Syriac Versions
The Peshitta: The Syriac Vulgate
The Peshitta is the most widely known and used Syriac translation of the Bible, functioning much as Jerome's Vulgate did for the Latin-speaking church. Its name means "simple" or "straightforward," distinguishing it from later versions burdened with critical annotations. Though the Peshitta's exact origins remain debated, it clearly emerged as a revision of earlier Syriac translations, gaining widespread acceptance across Syriac-speaking Christianity by the fifth century.
Unlike the Latin Vulgate, whose authorship by Jerome is well documented, the circumstances surrounding the Peshitta's creation are uncertain. Various traditions attribute it to figures ranging from the priest Ezra to the apostle Thaddaeus, but none of these claims bear historical scrutiny. What scholars have established is that the Peshitta represents a careful editorial process that standardized earlier Syriac biblical texts into a single authoritative version.
The Old Syriac Texts
Before the Peshitta became standard, several earlier Syriac translations circulated among Christian communities. The most significant are the Curetonian Syriac, discovered in a manuscript brought from the Nitrian Desert in Egypt, and the Sinaitic Syriac, found at St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in 1892. Both contain portions of the Gospels and reflect a text tradition older than the Peshitta.
Perhaps the most fascinating early Syriac text is Tatian's Diatessaron, a harmony of all four Gospels woven into a single continuous narrative, composed around AD 170. The Diatessaron was widely used in Syrian churches for centuries before being replaced by the four separate Gospels in the Peshitta. Its influence on Syriac Christianity was so profound that Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus in the fifth century, reportedly collected and destroyed over 200 copies in his diocese alone, replacing them with the standard four-Gospel format.
The relationship between these Old Syriac texts and the Peshitta is significant. The Peshitta Gospels appear to represent a revision of the Old Syriac toward the Greek text, much as Jerome revised the Old Latin versions to produce the Vulgate.
The Syriac Old Testament
The Syriac Old Testament in the Peshitta was translated directly from the Hebrew, making it an invaluable witness to the Hebrew text tradition. Its antiquity is universally acknowledged, with most scholars dating the translation of the Pentateuch to the first or second century AD, possibly even earlier for some books. The translation shows varying quality across different books, suggesting multiple translators working at different times.
Some portions show influence from the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) and from Jewish Aramaic interpretive traditions known as Targums. This mixture of influences reflects the complex religious environment of early Syriac-speaking communities, which included both Jewish and Christian elements.
Later Syriac Translations
Two important later translations expanded the Syriac biblical tradition. The Philoxenian version, commissioned by Philoxenus of Mabbug around AD 508, was a fresh translation from the Greek intended for the Syriac Orthodox Church. It was later revised by Thomas of Harkel in AD 616, producing the Harclean version, which is notable for its extremely literal rendering of the Greek, even preserving Greek word order in Syriac.
The Jerusalem Syriac, also called the Palestinian Syriac, represents a distinct dialect and translation tradition. Found in lectionary fragments, it provides evidence of the biblical text used in worship by Syriac-speaking Christians in Palestine.
Significance for Biblical Studies
The Syriac versions are invaluable for textual criticism of the Bible. Because Syriac is closely related to the Aramaic spoken by Jesus and his disciples, these translations sometimes preserve nuances of meaning lost in Greek or Latin versions. The Old Syriac Gospels, in particular, occasionally preserve readings that many scholars consider more original than those found in later Greek manuscripts.
The Peshitta's translation of the Old Testament directly from Hebrew, independent of the Septuagint, provides a second ancient witness to the Hebrew text alongside the Greek. Where the Peshitta and the Septuagint agree against the standard Hebrew text, scholars have strong evidence for alternative ancient readings.
For the New Testament, the Syriac versions document how the canon developed in the Eastern church. The original Peshitta notably omitted 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation, books that were accepted more slowly in the East than in the West. These books were added in the later Philoxenian and Harclean revisions.
Biblical Context
The Syriac versions encompass translations of the entire Bible. The Old Testament Peshitta was translated from Hebrew, serving as a primary witness to the ancient Hebrew text. The New Testament Peshitta initially excluded five books (2 Peter, 2-3 John, Jude, Revelation), reflecting the canonical debates of the Eastern church. The Old Syriac Gospels and Tatian's Diatessaron preserve early forms of the Gospel text. These versions are referenced in discussions of textual variants throughout both Testaments.
Theological Significance
The Syriac versions demonstrate the early church's commitment to making Scripture accessible in the languages people actually spoke, continuing the pattern seen in the Septuagint's Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. They witness to how different Christian communities received and transmitted the biblical text, and their canonical differences highlight that the formation of the biblical canon was a gradual process guided by communal discernment. The Peshitta remains the living Scripture of millions of Syriac Christians today, connecting modern believers to an unbroken tradition of biblical interpretation stretching back nearly two millennia.
Historical Background
Syriac Christianity centered on Edessa (modern Urfa in Turkey), one of the earliest centers of the faith outside the Roman Empire. The Syriac language, an eastern dialect of Aramaic, became the literary and liturgical language of Christians across Mesopotamia and beyond, spreading as far as India and China. Key manuscript discoveries include the Curetonian fragments (acquired 1842), the Sinaitic Syriac palimpsest (discovered 1892 by Agnes Smith Lewis), and fragments of Tatian's Diatessaron. Scholars like F.C. Burkitt, Arthur Voobus, and Sebastian Brock have contributed significantly to understanding these versions. The Peshitta continues in liturgical use in the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Church of the East, and the Maronite Church.