Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

The Peshitta of the Old Testament - Part 3

The Hebrew text of Genesis 4:8 reads as follows: And Cain said to Abel his brother, and it happened when they were in the field that Cain arose against Abel his brother and he killed him. The difficulty here is that the verb translated “said” normally is followed by what was said, as in vss 9,10, and 13 of the same chapter. The Septuagint, the Syriac, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Vulgate all have, following “said,” Let us go into the field.

There are several possibilities here. One is that the Hebrew text intentionally did not include a statement after “said.” A second is that the Hebrew text originally had some statement following “said,” but it was lost early on, and the line in the versions was added by them to fill in a gap. A third is that the versions retain the original reading, but that reading somehow got lost in the course of transmission.

The Keil & Delitzsch commentary seems to assume the second possibility saying, “we may supply from what follows some such expressions as ‘let us go into the field,’ as the LXX, Sam, Jonathan, and others have done.” The reference to Jonathan is to the Targum Jonathan on the Pentateuch. Skinner’s commentary says, “Usually it [said] is followed, like Eng. ‘say,’ by the actual words spoken. Hence [let us go to the field] is to be supplied with [the Samaritan Pentateuch, the LXX, the Syriac, and the Vulgate]. … a pisqa [an intentional gap in the text] in some Heb. MSS [manuscripts], though not recognized by the Mass., [Masoretic scribes] supports this view of the text.” In other words, Skinner’s opinion is that the third possibility listed above is the correct one. His reference to the intentional gap in the text is supported by Emmanuel Tov in his Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 2nd ed., p. 53.

Wenham’s commentary cannot decide. In his view, either an original line dropped out of the Hebrew that has been retained in the versions, or the Hebrew intentionally omitted any statement after “said,” and the versions have added a reasonable-sounding statement to fill in what they saw as a gap in the text. In other words, for Wenham, there is simply not enough evidence to decide conclusively among the options.

As for modern versions, the NRSV and the Holman CSB follow the versions in the text, with a footnote regarding the Hebrew text. The ESV follows the Hebrew in the text, but has a footnote regarding the versions. The ESV render the verb “said” as “spoke,” which is a much less likely meaning of the word, but necessary unless the translator wants to leave an uncomfortable gap in the text. The New English Bible follows the versions in the text, but with no footnote regarding the difficulty. The CEV (Contemporary English Version) says “Let’s go for a walk.” Its footnote then, erroneously, says that this is what the ancient versions have, and notes that the line is absent from the Hebrew.

In all this, it is not possible to determine if the Peshitta had access to a Hebrew manuscript that included the line; if it added the line independently; or if it simply followed the earlier versions.

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