Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

Digging into the Peshitta! - Part 1

Now turning from theoretical considerations, let us consider a few examples from the Peshitta itself. The first is from Psalm 110. In Hebrew, the Psalm has a brief title: "Of David, a psalm." The same title is found in the Septuagint, even though in several cases the Septuagint has provided titles where the Hebrew has none, or has expanded titles beyond what is found in the Hebrew text. The Peshitta, however, has a much expanded title: "Of David. Concerning the throne of the Lord; and concerning his glorious power; and his prophecy concerning the Messiah; and his victory over his accuser." This title is obviously intended to give a synopsis of the content of the psalm, and it was probably provided by the translator of the Peshitta much like the content titles provided in modern English versions. For example, the New American Standard Update provides the following heading for Psalm 110: "The Lord Gives Dominion to the King." This heading is not intended to be understood as part of the Psalm itself. Likewise the title in the Peshitta also is probably not to be understood as part of the inspired text of the Psalm.

Following the title is an abbreviated note, unique to the Peshitta. This note says, "15 verses." In the Peshitta, the number of verses for each Psalm is given in the heading, as is the case here. The curious thing about these numbers is that they hardly ever agree with the actual number of verses in the Psalm. It may be that they relate to a different sort of division of the Syriac sentences than is reflected in the current printed text of the material, but have been retained as traditional information.

In this heading, the title "Lord" is not the usual Syriac term (marya), but rather a borrowing of the Hebrew "Adonai." In the first verse of the Psalm, "The Lord said to my Lord," marya is used for both occurrences of "Lord." This is in direct contrast with the Hebrew text, which has "Yahweh said to Adonai." In addition, the Peshitta has for "said," the usual verb for saying (amar), which is the same in both Syriac and Hebrew. The Hebrew text, on the other hand, has neum YHWH la’adoni. The word neum is actually a noun meaning "prophetic utterance," "oracle." Hence the Hebrew is more strictly translated, "A prophetic utterance of Yahweh to my Lord." In this part of the verse, the Peshitta follows the Septuagint, which has eipen ho kurios to kurio mou (The Lord said to my Lord). As with the Peshitta, the Septuagint uses the standard Greek term for "lord" in both cases, even though the Hebrew text uses two different words.

Next week we will continue with an examination of Psalm 110 in the Peshitta. After working through the text of Psalm 110 and comparing the Peshitta text with that of the Hebrew Masoretic text and the Septuagint, we will offer an English translation of the Peshitta, intended to illustrate the issues that we have briefly explored theoretically.

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