In the Gospel of Matthew 10 quotations from the Old Testament are introduced by a formula containing the verb πληροῦν. This article explores the rendering of 9 of these 10 quotations in 3 Syriac versions of the New Testament, namely the Peshitta and the 2 versions of the Old Syriac Gospels
In the Gospel of Matthew 10 quotations from the Old Testament are introduced by a formula containing the verb πληροῦν. This article will explore the rendering of these 10 quotations in 3 Syriac versions of the New Testament, namely the Peshitta and the 2 versions of the Old Syriac Gospels (
This article deals with biblical texts in Hebrew, Greek and Syriac, with the aim to trace the background of passages quoted from the Old Testament in the Old Syriac and Peshitta versions of Matthew. The form of the quotations in the Greek Matthew is related to the question of the sources used by Matthew for these quotations. The quotations could have been taken from an Old Testament text, but they could also have been abbreviated or adapted for the purpose of the evangelist. He could have used the quotations from a Hebrew text of the Old Testament or from the Greek (Septuagint). The 10 quotations under consideration come from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Zechariah and Psalms. Most of them are from Isaiah. The Hebrew text of the Old Testament had not been standardised at the time of the New Testament, so that one has to consider a different
As far as the form of the quotations in the Syriac texts is concerned, the history of the different Syriac versions must also be taken into account. In this regard, the article by Brock (
An important question in this regard is to what extent did the translators of the Old Syriac Gospels and the New Testament Peshitta make use of Tatian’s version of the quotations. Joosten (
Tatian consistently used the Old Testament Peshitta for the quotations, even in instances where the Old Testament Peshitta differs from the Greek.
The Old Syriac Gospels and the New Testament Peshitta independently used the Diatessaron, including the Old Testament Peshitta versions of the quotations.
The Syriac Gospels demonstrate an attempt to correct the Old Testament quotations on the basis of the Greek New Testament. This happens more in the New Testament Peshitta than in the Old Syriac Gospels.
Joosten does not discuss all the Old Testament quotations in the four Gospels, but gave special attention to those instances where the influence of the Old Testament Peshitta can be discerned.
In a later work, Joosten (
Shedinger (
As we do not have a Syriac text of the Diatessaron, the precise relationship between it and the later Syriac Gospels cannot be defined. However, this group of examples can be discussed without considering the issue of harmonisation, as these quotations only appear in Matthew.
The use of the fulfilment quotation is unique to Matthew (Beaton
Knowles (
New Testament Greek:
NIV:22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet:23 ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel.’
The first important point is to determine whether the New Testament quotes from the Hebrew or the Septuagint:
MT:
NIV: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call him Immanuel.
Septuagint:
Menken:
Most scholars are of the opinion that the New Testament uses the text of the Septuagint as basis in this instance (cf. Hagner
The Hebrew has a third person feminine form here (cf. Wildberger
The Old Testament Peshitta is the oldest of the four Syriac versions under discussion:
h’ btwlt’ bṭn’ wyld’ br’ wntqr’ šmh cmnw’l
Look, the virgin has conceived and will give birth to a son and his name will be called Immanuel.
This Syriac translation follows the Hebrew word order closely, but has some interesting renderings. It could have used the cognate
h’ btwlt’ tbṭn wt’ld br’ wntqr’ šmh cmnw’l
Look, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and his name will be called Immanuel.
h’ btwlt’ tbṭn wt’ld br’ wnqrwn’ šmh cmnw’l
Look, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call his name Immanuel.
The two Old Syriac texts differ in one instance only and the influence of the Peshitta Old Testament is clear. They use the vocabulary of the Peshitta Old Testament, but have two imperfects for the first two verbs, instead of the perfect and participle of the Old Testament Peshitta. They do not follow the Greek idiom of the Septuagint and New Testament Greek for being pregnant, but use the verb of the Peshitta Old Testament.
What is also interesting to note is that in the introductory formula before the quotation
Peshitta New Testament:
Look, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call his name Immanuel.
The New Testament Peshitta agrees in every aspect with the
All the texts follow the word order of the Hebrew closely. As far as lexical items are concerned, the choice of παρθένος in the Septuagint is very important. This is followed by the New Testament, and by the Syriac versions with
This example is interesting because of the way in which the New Testament applies a historical statement in the Old Testament to an event in the life of Jesus (cf. Menken
New Testament: Ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἐκάλεσα τὸν υἱόν μου.
NIV: Out of Egypt I called my son.
MT:
NIV: And out of Egypt I called my son.
Septuagint (text from Ziegler
And from Egypt I called his children.
A comparison of the Hebrew and Greek Old Testament and the New Testament makes it quite clear that the New Testament follows the Hebrew here and not the Septuagint (cf. Hagner
Peshitta Old Testament (text from Gelston
wmn mṣryn qryth bry
And from Egypt I called my son.
The Old Testament Peshitta follows the Hebrew, with just the addition of a suffix to the verb, following the normal Syriac idiomatic style:
dmn mṣryn qryt lbry
From Egypt I called my son.
mn mṣryn qryt lbry
From Egypt I called my son.
The only difference between these two texts is the ܕ at the beginning of the quotation, an inner-Syriac variant for indicating direct speech. Although the two texts use the same vocabulary as the Peshitta Old Testament, there are two differences, namely the omission of the suffix to the verb and the addition of the preposition, ܠ, before the object of the verb:
Peshitta New Testament:
dmn mṣryn qryt lbry
From Egypt I called my son.
The Peshitta New Testament agrees with the
The quotation of Jeremiah 31:15 in Matthew 2:18 is longer than the quotations in the two previous examples:
New Testament:
Φωνὴ ἐν Ῥαμὰ ἠκούσθη,
κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὀδυρμὸς πολύς·
Ῥαχὴλ κλαίουσα τὰ τέκνα αὐτῆς,
καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν παρακληθῆναι, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσίν.
NIV: A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.
MT:
NIV: A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.
Septuagint (text from Ziegler
Menken: A voice was heard in Ramah of wailing and weeping and lamentation: Rachel’s weeping would not cease for her sons, because they are no more.
The relationship between the quotation and the two Old Testament texts is not quite clear. The Masoretic text refers to the children of Rachel twice. The Septuagint has only the second reference. The Septuagint has καὶ before the second and third nouns, which refer to mourning; it has these three nouns in the genitive, connecting them to the
Menken (
The Peshitta of the Old Testament has a few interesting readings:
A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping over her children and she is not willing to be comforted because they are no more.
It adds ‘and’ between the first two nouns indicating mourning. However, it translates the third noun as an adjective with the second noun, ‘bitter weeping’. It uses a similar phrase as the Greek New Testament for the Hebrew of ‘to refuse’, namely
The contents of the two witnesses to the Old Syriac New Testament are exactly the same, but there are minor differences in the Syriac idiom:
A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and weeping and much groaning, the voice of Rachel weeping over her children and she is not willing to be comforted because they are no more.
A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and weeping and groaning, the voice of Rachel weeping over her children and she is not willing to be comforted because they are no more.
The New Testament Peshitta is very interesting in this instance:
ql’ ‘štmc brmt’ bkt’ w’ly’ sgy’’ rḥyl bky’ cl bnyh wl’ ṣby’ lmtby’w mṭl dlyt ‘ytyhwn
A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great lamentation. Rachel is weeping over her children and she is not willing to be comforted because they are no more.
The New Testament Peshitta clearly starts with a text very similar to the
This is again quite an extensive quotation, starting not with the beginning of the first sentence in the Masoretic text, but with the reference to the region of Zebulon and Naphtali, which is the main point of the quotation. The Masoretic text and the Septuagint show some important differences. Menken (
MT:
NIV: Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
Septuagint: 8:23 Τοῦτο πρῶτον ποίει, ταχὺ ποίει, χώρα Ζαβουλων, ἡ γῆ Νεφθαλιμ ὁδὸν θαλάσσης καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ τὴν παραλίαν κατοικοῦντες καὶ πέραν τοῦ Ιορδάνου, Γαλιλαία τῶν ἐθνῶν, τὰ μέρη τῆς Ιουδαίας.
9:1 ὁ λαὸς ὁ πορευόμενος ἐν σκότει, ἴδετε φῶς μέγα· οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν χώρᾳ καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου, φῶς λάμψει ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς
Menken:
Do this first, do it fast, land of Zebulon, land of Naphtali, toward the sea and the rest who dwell at the seashore and beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, districts of Judah.
You people that walk in darkness, see, a great light, you who dwell in the region and the shadow of death, light will shine upon you.
In the section that the New Testament quotes from Isaiah 8:23, the Septuagint places the verb first, repeats it and makes the verbs imperatives directed at Zebulon and Naphtali, whilst the Hebrew talks about what the Lord did to them. The Septuagint translates the two occurrences of
The quotation reads as follows in Matthew 4:15 and 16:
Γῆ Ζαβουλὼν καὶ γῆ Νεφθαλίμ, ὁδὸν θαλάσσης, πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, Γαλιλαία τῶν ἐθνῶν, ὁ λαὸς ὁ καθήμενος ἐν σκότει φῶς εἶδεν μέγα, καὶ τοῖς καθημένοις ἐν χώρᾳ καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου φῶς ἀνέτειλεν αὐτοῖς.
NIV: Land of Zebulon and land of Naphtali, the way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
The quotation does not have a verb at the beginning, but for the rest it agrees with the Masoretic text and not the Septuagint in Isaiah 8:23. It also follows the MT in Isaiah 9:1. It agrees with the rendering of the Septuagint of
The Peshitta Old Testament differs from the Hebrew only in two instances in Isaiah 8:23. Firstly, it reads
Peshitta Old Testament:
‘rc’ dzbwlwn w’rc’ dnptly w’wḥdn’ cšn ‘wrḥ’ dym’ cbrwhy dyrdnn nhr’ glyl’ dcmm’ Cm’ dmhlkyn bḥšwk’ ḥzw nwhr’ rb’ wdytbyn b’rc’ dṭlly mwt’ nwhr’ dnḥ clyhwn
Land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, and the dominion prevailed, the way of the Sea, beyond the River Jordan, Galilee of the nations —
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
those living in the land of the shadows of death,
a light has risen upon them.
The two manuscripts of the Old Syriac have some minor differences, mainly related to the Syriac idiom, but also some important variants:
Land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, the way of the Sea, beyond the River Jordan, Galilee of the nations –
The people living in darkness
has seen a great light;
and those living in the shadows of death,
a great light has risen upon them.
Land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, the way of the Sea, beyond the River Jordan, Galilee of the nations –
The people living in darkness
has seen a light;
and those living in the place and the shadows of death,
a light has risen upon them.
The two Old Syriac texts follow the vocabulary of the Old Testament Peshitta in most cases, but adapt it in line with the Greek New Testament. They omit the phrase omitted in the Greek New Testament in verse 15. They follow the Old Testament Peshitta by adding “river” to the Jordan in verse 15.
In verse 15,
It is impossible to determine on the balance of evidence provided by this quotation alone whether
The Peshitta New Testament has the same text as
Peshitta New Testament:
Land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, the way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations –
The people living in darkness
has seen a great light;
and those living in the place and the shadows of death,
a light has risen upon them.
This quotation is shorter than the previous one:
New Testament: Αὐτὸς τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἔλαβεν καὶ τὰς νόσους ἐβάστασεν.
NIV: He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.
Masoretic text:
NIV: Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering.
Septuagint: οὗτος τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν φέρει καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται
Menken: He took our sicknesses, and carried our diseases.
It is quite evident that the New Testament follows the Masoretic text in this instance. Beaton (
The Old Testament Peshitta follows the Masoretic text, except for the object suffix to the final Hebrew verb. It adds the personal pronoun, third person, masculine singular to the second phrase:
Peshitta Old Testament:
ḥšyn hw sybr wk’byn hw sbl
Our suffering He bore and our pain he carried.
The two witnesses to the Old Syriac differ only in one instance, namely
dhw nsb k’byn wnšqwl kwrhnyn
For he took our pain and he carried our diseases.
dhw nsb mrcyn wnšqwl kwrhnyn
For he took our illnesses and he carried our diseases.
The Peshitta New Testament has the same first phrase as the Old Syriac, using the word for ‘pain’, like
dhw nsb k’byn wkwrhnyn nṭcn
For he took our pain and he carried our diseases.
It is clear that the Peshitta New Testament used a text similar to
This is quite an extended quotation that cannot be discussed in detail here. Because of the length, the translations are not given:
New Testament:
18Ἰδοὺ ὁ παῖς μου ὃν ᾑρέτισα, ὁ ἀγαπητός μου εἰς ὃν εὐδόκησεν ἡ ψυχή μου· θήσω τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν, καὶ κρίσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἀπαγγελεῖ.
19οὐκ ἐρίσει οὐδὲ κραυγάσει, οὐδὲ ἀκούσει τις ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ.
20κάλαμον συντετριμμένον οὐ κατεάξει καὶ λίνον τυφόμενον οὐ σβέσει, ἕως ἂν ἐκβάλῃ εἰς νῖκος τὴν κρίσιν.
21καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν.
MT:
Septuagint: 1Ιακωβ ὁ παῖς μου, ἀντιλήμψομαι αὐτοῦ· Ισραηλ ὁ ἐκλεκτός μου, προσεδέξατο αὐτὸν ἡ ψυχή μου· ἔδωκα τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπʼ αὐτόν, κρίσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐξοίσει. 2οὐ κεκράξεται οὐδὲ ἀνήσει, οὐδὲ ἀκουσθήσεται ἔξω ἡ φωνὴ αὐτοῦ.† 3κάλαμον τεθλασμένον οὐ συντρίψει καὶ λίνον καπνιζόμενον οὐ σβέσει, ἀλλὰ εἰς ἀλήθειαν ἐξοίσει κρίσιν. 4ἀναλάμψει καὶ οὐ θραυσθήσεται, ἕως ἂν θῇ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κρίσιν· καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν.
Menken:
1Jacob my servant, I shall uphold him,
Israel my chosen, my soul has accepted him;
I have given my Spirit upon him,
He will bring forth justice to the gentiles.
2 He will not shout or raise (his voice), nor will his voice be heard outside.
3 He will not break a shattered reed And he will not quench a smoking wick,
But faithfully he will bring forth justice.
4 He will flame up and not be shattered,
Until he sets justice on earth,
And in his name the gentiles will hope.
In the last line, Ziegler (
Without going into every detail, it is quite evident that Matthew does not use the Septuagint in this instance. There are many differences between the texts (cf. Beaton
The Peshitta Old Testament follows the Hebrew quite closely, although minor differences in vocabulary and word order occur:
Peshitta Old Testament:
1
2
3
4
1 Look at my servant whom I support, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights, I have given my spirit upon him who will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout and he will not cry out and not let his voice be heard on the street.
3 A bruised reed he will not break and a flickering wick he will not quench. In faithfulness he will bring justice forth.
4 He will not falter or flicker until he establishes justice on earth. On his teaching (law) the islands will hope.
The two Old Syriac witnesses are quite close to one another. In Matthew 12:19,
18
19
20
21
18 For look at my servant whom I delight in, my beloved, whom my soul desires, I have put my soul upon him who will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not shout and he will not cry out and nobody will hear his voice in the street.
20 A bruised reed will not be broken and a flickering wick he will not quench until justice goes forth to victory.
21 On his name the nations will hope.
18
19
20
21
18 Look … I delight in … I have put my soul upon him who will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not shout and he will not cry out and nobody will hear his voice.
20 A bruised reed he will not break and a flickering wick he will not quench until justice goes forth to victory.
21 On his name the nations will hope.
In Matthew 12:21 the verb ‘to break’ is active in the
Peshitta New Testament:
18
19
20
21
18 Look at my servant whom I delight in, my beloved, whom my soul desires, I have put my soul upon him. He will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not argue nor shout out and nobody will hear his voice in the street.
20 A bruised reed he will not break and a flickering wick he will not quench until justice goes forth to victory.
21 On his name the nations will hope.
The Peshitta New Testament follows the Old Syriac in most respects. However, at the end of Matthew 12:18, it follows the word order of the Greek, whereas the Old Syriac places the verb first. It has a different translation for the beginning of verse 19, with the first verb of the Old Syriac in the second position and a different verb at the beginning. This is indeed closer to the Greek with οὐκ ἐρίσει οὐδὲ κραυγάσει. In Matthew 12:20, it agrees with
This quote is interesting in the sense that the first part agrees with the Septuagint, especially with regard to the plural noun against the singular of the MT. The second part is, however, an independent translation of the Hebrew, with an addition (‘from the beginning of the world’). The Septuagint is close to the Hebrew, with the exception of the plural noun in the first line, probably influenced by the plural noun in the second part of the verse. This quotation is discussed in detail by Menken (
New Testament: Ἀνοίξω ἐν παραβολαῖς τὸ στόμα μου, ἐρεύξομαι κεκρυμμένα ἀπὸ καταβολῆς [κόσμου]
NIV: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.
MT:
NIV: I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old
Septuagint (text from Rahlfs
Menken: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter riddles from the beginning.
The Old Testament Peshitta (text from Walter
h’ gyr ‘ptḥ pwmy bmtl’ w’mr pl’t’ dmn qdm
Look then, I will open my mouth with parables, and I will speak proverbs from the beginning.
The two witnesses of the Old Syriac differ only with regard to the verb of the second part of the quotation, where
‘ptḥ pwmy bmtl’ w’mll ksyt’ dmn qdym
I will open my mouth with parables, and I will speak hidden things from the beginning.
‘ptḥ pwmy bmtl’ w’mr ksyt’ dmn qdym
The reading of the New Testament Peshitta is very interesting in this instance:
‘ptḥ pwmy bmtl’ w’bc ksyt’ dmn qdm trmyth dclm’
I will open my mouth with parables, and I will utter hidden things from before the creation of the world.
The first part agrees with the other three Syriac texts. At the beginning of the second part, it uses the verb
The quotation in the New Testament combines two texts from the Old Testament:
Εἴπατε τῇ θυγατρὶ Σιών Ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι πραῢς καὶ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ ὄνον καὶ ἐπὶ πῶλον υἱὸν ὑποζυγίου.
NIV:
Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’
The first part of the quotation comes from Isaiah 62:11, and there is no difference in the rendering of all the texts discussed here. The MT has
The second part of the quotation is from Zechariah 9:9. The Masoretic Text reads:
NIV:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
The part of the verse quoted in the New Testament is as follows in the Septuagint (text from Ziegler
ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι, δίκαιος καὶ σῴζων αὐτός, πραῢς καὶ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ ὑποζύγιον καὶ πῶλον νέον.
Menken:
Behold, your king is coming to you,
Righteous and saving is he,
meek and riding on a beast of burden
And on a young colt.
The only interesting translation is the final phrase, with καὶ πῶλον νέον for
The translation of the Old Testament Peshitta of Zechariah 9:9 (text from Gelston
Look, your king is coming to you, righteous and a saviour, and humble and riding on an ass, the young one of a she-ass.
Say to the daughter of Zion: Look, your king is coming to you, righteous and humble and riding on an ass, the young one of a she-ass.
The New Testament Peshitta follows the Greek New Testament in omitting
Say to the daughter of Zion: Look, your king is coming to you, righteous and humble and riding on an ass, the young one of a she-ass.
The final quotation to be discussed is found in Matthew 27:9–10. It is ascribed to Jeremiah, but it partly corresponds to Zechariah 11:12–13. It takes two sections from Zechariah and puts them in reverse order between sections that cannot really be ascribed to this Old Testament passage. There is also a change of subject, as the relevant section is in the first person, with the prophet speaking, whilst the Greek New Testament has a third person plural subject:
The New Testament reads as follows:
9 Καὶ ἔλαβον τὰ τριάκοντα ἀργύρια, τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ τετιμημένου ὃν ἐτιμήσαντο ἀπὸ υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, 10 καὶ ἔδωκαν αὐτὰ εἰς τὸν ἀγρὸν τοῦ κεραμέως, καθὰ συνέταξέν μοι κύριος.
NIV: 9They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.
The Old Syriac is only available in
dnsbt tltyn dksp’ dmwhy dyqyr’ dyqrt mn bnyhwn d’ysr’yl wyhbt ‘nyn lqwryt pḥr’ ‘yk dpqd ly mry’
I took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the precious one that I was estimated by the children of Israel and I gave them for the field of the potter as the Lord commanded me.
The translation follows the New Testament Greek as far as the basic contents are concerned. However, it has the verbs in the first person singular, as in the Peshitta of the Old Testament:
New Testament Peshitta:
I took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the precious one, that they agreed from the children of Israel and I gave them for the field of the potter as the Lord commanded me.
The New Testament Peshitta is slightly different. It uses the verb
In the examples discussed, the Greek New Testament did not make much use of the Septuagint as it is known today. Menken is of the opinion that Matthew used a revised text of the Septuagint, but it is very difficult to prove this assumption in the instances discussed. In some instances the quotation in the Greek New Testament is closer to the Hebrew (Mt 2:15; 8:17), in some instances it is closer to the Septuagint (Mt 1:23; 13:35; 21:5) and in some instances it is a combination of both (Mt 4:15–16).
The Old Testament Peshitta had an influence on the Old Syriac, but not to the same extent in all instances. In some examples, the whole quotation is quite close to the Old Testament Peshitta (Mt 1:22–23; 4:15–16; 21:5), whilst no direct influence can be demonstrated in other instances (Mt 8:17, where the Old Syriac is a translation of the Greek). In some instances the deviation from the Old Testament Peshitta can be ascribed as an attempt to bring the Syriac closer to the Greek New Testament (Mt 2:15; 27:9–10). In Matthew 12:18–21 the Old Syriac follows the Greek New Testament. In Matthew 13:35 the word order of the Old Syriac is quite close to the Greek New Testament, but it does not have the
In instances where the
The New Testament Peshitta normally started with a text close or similar to the Old Syriac (probably the Diatessaron according to Joosten and others), but frequently adapted it to bring it closer to New Testament Greek (Mt 1:23; 2:18; 4:15–16; 12:18–21; 21:5). In Matthew 2:15 the Peshitta New Testament has the same reading as the Old Syriac. In Matthew 8:17 the Peshitta New Testament adapted the reading of the Old Syriac to the Greek New Testament. There is one example of possible influence of the Hebrew text (Mt 13:35) and a few examples that show a combination of influences from the Old Syriac and the New Testament Greek (Mt 13:35; 27:9–10). It is clear that the New Testament Peshitta adapted its text more to the Greek New Testament than the Old Syriac, but the many places of agreement with the Old Syriac points to some contact between the two versions. This is especially true of those instances where the Old Syriac and New Testament Peshitta agree, but differ from the Old Testament Peshitta. These examples raises the question whether Tatian used the Old Testament Peshitta in all the quotations from the Old Testament.
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
The texts of the
The text of the Greek New Testament is in all the examples taken from Aland
In order to save space, the translation of the NIV will not be given for longer quotations from the Masoretic text and the New Testament Greek.
The Masoretic text is taken from Elliger and Rudolph (1984).
The text of the examples from Isaiah is taken from Ziegler (
Menken here refers to translations of passages from the Septuagint (Menken
The texts from the Old Testament Peshitta of Isaiah is taken from Brock (1987).
The English translations of the Syriac are the author’s own.