs so metimes occur in Syriac, the l)prmaJ term used for
one to exist; . rather, he should realize that he himself is _ type Oli sy mbol is ~"raza" '" which properly means" mystery', but
only capable of discovering that one out of the m a ny w hich is usuall y' best tl'anslatcd in ' this context • as "symbol' ,
riches which exist in it. thoug h it should be stressed that 'symbol' has a. much stronger
meaning than the , one clirrent , in modern English, where a
Nor, b~ call se Scripture has enriched him", should ' tht: SYl)ll1(lJ, is usuall y. sharply distinguished from the ' thing it symbo-
reader impover.ish it. Rather, if the reader is incapable of ]jz~s .: 1 ,F<>< the Syriae , Fathers [he link bet,Jcen' sy mbol land 'the'
finding morc", let him acknowledg e Scripture's·mag'nitudc. re;aJity. s)~mbolized ' is inti'm ate, for in the sYlllLol there resid'es the
Rejo ice because YOll have found satisfa~tjon, 'and do " Chidden power': of tI,le reality. " " ( ' :!
not be grieved that there has been sOlI\ething 'left over by " ,I , ', , '
you. A thirsty person rejoices because he has ,dtunk: he is The verse John 19:34 is a passage which excellently illu-
not grieved because he proved incapable ,of drinkin g the strates the me~hanj cs", as it w ere,- of, typolog ical ' exegesis: The
fouI1tain dry. 'Let the fuuntain vanquish your thirst: YOllr P~s J).,itta, hiJ.s her:~: But one of the soldjer~ .struc~ him on ,his 'side
,thirst should not try to vanquish the fountain! If your thirst with a spear", aI;ld immediately there came' fort h blood and.
comes 'to an end .while the fountain has not been 'diminished. w~ter. WitI, the b.elp , of typology, the piercing ' of Christ's , side
~hen YOLI can drink , again · whenevC'r' 'YOli ' arc' thirsty'; on the Cro~& i,s. linke.cl ;b,acls.warrl.s to, the Gepesis ' nal'1"",tive of th e ,
whereas, if. the , rollntail~ had , been drained dry once YOLI falJ of Adam and his expulsion from Parad ise,. and forwards ' to
had ~lad your fill ", your victory .over it would , have' proved . '
th e 'sacramental life of the Chu;ch'; in other, wotds", the typoJo.,
,
1 ,
I/'
I,
60 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition Bib l ical Interpretation... 61
I
gical 'interpretation of this verse point.! to the true significance Such, in prosaic terms, is' ~hc bare skc:letal framework 'up~
of the crucifixion and its importance as the turning point in the on which the : typologicalinterpretation of John 19:34 func tions.
•
:I \vholc of sa lvation history. How d ocs it achieve· this? F'o r the skeleton to come to life, one nc'~ds to read some of the
;
passages where the Syriac Fathers have breathed lifc into these
! First, the links ,.,.ith the · Gc ne~i s nan :ativc a re pt'ovided by bare bones. (1;\ee Suggested Reading, ;at ,the end of the Course),
the following contrasted clements:
It is sj gnific~nt that much of the best sp ~ rilual intcrcpre-
'- the side of Christ the , Second Adam, and the rib J 01' side, or tation of the Bible a mong the Syriac Fathers is , t() be found in
the First Adam (Cen 2:21-2), whence Eve was extracted; poetry l'iJ.thel' than in pros·c. Thus tile poems of Ephrcm , Narsai
and J acob of Serugh will appeal' today a, far more creative in
_ the spear which pierced Christ, and the ficI'Y s\vord which
their spiritual intcrpretatio? of Scripture' th~n the ' many ' latc~
kept Adam out of Paradi,e (Cen 3:24).
prose commentaries which. survive. ", . ". '. !\
• ',1 I,' '!: .
The piercing of Christ's side with the ' spear can thus QC seen a s
.'"
removing the fiery sword which has hitherto kept Adam (hurna ..
nit y) out o f Para dise; in other wo rds, the crtlciri xion opens
up the posssbility for huma nity to re turn to th e origina l sta le or ~ ~
P- ::::£, P-
P'lra disc.
I
I, ,f
Secondly, links forward to the Church arc provided by: '.
I II
,'"
..
" \ •• " , I
side of' Christ. This in lurn provid~s a contrast to 'Eve, who was
J\ '. , '
'rhe desert \viil 'rejoice;
and flo\Vc,l's will bloom in the wilde l" nes ~~ ,
I
',born' from, the ,ide of the Fir,t Adam, ' The imagc of birthgiving ~: ,. " J
thcn allow, the introduction Qf another ,ct of relationships: the The desert will sing and 'sh,o ut for joy; ; .' o • .-
birth of. Eve from Adam and the hirth of the Church from Christ ., " kwlll 'be as beautiful a s the Leb.anon Mountaifl~ , ,
were both virgin birth, (as too was the birth of' Adam from the and a s fertile as the fields of Carmel a nd , Sharon,
I Earth) , and this ofcoursc introdu cc~ tl~ c virgin ·birth of Christ ~vcryone \vill see the Lord's splendOllt) I
,.''''c
\'.i Cc his greatness 'a nd PO\ver ... ~
: ;
,.
.
;'
.., ~
I !
I
j'l
I"
I'
... '
I:ollowing- c h~.q no log ical. or,d cr, proba bly , the I. nex t , Syriac
S yriac in a uniqu e manuscript. The Commentary follows th e commentaries to survive arc certain work s b, y J o hn of Apa mea,or
1'1 order o f th e biblica l text , h ut onl y selected passages a rc comm- J o hn" ~he Solita ry: . Much ' un certa int y surrounds' this figur e and
j ented on. The early c hapters o f GC~le s i s receive much mor t.: thc ,works :U:ndcr his 'name, lwhic h include a 'c o~mcntary on E ccle- "
1 attention than the later o nes, and Ephrem sh ows g re a t iut cl'rs t siastcs and onc Ion the Beatitudcs. Neither of these has bd: n yet'
puhlished (thougl i a n' .edition of . the forme~ I is pro mised us
! in' the question of human frec will . There is ver y Ilittlc ty polo-
gical inter preta tio n; thi s contras ts with th e typological intcr pl'c- immine nt}. , .Thesc(l are not comme ntaries in th e ' mod ern se n;c;
tation given to m an y passag es fr om Ge nesis a nd Exodus in h is instead" J ohh uses . selec t passagcs·' 'in 'th'c' ~ bi blica l ttxt · as
,I h ymns. Throughout the commentar y many intriguing links wi th s pring -Loards for tcachin g"o n thc ,' s'p iritua lli.fc . " . . ~.: I: f
I 1' character; furth er m orc many passages are meditati ve in charactcr . ric,al j~,tc rprf tat~~~, _a ~ d from fl,the', 'I?~~nt Jo'( ...,:i ~w ? ~l' .' m~d~r~, .
bi ~ li:c;a l sc~~?brship .".~h~s s~ho,ol.: ~as Vtc ; ~;l,18rc .l cfip,~!ll ~~ I.~~S~_
A
IiI
t
I - Commentary 0 11 Acts. This com par atively short work sur vives
only in an Armenian tra nslation.
~ rp r~acl~ ~ ' evcn . a'~ t~c ipa~il~g i~ " ~omc rFs ~,cs~s ~h ~11 O ~ H ~~lg~ ~ f
inod cl'n ' CJ:itics . . J R eprese ntatives of this a pproach ' often' a dapted
I
I II. ,
61 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition Biblical Commentari es 65
to the Bible te chniques which ha d been de veloped by sc hola r s t hi s. I'l's pect it has much in common with its Antiot: hene C QUIl-
of pagall Greek literary texts. Man y ()f Theod ore's works were tcrparl. Alexandrine exeges is has left mu c h less of :11l impres-
translated iuto Syr iac in the course of the fifth cc nlury, probabl y sioll Oil subsequc nt Syri ac t ra di tion, even thoug h Synan Ortho-
at th e famous Persian School in Edessa; it was through this d~x writers had ava ilab le in Syriae translat io n several of Cyril
sc hool , and its S UCCCSW I- (from 489) at Nisibis, th a t the An~io~ o f Alexa ndria's Commentaries (his Commell tary on Luke, ill ' t~ ~
chene exegetical tradition came to exert a pervasive influence form of a seri es of homilies, survives o nl y in S yriac tran s l~ t~on ) .
on m any S yriac writers. In th e C hurch of the East, where , I ' .' • .:
Theodore was regarded as th e Exegete par cxcc llcl1cc, _ and The tw o great Syriac poets, Narsai (di ed c.500) and j acob
where Theodore's christulogy was co nsidered normative, it is o f Scrug h (died 521) both sta nd in thc ~ntj oc h c n c c~egetica )
no surprise to fj~d his exegesis a s dominant too, But it is also trad ition, eve n though J acob r ejected An tlOc hcn e chnstology.
the case (hat Theodore and lhe Antiochcnc exegetical tradition M a ny of their ve rse homilies (Hmemre") are in effect co mmen·
exerted a ' considerable influence' on writers of the Syrian taries on particular biblical passages; , both : poets, for example,
Orthodox: tradition like Jacob. of Serugh and even philoxcnus; , of homilies o n Creation .. .
ha ve a series
this happened for the simple reason that these m en had once , • , '.. I I . ' d " ." ":; . .
themselves been students at th e !' Persian School, and ' though Philoxen~s
,of Mabbug ' (~ied ~23) . lias: I~f\. commentaries
the y reacted against its t.heological te aching J the y nevertheless o n t he P ro logue or St. jl).hl1, a nd o~ , M a th cw/, P:nd ; Lu~e \ (th.es~
remail1cd influenced h y its' tl"':l diti on o f biblical interpretation. two survive only in fragmt:lltary fo rm ). The commcntar y. on
th c Prologue of , j ohn ,is in theJorm of an extcnded t heolog ical
Since Theodore of .i\10psues ti a later lca rne under a cloud . cxposi:ion.
of disa ppl'oval in the G l'ce k Church, m ost of his writings ' have
been lost in Greek. Iviany ' of his works ' which , have " m a naged J' "1 : ' Tl;~'! bl;~'r ch ' of the' Ea~tl . produ~ed a"~m.i.mbc:: 6rco~men- .
to survive arc ' known only ' from their translation into Syriac; t;,~ tql:< , ~t~ t1~e '~ix,th~.· ,~~ntujy.J :· 6ut :·~t.~Ie; 'is. ',,~'n~wll~
of . ~Ilci~ , W91'.~
:tmongst these is ' a long :! and important Commentary on ' St- to d~y, '! One <;> f the m01"<; lnfluenhal of .... ~~lesle . cpll1 m.cl}tatOl ~
j ohn's Gospel: Quite lextensive portions of his Commentary was Ahoh ' of Qatar (ill the Gulf) whose work ) 1; ~nown· only
011 the Psalms is also ' available in Syriac. 'from ..qu,ota ti ons i',1 much . la tcr \~riters . , A~ong " .t!l~ ~c~.eJ~lt
.find s 0/
~yria c (~ n~ .o:~~~er) ..manunc npt~ a,~ ~t. ?ath lnn~ s, ~,ona;
In passing it should be noted that : a great many of John 'stci' Y on Mount Sina i it h ...~ s ·, bce r~ r:ep01:t~ d t!:tat t.h ere l S <;til
o th er wise unkno~n ~ol~mentary o n" thc ' llible "Jj{ thb great 'Ea; t
Chrysostom's exegetical homilies "on different 'I:looks of the 'l!iblc
were 'tran slated into : Syriac at 'an i.ca'd y .datc; t'o' judgc" b)t th ~
number of m a nusc ripts which survive, th~se were ' widel y rea d.
.,~y:· i a n , t.I\<;.oJogi.an Bab~ i .{9 icd 6.2" . . r: .... .
Other works translated ' into ' Svria c were 'Athan'asius' Exposition " I."" TI~e ' chief luminary in the field ~ f · S yr i [\c biblical... ~xegesis
of the Psalms (in a long~r ·· anci ~ shorter' for';') and G;'egory of 'i t~ t1~ scv~nth ce ntury was undo.u~Jtcdly the ' Syri~n Ortho~~~x
Nyssa's famous Commentary ' on the· Song··lOftsqngs. 'sc holar jacob of Edessa (died 708). jacob,.Iike-inany West Synan
autl;ors of his time, knew Gre~k well; he , ~rso ' knew~a little
I"
. .. . !/ , ': :
The Alexandrian exegetical tradition VI.\S distinguished , H ebrew, which was exceptional ·for ', a Christian ", sc holar!of that
froIl} . th~ Alltioc h~ ll~ b): i.t ~ \Yill~gness to, c n:pl~ y ~ lJegory as .a time ,. He· displays his knowle dge of Hebrew.. !n a long a nd lea~ne d
m ethod of biblical interpretation (Theodore in particular ,was no te dtf th e Tetragramma ton, the Hebrew divine : n ame wnltcn -
strong ly opposed to the us~ of ~Ileg;'·ry) .' It would be a ·m is ta~e, Y H W H ' but re~d as Ad onay ('my Lord', for which .thc-Septua._
fu)wcvcr, to think that aU AI~xanprinc interpretation is allego. "gint h as KY~' ios "and 'the' Pes l.lit~a M a,rya, ~~th meanin~ t~ord' ~.
This particula r hote is attached to hls ' rcvlsed-tt'snslatlon_of ·the
rical: mu ch of it would best be de sc~jbcd as '(ypo)ogicaI J and .in
H omilies of Scverus of Antioch, but he has a lso left.., a \yh01c
66 T he Bib le in the Syriac Traditio n Bib lica l Co mm e ntar ies 67
series of sc holia a nd letters on particu lar biblical top ics in which C , -, mme lltary on the Old a nd New Testaments by I sh o'dad
h e displays consid erab le critica l acumen. His most important 01" ~lcr v (fl our ished c. 850) . The Com m e nt~ric s o n th e Old Testa-
m e nl have been published by C . va n den Eyndc in the C S '? 0
wo'rk of exegesis, h owever, is h is Com mentary o n the Si~ Days
of Creation (Hexacm eron). It h ad beco me a t rad ition by his ( 1950 - 8 1), a ll d th ose on th e New Testament b y "·l.lJ. G ibson
lime for co mmen taries on th e ope nin g of Ge nesis to be the ( 19 11 - 13).
vehicle for a g rea t de a l o f scie ntif ic knowledge, ran ging from
.zoology to geogr?phy, Jacob's co mme ntary cer ta inl y lives up All these w 0rks conta in a considerable a m ount o f mate ri a l
to this lracii rion , an d it is a store house of learning on a ll sort s in common, an d they a ll serve as repositories for ea rli er ex ege 4
ti ca l trad iti on.
i· o f topics. J <~co b h ad left th e wo rk unfi nish ed at his death,
and so it was left to his equa ll y learned di sc iple Geo rge. bishup The chie f SYI-ian Orthodox co mme nt a tors of not from the
of th e Arab tribes (di ed 724) to co mplete it. ninth century are J ohn of Da ra a nd , especi a ll y, ~vJ oshe ba r
Kepha, seve ral of whose commentari es on differ ent b ooks o f
The naInes o f seve ra l East Syrian co mmentators (suc h th e O ld an d New T es taments survive. O nly th e Commentary
a s I-Ina na o f Ad iabene a nd Gabr iel uf Qatar) are known from 0 11 J ohn by l'vl osh e h as been publish ed in full so fa r.
quo tat ions ill later writel-s, but it is 1101 until t he latc e ighth
and th c ninth ccn lUr y t ha t we ha ve SUl'vivi llg comme ntar ies _ I n th e first half of the eleventh ce ntur y the: Eas t Syrian
From t ha t pe riod we have ~ number of important wo rk s: scho lar Abd a lla h ib n at- T ayy ib (d icd 1043 ) wrote a numb er of
biblical comme nta ries in Arabic, b ased la rge ly on th e ea rli e r
- th e n oo k of Sch olia, by Theodore bar Koni (late eighth Sy d ac ' commentary tra di tio n. These were widel y read by Arabic-
ce ntury ); th is is in t he form of se ts o f questions and a nswers on speaking C hristia ns from all C hu rc hes, a nd their influence has
selec t topics in every boo k of the Pcsh itta Bible . (The idea eve n reac hed t he Ethiopian co mmenta r y tr ad ition.
of a biblica l commenta ry in t he form o f a series of Questions
a nd Answe rs was ta ken over from Gree k writel-s !;tuc h as Thco4 An exte nsive commenta ry on th e E ast Syri a n lecti on a ry,
doret). The Book of Sc holia co mes d own to us in two ,d ifferent called the Ga nnat Bussame (Gard e n of Delig hts), belongs to th e
rece nsion s, b ot h of wh ic h have bee n publi shed in the Louvain carl v ,thirtc'e nth ccntur y. TJl is work prcsc l:vcs . ma ny' excerpts
Corpus of Oriental Christia n Writers (C S CO). fron~ ' ear lier co mmentators whose wo rks arc. ot h erwise ' lost. (An
edition by G . Reinink in the C sea is in plcparation). •
A Commentary on t h e whole Bible aga in in t he for m o f
Questi ons a nd Answers, b y Isho'ba rnun J Catholiclls o f the . A fittin g climax to the \ Vcst Syrian com me nt~r y traditio n
Church of the East from 823- 828. Only th e section o n the is ptl v idc d by the ccAw_s.!!.~Raz eu , or Storc hou~e of ~yste~ic s,
P e nt ate uch has been published so far (by E . C. Cla rke, 1962). by the Syrian Orthodox polymat h G regory Abu I FaraJ, usua ll y
kn~wn as Bar Hebraeus (d ied 1286). This g reat work covers the
- An a non ymous commentary on Genesis and Exodus (to e ntire Syriac Bible. Only parts of the rtAw sar Raze" have so
9:32) ; this ha s recelltly been puhlishe d by L . van R ompay ( 1986) far been publishe d (the most accessib le, with English trans la ti on,
in th e CSCO . cover Genesis to Sa muel (ivL SprengHng and 'IV. O . Graham,
193 1), a nd the Gospels (E. W. Carr,
, 1925).
An anonymo us co mmentar r on the Old a nd the New T es ta 4
ment; o nly th e section o n Ge nesis 1-1 7 ha s bee n published so far
(A. L eve ne, 195 1).
Ij ,t;,o
11 "he ,Use of th e Syr iac Bible 69,
II SECTfON VI
i,
1·i.'1 And Mar y says, "Vho a re ' you,. sir? . :,'
iII I THE USE OF THE SYRJAC BIBLE 1]1{
PREACHING
a nd w h a t is t h is t h a t you utte r?,
\OVh a t you a rc sa y ing is r e mo te fr om mc,
,! I
I.L
'"
and- wh a t it mea ns I h ave no idea.
~! . Th e Bible has a lways beell t he m 1in sta rti ng point for An gel The Father h as revea led to m e, a s I d o now to you ,
tl preachin g in all C hristi a n tra diti o ns. H ere we sh a ll conce ntra te this 'm ys tery whi ch ,~s sh a red b e tween him and ,his Su n,
o n som e features whi c h a rc c h aracte ristic of t he Syriac: t rad itioll w h e n he sent m e to say
and which arc not fo u nd widely e lsewh e re . t hat fro m yo u h e w ill sh ine out ovc r thc wor lds.
,
I a m a rrai d , sir , to acccl?t you,
The p lace of poe t ry has a lwil)/s beeH ve r y promillen t w ilh~ for whe n E ve m y mo th e r acce p ted th e serpcll t
in Syri3c lite ratu re as a wh ole; it is t hus n ot sur prising to rind w h o sp oke as h e r friend . '"
that poetry plays an importa nt r ole in prea ching and in th e CX~ she was sl).ltch ed a W,ay fr o m h er form er g lory.
position of the Bible in th e Syri ac C hurc hes . T\vo areas a rc pani ..
c ul ady note worth y: t h e usc o f d ia logue poe ms, wi th biblical Huma n ex p e rie nce a nd th e di ctat es o( 'l'cason ' also pro vide' a
c ha racte rs, i n o rd er to hi g hlig ht decisive mom ents withi n t h e h asis for furth e r qu estionin g o n £v1al:y's pa rt:
biblical nan a li vc; a nd t he usc of VCI'SC ho milies fi)l' [he pu rpose
o f r e telling biblica l e p isod es ill it d ra m :nic fa shi on , Both l h ese ~ l ary "'l' his meeting w ith you a nd yo ur p r esence h ere
may be see n a s excellen t ve hicles fO I" popula r catcc heticaL instruc ... a r c a ll ve ryJ inc, if o nl y the natu ra l orde r o f thin gs
II' ti~ n whi c h d eser ve to b e r ed vcd toda y. did n ot stir me to h ave d oubts at Iy u ur a r riva l
as to h'o'w t he re can b~ fruit in a virg injs womb. .
I: ,The di a log ue poe ms bc lo ll l! to a vc ry a ncien t litcl'ary ge nre
,
I t is onl y wh e n t h c a n gel
",' "
two spea ke rs wins OYer th e oth eL T h us, for exa mple, in th e if th e H o ly Spir it sh a ll com e to m e,
"----.;,-
dialogu e be twe en the angel Gabrie l and th e Virgin M a ry (the am his maidserva nt, and he h as a uth~rf ty; "
sce ne o f th e An n uncia tion, Luke I :26- 38), the Virg in is mindful le t it be to me in a ccord a n ce with your word.
of £ \'e's ex p erience, and so quc3ti o ns the a ngel at fir st:
T h ese d ialog ue p oe ms provide a very cffective mea ns o r
Th e a ngel a ddressed ' th e \ / irg in a nd said , pjn~ po i nti ngm om e nts ·of dramat ic tension with in ,th e biblical
Peace be w ith you, 0 m ot he r o f m y Lo rd , narr a tive. At eac h su c h dra m a tic point th e poe t (usu a lly a nony·
b lessed a re yo u ~ ch ild, m ous) explo res t he in ner psych o logical te nsio lls a n d th oughts; in
and blessed is th e J'rult th a t is within yo u . th e p rocess of..d oi·n g so) ·h c ,.successfull Y brings out th.c importa nt
,.
..i' ~ ',"
rhe Use o f th e ,Syriac Bib le 71
70 T he Bible in the Syriac Traditi o n
To this Mary replies :
und erl ying theological teachi ng of th e passage in qbcst ion . In
man y cases these poems deal wit h th e con flict between the head Now I sha ll pour out m y \~o rds
a n d th e h ea rt , between hum an reason and fa ith : we . h ave seen an d address my Son hidden within wo mb; my
a little o f this in th e di a logue between th e An gel and Mary, but he will reveal to you i .that I ,,~l,la ll h ave. no other
it is a lso vcry prominent in the di a h gues between Zechariah and c hildren , " ,ti ,.. I , I ,:,
the Angel, an el between' Joseph and ~Jl ary. Zechar ia h finds it and that I shall not be deprived of y,?u r co mpapy. ,l
impossible to believe the a ngel's message that his barre n an d
c~dcrl y wife will bear a son: he tells the angel tIt would be ,This is th e final verse ot the dial ogue, bu~ ill' th e fin a l 'na;rat ivc
I astonishin g if I were to belie ve yO ll in the m a ller o f this talc we I;c;:~' r that
.
ve
,
rifica ti on o'f the truth of M~
' , .'
I:Y'/ , \\Ior d s is ! p,r~'
,.! .
v~~
I. old age ; Zec~h remains stubb ornly scepti cal: ' H owever much
you speak trying lOpcrsuade me;-your wo rd s still do not touch
'I ",
revc 2ling to him how the mystery , liad take l) place. '" '. .:
' , ' J , " I '
,. J oseph rose up early and knelt in worship befOle .Mary
! ,11' 1
Illy intcllct:t' . In ' Zec hariah' s ca.st: human reaso n proves the full of wo nd er, \vho ,had not lie d. '. I
J !. ,hI,;" I.' :,-;. )J (II.: ..... ,":'. 'I f ; d.(~~{ :!·'f~,\ .l~ .,.~I I ·:,l~i,: l tt;.1
victor ' ovcr fa ilh - with the result tha t ,Zecharia h was made
' un a ble' to speak until ' t'h e angel's words ~amc to ·pass,'. II'~ '# , I I TI~c ;rdialogue ·'po·e~ I bet\~~cii Mary ~'f1nd.) .:Jds~pi{: i.llu~i~~~es·t bi~
.' it i~ ~~rdy.. ·a'ftc~ t he ·'in:tellecti'.·lia·s\ giVen 'way' LoVthe ~ 1.rriprobable \
: . 'I i :I . ; ' ~ I II j I.
c1airt;s" of faith" tHat 'extcrn~l 'vc'?ificatiOliJifJp(ovidc;d ",(in .J~sC'pl:ls ,
~ase~('i:':"die,ld'r~a:my; J s!h~~i'~'g ' tl~~t\<~this' f~ith..i~ ' lnci~~'d' .tgrounoed ':~' ~
, ~t ( . • • ,I, > • I .
~ " 'J'In thc .case of J ose ph, on the ,ot her ha,n,d, fai.th eventually
• • "J . ,.,', • I
fiancee s
. "
in. rea lity:" " l~' il'l"'~':, j' :"<r~lft~" !lMfJf!;~ ll-:v.! ~ /t1:, ('l ~ i, :J,.-~r\{rf'''t' ·~j~ .'11
obvious pregnancy-make it very ha rd for him to be lieve in Ivl ary's \ J ',tt "f·.,!.- ',\1
. imp robable ' explanation, ,.as appears ncar the beginning of the J ,. Some, fift y/such dialogue Ipocms t survive fj~ nd ~p.c.vnajo\.ity, "
', a" la l ague:
""" ,, t' ' "' ." ll i~'·" ,t'j, I It
of. thcse 1involvc biblica l c h'ar3tcters. ' Bascd 'nn l'th c lOld .tTcs~ment
, .
~, " • i 1/,
wc )lliave: l Q airi ~ nd "J IAbel .:.:!(Gcnesis 4); ~ Ab raham '~' andfH',lsaac
, (Gene; ;s :22)~ dJo'seph ., and c, Potiphar' s ·jwife 'I(Genesis 139); , Jo.seph
,', ;~!,
Jose ph I am asto~nd~d at ! \vilat 'you say : and llcnj a min}la nd 'Job 'and his wife:' The ' dialogues witli::New '
how ca n I jisten to' your worels? T estament topics arc ', rather m orc nuhlcrousJ a nd include:
Virg ins simpl y do not get prcgnant Zecha ri a h and ti,e Angel, 'the Angel and M ary, J ose ph and
unlcss the y have intercourse or get m a.rri ed . Mary, Mary a nd the · 'lv! agi, 'J ohn the Baptist an d " Christ, ' John
the Bap tist a nd th e Crowd , . Christ an d ' the Pharisees, i Christ
and the Synagogue, the ' Sinful W om a n I all d Satan, the i two
1vl ary' s pl'ltie,ncc in the fact; of his angry di~be li e( eventua ll y, thi eves on the cross, the Cherub 'and the thi ef" (Luke 22:' 42-3),
towa rd s the en d of the long dial ogue. wins 'o v'er J osep h, a nd he Death and Satan (at the d esce nt of Christ into .sheol), ,an d Mary
ha Jf conce d es th at J\1a r y might be te lli ng th e t1'uth :
and the Gardene r (t he risen C hrist).
I")·
the biblical text, providing cxhonalions an d exp lanations . . 'There God' s u ltimate love as her husband Abra ha m has, for she is
is, how~ver, a lso a sma ller number of verse homilies were the both aware orwhat is to ha ppen and consents tei it. Indeed , as
biblica l narrative is retold in dr~ m atic fa !O hion; in these th ere arc it tu r ns out, her faith ' proves even greater than. Abraham's, for
1':
I
no homiletic asides. Thi s retelling of biblical narratives m ake s
amp le usc o f speeches by t he var ious hiblical characters involved ~
she ' has' to endure the testing of her faith twice: when ' Abra-
ha m and Isaac return home to her, Abraham 'a t first· goes in
.some of th ese speeches ca n a lready be found, in very brief form, a lone, saying to I saac rI will spy out your mother's mind' :
ill th e bih lical text itself. But morc often th e poet has supplied .Sarah is · thus ' left . to imagine tha t · I saa'c ha's ' indeed . been
both th e occas ion as well as the wO I'ds; in so doing he is readin g- sacri ficed , and she wclconics her husband b';lck with these word s:
betw een th e lines, as it W .; j·C. o f th e biblical text, a nd drawin g out
the dramatic potential lO Iw found there. Welcome, blessed old mall, husband' who has loved God;
welcome; .happy o ne,: who has sacrificed on the pyre my
:'1
j; ~ O nce again, most of the nar rat ive poems o f this so rt a rc only child ; , I'
welcome, 0 slaugllterc l', who did ' not spare the body of
( allonymous (t houg h thcy arc often wrongly attributed to Ep hr cm),
It seems likely l lH ~ th ey m os tly belong to t he fifth a nd sixth ccn- . my onl)· child.
IUries. Amo ng the su bj ects cove red we find t he followillg: Did he weep when he was bound, or groan when he died?
Abrah.lm and Sara h in Egy pt (Ge nesis 12)", Abra ham , Sarah , was ' he looking for 'me?
and Isa:!e (Ge nesis 22), Joseph and his brot hers (Ge nesis 37 - 48 ;
th e 1 0 n gc~' c1e of poems on this subj ect by the fifd1 cent ury poet· Abraham a'ss ures ' her that I saac did not cry when he was
Da lai is often wrongly ascribed to EphremL the prophet E lijah b ou nd, and that ' when the ' knife was abo've his throat, he
and the widow of Sarepta ( I K ings 17), the proph et' Jon a h remembered you there' ; . -to' this Sarah replies:
(th is ,ilone is genu inely hy Ephrem ), IVlary a nd Joseph (making
usc of motifs in th e Proto-Gospel of James), a nd the sin fu I May the soul of my only child be accepted,
woman who anointed the feet of Christ (Luke: 7: 36 - 50 an d for . he listened to his mother's words. .
paralkls). ,. If only I were an cagle, or had the speed 'of a dove;
/ so that I might go _and -behold that place
T he two narrative poe ms retelling the episode of the sacr i- w here my only child, .my . belov.e d, , vas sacrificed! '
fice of I saac arC of parti cular interest since th ey introduce th e
fi gure of Sarah , who is not mentioned a single time in the cou rse On ly at t he end of thi s speech docs. I saac 'w a lk in; sa fe and
o f th e biblica l ,text of Genesis ~2 . In retelling th e biblical Ilan'a~ souIld , to fall into his mother's astounded embrace.
III 74 The Bible in the Syriac' Tradition The Usc of the Syriac Bible.,. 75
verse. homily 01) Elijah ' docs link the · two in a, . vcry · drama tic wa y and he~e you arc ' oalling me a l,Durd.erer. ... ~" "
that, Elija.h had specificaBY'is.lated that tIl e' heilycn .w;erc , bound ,: ';." " : ..! ,jl ,:., . . , \ , . ! , " ' ,p.'
until he him~c lf release th cm . 'Be. pqt ient with, m c, for a littie • • .. ' , ,~ . I~.\ :~, ~ id , j .'111 . :::
The woman said 111 reply to EI1Jah, ,.1. '. ,',: ..
while', God tells "th e ' heavens, ' and wait until I go d own to ,v isit
. 'In?eed~ ,?y thf God wh,o m I ,~~r~e" . I ',':! ! !H';"'! li a .. '
}~!n~ I: ' r ill' go 011 proposing to h,im rcasons, ;uqtil . he . cv/!utual1)?- this ' j s assured for ~c: :" ., II . ' . , . . ','
u.e comcs re co n ~'iled with, you". ' Aftcr various f\t~empts to ge t,
" i~ .the floUl: hcarq you al}rl: , leapt up" ~ ~ .\ I ::1 ",Ii " 1 I
Elijah to lift his ban and . so end the .droug)tt. ;Gqd, finally se nds
' and if the oil hea~d you a.l)<i spurted .c0nl\".";! .,, .
him off to" widow of Sarepta who will feed him despite the
.~ ~I~~n the ,l :ord wip' lis~en to .y'o,u, thu~ 1 I '~ . 1' P," i,l:
t,)'
fa mine. She tells. him that all she has left "ver, is ,a lit.tle- flour ' arid will give you back the soul of ·the boy:: ...·: , .",.,1 ' · d'
in a bowl and a small quantit y. .0fOlI (I Kings t7:12), but the
propl.lct " l\s~u~c,s :hcr: • II
Then Elijah took the boy
N;ei the ' shall ' the bow'l of fl our '1
-..1\ ,,' ~d brought him to the upper room;
nor sha ll the horn of oil g i ~c . out ~ he knelt and bega n to say. :'.
in sorrow and in sufTcring:
'I~hc woman runs oIT ' to tryout the , word 'of thc ' prophet', and '0 Lord, I beg of you,
as ' she plunged her hand into th e bowl ,1 f1ollr, came leaping lip as a sc rvant I speak in your presence;
,"
il 76 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition "
I~'
,1 .
wh>,. L ord, ha \'c you repaid with such loss SECTION ' VII
. If this widow who has received me? >
Wh y did you send me to her, THE USE OF THE SYRIAC BIBLE
!li' why did you bring her son forth fro m her womb? IN :rHE LITURGY
II Lord, I call upon you with feeling ,
jll I bC'g of you mercy;
!I! li~tcn , L ord, to your servant's praye r:, . The , Syriac Bihle feotures in liturgical worship above all
'1 alld return the soul of this boy'. in the cycle of biblic~l readings and in the use of the' Psalms.
I·
I Here, howeve r, wt; shall consider another. aspect: : the way, in
1 Our Lord an swered and said to Elijah ; whi~h the phraseology , of the Syriac Bible . is ingrained , in the
! 'tOll owe me one debt: very prayers and hymns of the Syriac Churches. 'We shall look
repay it, and I .willlisten to YOli . at two examples, based on Genesis 1:2 and 'on Luke 1:35. . .",
I, I n your hands is p laced the ke y to the heavens,
i
in my hands is the soul of the child'. The second half of Genesis 1:2 reads in . the Peshilta
The holy man opened his mouth 'and the Spirit of God was hovering (lImrahhefa") over the
as his heart rejoic~d and exulted; su rfac;;c of the water'. The verb "tahhef" is · used in ncutel'o~
I"II" he released the heavens whil.:h he had bo!.md
- and the soul of the child returned.
llomy 32: 11 of a female bird hovering over her ' chicks, 'and the
noun u mrahfana'" 19 found several times' in the ' Peshitta as a
Ii
for Genesis 1:2, (the ·Spirit. of God' and 'wind ·or:God' (or,
hargain struck between God and Elijah. This has the eIrect 'strong wind',), since "ruah" in Hebrew (and Hruha.~t . in 'Syriac)
of emphasizing the doul>le underl yjng Ilicssagc which the poeL can mean either · (spirit' or 'wind', This ' hesitation on .the part
, '
sees in the biblical narrati ve : th e need for ' compassion on. the 'Or modcrn translators is in faCl nothing new, for the early Church
part of those who arc zealou s for God 's righteousness, and Ih e Fathers were also divided over how to interpret the verse: docs
example of the wid ow's. f~\it h in God's ability to work miraclc!'
~;
it refer to the Holy Spirit, or to a spirit/wind? The fact that
through his prophet. the Greek has a passive vcrb follo)Villg ('was carried') suggested
I
(0 Some Greek commcntato~s that (the spi,rit' , her<; . cQ!1~d not
By,'etcliing thc' biblical 'n arrat ive in a lively and imagi~
i native way, these anonym ous SYl'iac poets have provjded n very
refer to the Holy Spirit.
! P< * P<
in order to avoid certai:\ theological misunderstandings associa~
te d with ,the vcrs~, . and it was follo\ycd by several later ' cOmm~
entators, and in particula)-....by . Theodore of tvlopsucstia, (rom
whom it was taken over by tht School of Edessa and by its
successor at , Nisibis, Accordingly, the vast majorit y of later
S}'ri~c co~mentaries, especially those III the East Syrian tradition ; .,
II!
II!
78 The Bi b le in the Sy r iac Tradit io n The ~ of th e -Syr. Bible ' in liturgx 7.9,
take the view that th e ' spirit of God' 1I1 t he verse is n ot the t h a nks to thc ll SC o f the vcrb Hrahhe'f'" in connecti o n with the-
H oly Spirit. ac ti vity of th e Spirit at baptis m , Thus St. Ephrem) who ' specifi:-
- ••1 :. "
, 'j i call y does not take the 's pirit of God' to re fer t o the Holy , Spirit,
Neve rth eless, ~n spit.e: 9f.lhis .at~it!Jd~ o n the part of so m e n evcr thcl es;i d oes use th e ve rb "rahhef" J ' hove r', with q:fere nce
~h eo l?gian~J it seem s that i different understanding was d eeply t o baptism whcn we says ' The Holy I Spirit hovers over th e
mgra mcd In th e liturgical tradition, for th ere we ca n find m any st rca m s' (th at is, o{ thc ba ptismal 'wa ters) [Hymns on '/\{irginity
passages wh er e Genesis 1:2 is understood 'as rcfcn:illg to the H oly 7:8] " Likew,;se, in ~o me texts'o[ the Syrian Orthodox· 'baptis m a:!
Spirit: ' This can be see n above a ll in prayers ~ ncl hymhs CQIlI1 - s erv.ice , thc deacon ,says , at , thc ', sanctifi cation o f ,~ the baptis ma l
a
cctcd':' with bapt.ism; h ere we often" find parallcJism drawn. ' bet- watcr,. ; H~w fea rful is this :: hour wh e n .,the!" living'i and ';H6ly
ween the ' creative activity: uf the H oly Spirit ov er -the pdmor'd ia l , Spirit ' ~ l'cl~.~',; d own ,from the uppe~mo s t ' heights!,a'n d' P hovers','
wate rs, on th e one' hand, and the : sa me cI'cative activity of the and d,~e ll s ~ on ("the: water;l ' sanctifying d t, just.. 'as;,the :Joqian.'s.
I, Spirit aVCl' th e &aptismal wa ters, ' wh ere the b a ptized become a.
, ,~ , I" " ,
streams !,wcre ' ~.~ nG tificd, [a,t lthe baptism ',oC',christ], . .. j h jt ~~ t !nl l
, • , \' , , '.', I ,
'new creation'. 1:'hlJ5 in olle of the Epiphany H)'lnns a ttributed , ",' I " ," . ~ " r; " • ,,' .. ' , , ( t'. , ,I, " 1/ 11 "~'
'1."It ,'I ,\.! "
to S, : 'Ephrem ' vc h a v e: Likewisc, ou tside rthe context of bapti s ~ and the ·,bap,tJ~ma~
litu rgYJ wc not infreq uentl y find th e Spirit dcscribed as 'hoy,ering',
At cr eati on th e Spirit h ove red over t h e wa t crs~
., where ' the ver b 'hover~ is derived fro m , th c Pes hitta" tcXt ' o f t
the y conceive d and gave birth to reptiles" fi sh 'and birds. Ge nesis' 1:2. Thus in .,l sevcral West Sy'rian Anaph oras " n9v#er~ I
The H oly Spirit. h as h ove red over th e bapt ism a l watel', is used as one of the ver bs d esc ribing the act,ivi ty of th s, llio1Yi
I.' ', a nd h as give n birth to eagles in sy mbo l, th a t is, to the vir- Spirit at th c Epiclesis. One such case' is the Syriac Ana phora
g ins and lead ers,. a sc ribed, to St. J ohn ,Chr y. ~,ostom .,(quite .dir[er~ '~\ JrolI!' \~?I Greek
, and to fishes in sy mbo l, that is, to th e ch as te a nti th e A nap hora ~lnd er I ~i s na,I?~) : ' , ,' : ' ' ' " " ,\ " ,
T he same id ea is also found in the IvIaronite baptism a l rit e, ill The wordillg of ,this particular : e piclcsis ' co nven iently in-
th e course o f the long p ray er at the san ctifica ti on of the wa ter: tr oduces us to tlie other biblical p ~ssage und er; consideration in'
this sectio n, for the "vcrb 'oversh a d ow' is' derived from ' 'Luke!
As the H oly Spirit hovered over the waters at th e establish- 1: 3jJ :' "IJJe_Hol y -Spi.it-shall- come 'and ' the 'Rower 'o f the " M os t' ,
ment of cl'ca tion, so ma y your H ely Spir it,' 0 L ord, h ove r High sh a ll overshadow' ("nagg'<fn" ) you'. '" I' ,, ; , '
over this baptis ma~ wat cr which is ~ spiritual womb, a nd j ',' j ' " ,:' " ' , I.J"," if " " i t '''i '
m a y he rcst upon it and sanctify it and makc' it fruitfuJ ,'P h e S y ri~c verb uscd to ' translato the 9 re ek : wor:d ·herc ,fo ri
w ith the h eavc n ly Adam, i~ place of th e carthly Ad a m. 'pve r s h a d O, w'~ . is a very interesting o nc" f01:' it has 'a background
in Jewish ~raI!laic' l ,The ver b "aggen" occ u rs a ',~ numbe r o f
The pa ra llelism betwecn th e watcrs at creation a nd th e limes in the Jewish Ara m a ic translat ions of the Heb rew " Bible ,
baptismal water is richly sugges ti ve, but it is rarely b ro u ght out almost, a lways in the co ntext of God' s salvi fi e act ivi ty. The
in, a n e~pJi c it wa:y--pe,'haps as a result of the different :e xegesis . Syriac ' translators ,of the ' New, Testam'e n t evideiltl r i? herited the
o f GenesJs 1:2 w}lIc h dominated ,the ' Schools "of Edcssa N isibis. ter,m from , J ewish Aramaic, and used it in a. numbc r( o f 1different !
But 'very often we do find the - pa"al'lcl,' s m vcstrg
' . .J: II_r."_p,illcnt,
' - passagcs, including ,
Luk.e l: 3.5 , :.Among
' I
·the 'othe
'
r passages !where
t
i ::
Ij ,
SO Tho Bible in tho Syriac Trodit io n
Th e ' use o f th e Syr. Bible in Liturgy 81
the transla tors, employed this verb c:aglScnH al'e John 1:14 (w hcroc
," . the Greek has (The Word dwelt, or ta bernacled , among us')
over thc eucharistic Orferings. In his Commentary on the Li-
turgy the Syrian Orthodo~ writer rvloshe' bar Kcpha says
I,':i and Acts 10:44 and 11 :15 ("here t he G :eek h ,. ; the Spirit feel
q upon ... ·). " Just a s th"Holy Spirit 'descended to the' womb ' of M ary
(as the angel ,said, 'for the · Holy Spirit. ,hall come ... ·) .
A3 wa~ the case with Genesis 1:2, ;'10 too with Luke 1: 35 and. made the body of God the Word from the nesh of
there' has ' been a dilTercnc:c of opinion -about its precise interpre- the Virgin, so too the Spirit descends on the bread
tation. Is 'the Power of the ~lost Hig h" the same as 'the Holy and wine on the 'altar a nd ' mak ~s them; into ' the Body
Spirit' carlier: in thc' verse, or is the Powcr 1tO 'l be)dcntified as and the ' B1oo d 'ofGod the Word ,vhich originated ' from
the divine 'Word? On the whole onc can say ch,a t East Syrian tIC · . ' J' "' . , .··r·
I V lrgul. ' .J . . '..," ' , . J
I "; II :'" ' ( If' I 1 . "-'
" .\ 1
. t; ~ r· t~ I . ~
exegetical tradition identified the Power as a synonym for t';-;- ;, I
The implications of this implicit parallelism between the
Holy Spirit, . while West Syrian tradition normally understood
Annunctation I a nd · tI~e I Eut:haris~t . are impqr~.ant. ·, At, $c~ Annull":"
'the Power of the Most High' to refer to the ,p re -existent " Tord;
sevcr~l ex~eptio'ns can,; h~cvcr, be -'fou~d ' to :this p~ttcrn of il1- - cjatio~ .lvlary's , williqg tco~operation .with J t~e~j Spir!!~:,! f,.e~.t;tltf.<:\·; ~~ .
lerpfetation illl,. both ' traditions. !! In the' casc o(th'c ! yV est Syrjal~; the hl,fth' ~fl'om . h~.r.,o~ q<?)d .thp ,t W?r~; 1 ~t., t ~c J: ~~y~~&.~~e~.~
tradition' it " is ' c lear that the Peshiua's use': of thc"\ ame verb, arc tv.'o !· dl,(rercllt ~asp",cc~s _of. tl~e /lactJvl:y. ; I of '. the.\ ~~I[l!~~t.\1¥f."
d'aggen'" at John '·1:11 h~s been influential, ; foJ' t here ·the W ord throllg h th.e CI~urch' s fmthf~l ~ ~o~op~ra~lOn,. With the . ~~'?~$~P.U·I~
• . " .
;i ' subject of the verb.
I
' . at the EPlclcS1S, the eucharlstJ c Olfcnngs · arc·, transfoWl~qi'an9.
becom e the Body and Blood of . Christ; secbndly, if those- wh~
,; '. " . ' ~ ,• ' . ' . . '. • • 'ff " , . . •. . J.·cccivc 1,Coml1}union t, imitate :1 Mary!s !w~l~ ~.ng "s:.o-operaliona, wit~
In view· of'this difference over -the intqrprctation of Luke the Holy Spirit;; they. to<'> , will ·give :birth (:spirit,!~lly., to·IGo!;1·t!,e .
Word . . ',Thus :the : eighth,~~~tlJrY'~ .East:L~yrla'" .~ystjcj Josepli .
I :35, one would expect to find n:minisccnccs 'of Luke :1:35, 'whc'rc "
th.e . , Holy. ' Spirit
. "
,is" " understood' to
.
be the . subject
,. , I
of thc
,
verb thc " ,Visionary l writes' 'hi a)fpray'cr~to be' •.J:-e cited 'befqre ~Cdmm.'"
rover~J:ta.~qw~,. ,only in, ~as t Syria n liturgical texts, and not in l
llniori ~ rlvlay! I receive y·ou;·JLord ;\ not intqn; the ' stom~-cli \:which
West Syrian . ones. This, howe ver, is not the case, and in fact
helongs to the body's limbs, but into the womb of 'my mind ,
we 'f ind many such rcminiscences in both liturg ical ~~'aditions,
so th at YOLI may be conceived there, as in th e womb of thc--
,. ..
,
V!rgiJ~' .
It is. particularly significant wherl reminhcencc;s of Luke
I :35 occur in! the· Epiclesis of the ·Eucharistic . I:iturgy. , , In the, Syriac liturgical texts , are full of,; such. biblica.! r,e ImIll,
East Syrian liturgical tradition this occurs in the .J=:ast Syrian ~cences, ,and the . theological .. ,richness of these texts , w~ll only
Anaphora of .T heodorc, where the ' invocation , opens ·with the become ' truly apparent when . these reminiscences and ag,-!sions>
words 'May the grace of the H o ly Spirit come upon . us and arc recogn ized. Sometimes these allusions refer to twording
upon this offering and reside in :l.nd overshadow this bread .. . ' wbich is found uniquely)n the Peshitta (this l applies .tq ,. som~
~ In ' \'\'est" Syria.n . Anaphoras . the use of .rovershado\v\ , in ·the epj-;. extent, l,·at ,· least; to ! the . two .-, :e~~mpJ~s._;q~o.t~d, .. abR~c; I ~t.' al~9
clesis " is esp~cially common, and thc .: :example: quoted i above, applies notably to the form o("th~ .San~ tusJ ,in tqe; Syriap ,Ji.t urgics,
, from ·the 'Anaphora of St. John Chrysoitom; ·... onlyone· out of, for the wording 'heaven and earth arc',' f~ll . of his '{praises" ,
many 'Anaphoras where rovershadow' is used at ·this, point~ "" 1 th\~·I P.Cshittaotextl
\(ra ther than: 'his "' glory')" ' is' : taken :..l· froID '· "of
'/' '. , : " '.~ < " .. ,f,. : J: , ~saiah ' 6:3). ·- Because Syriac ' liturgical prayers. r~d ;hymns.are ,so
·The use of the word rovershadow' 'in the epiclcsis ' dtJi. '. soaked in the phraseology of the ,syriac Bible, we can accordingly
berately draws ' attention to the important paralleHsm I between sec the 'importance of ; having translations" based' on the :j Pc:shitta
the activity of the Spirit over l'vIary and the activity of the Spi.r it for the purposes of liturgical readings from' the Bible. ', :
,. . I . , " /lJ ;: :~' : ,
,.
T he Deshi tta as th e Basis .fo r " " ,83
. • I •~ ' " $ J :> : "•
II
II
!
84 The Bib le in th e Syriac Trad it io n
though the Hebrew, Cree k and S)'riac texts there spc:lk or t~p r. AI'PEN[)!X: SOME SI\~·[PL E TRANSLATIONS FROM
ments of skin' being provided for Adam a nd Eve, the J ew ish THE SYR lAC BIBLE
.Aramaic translat ion, kn ow n as the T d rgum , interpre ts [hem ,H r
'garments of honour/glory '; similarly, a famous Rab bi, Rabbi I , The following passage, J ohn 6: I -12, ill ustra tes the l{clation-
!vIcir, is said to have ha d a Hebrew text which re ad 'gar ments ship betwee n the two O ld Syriac manusc ripts, S [Sinaiticus] and
.of light H( 'o r )" J instead of (garments of skin tt( 'or)" ' . Accord. C [Curcton ian L a nd the Peshitta [£1]. For much of the time th e),
jog to this in ter pretation these ga rments of glory or lig h t be. arc nearly identical, but towards th e e nd, especially, there a re
longed to Adam a nd Eve " before " th e Fall WhCI'C ' l S accord- places w here they differ. T he translation is deliberatel y very
ing to th e normal translat ion, 'gar men ts of skin' J ; hcv were li tera l; ( __ ) denotes wo rd s supplied for the sa ke of English idiom;
g iven to them "aftcr " the Fall (the Hebrew text could "be in- ( .. ] denotes passages where S is illeg ible.
terpreted either way, as far as the point in lime is co ncer ned ).
Although the Syriac translato rs of the Pcshitta did not introduce John 6: I SCI' After t hese things ou r Lord (Jesus CP) WC lll to
this idca at Genesis 3:21, they do a llude to it in so me other t he far sid e of t he lake (sea P) of Gali lee -o f Tiberias, 2 and
passages; thus at Psalm 8:6 th e Peshitta has 'you (God ) c reated t here we n t after him a great crowed ( m any crowds P), for th ey
man a little less than th e angc ls; in honoU1: and g lo r y did were seeing the signs w hich he was performing upon (all P) the
you tfclot hc" him' (t he Heb rcw anti [he Greek boLil have s ick. 3 And our Lo rd (Jesus CP) we nt up to the mount ai n, and
rcrown him' , not 'clothe him') ' Likewise at Psalm 132 :1 6 the ( here he \Vas sitting with his disciples.
~es hilta (bu t no t the Hebrew an d Gn.:e k) speaks o( 'glory' <l!i 4 S And t here was close at hand the Feast of Un leavcm·d
" th e clothing of th e just. (n th e Peshitta New Tcstamt: nt the
I• Bread of t he J ews.
~ra n s la tors have int roduced thc idea o f the ~n ca l'nati OIl as 'P Utl- 4 C Anq ther,e was close at hand Pesakh) the Feast orthe J ews,
,m g on th e body' ,at two places in the Letter to the H ebrcws: 4 P Now there was close at hand, the Feast of Pasc ha of the
at H ebrews 5:7 Christ is desc ri bed as 'being clothed in flcsh' Jc'~s;
(th e Gree k has ' in the da ys o f h is n es h ~); and at Hebrews 10:5 5 SC I' And our l.ord (.Jesus CP) lifted u p his eyes and saw "
'(where ' Psalm 40 is q uoted as a prophecy of Christ) t ltc SY" iac great crow d (C many crowd s) th a t had com e to him . And
has 'You clothcd me in a bod y' , whe r eas the Greek has 'YOli (S omi ts) he said to Philip, From w here sha ll we ' buy bread for
prepared a body COI- me'_ these people to cat (C so that these people m ay eat; P for these
- "~e have a lready secn the im portance o f t he term Hag-gen ,i t o cat)? 6 Now he as if testing him asked him (P Now this he
_(lJqscd cSp'e~i a ll y_ on Luke _ 1:35 and J ohn 1: I'f) in t he Syriae said , testing him); [or he himself knew' w hat he was going to do.
litu rgica l tradiL ion . In so me later Syriac writers (notably St. Philip said to him, Two hun dred denarii of bread is !Iot surf'ici·
I saac of ~ in evc h ) the ter m al,'1O ' became: an impor tant one .for c nt lor them, though th ey cal vcry littlc : (P th ough ca~h one take
.des.cl'ibing the , transror mi[~g ,action of the H o ly Spirit o n' the m· very Iiltle). ' . _ ,_ -r
Jcnor .: ra lttti· of thc hcal'.t~. ' . ;.' , .. 8 One of his disci ples said to hi m, whose name was Andre,~
All these terms ' a rc based 'on so m e distin ctive i'ca turc to (C P Andrew was his name), the b rot her of Simon ,Kcpha:, ,
'bc' found only 'in 'the S\' d ac Bible. 'There 'a l:e, of ·cou rse. man y 9 5 On a boy thcre is here fivc loaves of barley a nd tWo fishes,
:oth<: .. ' biblic~I' tCrms '~ h icH nrc likewise ' charactcl"istic of Syri ,tc 9 C ,There is a boy h~re who has on him fiyc ,loaves of barley ,
'spiritua lity, but th e~e nre also 'to be found in the G reek and a nd two fi shes', " :
H cbrc\v, as \vell 'a s in" th'e 9 P There is here a boy who has on hi T. nv~ lo a v~s o f ba rle y
Syriac Bible.
• 1 ~
' and tw p fj shes, " ii I
'F urther inr~rmation ' o n t~ is subject can be (ound in th ~ S but for all til cse what w ill ~ h cy d~'~ ,.
Course on Syriac Sp irilli nli i: y . 00 ci") but w hat will these d o for a ll t hese?
~:
86 The Bible in t he Sy ria c Traditio n
J
"
l OS H e said to th e m, ~'I akc th e peop le rcclin~. N ow th en: was Appendix: Some Sample Tran slations .... 87
"
I
mu ch
10 C Jesus said, Co, make the peop le reclin e b y g roups. Now
th ere was mu c h
S loaves of ba rl ey and those two fishes. Now the me n who
10 P were eating of this brea d were five thousand.
Jesus sa id to th c m ~ Get a ll these t? recline. Now th e re
was mu ch C (pi'cc~s) of ba rle y bread, what w'as left over by 'those who
s ate .
g ra ss in th e place. H e sa id to Ihc':JlJ Co. . nuke th e people
recline on the ' P . by those who ate from the five (pieces of ) bread.
C grass ill th at place. Alld th e peop le ,"cclined , ia Ilumber
fi ve thousand . 2. Peter 3:9 - 21.
P grass in the place. And the men recl ined , in number fi ve
thousa nd. The Pcs hitta is quite o ften offers an interpretative transla-
II S tion in the Le tte rs of Paul, J a mes an d Peter. If one co mpares
And whe n th ey had 11I :~dc th em reclill e, then Jeslis too k
th ose five the ft)ll owing t rans la ti on fr om th e Peshitta with one of the
II C stand ar d English translations fro m the G ree k, onc will di scover
And J esus tonk those
a n umber o f 3mall differences .
II P And .Jes us lOl)k the
S (pieces o f) brea d and t he two fishp.s, a nd he raised his
[cye:] (, hea ve n cr l Pete r 3:9" For the reason w hy you h ave bee n callcd is in
C (pi eces of) hread, or9-c r that you may inherit the blessing . , 10 Therefore, who-
P bread, ever wi shes for life (or: salvation) and dc s ire~ to sec good times,
S a nd hl essed a nd divided fo r his disciples [ J he should g uard his tongue from evil, .and J~t.l1i s lips not uller
~ n y deceit. 11 L e t ~ him cross over fr p m , ~vil, . and d o w,h a t is
C and blessed a nd gave.:: to those w h ~ 'wer"c rcci il ling . And
I Ji.kcwise also . good: let him seck for p eace, a nd run after. it. . 12 For the eyes
i' . P and blessed a nd di vid ed to tllose \ v 11 0 were . rec I'11l1llg
. . oCthe Lord arc upon the ri ghteous: his cars arc (there) to h ear
. And likewise a lso ' ' . them . . But the Lord' s face is (also) up on .the. wicked. .1 3 Who
S [' '. 1 will d o evil to you if you arc zealous for what is , good ? 1t And
C "\lith th e fj sh, a s mu c h as they wallted. if you shou ld suffer . for the sake of justice, hlcssed are you; and
~ from the fi sh, as mu c h as they wa nted. h fvc no fear . fOI~ ,t~o.se who'y 'y (0, r~ight~n , ryO\,~, al~d .' dd.not be
i 12 SCP And wh<:n t!l ~y were satisfied, he said ' to his disciples, upset. 15 Instead, cry (holy' to the Lord qhrist in your, hearts)
I' Gather tJ~ c fragments so, that nothing (P les t ' a'n ythin g; and be prepared t o m a ke a d efe nce to all ' who require ' of you
C + at a li i perish. .. some word concerning the . h ope of your faith, 16 (doing so) in
II 13 S And they g<:,-thered the ,fragment s w hi ch we re lert over fro~l humility and in fear, h av ing a goed consclencc,.so : that th ose
them ' " .who speak against you , as if aga inst ~vickcd -people, may be
13 C And ' th ey ga th e red asliamcd . as people who ~bu se y~ur beautiful , yay of Hfe in' Christ.
,! 13 P And they gathered 17 'Fo;' it is ~en,efic~a l ,for yo~ th ~t, while pcrfo ming gO!ld wOI'ks,
S a nd th ey fjIled tw elve b::t.ske ts with what was left over fl'om you sh ould endure ' ev il , if this IS the will of God, rather than
those five . '. ' (that this should happen ) when. you perform evil. 18. For Christ
G a nd th ey fil1cd tw elve b.lSkcts of fJ:agmcnts ' from the fi ve ,top pnce died for a liI' sin s: a just perso n on beha lf of sinners, in
I J> and they fHl ed twelve bas kets of fragm ents whic,h ·. were left
over
o rder to I~ ~ ing you close to God. H e both qied. in th e body and
came to life in spirit. · 19 And he p reac h ed to the sou ls which
were held in Slu'o l, 20 th e ones which of o ld h a d not been obedi-
ent in, the cla ys of Noah, when God's patience gave orders that
f8 Th e Bible in the Syriac Tradition
there should be th e Ark, in the hope of their repentance-but SYRIAC BIBLE "' " .,,:! ..
only eight so uls entered it and were saved in the water. 21 You
too in th at sa me manner (literally, type) arc alive (or: saved) ill Select Bibliography
I "
:I baptism-not washing your b ody of dirt, but acknow1edg ing God
i' w ith a pure conscience, and the re surrection of Jesus Christ who
A. EDITIONS
W;!S raised up to heave n. wh ere he is at the right hand of God;
(1) Entire Bible . (Pe'hitta)
:!Ild the .~ngcls , authorir ics and puwers have been subjected to .
him. G. Sionita (Paris Polyglot) (1645) I' ,
The expansion ill verse 20 is of particular interest, for the B. Walton (London Polyglot) ' (1657) ' , .
translator is clearly aware of the Jewish tradition (taken up by S. Lee (1823) > UBS (1979 apocrypha) +
Aphrahat and Ephrcm) that God provided a long time for the Vrmia edn (1852) > Joseph .de Kelayta; ·Trin. ,: Bible
hui lding of the Ark in order that everyone should have a chance
, Soc. 1913 .. : Ii; I :
(a) ,
"PESHITTA"
.. " , ~,
!I p;. . cdia article by th e E stonian Syriac sch~lar A. Vool>us, in the
Lciden Pcshitta Project:
I Supplcmclllill'Y volume to the I mcrprctcr's Dictionary of the
Bible ( 1976),848-5+. A mQre up to date one is to be published "Sample edition" [Cant. Tob. IV ' EzraJ ' (J966j
before long in the An e hol' Dictionary of the Bible. In Frenc h "V.T. Syriace" ;
there is ~ m orc detailed article hy evan Pu yve lde in the Dict-
.,
1.I Gen.-Ex. (1977), IlL!' Isaiah (198'1)
iOl1llairc de la Bible .. Supplement VI ( 1960), under the heading-
1I.2 Jud.--:Sam. (1978) Il!.3 Ezekiel (1985)
'Ori e ntales, versions'. All t hese i\'rtic1es also cover the Syriac ,'-
II.3 Psalms (1980) IIIA- XTI Proph. Dan
New I Testament as well.
II.>!' Kings (1976) ·· IV.3 ApocBar, IV£(1973)
For th e various Syriac vers ions o f the New Tcst.;u;ncnt ..
II.5 Prov.Wis.Qoh.Cant.(1979) IV. 6 Odes; Ap?cr.
there ,is a good c hapter ,in n. ~I. ~vl etzgcr, ,Early ,Versions of the
New Testament (1977). ILia J ob (198~! 'i \ 1'1. :';' ' . . . !,~s~S~~\ T?~; ~ , P) Ezra
Othcr t critic~I.e ditions : .. · 1. ' ;,. ,.' . ' ..~ ~ !"I: •
A more detai led Select Bibliography for the Syriac Bible
is available at SEER!. Pentateuch ·(W. B~rn~s, i914) ' !' . 'i '1 1'1'
in Section 6, sec S. Broc k, Sogiatha: Syriac Dialoguc · Hymns Wisdom ·of Solomon (j. -A: Emerton; ' 1959}·i
(The Syrian Churches Series XI, 1987; ed. Jacob .. Vcllian). " :~pocrypha (P. de Lagarde; :),861)
(d) CHR ISTIAN PALESTINIAN··ARAMAIC Un fragm"n t chr. -pal. ,decouvert ' a ' Khirbet Mird [Acts
10) , "RB" 70 (1 963 ) 506-55) .
i\,1. H. Gos hen-Gottstein, ti The Bible ii'l the Syro-Pales- • , t •
whole NT: BFBS 1920 and reprints, often wi t h' Psalll11- ) 6 (1 980) 181-96 . : .. ' " 1 :"., :! .;-1: ,'ifni)
The Wa y Internationa l, 1 98~ .... ,
"
(2) Old Testament
~ 1 i . I"; '11 • I. '1
(d) PHILOXEN!A!:r .. ;, .:. '. ' : . : . W. Barnes, On the ~ inf1ucnce ' of "the' LX;X 'on the Pe.
Catholic' ' Epistles ('Pococke ' Epp.' ): J, Gwynn" "Rem- '1 " jTS" 2 .(1901) . . " ,', ': " ', ;. ,
, .
J. Bloch, "The 'influence of the Greek Bible
" . I.": :, !
on the Pc,
, ': 1' '/ '"
min ts of Later Sy"iac Versioits' '' ,(.1909) · :: .
" AjSL" 36 (1 919 /20) , . '
Apocalypse ('Crawforcl Apoc .:): J. Gwynn, ( 1897 ).
"id", The a uthorsh ip of the Pe. " AJSL" 35 (1 918 /9 )
(e) . HARKLEAN ';". I. Hid", Printed editions of the Pe OT, " A]SL" 37 (1 92011 )
J. Wliite ( 1778f.,2 vols; ' ;'n '. tide wrongly. ca lled 'Philox- S . .1'. Brock; Jewish traditions in Syriac sources, " JJ8"
iana' ): ' Apocal)'p.e:· Voabus ( 19.78),', Catho lic Epp, Aland · 30 ( 1979) , \1' -" ,\
., ,. )~i·' (7 " \1 ) ~ib},i,~.gI"p'~r., ?~'
92 The Bible in the Syriac Tradition ri.
Hid", review of Voobus, "Pesch. und Targ". , in rrJSS" A. Voobus, ('Studies in. the history of thc Gospel text
6 (196 1) in" Syriac (1951) . .
des AT" (AI!t. Abh. I i: I ,
\:~1.
: L. Baefdi, "Die Peschitta id., " Early versions of the NT" (1954). ·
1927) oid. ' 'Syrioc Versions' in 'lOB' Supplem . Vol. (1976)
S. Isenberg, On the .Jewish Palestinian or ig!ns o f the S: P. 'BROCK, The resolution or
the, Phi/oxonlon/Horkleon
'\
,
Pe to the Pentateuch, "lBL" 90 (1971) problem', in :'Essoys in honour or
B.' M. 'Metzgh (1981)
'I .,
M. D. Koster, "The Peshitta of Exodus" (1 977), Part
I. C and VI.
c. TOOLS ·
,' E: Levinc, The Syriac version of Ocn 4, . (rVT" 26 InSS. "List of OT Peshitta Manuscripts" (Lciden 1961)
(1976 ) 70-8. J.T, Clemons, " An index of Sy.riac mss containing the
Epp . and Apocalypse;, (Studies and Documents 33, 1968)
Y. Maori, "The Pcshilta version of the Pent. (1 ~75J
J. 'Pcrlc~, "~'lelctemata Pcschitoni t.lna, (1859) carly editions: E. N estlc, "Syriac Grammar with biblio-
'- graphy. (pp. 17- 30 of ' Litteratura Syriaca ' ).
' .. . .J.
Pinkerton , Origin and car ly history of the Syriac
Pent. "JTS" 15 ' (1914). ' lexicon/concord ance: C. Schaaf, HLcx icon syria cum con-
.I. P.M. van der Ploeg, The Pc of the OT, "OCA" 18G
(1 970 ) /t
. '
cordantiale" . (Leidcn 1709) [NT only)
.-
94 The Bi b le in the Syr iac Tradit io n
id, C . T. Fritsch & S . Jellicoc, "A C lassified Biblio- " Vi rtua ll y all carly biblical translat ions arc basica ll y text·
graphy of the SeptuaJ>int" (1 973 ), 189- 94. [01' books ori ented, ratlle r tha n rca dcr· o riCp. 1Cd" . Explai n.
trn nsl froUt Gree k: i c Ap oc rypha, S yh, Jac. Ed. and CPA]
. . : ' 2 \Vh at are the consequences of the distinction between sc rip~
tural authentic ity an d literary authen ti city, which have affcc ...
ted the translations of the Dible?
3 ''''rite short notcs on:
I. Pcshina 2. Diate s~mron 3. Early Sy l'iac Commentaries
the Bible 4. Biblica l In ter pretat ion in th e.: Syriac Tradi-
0 11
ti on.
', ..'
4 BI'icfly describe some o f th e mo st importa nt featu res eharac·
tt.r istic of the Syriae tradition in the use of the Striae Bible
for pre~\ehing.
"
000