Introductory Notes

The Text of the Diatessaron

Page 8 of 468

[Section I]

¹⁷⁵ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God is the [2,3] Word.⁷⁶ This was in the beginning with God.⁷⁷ Everything was by his hand, and⁴ without him not even one existing thing was made.⁷⁸ In him was life, and the life⁵ is the light of men.⁷⁹ And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not.

⁶⁸⁰⁸¹ There was in the days of Herod the king a priest whose name was Zacharias, of the family of Abijah; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name⁷ was Elizabeth.⁸² And they were both righteous before God, walking in all his commands,⁸ and in the uprightness of God without reproach.⁸³ And they had no son, for⁹ Elizabeth was barren, and they had both advanced in age.⁸⁴ And while he discharged¹⁰ [Arabic, p. 2] the duties of priest in the order of his service before God,⁸⁵ according to the custom of the priesthood it was his turn to burn incense; so he entered the¹¹ temple of the Lord.⁸⁶ And the whole gathering of the people were praying without at the¹² time of the incense.⁸⁷ And there appeared unto Zacharias the angel of the Lord, standing¹³ at the right of the altar of incense;⁸⁸ and Zacharias was troubled when he saw him,¹⁴ and fear fell upon him.⁸⁹ But the angel said unto him, Be not agitated,⁹⁰ Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt¹⁵ call his name John;⁹¹ and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice¹⁶ at his birth.⁹² And he shall be great before the Lord, and shall not drink wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit⁹³ while he is in his mother's¹⁷ womb.⁹⁴ And he shall turn back many of the children of Israel to the Lord their¹⁸ God.⁹⁵ And he shall go before him in the spirit, and in the power of Elijah the prophet, to turn back the heart of the fathers to the sons, and those that obey not to the knowledge⁹⁶ of the righteous; and to prepare for the Lord a perfect people.¹⁹⁹⁷ And Zacharias said unto the angel, How shall I know this, since I am an old man²⁰ and my wife is advanced in years?⁹⁸ And the angel answered and said unto him, I am Gabriel, that standeth before God; and I was sent to speak unto thee, and give²¹ thee tidings of this.⁹⁹ Henceforth thou shalt be speechless, and shalt not be able to speak until the day in which this shall come to pass, because thou didst not trust²² this my word, which shall be accomplished in its time.¹⁰⁰ And the people were standing [Arabic, p. 3] awaiting Zacharias, and they were perplexed at his delaying in the temple.²³¹⁰¹ And when Zacharias went out, he was not able to speak unto them: so they knew that he had seen in the temple a vision; and he made signs unto them, and²⁴ continued dumb.¹⁰² And when the days of his service were completed, he departed to his dwelling.

²⁵¹⁰³ And after those days Elizabeth his wife conceived; and she hid herself five²⁶ months, and said,¹⁰⁴ This hath the Lord done unto me in the days when he looked upon me, to remove my reproach from among men.

²⁷¹⁰⁵ And¹⁰⁶ in the sixth month Gabriel the angel was sent from God to Galilee¹⁰⁷ to a²⁸ city called Nazareth,¹⁰⁸ to a virgin given in marriage to a man named Joseph, of the²⁹ house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.¹⁰⁹ And the angel entered unto her and said unto her, Peace be unto thee, thou who art filled with grace. Our Lord³⁰ is with thee, thou blessed amongst women.¹¹⁰ And she, when she beheld, was agitated³¹ at his word, and pondered what this salutation could be.¹¹¹ And the angel said unto³² her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God.¹¹² Thou shalt now conceive,³³ and bear a son, and call his name Jesus.¹¹³ This shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of³⁴ David his father: and he shall rule over the house of Jacob for ever;¹¹⁴ and to his³⁵ kingdom there shall be no end.¹¹⁵ Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be to³⁶ me when no man hath known me?¹¹⁶ The angel answered and said unto her, The [Arabic, p. 4] Holy Spirit will come, and the power of the Most High shall rest upon thee, and therefore shall he that is born of thee be pure, and shall be called the Son³⁷ of God.¹¹⁷ And lo, Elizabeth thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son in her old³⁸ age; and this is the sixth month with her, her that is called barren.¹¹⁸ For nothing is³⁹ difficult for God.¹¹⁹ Mary said, Lo, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be unto me according unto thy word. And the angel departed from her.

⁴⁰¹²⁰ And then Mary arose in those days and went in haste into the hill country,¹²¹ to a¹²²⁴¹ city of Judah;¹²³ and entered into the house of Zacharias, and asked for the health of⁴² Elizabeth.¹²⁴ And when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in⁴³ her womb.¹²⁵ And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit; and cried with a loud voice and said unto Mary, Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the⁴⁴ fruit that is in thy womb.¹²⁶ Whence have I this privilege, that the mother of my⁴⁵ Lord should come unto me?¹²⁷ When the sound of thy salutation reached my ears,⁴⁶ with great joy rejoiced the babe in my womb.¹²⁸ And blessed is she who believed⁴⁷ that what was spoken to her from the Lord would be fulfilled.¹²⁹ And Mary said,

My soul doth magnify the Lord,

⁴⁸¹³⁰ And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,

⁴⁹¹³¹ Who hath looked upon the low estate of his handmaiden:

Lo, henceforth, all generations¹³² shall pronounce blessing on me.

⁵⁰¹³³ For¹³⁴ he hath done great things for me, who is mighty,

And holy is his name.

⁵¹¹³⁵ And his mercy embraceth them who fear him,

Throughout the ages and the times.

⁵² [Arabic, p. 5]¹³⁶ He wrought the victory with his arm,

And scattered them that prided themselves in their opinions.

⁵³¹³⁷ He overthrew them that acted haughtily from their thrones,

And raised the lowly.

⁵⁴¹³⁸ He satisfied with good things the hungry,

And left the rich without anything.

⁵⁵¹³⁹ He helped Israel his servant,

And remembered his mercy

⁵⁶¹⁴⁰ (According as he spake with our fathers)

Unto Abraham and unto his seed for ever.

⁵⁷¹⁴¹ And Mary abode with Elizabeth about three months, and returned unto her house.

[58, 59]¹⁴² And Elizabeth's time of delivery was come; and she brought forth a son.¹⁴³ And her neighbours and kinsfolk heard that God had multiplied his mercy towards her;⁶⁰ and they rejoiced with her.¹⁴⁴ And when¹⁴⁵ it was the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and called him Zacharias, calling him by the name of his father.⁶¹¹⁴⁶ And his mother answered and said unto them, Not so; but he shall be called John.⁶²¹⁴⁷ And they said unto her, There is no man of thy kindred that is called by this name. [63, 64]¹⁴⁸ And they made signs to his father, saying, How dost thou wish to name him?¹⁴⁹ And he asked for a tablet, and wrote and said, His name is John. And every one wondered.⁶⁵¹⁵⁰ And immediately his mouth was opened, and his tongue, and he spake and⁶⁶ praised God.¹⁵¹ And fear fell on all their neighbours: and this was spoken of¹⁵² in all⁶⁷ the mountains of Judah.¹⁵³ And all who heard pondered in their hearts and said, What shall this child be? And the hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁸¹⁵⁴ And Zacharias his father was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied and said,

⁶⁹¹⁵⁵ Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel,

Who hath cared for his people, and wrought for it salvation;

⁷⁰¹⁵⁶ And hath raised for us the horn of salvation

[Arabic, p. 6] In the house of David his servant

⁷¹¹⁵⁷ (As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets from eternity),

⁷²¹⁵⁸ That he might save us from our enemies,

And from the hand of all them that hate us.

⁷³¹⁵⁹ And he hath performed his mercy towards our fathers,

And remembered his holy covenants,

⁷⁴¹⁶⁰ And the oath which he sware unto Abraham our father,

⁷⁵¹⁶¹ That he would give us deliverance from the hand of our enemies,

And without fear we shall¹⁶² serve before him

⁷⁶¹⁶³ All our days with equity and righteousness.

⁷⁷¹⁶⁴ And as for thee, O child, prophet of the Most High shalt thou be called.

Thou shalt go forth before the face of the Lord to prepare his way,

⁷⁸¹⁶⁵ To give the knowledge of salvation¹⁶⁶ unto his people,

For the forgiveness of their sins,

⁷⁹¹⁶⁷ Through the mercy of¹⁶⁸ the compassion of our God,

With which he careth for¹⁶⁹ us, to appear¹⁷⁰ from on high

⁸⁰¹⁷¹ To give light to them that sit in darkness and under the shadow of death,

And to set straight our feet in the way of peace.

⁸¹¹⁷² And the child grew and became strong in the spirit, and abode in the desert until the time of his appearing unto the children of Israel.

Notes

1
Parechein mikropsuchian, perhaps "causes you ill-feeling." The translation of Serapion's letter with this note is taken from Mr. Armitage Robinson's edition of the gospel.
75
.
76
.
77
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
78
.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
79
.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
80
On the margin of the Vatican ms., fol. 1a, are written by a later hand these words, The first of his Gospel. The first of the Evangel (is) the Gospel of Luke; followed by the text of the first four verses of Luke, and that in turn by the words, Four complete Gospels, Matthew, and Mark, and Luke, and John. See Ciasca's Essay, cited above (Introduction, 5), p. 468.
81
.
7
For autos horas we must read autes horas (cf. Clem., Hom., xx., 16); aute is the equivalent in later Greek literature of ekeine, as in the modern tongue (cf. Lc. x. 7, 21, and xii. 12; || ekeine, Mt., Mc.)
82
.
8
I have ventured to substitute meta, "together with" (cf. ), for kata, "down upon." Dr. Swete, however, keeps kata, and interprets it as "against," i.e., to guard the sepulchre against.
83
.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
84
.
10
[cf. John passim.]
85
.
11
[cf. .]
86
.
12
[cf. ; .]
87
.
13
[cf. .]
88
.
14
[cf. ; .]
89
.
90
This word is constantly recurring in the sense of fear.
15
[cf. .]
91
.
16
[cf. .]
92
.
93
Everywhere, except in the introductory notes, the Arabic is the Spirit of Holiness, as in the Arabic versions.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
94
.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
95
.
96
See § 28, 17, note.
19
See below, 12, (2).
97
.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
98
.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
99
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
100
.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
101
.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
102
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
103
.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
104
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
105
.
106
The Vat. ms. has over this verse, The second section, from the Gospel of Luke, i.e., as divided in the Syriac and Arabic versions.
107
The Borgian ms. omits to Galilee.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
108
.
29
See below, 13.
109
.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
110
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
111
.
32
See the valuable article of Guidi, "Le traduzioni degli Evangelii in arabo e in etiopico" (Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei; Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche e filologiche. Serie Quarta, 1888, Parte Prima—Memorie, pp. 5-38). Some of his results are briefly stated in Scrivener, A Plain Introd. to the Crit. of the N.T., 4th ed., ii., 162.
112
.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
113
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
114
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
115
.
36
The references to the readings of the Diatessaron in Ibn-at-Tayyib's own commentary on the gospels (see next note) are remarkably impersonal for one who had made or was to make a translation of it.
116
.
37
A specially important part of the general question is this, What are the mutual relations of the following: (1) a supposed version of at least Matthew and John made from the Syriac by Ibn-at-Tayyib, mentioned by Ibn-al-Assal in the Preface to his scholarly recension of the gospels (ms. numbered Or. 3382 in Brit. Mus., folio 384b) and used by him in determining his text; (2) the gospel text interwoven with the commentary of Ibn-at-Tayyib on the gospels, a commentary which De Slane says the author wrote in Syriac and then translated into Arabic; (3) our present work. Of mss. testifying to No. 1 we have some dating from the time of Ibn-al-Assal himself; of No. 2 we have, in addition to others, an eleventh-century ms. in Paris, described by De Slane (catalogue No. 85) as being "un volume dépareillé du ms. original de l'ouvrage"; of No. 3 we have of course the Vatican and Borgian mss. What is the mutual relation of these texts; were any two of them identical? The Brit. Mus. ms. of the second has many points of contact with the third, but is dated 1805 a.d. Does the older Paris ms. stand more or less closely related? Did Ibn-at-Tayyib himself really translate any or all of these texts, or did he simply select or edit them? Space does not permit us to point out, far less to discuss, the various possibilities.
117
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
118
.
39
Prof. Gottheil, indeed, announced in 1892 in the Journal of Biblical Literature (vol. xi., pt. i., p. 71) that he had been privately informed of the existence of a complete copy of the Syriac Diatessaron. Unfortunately, however, as he has kindly informed me, he has reluctantly come to the conclusion that the ms. in question, which is not yet accessible, is "nothing more than the commentary of Ishodad" mentioned in the text. A similar rumor lately circulated probably originated simply in the pamphlet of Goussen mentioned in the next note. S. Bäumer, on the other hand, in his article, "Tatians Diatessaron, seine bisher. Lit. u. die Reconstruction des Textes nach einer neuentdeckten Handschrift" (Literarischer Handweiser, 1890, 153-169) which the present writer has not been able to see, perhaps refers simply to the Borgian ms.
119
.
40
Attention was called to these by Profs. Isaac H. Hall and R. J. H. Gottheil (Journ. of Bibl. Lit., x., 153 ff.; xi., 68 ff.); then by Prof. J. R. Harris (Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1895, p. 271 ff., and, more fully, Fragments of the Com. of Ephr. Syr. on the Diatess., London, 1895) and by Goussen (Studia Theologica, fasc. i., Lips., 1895).
120
.
121
Vat. ms., like that described by Gildemeister (see Introduction, 20) has into Galilee (cf. § 8, 10, note).
122
Lit. the, a form due to Syriac influence (cf. § ii. 12, and passim).
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
123
.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
124
.
43
Bib. Or., ii., 159 f. Most of them are repeated again by Bar Hebræus (d. 1286), although some confusion is produced by his interweaving some phrases from Eusebius of Cæsarea. (Bib. Or., i., 57 f., and a longer quotation in English in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1895, p. 274 f.)
125
.
44
Lagarde's statement (Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellsch. der Wiss., etc., zu Göttingen, 1891, No. 4, p. 153) that a ms. had been discovered, appears to have been unfounded. Prof. Rahlfs of Göttingen kindly tells me that he believes this is so.
126
.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
127
.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
128
.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
129
.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
130
.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
131
.
132
The Arabic word ordinarily means tribe or nation, but in this work it regularly represents the Syriac word used in the N.T. for generation.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
133
.
134
The Arabic would naturally be rendered, the blessing on me, That; but a number of passages in this work seem to justify the rendering given in the text (cf., e.g., § 46, 54, and especially § 15, 40).
51
For other forms of the Diatessaron, of no critical importance, see S. Hemphill, The Diatessaron of Tatian (London, 1888), Appendix D and the refs. there.
135
.
52
Further references, chiefly repetitions in one form or another of the statements we have quoted, may be found in a convenient form in Harnack, Gesch. d. altchrist. Lit. bis. Euseb., 493-496; cf. also the works mentioned by Hill (op. cit.) p. 378 f.
136
.
53
cf. the words of Aphraates, senior contemporary of Ephraem: "As it is written in the beginning of the Gospel of our Vivifier: In the beginning was the Word." (Patrol. Syr., pars i., tom. i., 21, lines 17-19).
137
.
54
Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellsch. der Wiss., etc., March 17, 1886, No. 4, p. 151 ff.
138
.
55
See notes to § 1, 81, and § 4, 29.
139
.
56
See note to § 55, 17.
140
.
57
The Armenian version of Ephraem is supposed to date from the fifth century.
141
.
142
.
143
.
60
Phillips, Doct. Add., p. 36, 15-17 [E. Tr. p. 34].
144
.
145
The text is indistinct in the Vat. ms. The reading seems to be conflate, the doublets being when it was, which is the reading of Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary, and on.
61
Moesinger, Evang. Concord., etc., p. xi.
146
.
62
The latest discussion of the question whether this really was Tatian is Mr. Rendel Harris's article in the Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1895.
147
.
148
.
149
.
65
The refs., except where the foot-notes indicate otherwise, are to the verses of the English or Greek Bible. The numbers of the Arabic verse refs. (which follow the Vulgate and therefore in one or two passages differ from the English numbers by one) may, however, have been occasionally retained through oversight. It is only the name of the gospel that can possibly be ancient.
150
.
66
It may be mentioned that it has been found very convenient to mark these figures on the margin of the Arabic text. An English index (that given here, or that in Hill's volume) can then be used for the Arabic text also.
151
.
152
Lit. described (cf. § ii. 46).
67
e.g., § 8, 10. For a list of suggested emendations see at end of Index.
153
.
68
e.g., § 52, 11.
154
.
69
e.g., § 45, 33.
155
.
70
The ms. here has Tabib, but the name is correctly given in the Subscription (q.v.).
156
.
71
i.e., simply He began with.
157
.
72
The vowel signs as printed by Ciasca imply some such construction asAnd he said as a beginning: The Gospel, etc. But the vocalisation is of course not authoritative, and a comparison with the preface in the Vatican ms. suggests the rendering given above. The word translated Beginning in the two Introductory Notes is the very word (whichever spelling be adopted) used by Ibn-at-Tayyib himself in his comments on (at least according to the Brit. Mus. ms.), although not in the gospel text prefixed to the Comments as it now stands, or indeed in any ms. Arabic gospel in the Brit. Mus. This would seem to militate against our theory of the original form of this much-debated passage in the Introductory Notes, as indicated by the use of small type for the later inserted phrases; and the difficulty appears at first to be increased by the following words in Ibn-at-Tayyib's comments on (Brit. Mus. ms., fol. 190a), and some say that the Greek citation and in the Diatessaron, which Tatianus the pupil of Justianus the philosopher wrote, the quotation is not written, "Isaiah," but, "as it is written in the prophet." This is a remarkable statement about the Diatessaron. But the sentence is hardly grammatical. Perhaps the words printed in italics originally formed a complete sentence by themselves, possibly on the margin. If this conjecture be correct we might emend, e.g., by restoring them to the margin, and repeating the last three words or some equivalent phrase in the text. It would be interesting to know how the Paris ms. reads. See below, p. 138 (Suggested Emendations).
158
.
73
Ciasca does not state whether the word John occurs here in the Borgian ms. or not.
159
.
74
The vowel signs as printed by Ciasca imply some such construction asAnd he said as a beginning: The Gospel, etc. But the vocalisation is of course not authoritative, and a comparison with the preface in the Vatican ms. suggests the rendering given above. The word translated Beginning in the two Introductory Notes is the very word (whichever spelling be adopted) used by Ibn-at-Tayyib himself in his comments on (at least according to the Brit. Mus. ms.), although not in the gospel text prefixed to the Comments as it now stands, or indeed in any ms. Arabic gospel in the Brit. Mus. This would seem to militate against our theory of the original form of this much-debated passage in the Introductory Notes, as indicated by the use of small type for the later inserted phrases; and the difficulty appears at first to be increased by the following words in Ibn-at-Tayyib's comments on (Brit. Mus. ms., fol. 190a), and some say that the Greek citation and in the Diatessaron, which Tatianus the pupil of Justianus the philosopher wrote, the quotation is not written, "Isaiah," but, "as it is written in the prophet". This is a remarkable statement about the Diatessaron. But the sentence is hardly grammatical. Perhaps the words printed in italics originally formed a complete sentence by themselves, possibly on the margin. If this conjecture be correct we might emend, e.g., by restoring them to the margin, and repeating the last three words or some equivalent phrase in the text. It would be interesting to know how the Paris ms. reads. See below, p. 138 (Suggested Emendations).
160
.
161
.
162
Or, should.
163
.
164
.
165
.
166
Here and elsewhere the Arabic translator uses life and live and give life, as in Syriac, for salvation, etc.
167
.
168
Borg. ms. has and for of.
169
The word used in the Peshitta means visit, either in the sense of caring for or in that of frequenting. See § 24, 29.
170
So Borg. ms. The Vat. ms. is very indistinct. Lagarde (see Introduction, 13, note), quoting Guidi, prints Whereby there visiteth us the manifestation from on high. The difference in Arabic is in a single stroke.
171
.
172
.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe (1885–96). Public domain. Text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.