What is the Peshitta?

Answer

The Peshitta is a collection of Aramaic manuscripts of the Bible. Aramaic was the most common “shared language” among people of the Near East and Middle East for many centuries. This includes the years immediately before and after the earthly ministry of Jesus. Therefore, the Peshitta was a significant early translation of the Bible, widely distributed and widely used. The earliest available manuscripts date to the AD 400s.

The Peshitta is the primary text used in Syriac churches, which utilize the Aramaic language during religious services. These churches are frequently accused of adhering to Nestorianism, although that characterization is often disputed.

Based on manuscript and language evidence, scholars are overwhelmingly convinced that the Peshitta dates from well after the time period of Jesus and the apostles. The language of the Peshitta obscures certain types of metaphor or wordplay. This is typical in translated texts but is unusual in an original manuscript. The specific dialect of Aramaic used in the Peshitta is from an era later than that of Jesus. For these reasons among others, it is certain that the New Testament was not originally written in Aramaic, but in Greek.

Some groups, such as the Assyrian Church of the East, advocate for a concept known as “Peshitta Primacy,” or “Aramaic Primacy.” This is the belief that the Peshitta represents the original writings and the Greek manuscripts are translations from that Aramaic text. This notion largely stems from assertions made by Assyrian Church member George Lamsa. Most scholars contend that Lamsa mistakenly equated the then-modern Syriac language with ancient Aramaic, as they are very similar, leading to his erroneous conclusion.