Aramaic Peshitta
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Aramaic Peshitta Bible Repository
page LXIX - LXXVI
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Drs. Westcott and Hort have represented the Peshito, in the Introduction to
their Greek Testament, as made in the third or fourth century out of a corrupt
text called the Curetonian Syriac, and have implied that all the Syrians have
been deceived as to its origin. (Intro. pg. 84.) Dr. Scrivener says, "Of this
two-fold authoritative revision of the Greek text, and of this formal
TRANSMUTATION OF THE CURETONIAN SYRIAC INTO THE PESHITO.... NOT ONE TRACE
REMAINS IN THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITY; no one writer seems conscious
that any modification, either of the Greek Scriptures, or of the vernacular
translation, [the Peshito], was made in, or before their times..... Yet Dr. Hort
regards his SPECULATIVE CONJECTURE AS UNDOUBTEDLY TRUE ;" and, though he
believes that this recension was "made deliberately by the authoritative voice
of the Eastern Church," he declares that all readings so made "must be AT ONCE
REJECTED, (pg. 119); thus making a clean sweep of all critical materials, --
Fathers, versions, manuscripts uncial and cursive, comprising about
NINETEEN-TWENTIETHS OF THE WHOLE MASS, which do not correspond with his
PRECONCEIVED OPINION of what a correct text ought to be," pg. 163. (Scrivener's
Intro., pp. 533-34.)
These last remarks apply equally to the untruthful statement of Dr. Tregelles,
in the Introduction to his Greek Testament, that "The Peshito-Syriac was
frequently modernized from time to time." (pg. v.)
When the word of God is in question, it is necessary to know and show who are
trustworthy, and who are not.
THE ABOVE STATEMENTS, made by persons well informed and of faithful mind, will
aid some, it is hoped, to arrive at the truth, by as short a path as the breadth
of the field permits. Most of these witnesses reject the Syrian testimony that
the Peshito was made in the time, and by the care of the Apostles. But they give
no good reason for doing so, nor is it easy to see why, if Greek testimony is
accepted as proof of the Apostolic origin of the Greek text, Syrian testimony
should not be received as proof of the Apostolic origin of the Syriac text. But
it is evident that even on the supposition that the Syriac is but a man-made
translation, the three facts, that it was made at so early a date, that there is
no proof that it was greatly altered in the first centuries, as the Greek copies
were, and that the agreement of existing copies, and of quotations from it, show
that it has remained without material change from the fourth century till now;
these facts prove that its text has a purity and a stability which are not only
peculiar to it, but are providential gifts exactly suited to our present need.
They prove that it is able to restore to God's word much of that certainty which
some have impaired, and to affirm parts of it to be genuine which they would
take away.
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Section X. - CHIEF PECULIARITIES OF THE TEXT OF THE PESHITO-SYRIAC.
1. Books, passages, and words, NOT CONTAINED IN IT.
2nd Peter, 2nd and 3rd John, Jude, Revelation.
Matthew x. 8. Raise the dead.
" xxvii. 9 Jeremiah, not named.
" xxvii. 35. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They
parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
Luke xxii. 17, 18. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this and
divide it among yourselves: for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of
the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
John vii. 53 -- viii. 11. The account of the adulteress.
Acts viii. 37. And Philip said, If thou dost trust with all the heart, thou
mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus the Anointed is the Son
of God.
Acts xv. 34. But it pleased Silas to remain there.
" xviii. 6. Your blood is on your own heads.
" xxviii. 29. And when he had said these things, the Jews departed, and had much
reasoning among themselves.
1st Tim. iii. 16. The word "God" is not expressed, though evidently understood
in the words, "He was revealed in flesh."
1st John v. 7, 8. In heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and
these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth.
The absence of a passage from the Peshito, is not, of itself, evidence that it
is not a part of God's word; for the passage may have been added by the inspired
writer to a Greek copy issued afterwards. If Greek authorities give strong
evidence that such a passage is of divine origin, its absence from the Peshito
implies that the Peshito was made in the life-time of that sacred writer, and
before he wrote those words. But if the evidence from Greek authorities is not
decisive, then the absence of the passage from the Peshito strongly implies that
it is an unauthorized addition.
2. Readings which DIFFER from the Common Greek text.
In Acts xx. 28, some Jacobite copies have, "The assembly of GOD, which he
purchased with his own blood." But most Syriac copies have "The assembly of THE
ANOINTED," etc. Wichelhaus says, "If I mistake not, all the Nestorian copies
have, 'of the Anointed;' some Jacobite copies have, 'of the Anointed;' some of
them have, 'of God.'" (pg. 150.) Some Greek authorities have "of the Lord,"
others, "of God." Those Greek authorities which have "of the Lord," are, on the
whole, the more trustworthy.
In 1st Cor. v. 8, some Syriac copies have, "with the LEAVEN," instead of, "with
the UNLEAVENED [bread]," etc.
In Heb. ii. 9, the Nestorian copies have, "For he, APART from Godhead, tasted
death," etc. The Jacobite copies have, "For he, God, in his merciful favour
tasted death," etc. Dr. Lee, 1816, without giving any authority, has placed the
word "God" after "favour," and has made the passage read thus, "He, by the
merciful favour of God, tasted," etc. But unless manuscript authority can be
produced in proof that such a reading existed, it has no title to be considered
part of the Peshito. Greek copies had "without God," as early as the time of
Origen, and as the Nestorian copies are, as a rule, so correct, there seems to
be no reason for doubting their correctness in this instance.
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Section XI. - THE DESIGN OF THIS WORK.
THE CHIEF DESIGN has been to aid in defending THE TRUE TEXT OF GOD'S WORD, by
means of the Peshito-Syriac. God has preserved the Peshito from being corrupted
as Greek copies have been. The use recently made of some of these corrupt copies
has undermined belief in some parts of God's Book. The testimony of the
Peshito-Syriac tends to re-establish confidence in most of these parts, whether
they have been set forth as doubtful or rejected. By comparing the translation
here given of the Syriac text, with that of the Received Greek text, printed by
the side of it, the reader can see how very much the two agree, and how they
tend to fix the true meaning of both. The Received Greek text agrees in most
places with the Peshito, in opposition to the new Greek text constructed by the
Revisers of the English Version. The Common English Version is also proved to
be, as a rule, more in accord with the Peshito, than the Revised English Version
is.
A hope has also been entertained of making THE WAY OF SALVATION MORE CLEAR. In
the common version the verb TO BELIEVE is used where a verb is needed which
agrees with the noun FAITH. The Greek noun PISTIS is sometimes translated
BELIEF, sometimes FAITH, and correctly so. But the Greek verb PISTEUO is
translated BELIEVE, even when it means TO HAVE FAITH; and this leaves the
impression that belief of THE TRUTH OF WORDS is meant, when the real meaning is
that of trust on God himself, or on Christ Jesus. The word BELIEVE means,
indeed, to trust; but only to trust in the truth of words. The Hebrew, Syriac,
and Greek words, which sometimes mean to trust in the truth of words, are used
also to express trust in persons; and the word BELIEVE cannot express this trust
with clearness and full effect.
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In the Common English Version, those passages in which the idea of trusting
ought to be clearly expressed, often fail to convey that meaning, from the
unfitness of the word BELIEVE to do so. We do not, in the language of daily life
say we BELIEVE IN, or BELIEVE ON a person, when we wish to express full trust in
him, with view to some benefit. We say then that we trust in him.
Who is there who has not felt the difficulty of defining how a person must
BELIEVE, so as to be saved? Some have said that no one really believes a thing
to be TRUE who does not act accordingly. But this is plainly contrary to fact;
for we may believe a thing to be good and right, and yet resolve to have nothing
to do with it. Others, when asked what it is to believe so as to be saved, say
that the word believe must be understood in Scripture to have the unusual
meaning of rely on. But this is a poor remedy for a faulty translation. The mass
of readers and hearers have to trust to the impression given by the word BELIEVE
itself, which impression, in most cases, is likely to be, that to believe in the
truth of facts and doctrines, and in the reality of the Saviour's history, if
this belief be connected with morality, makes salvation sure.
Some may perhaps ask for PROOF that the Greek word PISTEUO does ever mean to
trust.
One proof is, that other passages require repentance, devoted love, and
unreserved obedience, as necessary to salvation; and that these would not be
necessary if salvation were promised to those who only BELIEVE.
ABRAHAM is often referred to in the New Covenant, in order to show how we may be
declared just, and saved. The words in Gen. xv. 6, which describe how Abraham
came to be declared just, are quoted in three places in the New Covenant
Scriptures; in Rom. iv. 3; Gal. iii. 6; and James ii. 23. In each of these three
quotations the Common Version says, "Abraham BELIEVED God." It may be asked,
perhaps, how these passages can possibly mean more than that Abraham BELIEVED
THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WORDS. It is true that the English version of these passages
DOES convey this meaning; and yet this meaning implies that salvation is sure to
all who believe the truth of what God says, even though they should live in sin,
and care nothing about him.
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But these three passages must, in reality, have the same meaning as Gen. xv. 6,
of which they are a quotation. What do those Hebrew words really mean? The word
AMAN is there used in its Hiphil form, of which Gesenius says in his Hebrew
Lexicon, "It often means to have faith in, as in Job iv. 18; xv. 15; xxxix. 12;
Psalm lxxviii. 22, 32; cxix. 66. In Gen. xv. 6, [it means] he had faith in God,"
that is, he trusted in God. In Gen. xv. 6, the word meaning to trust is followed
by the preposition IN ; and the trust is said to be, not in the words of God,
but "in Jehovah" himself. In the following passages the same word with the same
preposition IN, can have no other meaning than TRUST IN. Job iv. 18, "Behold, he
put no trust in his servants. Job xv. 15, "Behold, he putteth no trust in his
saints." Job xv. 31, "Let not him who is deceived trust in vanity." Micah vii.
5, "Trust ye not in a friend." In these passages the evident meaning of AMAN
with IN could not be expressed by BELIEVE. They prove that the meaning of Gen.
xv. 6, MAY be, and SEEMS to be, "Abraham trusted in Jehovah." If we substitute
"believed in Jehovah," the meaning is, that Abraham believed Jehovah to be what
he really is. But is it not evident that "trusted in Jehovah," must be the REAL
meaning? Therefore, as Gen. xv. 6, not only may mean, but so far as evidence
goes, does mean, "Abraham trusted in God;" each of the passages, Rom. iv. 3;
Gal. iii. 6; and James ii. 23, must have the same meaning; and this meaning is
one which agrees with what all other passages say of the way of salvation. It
does not convey the false impression which BELIEVE does, namely, that to believe
the truth of what is true, saves. The word trust implies the existence of love
and obedience, which other passages make necessary to salvation.
ANOTHER PROOF that PISTEUO means to TRUST, when it refers to the way of
salvation, is the description given by Paul of what it meant in his own case;
(see 2nd Tim. i. 12,) the committing or intrusting of himself to God. He says,
"I know in whom PEPISTEUKA - I have TRUSTED, - and am persuaded that he is able
to guard my deposit, -- what I have intrusted to him, against that day."
In many passages PISTEUO means to INTRUST SOMETHING to the care of another. This
shows that the idea of trust is really in the word. It is used in this sense in
Luke xvi. 11, "Who will commit or intrust to you the true riches?" Rom. iii. 2,
"Because they were intrusted with the words of God." (See also 1st Cor. ix. 17;
Gal. ii. 7; Titus i. 3.)
THE PESHITO-SYRIAC uses a word which means to trust where the Greek has PISTEUO.
For instance, in John iii. 36, "He who trusts in the Son has eternal life." John
vi. 29, "This is the work of God, that ye trust in him whom he has sent." Acts
xvi. 31, "Trust in our Lord Jesus the Anointed, and thou shalt have life-bliss."
The Syriac word is the same as the Hebrew word used in Gen. xv. 6. It has in
Syriac the same meaning which it has in Hebrew. It means in Syriac to trust.
Wichelhaus says of the noun HAIMONUTHO, which is derived from the verb AMAN, to
trust, "It expresses much more fully than the PISTIS of the Greeks, the true
idea of faith; for it denotes that state in which.... the reliance of the heart
is placed on that which is most firm and certain." (On Peshito, pg. 329.)
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A FEW PASSAGES WITH THE WORD TO TRUST SUBSTITUTED FOR TO BELIEVE, will show how
correctly and how clearly the way of salvation is thus described; and how fully
the wrong or imperfect idea which the word BELIEVE conveys, is thus removed. No
one can say that this result is one of slight importance; for nothing can
possibly be more harmful than that an English word should be used to describe
the way of salvation, which may lead some to believe that A SOUND CREED is
meant, instead of a change of heart, and which is the cause to others of
ceaseless difficulty, when trying to find out the true meaning of Scripture, or
when trying to prove to others that the belief which has salvation, is not what
is commonly called belief, but something quite different from it. The following
passages are selected from those in which the Greek word PISTEUO is used with
IN, with ON, with A DATIVE CASE, and without IN, ON, or A DATIVE CASE.
PISTEUO followed by IN. Matt. xviii. 6, "Whoso shall make stumble one of these
little ones who trust in me." John iii. 15, "So must the Son of man be lifted
up, that everyone who trusts in him may not perish, but have eternal life." John
vi. 40, "And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the
Son, and trusts in him, shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day."
PISTEUO followed by ON. Acts xi. 17, "Since, therefore, God gave the same gift
to them as he gave to us, who have trusted on the Lord Jesus, the Anointed,"
etc. Rom. iv. 24, "It was written also because of us, (that trust was reckoned
to Abraham), of us who trust on him who raised up Jesus our Lord from among the
dead."
PISTEUO followed by A DATIVE CASE. John v. 24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that he who hears my word, and trusts on him who sent me, has eternal life."
John viii. 31, "Jesus said to those Jews who had trusted on him, If ye continue
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed."
PISTEUO WITHOUT IN, ON, OR A DATIVE CASE. Mark xvi. 16, "He who shall trust, and
be immersed, shall be saved; he who shall be trustless, shall be condemned."
Acts xviii. 8, "And many of the Corinthians heard, trusted, and were immersed."
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Another wish has been, TO CONNECT BY LIKENESS OF WORDS, what is said of
ATONEMENT in the New Covenant, with what is said of it in the Old Covenant. The
importance of this is evident from the fact that what was written in the Older
Scriptures, was written in part for our benefit. (1st Cor. x. 11); and that what
was said to be effected by the old sacrifices, which could not take away sins,
is of special use to teach us what was really accomplished by the sacrifice of
Christ, which could take away sins. This use of the older Scriptures is partly
destroyed by the carelessness of translators, when they destroy that likeness of
words by which God has linked the Older Scriptures with the New. The English
word used about fifty times in the Old Covenant writings, to describe the
efficacy of slain offerings, is the word ATONEMENT. But in our New Covenant
version that word is used but once, and then wrongly; for it represents in
Romans v. 11, a Greek word which means RECONCILIATION; and reconciliation is THE
RESULT of atonement, not atonement itself. Atonement is the cause of forgiveness
or reconciliation. In the Revised Version, the word atonement is not, I think,
used at all. There are four passages in which the Syriac and Greek words used to
describe the efficacy of the sacrifice offered by Jesus, are of the same meaning
as the Hebrew word which is represented by the English word atonement, in the
Old Covenant Scriptures. They are Rom. iii. 25; Heb. ii. 17; 1st John ii. 2; iv.
10.
In Rom. iii. 25, the word PROPITIATION is used both in the common and in the
revised version. If the word ATONEMENT be used, the English word has the same
relation to the English word used in the Old Covenant, which the Syriac and
Greek words have to the Hebrew word. The passage then reads thus: "Whom God
appointed beforehand [to be] an atonement, by means of faith in his blood."
In HEBREWS ii. 17, the common version has, "to make reconciliation." The revised
version has, "to make propitiation." If the word atonement be used, the passage
reads thus: "That he might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things
relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people."
In 1st John ii. 2, both English versions have "propitiation." If atonement be
substituted, the meaning is, "And he is the atonement for our sins."
In 1st John iv. 10, both English versions have propitiation. If atonement be
used instead, the words mean, "God loved us, and sent his Son to be an atonement
for our sins."
The English reader, on meeting with the word atonement in these four passages,
is reminded of the word atonement in the older Scriptures, and there he finds
that when it is said that an atonement was made for any sin, the words often
follow, "and it shall be forgiven him." (See Leviticus iv. and v.)
Another passage in which the word atonement should occur, is Heb. ix. 5, "The
cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of atonement."
Another wish has been to use words, the meaning of which is known to the
unlearned by their own DAILY USE OF THEM, instead of words which are less known,
or which are but partly understood by those who do not know Latin and Greek.
There are many Latin-English words in the Common version. Those who have never
learned Latin, have scarcely any CLEAR idea of what some of these mean. These
words are little better to them than words translated out of one foreign
language into another.
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Words which do not express their meaning clearly, may also be made strongholds
of error. They permit a false meaning to be given them, and become a storehouse
of untruth. Thus the word CHURCH, which ought always to mean, as the Greek word
does, an assembly, is constantly applied to bodies which never assemble.
In the next section a list of words is given which, though well understood by
very many, are wanting in clearness to a large number of people. Their meaning
is given in words more familiar to most.
The desire has been to use the English language ACCORDING TO ITS USE IN DAILY
LIFE. In the Greek and Syriac texts, the words used are those which were used
about the things of this life. And to use in any translation of them forms of
speech, which differ from those in common use, is to distort and disfigure God's
word, instead of giving its true likeness. How absurd and unseemly it is to
prefer to call a person WHICH, instead of WHO, as the revised version does; and
to suppose that "she RUNNETH," is a more holy expression than "SHE RUNS."
Section XII. - WORDS IN THE COMMON VERSION NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD BY SOME, IN WORDS
MORE FAMILIAR.
Acceptance of persons, wrong regard for persons. To adjure, to command to answer
an oath. Ado, outcry. Adversary, foe. Adversity, affliction, distress. Advocate,
pleader. Allegory, description of one thing by another. Alms, gifts. Anathema, a
setting aside under condemnation. Angel, [heavenly] messenger. Apostle, chief
messenger. Apparel, clothes, clothing. Appease, quiet. Appertains, belongs or
relates to. Array, dress. Archangel, chief [heavenly] messenger. At hand, has
come near. Audience, to give; to listen to. Austere, harsh. Avenge, punish for
injury.
Babble, prate, talk foolishly. Backbite, slander. Baptism, immersion. Baptize,
immerse. (1.) Barbarians, people of foreign race and language. Beguile, deceive.
Behoved him, it was due that he; or he was bound. Believe, the Greek and Syrian
words often mean to trust. (2.) Believer, he who trusts, one trusting. Betroth,
engage to be married. Bewray, betray. Bishop, overseer. (3.) Blaspheme, speak
evil of, revile. Born of water and of the Spirit. John iii. 5. Christians are
not BORN of the Spirit, but BEGOTTEN by him; nor are they begotten by means of
water, but by means of God's word. 1st Pet. i. 23. The Greek word used in John
iii. 5, is GENNAOMAI, which sometimes is applied to birth of a mother, and then
means to be born, as in Matt. ii. 1, "when Jesus was born in Bethlehem;" and
sometimes to origin from a father, when it means begotten, as in Matt. i. 2,
"Abraham begat Isaac." In John iii. 5, this word must of necessity be used in
both of these senses. It must mean BORN, as to water, which does not beget; and
BEGOTTEN, as to the Holy Spirit, of whom no one is BORN. So that the correct
English translation must be, "Be born of water, and begotten by the Spirit." By
and by, immediately.