Peschitta

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The Peschitta (East Syrian ܦܫܝܼܛܬܵܐ or West Syrian ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ 'the simple') or (also Peschittā, Peschittō or Peshitta) is a translation of the Bible into the Syrian language belonging to the eastern branch of the Aramaic languages . It is the most widely used Bible of Syrian Christianity and is considered the standard version of the Bible for churches of the Syrian tradition. Its oldest manuscripts date from the 5th century, but their beginnings (for the Old Testament ) go back to the 1st century. It is used today in the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch and the Assyrian Church of the East . In the first centuries AD, there were five or six different Syrian translations of the Bible that were widely used in the Middle East.

Word origin and name

The word Peschitta is feminine and means something like "simple" or "easy to understand". Its exact meaning, however, is uncertain: With "simple" in the sense of the Latin vulgaris, the generally usual, ordinary can be meant. Perhaps the translation should be distinguished from interpretative paraphrases , multiple translations like the Hexapla, or more extensive canonici like the Septuagint . It is believed that the term Peschitta was introduced to distinguish the text from the Syrohexapla translation of the Old Testament and from the Harklensis version of the New Testament. But the name can also mean that it is the Syrian Vulgate , that is the case for the New Testament. The name Peshitta was not used earlier than in the 9th / 10th. Used by a Syrian author in the 16th century AD.

There are many legends as to how this Bible translation could have come about. A later legend has it that pieces of the Old Testament were translated from Hebrew for the benefit of Hiram in the time of King Solomon . According to another tradition, a priest named Ezra sent a translation to the King of Assyria to instruct the Assyrian colonies. Another incredible tradition makes a connection between the translation of the Old and New Testaments and the visit of Taddaeus of Abgar to Edessa .

Originality of the Peschitta

According to the biblical scholar Hort , the revised character of the Syrian Vulgate is certain. With Westcott he connects this theory with the revision of an author, which ends in the Peschitta. This connection is widespread among text critics today, for it assumes a revision of the Greek text in Antioch in the late part of the 3rd century or in the early 4th century. Other investigations by Burkitt and his scientists make it possible that the peschitta was the work of Rabbula , Bishop of Edessa, at the beginning of the 5th century. The sign of this is very poor, especially if you include after-school care. Burkitt made it possible, however, that he quoted passages of the Rabbula biography in such a way that it appears as if he "with the wisdom of God translated the New Testament from Greek into Syriac because of the variations". That could have been a good illustration of the appearance of the Syrian Vulgate. The old Syrian text then became more similar to the Greek text that existed in Antioch in the 5th century. However, Rabbula was not satisfied with the publication of his translation and gave orders to priests and deacons in all churches to keep and read a copy of the Gospel of da-Mepharreshe.

However, before Rabbula, who ruled the Syrian-speaking churches from 411 to 435, there was no trace of the Peshitta and after that there was no trace of any other text. Rabbula enjoyed working after Theodoret's later appearance to promote the new translation. Hence we have reasons to assume that only the Peschitta and the work of other texts, of which only Curetonian and Sinaitic are known today, have survived into modern times.

Use of the peschitta

The official lectionary of the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Chaldean Syrian Church follows the twenty-two books of the New Testament of Peshitta in their lessons. This edition is used for theological issues.

Old Testament components

The Peshitta translated some of the Jewish scriptures that the Judaism 100 as Tanakh canonized and the Old Church since 180 when Old Testament called and took over, very similar to the oldest Palestinian Targums .

Arthur Võõbus concluded from this in 1958 that the translators had such a Targum, which in turn was based on an independent Hebrew original text. Ernst Würthwein , on the other hand, assumed a direct Jewish origin of the Peschitta, whose beginnings he dated between 40 and 70. For before the Jewish uprising , a dynasty converted to Judaism ruled Syria; this translation had become necessary for her and her followers. Other scholars attribute the Peshitta to Jewish Christians of the first centuries who would have translated the Levitical commandments of the Torah carelessly because they no longer obeyed them.

In any case, the Peschitta has been revised several times and in very different ways in the individual books. The oldest Peschitta manuscript on the Tanach from the year 464 contains the 1st , 2nd , 4th and 5th books of Moses . Later manuscripts adapted the wording more and more to Greek translations and particularly show the influence of the Septuagint. The Codex Ambrosianus from the 6th or 7th century contains all the writings of the Septuagint.

The Old Testament known to the early Syrian Church was essentially that of the Palestinian Jews. It contained the same number of books, but in a different order: 1. Pentateuch 2. Job 3. Joshua 4. Judges 5. 1. Book of Samuel and 2. Book of Samuel 6. 1. Book of Kings and 2. Book of Kings 7. 1. Book of Chronicles and 2. Book of Chronicles 8. Psalms 9. Proverbs 10. Ecclesiastes 11th Ruth 12. Song of Songs 13th Esther 14th Ezra 15. Nehemiah 16. Isaiah 17. Dodecapropheton 18. Jeremiah 19. Lamentations 20 . Ezekiel 21 Daniel

Most of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament can also be found in the Peshitta. The book of Jesus Sirach was translated from the Hebrew rather than the Greek, the Septuagint . The other apocrypha were translated from the Greek. In the late 8th or early 9th century, another translation from Hebrew was made for the "apocryphal psalms" Ps 152 through Ps 155 . Psalm 151 was translated from the Greek.

New Testament components

Pages from an early print of the Book of Revelation in Syriac with translation columns in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. (Gelyānā ude-Yoḥanan qaddīsha, id est, Apocalypsis Sancti Iohannis. - Lugduni Batavorum  : Ex Typ. Elzeviriana, 1627).

The Peschitta of the New Testament was created in the Syrian region in the 4th century, but according to some authors it was written up to 145. It combines all four Gospels in one book and thus replaced the Diatessaron that was previously used . Other old Syrian NT translations such as the evangelion da-mephareshe (Gospel of the separated) contained these, but were not used in the Syrian Church. Until the incorporation of Syrian Christianity into the Byzantine imperial church (approx. 325–400) only the Diatessaron and the Pauline letters were canonical there. After that, the New Testament Peshitta, which was more strongly oriented towards the Greek NT, replaced the Diatessaron. Bishop Rabulas (411–435) gave her sole validity by having the Diatessaron burned. For a long time he was also considered its author. The translation of the Syrian New Testament must have been made very early. It is most likely the oldest in the Syrian capital, Antioch . It was there that Christians were referred to as "Christians" for the first time. However, recent research assumes that this place was more like the “literary capital” of Edessa .

Based on some quotations from Hegesippus used from the Gospel of Hebrews , it is assumed that there was a Syrian will as early as 160 to 180 AD. It is certain that this early New Testament of the Syrian Church was missing not only the Antilegomena (2 Petr, 2 Joh, 3 Joh, Rev, Judas) but also the Catholic letters . These were later translated and added to the Syrian canon . In addition, the pericope of the adulteress (Joh 7,53-8,11) and the verses Lk 22,17f are missing. In some older manuscripts of the Peshitta the Gospels are in the order Mt Joh Lk Mk . One explanation for this could be that one wanted to give the two apostles the first position. The longer version of Luke established precedence over Mark for the two disciples of the apostles.

At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 300 New Testament manuscripts were known. The oldest known manuscripts date from the 5th and 6th centuries.

The Peshitta is used in both parts of the divided Syrian Church ( Monophysites and Nestorians ). That is why it must have arisen before they split, at the latest by the middle of the 5th century.

The peshitta has contained both the Old and the New Testament since the 5th century AD.

The Assyrian Church of the East regards the New Testament components as the original and pure New Testament. The Revelation of John is not included in the Peschitta editions of the Syrian Orthodox Church , as it does not recognize it as canonical.

expenditure

  • Peshiṭta Institute of the University of Leiden (Ed.): Peshitta. The Old Testament in Syriac. Brill publishing house
Part I / 1, 1977: Genesis-Exodus , ISBN 90-04-05286-0
Part II / 1a, 1982: Job , ISBN 90-04-06342-0
Part II / 2, 1978: Judges - Samuel , ISBN 90-04-05873-7
Part II / 3, 1980: Proverbs-Wisdom of Solomon-Ecclesiastes-Song of Songs , ISBN 90-04-06065-0
Part II / 4, 1980: The book of Psalms , ISBN 90-04-06207-6
Part III / 1, 1980: Isaiah , ISBN 90-04-07766-9
Part III / 3, 1993: Ezekiel , ISBN 90-04-07314-0
Part III / 4, 1993: Dodekapropheton - Daniel-Bel-Draco , ISBN 90-04-06302-1
Part IV / 2, 1998: Chronicles , ISBN 90-04-10960-9
Part IV / 3, 1973: Apocalypse of Baruch, 4 Esdras , ISBN 90-04-03741-1
Part IV / 6, 1972: Canticles or Odes, Prayer of Manasseh, Apocryphal Psalms, Psalms of Solomon, Tobit, 1 - 3 Esdras , ISBN 90-04-03469-2
Part V / 1, 1997: Concordance , ISBN 90-04-10664-2

literature

  • George M. Lamsa : Holy Bible: From the Ancient Eastern Text: George M. Lamsa's Translation From the Aramaic of the Peshitta . Harper & Row, 1985, ISBN 0-06-064923-2 (translation of the Peschitta into English).
  • Friedrich Baethgen : Studies on the Psalms after the Peschita. 1. Abth ., Kiel 1878, OCLC 474750298 (Dissertation ("Disputats") University of Kiel 1879, 29 pages).
  • PB Dirksen: An Annotated Bibliography of the Peshitta of the Old Testament. Monographs of the Peshitta Institute Leiden, Brill Academic Publications 1989, ISBN 90-04-09017-7 (English)
  • PB Dirksen, MJ Mulder (Eds.): The Peshitta: Its Early Text and History. Papers Read at the Peshitta Symposium Held at Leiden, 30-31 August 1985. Monographs of the Peshitta Institute Leiden, Vol IV, Brill, 1988, ISBN 90-04-08769-9 (English)
  • Arthur Vööbus: Peschitta and Targumim of the Pentateuch. New light on the question of the origin of the Peshitta from the old Palestinian Targum. Etse, Stockholm 1958
  • Aramaic-German New Testament (ADNT): Proclamation by Yochanan Bilingual Gospel of John Aramaic-German, 2009, ADNT, Wallenfels, ISBN 978-3-938159-70-5
  • Bruce M. Metzger , The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations , Clarendon Press, Oxford 1977.
  • Sebastian P. Brock: The Bible in the Syriac Tradition: English Version Gorgias Press LLC: Piscataway 2006, ISBN 1-59333-300-5 .
  • MP Weitzman: The Syriac Version of the Old Testament. University of Cambridge Press, Oriental Publications, Cambridge 1999. (This book does not contain the text of the Peschitta, but is a work on the Peschitta.)

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Peschitta. In: DUDEN. Bibliographisches Institut GmbH - Dudenverlag, accessed on October 15, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Bruce M. Metzger: The Canon of the New Testament: Origin, Development, Meaning . S. 209-213 .
  3. ^ Ernst Würthwein: The text of the Old Testament , 4th edition 1973, p. 86.
  4. ↑ TRE 6 pp. 181-196.
  5. ↑ Bible Lexicon pp. 232–234.
  6. ↑ Thomas Nicol: Syriac Versions - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) - 2. The Designation "Peshito" ("Peshitta"). In: BibleResearch. Michael D. Marlowe, accessed October 18, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Thomas Nicol: Syriac Versions - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) - 2. The Designation "Peshito" ("Peshitta"). In: BibleResearch. Michael D. Marlowe, accessed October 18, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Syriac Versions. Retrieved June 10, 2016 .
  9. ↑ a b Bruce M. Metzger "The Canon of the New Testament: Origin, Development, Significance" pp. 209–213
  10. ^ Ernst Würthwein: The text of the Old Testament , 4th edition 1973, p. 87f
  11. ↑ Thomas Nicol: Syriac Versions - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) - 3rd Syriac Old Testament. In: BibleResearch. Michael D. Marlowe, accessed on October 18, 2016 (English): “First there was the Pentateuch, then Job, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Canticles, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah followed by the Twelve Minor Prophets, Jeremiah and Lamentations, Ezekiel, and lastly Daniel. "
  12. ↑ a b c TRE 6 .
  13. ^ Peshitta New Testament. In: Peshitta Tool. Dukhrana Biblical Research, accessed December 13, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Kurt Aland et al. a. (Ed.): Novum Testamentum Graece , 26th edition, Deutsche Bibelstiftung Stuttgart, 1981, p. 17 *
  15. ^ Paul D. Younan: History of the Peshitta. Peshitta Aramaic / English Interlinear New Testament, 2000, accessed April 15, 2014 .