Peshitta
| Peshitta | |
|---|---|
.jpg) 9th-century manuscript | |
| Full name | ܡܦܩܬܐ ܦܫܝܛܬܐ mappaqtâ pšîṭtâ |
| Other names | Peshitta, Peshittâ, Pshitta, Pšittâ, Pshitto, Fshitto |
| OT published | 2nd century |
| NT published | 3rd-5th century [1] |
| Translation type | Syriac language |
| Religious affiliation | Syriac Christianity |
ܒܪܵܫܝܼܬܼ ܒ̣ܪܵܐ ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ ܝܵܬ݂ ܫܡܲܝܵܐ ܘܝܵܬ݂ ܐܲܪܥܵܐ ܘܐܲܪܥܵܐ ܗ̣ܘܵܬ݂ ܬܘܿܗ ܘܒ݂ܘܿܗ ܘܚܸܫܘܿܟ݂ܵܐ ܥܲܠ ܐܲܦܲܝ̈ ܬܗܘܿܡܵܐ ܘܪܘܼܚܹܗ ܕܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ ܡܪܲܚܦܵܐ ܥܲܠ ܐܲܦܲܝ̈ ܡܲܝ̈ܵܐ ܘܐܸܡ̣ܲܪ݂ ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ: ܢܸܗ̣ܘܸܐ ܢܘܼܗܪܵܐ ܘܲܗ̣ܘܵܐ ܢܘܼܗܪܵܐ
ܗܵܟ݂ܲܢܵܐ ܓܹܝܪ ܐܲܚܸܒ݂ ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ ܠܥܵܠܡܵܐ ܐܲܝܟܲܢܵܐ ܕܠܲܒ݂ܪܸܗ ܝܼܚܝܼܕ݂ܵܝܵܐ ܢܸܬܸܠ ܕܟ݂ܿܠ ܡ̇ܲܢ ܕܲܡܗܲܝܡܸܢ ܒܸܗ ܠܵܐ ܢܹܐܒ݂ܲܕ݂ ܐܸܠܵܐ ܢܸܗܘܘܼܢ ܠܸܗ ܚܲܝܹ̈ܐ ܕܲܠܥܵܠܲܡ | |
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The Peshitta (
Classical Syriac: ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ or ܦܫܝܼܛܬܵܐ pšīṭta) is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church,[2] the Chaldean Catholic Church,[3] the Syriac Catholic Church,[4] the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Malabar Independent Syrian Church (Thozhiyoor Church), the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Syro-Malabar Church
.
The consensus within biblical scholarship, although not universal, is that the
Harklean Version (616 CE) of Thomas of Harqel.[7][8][9] The New Testament of the Peshitta often reflects the Byzantine text-type, although with some variations.[10][11]
Etymology
Peshitta is derived from the
Aramaic, originating around Edessa. It is written in the Syriac alphabet and is transliterated into the Latin script
in a number of ways, generating different spellings of the name: Peshitta, Peshittâ, Pshitta, Pšittâ, Pshitto, Fshitto. All of these are acceptable, but Peshitta is the most conventional spelling in English.
Brief history
The Peshitta had from the 5th century onward a wide circulation in the East, and was accepted and honored by the whole diversity of sects of Syriac Christianity. It had a great missionary influence: the Armenian and Georgian versions, as well as the Arabic and the Persian, owe not a little to the Syriac. The famous
London Polyglot
. For long the best edition of the Peshitta was that of John Leusden and Karl Schaaf, and it is still quoted under the symbol "Syrschaaf", or "SyrSch".
New Testament
In a detailed examination of Matthew 1–14, Gwilliam found that the Peshitta agrees with the Textus Receptus only 108 times and with the Codex Vaticanus 65 times. Meanwhile, in 137 instances it differs from both, usually with the support of the Old Syriac and the Old Latin, and in 31 instances it stands alone.[12]
A statement by Eusebius that Hegesippus "made some quotations from the Gospel according to the Hebrews and from the Syriac Gospel," means we should have a reference to a Syriac New Testament as early as 160–180 CE, the time of that Hebrew Christian writer. The translation of the New Testament has been admired by Syriac scholars, who have deemed it "careful, faithful, and literal" with it sometimes being referred to as the "Queen of the versions".[13]
Critical edition of the New Testament
The standard
adultery pericope (John 7:53–8:11). The 1979 Syriac Bible, United Bible Society, uses the same text for its New Testament. The Online Bible
reproduces the 1905 Syriac Peshitta NT in Hebrew characters.
Translations
- English
- John Wesley Etheridge – A Literal Translation of the Four Gospels From the Peschito, or Ancient Syriac and The Apostolical Acts and Epistles From the Peschito, or Ancient Syriac: To Which Are Added, the Remaining Epistles and The Book of Revelation, After a Later Syriac Text (1849).
- James Murdock – The New Testament, Or, The Book of the Holy Gospel of Our Lord and God, Jesus the Messiah (1851).
- George M. Lamsa – The Holy Bible From the Ancient Eastern Text (1933) – Contains both the Old and New Testaments according to the Peshitta text. This translation is better known as the Lamsa Bible. He also wrote several other books on the Peshitta and Aramaic primacy such as Gospel Light, New Testament Origin, and Idioms of the Bible, along with a New Testament commentary. To this end, several well-known Evangelical Protestant preachers have used or endorsed the Lamsa Bible, such as Oral Roberts, Billy Graham, and William M. Branham.
- Janet Magiera – Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation, Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation – Messianic Version, and Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Vertical Interlinear (in three volumes) (2006). Magiera is connected to George Lamsa.
- The Way International – Aramaic-English Interlinear New Testament
- William Norton – A Translation, in English Daily Used, of the Peshito-Syriac Text, and of the Received Greek Text, of Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, and 1 John: With An Introduction On the Peshito-Syriac Text, and the Received Greek Text of 1881 and A Translation in English Daily Used: of the Seventeen Letters Forming Part of the Peshito-Syriac Books. William Norton was a Peshitta primacist, as shown in the introduction to his translation of Hebrews, James, I Peter, and I John.
- Gorgias Press – Antioch Bible, a Peshitta text and translation of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Apocrypha. 35 volumes.
- Malayalam
- Andumalil Mani Kathanar – Vishudha Grantham. New Testament translation in Malayalam.
- Mathew Uppani C. M. I – Peshitta Bible. Translation (including Old and New Testaments) in Malayalam (1997).
- Arch-corepiscopos Curien Kaniamparambil – Vishudhagrandham. Translation (including Old and New Testaments) in Malayalam.
Manuscripts
Although physical evidence has yet to be found, 18th-century Maronite Orientalist Giuseppe Assemani[15] stated in his Bibliotheca Orientalis that a Syriac Gospel dated 78 CE was found in Mesopotamia.[16][17][18]
The following manuscripts are in the British Archives:
- British Library, Add. 14470– complete text of 22 books of the New Testament, from the 5th/6th century
- Rabbula Gospels – a 6th-century illuminated Syriac Gospel Book[19]
- Khaboris Codex – a 10th century complete Peshitta New Testament[20]
- Codex Phillipps 1388 – a Syriac manuscript on parchment containing text of the four Gospels dated Palaeographically to the 5th/6th centuries[21]
- British Library, Add. 12140 – a 6th century manuscript on parchment containing text from the four Gospels[22]
- British Library, Add. 14455 – a 6th century heavily damaged manuscript containing parts of the four Gospels[24]
- British Library, Add. 14669 – a 6th century manuscript containing fragments of Luke and Mark.[25]
See also
References
Citations
- ^ "Peshitta | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
- ^ Assemani, Maronite Light from the East for the Church and the World
- ^ Introduction To Bibliology: What Every Christian Should Know About the Origins, Composition, Inspiration, Interpretation, Canonicity, and Transmission of the Bible
- ^ Studia Humana Volume 2:3 (2013), pp. 53—55
- ^ Sebastian P. Brock The Bible in the Syriac Tradition St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute, 1988. Quote Page 13: "The Peshitta Old Testament was translated directly from the original Hebrew text, and the Peshitta New Testament directly from the original Greek"
- ^ Metzger, Bruce M. (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission and Limitations. Oxford University Press. p. 57–58.
The hypothesis that the Peshitta version of the New Testament was made by or for Rabbula, bishop of Edessa, probably in the early years of his episcopate, which extended from A.D. 411 to 435 (...) The hypothesis of the Rabbulan authorship of the Peshitta New Testament soon came to be adopted by almost all scholars, being persuaded perhaps more by the confidence with which Burkitt propounded it than by any proof other than circumstantial evidence.
- ISBN 0-8028-3784-0.
Printed editions of the Peshitta frequently contain these books in order to fill the gaps. D. Harklean Version. The Harklean version is connected with the labors of Thomas of Harqel. When thousands were fleeing Khosrou's invading armies, ...
- ^ Kiraz, George Anton (2002) [1996]. Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels: Aligning the Old Syriac Sinaiticus, Curetonianus, Peshitta and Harklean Versions (2nd ed.). Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press.
- ^ Kiraz, George Anton (2004) [1996]. Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels: Aligning the Old Syriac Sinaiticus, Curetonianus, Peshitta and Harklean Versions (3rd ed.). Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press.
- ISBN 0-19-826170-5.
- ISBN 978-1-62032-097-6.
- ^ Bruce M. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission and Limitations (Oxford University Press 1977), p. 50.
- ^ "Syriac Versions of the Bible, by Thomas Nicol". www.bible-researcher.com. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
- ^ Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium: Subsidia Catholic University of America, 1987 "37 ff. The project was founded by Philip E. Pusey who started the collation work in 1872. However, he could not see it to completion since he died in 1880. Gwilliam,
- ^ "Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn / De Scriptoribus Syris Monophysitis". digitale-sammlungen.ulb.uni-bonn.de. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
- ^ Michaelis, Johann David (1793). Introduction to the New Testament, tr., and augmented with notes (and a Dissertation on the origin and composition of the three first gospels) by H. Marsh. 4 vols. [in 6 pt.].
- ^ Norton, William (1889). A Translation, in English Daily Used, of the Peshito-Syriac Text, and of the Received Greek Text, of Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, and 1 John: With an Introduction on the Peshito-Syriac Text, and the Revised Greek Text of 1881. W.K. Bloom.
This sacred book was finished on Wed., the 18th day of the month Conun, in the year 389.
- ^ Taylor, Robert; Smith, John Pye (1828). Syntagma of the evidences of the Christian religion. Being a vindication of the Manifesto of the Christian evidence society, against the assaults of the Christian instruction society through their deputy J.P.S. [in An answer to a printed paper entitled Manifesto &c.]. Repr. p. 32.
This sacred book was finished on Wed., the 18th day of the month Conun, in the year 389.
- ^ Peers, Glenn, Review of Bernabò
- ^ Crawford, Gerrit (15 June 2012). "PhD". Why Again. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- ^ Metzger, Bruce M. (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission and Limitations. Oxford University Press. p. 50.
- ^ Wright (2002), William (1870). Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum. p. 49.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Metzger, Bruce M. (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission and Limitations. Oxford University Press. p. 51.
- ^ Wright (2002), William (1870). Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum. p. 45.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Wright (2002), William (1870). Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum. p. 67.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Sources
- Brock, Sebastian P. (2006) The Bible in the Syriac Tradition: English Version Gorgias Press LLC, ISBN 1-59333-300-5
- Dirksen, P. B. (1993). La Peshitta dell'Antico Testamento, Brescia, ISBN 88-394-0494-5
- Flesher, P. V. M. (ed.) (1998). Targum Studies Volume Two: Targum and Peshitta. Atlanta.
- ISBN 0-06-064923-2.
- Pinkerton, J. and R. Kilgour (1920). The New Testament in Syriac. London: British and Foreign Bible Society, Oxford University Press.
- Pusey, Philip E. and G. H. Gwilliam (1901). Tetraevangelium Sanctum iuxta simplicem Syrorum versionem. Oxford University Press.
- Weitzman, M. P. (1999). The Syriac Version of the Old Testament: An Introduction. ISBN 0-521-63288-9.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Nicol, Thomas. "Syriac Versions" in (1915) International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peshitta.
- Peshitta New Testament (Dukhrana Biblical Research)
- Syriac Peshitta New Testament at archive.org
- Interlinear Aramaic/English New Testament also trilinear Old Testament (Hebrew/Aramaic/English)
- The Complete Peshitta on GitHub (Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer)
- The Complete Peshitta and many other resources on syriac language and literature (Department of Syriac Studies)
- Downloadable cleartext of English translations (Scripture.sf.net)
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