Peshitta Forum

Full Version: Lost in Translation - Part 2
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Shlama Akhay,


I will attempt to display this article here, though it is much more viewable at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://dave.ultimasurf.com">http://dave.ultimasurf.com</a><!-- m -->


Lost in Translation- Part two



Rokha (The Spirit) is found 497 times in The Peshitta. Pneuma is found 413 times in The Byz. Greek NT; 407 in W&H. The Greek Byz. has 83 % of The Peshitta #.

Holy Spirit occurs 97 times in the Peshitta; 93 in the Greek TR; 92 in The Critical W&H Greek text.

God occurs 1397 times in The Peshitta; 1321 in The Byzantine; 1292 in W&H.
The Greek Byz. has 95% of The Peshitta #.

Jesus occurs 1116 in The Peshitta ;972 times in The Byzantine Greek; 913 W&H.
The Greek Byz. has 87 % of The Peshitta #.


Messiah occurs 590 times in The Peshitta; 571 in The Byz. Greek; 536 in W&H.
The Greek Byz. has 97 % of The Peshitta #.

The total Greek number divided by the total Peshitta # is 3370/3697, or 91%.
The Peshitta number is 9.7% greater than the Greek #.


So, the Greek primacists would have us believe the Peshitta translator(s) added ???God??? 76 to 105 times to the Greek text to form the Peshitta translation; he/they added 144 to 203 occurrences of ???Jesus??? to the Greek number, the word ???Spirit??? 84 to 90 times to the Greek number of this word, and ???Messiah??? 19 to 54 times to form The Peshitta???s Aramaic text.

Totaling the numbers for these four names of the Triune Deity, we find the Peshitta has at least 323 more of these titles-names than The Byzantine Greek NT and as many as 452 more than the Alexandrian Greek text.
Is it believable that a translator would add 323 to 452 Divine names (10%-13% of the Greek total 3370) to the original in order to make a translation ?
Or is it more believable a translator would omit 323 to 452 Divine names (9%-12% of the Aramaic total 3697) from the original in order to make a translation ?

Now these facts may suggest to someone that The hypothetical Peshitta translator(s) conspired to produce a ???more orthodox??? version than the supposed original Greek text, through misguided zeal. I cannot imagine such to be the mindset of an devout Christian, as such a believer, especially one from the Eastern Aramaean church, would never consider tampering with the word of God in any way. However, I will indulge the objection for argument???s sake. Let???s assume that was what happened here.

Now let???s look at some other word comparisons.

Comparing Murdock???s English Translation and Young???s Literal Translation:
Murdock YLT Peshitta/Greek %
In 3206 3289 97.48%
By 1072 590 181.69%
To 5887 6575 89.54%
For 2576 1758 146.53%
Into 384 288 133.33%
Unto 118 571 20.67%

From 1215 878 138.38%
With 1459 1216 119.98%
On 806 600 134.33%
Upon 312 415 75.18%
Total preps.17035 16180 105.28%
"And" is from Aram. (-w), Nyd, & Grk.kai; (From Aramaic & Greek)
"But"is from Aram.Nyd,(-w),ala, & Grk. Alla, & de(From Aramaic & Greek)
And 12713 9324 136.35%
But 1830 2856 64.08%
"And"+"But" 14543 12180 119.40% (From Aramaic & Greek)
Me 577 664 86.90%
My 891 622 143.25%
"Me"+"My" 1468 1286 114.15%
Us 412 330 124.85%
Our 646 328 196.95%
"Us"+"Our" 1058 658 160.79%
Him 1641 2001 82.01%
His 1634 1276 128.06%
37379 33581 111.31%


The conjunction from Aram. (-w), Nyd, & Grk.kai; and "But"is from Aram.Nyd,(-w),ala, & Grk. Alla, & de . These are
not calculated from English translations.

Why would the supposed Aramaean add 3500 proclitic waw???s - ???and???s??? to the Greek number of ???kai???s throughout the NT ? Why would he add several hundred prepositions and personal pronouns ? Would that make the Peshitta more orthodox ?

Overall, there are 11% more of these preps., pronouns and conjunctions in the Peshitta NT than in the Byzantine Greek NT. These words have nothing to do with orthodoxy.


Now look at a comparison of the same preps., pronouns and conjunctions in The Hebrew OT and The LXX:

Old Testament Comparisons of Conjunctions,Prepositions & Pronouns in Hebrew & LXX Bibles

English word Greek word Hebrew word Versions # Words # Words Heb. to Greek Ratio


LXXE Hebrew Heb/LXX %

???His??? Greek autou; Heb. w- LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 6685 6917 103.47%
???Me??? Greek me,eme; Heb. yn-y-yl,yta LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 2445 1546 63.23%
"My" Greek mou,emou; Heb. y- LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 3833 4006 104.51%
???Us??? Greek hmin,hmav; Heb. wn- LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 746 675 90.48%
"Them",???Their???Greek autwn,-ouv,-oiv; Heb.Mta-,M-,Mh- LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans.(# vrses) 5214 4543 87.13%
"Our" Greek hmwn; Heb. wn- LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 865 795 91.91%
"Of" (not calculated in stats as most are Genitive constructs, not preps.) LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. (not calculated in stats.)
???In??? Greek en or dative; Heb. -b LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 10020 11239 112.17%
???By??? Greek dia, en, upo or dative; Heb. -b LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 1815 2163 119.17%
???With??? Greek para,prov, en, or dative; Heb. -b , Me LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 4435 4166 93.93%
???In,By,With???-combined Greek en or dative,etc.;Heb.(???b),etc. LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 16270 17568 107.98
???From??? Greek apo, ek, w-gen.; Heb. Nm , -m
LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 3308 4059 122.70%
???To??? Greek prov,epi,eiv ; Heb. ???l,ta,la LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 17256 14859 86.11%
???Unto??? Greek eiv,prov,epi ; Heb. ???l,la,ta
LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 37 5539 14970.27%
???Into??? Greek eiv,prov, Heb. ???l,-b,la
LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 1466 803 54.77%
???To,Unto,Into??? combined
LXXE-Young???s Lit. Trans. 18759 21201 113.02%
???And??? Greek kai, (???kai???) Heb. -w
LXX - Hebrew. 45316 51027 112.60%
???But??? Greek de , Heb. ???w
LXX-Young???s Lit. Trans. 3150
???And???,???But??? Combined -Greek kai,de,alla Heb. ???w LXX - Hebrew.
48466 51027 105.28%

Total Preps. & Conjunctions, Possessive Pronouns-
97321 104778 107.66%

A study of The LXX & Hebrew of the Prophets shows that there are 4.5% more Kai's than matching waw conjunctions and 11% more de's than matching waw conjunctions. I have adjusted the totals for these conjunctions accordingly.???Kai??? and ???de??? may be descriminately added routinely to make for smoother Greek out of a Semitic original.


The same pattern prevails in The Hebrew-Greek LXX comparison that we find in The Peshitta-Greek NT study !

There are several thousand more conjunctions in the Hebrew OT than in The LXX; the same holds generally true of pronouns and prepositions as well. Did someone add these words to the Hebrew text when translating from The LXX; No, The LXX is the translation, not the Hebrew ! The LXX obviously dropped these 7457 words from the original Hebrew text in the translation process- about 7% of the Hebrew number overall.

Another LXX comparison: The LXX has the word for ???Spirit??? (???Pneuma -Pneuma???) 307 times ; The Hebrew OT has the word for ???Spirit??? (???Ruach???) 392 times. The Greek LXX translators dropped the word or used another word for it 85 times. LXX/Hebrew is 307/392 , or 78%. Compare that to the Greek NT/Peshitta NT of 82% for the same words above.


As it would be ridiculous to assert that the Hebrew Bible was formed by translating the LXX and adding these thousands of words , at the rate of 7% added to the original, so it would be ridiculous to affirm that The Peshitta NT was formed by translating the Greek NT and adding thousands of words, including thousands of prepositions, pronouns and conjunctions, as well as hundreds of more substantive words, such as ???God???, ???Messiah???, ???Jesus???, and ???Spirit???- all at the rate of about 10% of the original number added !

Can the picture be any clearer than this ? The Greek NT is a translation of The Peshitta NT. It is not the original NT; it came from the Peshitta; The Peshitta NT, (represented here in the Critical Editions compiled in the 1905 Syriac NT), is the original text written by the apostles and translated into Greek. There is no other text in existence today that can merit the claim to the original New Testament, nor do I believe there ever has been another such text apart from The Peshitta in its current form !

Burktha w'shlama,


Dave Bauscher