Names of the Peshitta Bible in Aramaic

  • Genesis - Sipra d'Berita
  • Exodus - Sipra d'Mapkana
  • Leviticus- Sipra d'Kakhane
  • Numbers- Sipra d'Minyane
  • Deuteronomy - Sipre d'Tinyan Aurayta
  • Job - Ketava d'Yob
  • Joshua - Ketava d'Ishu bar Nun
  • Judges - Sipra Dayane
  • 1 Samuel / 2 Samuel - Ketava Kadmaya d'Shemuel / Ketava Trayana d'Shemuel
  • Psalms - Ketava d'Mazmore (d'David)
  • 1 Kings / 2 Kings - Sipra Kadmaya d'Malke / Sipra Trayana d'Malke
  • Proverbs - Ketava d'Matle
  • Wisdom*
  • Ecclesiastes - Ketava d'Kukhlat
  • Song of Songs - Tishbekhat Tishbekhata
  • Isaiah - Ketava d'Eshaya Nebya
  • Jeremiah - Ketava d'Eramya Nebya
  • Lamentations - Ketava d'Olyata
  • Epistle of Jeremiah*
  • Epistle of Baruch*
  • Baruch*
  • Ezekiel - Ketava d'Khazquiel
  • Hosea - Ketava d'Khosha Nebya
  • Joel - Ketava d'Yoel Nebya
  • Amos - Ketava d'Amos Nebya
  • Obadiah - Ketava d'Obadya Nebya
  • Jonah - Ketava d'Yonan Nebya
  • Micah - Ketava d'Mikha Nebya
  • Nahum - Ketava d'Nakhom Nebya
  • Habakkuk - Ketava d'Khabok Nebya
  • Zephaniah - Ketava d'Zefanya Nebya
  • Haggai - Ketava d'Khagai Nebya
  • Zechariah - Ketava d'Zekarya Nebya
  • Malachi - Ketava d'Malakhi Nebya
  • Daniel (with "Prayer of Azariah" and "Song of Three") - Ketava d'Daniel Nebya
  • Bel*
  • The Dragon*
  • Ruth - Ketava d'Rot
  • Susanna*
  • Esther - Ketava d'Ister
  • Judith*
  • Ben Sirach*
  • 1 Chronicles / 2 Chronicles - Sipra Kadmaya d'Dabaryamin / Sipra Beth d'Dabaryamin
  • Apocalypse of Baruch*
  • 4 Ezra*
  • Ezra - Ketava d'Ezra
  • Nehemiah - Ketava d'Nekhemya
  • 1 Maccabees*
  • 2 Maccabees*
  • 3 Maccabees*
  • 4 Maccabees*
  • Josephus, Wars of the Jews*
  • Matthew - Karozota (Karozuta) d'Matai
  • Mark - Karozota d'Marcos
  • Luke - Karozota d'Luka
  • John - Karozota d'Yokhnan
  • Acts of the Apostles - Saorana/Praksis d'Shlikha
  • Epistle of James - Igrata d'Yaaqub Shlikha
  • Hebrews - Igrata d'Levat Ivraya
  • Diatessaron - Damkhaltey**
  • Epistle of Peter - Igrata d'Keifa Shlikha
  • Epistle of John - Igrata d'Yukhnan Shlikha
  • Romans - Igrata d'Levat Romaya
  • 1/2 Corinthians - Igrata d'Levat Kurintaya
  • Galatians - Igrata d'Levat Galataya
  • Ephesians - Igrata d'Levat Afsaya
  • Philippians - Igrata d'Levat Filipsaya
  • Colossians - Igrata d'Levat Kulsaya
  • 1/2 Thessalonians - Igrata d'Levat Teslunikaya
  • 1/2 Timothy - Timoteos
  • Titus - Titus
  • Philemon - Filimun
* The list for the Peshitta Tanakh corresponds to Codex Ambrosiano.

"In the [Peshitta] Old Testament, this represents a direct translation from ancient Hebrew texts, probably done in Edessa or Arbela. The Peshitta remained the standard version for the Eastern churches, just as the Latin Vulgate did for the Western church."

"Although they did not include them in the canon of scripture, all the Eastern churches knew many ancient Christian texts, including apocryphal Gospels and apocalypses, and many scholars quote from now-lost patristic texts and commentaries. One major influence for Syriac writers was the Diatessaron, which was widely used in Eastern churches before many bishops decided to abandon it on the grounds of Tatian's heretical leanings.

"Nevertheless, Syriac scholars continued to know and cite the work at least through the thirteenth century, giving them access to what might have been authentically ancient New Testament readings that were lost in later texts. Through the Diatessaron, for instance, scholars like Isho'dad and Bar Salibi knew the ancient story that at the moment of Christ's baptism, 'a great light shone' over the Jordan.

** "Even at the end of the thirteenth century, 'Abdisho' bar Berikha not only knows the Diatessaron, but lists its as part of the canonical New Testament." (Quotes from: The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died, by Philip Jenkins. - Available from Amazon)

"As to the Bible, under missionary influence they were tending to accept and use the canon of Western Christendom, though the true Syriac canon is somewhat smaller. Ebedyeshu, metropolitan of Nisibis, gives: the Four Gospels, Acts, the Epistle of James, i Peter, i John, fourteen Epistles of Paul (inclusive of Hebrews). He also adds the Diatessaron [Damkhaltey] of Tatian. The most significant omission is the Apocalypse. Ebedyeshu's list, apart from his apparent reauthorization of the Diatessaron, is the same as the canon of the Syriac Peshitta" (The Nestorian Church: A Concise History of Nestorian Christianity in Asia from the Persian Schism to the Modern Assyrians, by Aubrey R. Vine. 1937)

Apocryphal Books:

"The old manuscripts of the Peshitta do not contain four of the General Epistles...nor the book of Revelation. These four Epistles were added to the Peshitta from copies of Syriac manuscripts of the revision in 616 C.E. made by Thomas of Harkel, bishop of Mabog (Hierapolis), of the earlier recension made at Mabog in 508 C.E. in the days of Philoxenos, bishop of that city, by a certain Polycarpos (who was a chorepiscopus)." -- Editor's Note in the New Covenant Aramaic Peshitta Text with Hebrew Translation, Bible Society Jerusalem, 1986.

2 Peter - Keipha Shlikha
2/3 John - Yukhnan Shlikha
Jude - Igrata d'Yahoda Shlikha
Revelation - Gilyana d'Yukhnan















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