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The Text of the
Diatessaron.
————————————
[Section I]
[1] 75
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, and [4] without him not even one existing thing was
made. 78
In him was life, and the
life [5] is the light of men. 79
And the light
shineth in the darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not.
[6] 80
| 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
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 name [7] 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, for
[9] Elizabeth was barren, and they had both advanced in age.
84
And while he discharged [10] [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 the [11] temple of the
Lord. 86
And the whole gathering
of the people were praying without at the [12] time of the
incense. 87
And there appeared unto
Zacharias the angel of the Lord, standing [13] 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
| 90 This word is
constantly recurring in the sense of fear. | Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy
wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt [15] call his name
John; 91
and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many
shall rejoice [16] 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
| 93 Everywhere, except
in the introductory notes, the Arabic is the Spirit of Holiness,
as in the Arabic versions. |
while he is in his mother’s [17] womb. 94
And
he shall turn back many of the children of Israel to the Lord their
[18] 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. [19] 97
And Zacharias said unto
the angel, How shall I know this, since I am an old man [20] 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 give [21] 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 trust [22] 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. [23]101
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, and [24] continued dumb.
102
And when the days of his service were
completed, he departed to his dwelling.
[25] 103
And after those days
Elizabeth his wife conceived; and she hid herself five [26] 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.
[27] 105
And106
| 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. |
in the sixth month Gabriel the angel was sent from God to
Galilee107
| 107 The Borgian
ms. omits to Galilee. | to a [28] city called Nazareth, 108
to a virgin given in marriage to a man named
Joseph, of the [29] 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 Lord [30] is
with thee, thou blessed amongst women. 110
And
she, when she beheld, was agitated [31] at his word, and pondered what
this salutation could be. 111
And the angel
said unto [32] 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 of [34] David his father: and he shall rule
over the house of Jacob for ever; 114
and to his [35]
kingdom there shall be no end. 115
Mary said unto
the angel, How shall this be to [36] 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 Son [37] of
God. 117
And lo, Elizabeth thy
kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son in her old [38] age; and this
is the sixth month with her, her that is called barren. 118
For nothing is [39] 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.
[40] 120
And then Mary arose in
those days and went in haste into the hill country,121
| 121 Vat. ms., like that described by Gildemeister (see Introduction,
20) has into Galilee (cf. § 8, 10, note). |
to a122
| 122 Lit. the, a
form due to Syriac influence (cf. § ii. 12, and
passim). | [41] city of Judah; 123
and
entered into the house of Zacharias, and asked for the health of [42]
Elizabeth. 124
And when Elizabeth
heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in [43] 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 the [44] fruit that is in thy womb.
126
Whence have I this privilege, that the
mother of my [45] 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 believed [47] that what
was spoken to her from the Lord would be fulfilled.
129
And Mary said,
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
[48] 130
And my spirit hath
rejoiced in God my Saviour,
[49] 131
Who hath looked upon
the low estate of his handmaiden:
Lo, henceforth, all generations132
| 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. |
shall pronounce blessing on me.
[50] 133
For134
| 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). | he hath done great things for me, who is
mighty,
And holy is his name.
[51] 135
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.
[53] 137
He overthrew them that
acted haughtily from their thrones,
And raised the lowly.
[54] 138
He satisfied with good
things the hungry,
And left the rich without anything.
[55] 139
He helped Israel his
servant,
And remembered his mercy
[56] 140
(According as he spake
with our fathers)
Unto Abraham and unto his seed for ever.
[57] 141
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
| 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. | it was the eighth day, they came to
circumcise the child, and called him Zacharias, calling him by
the name of his father. [61] 146
And his mother
answered and said unto them, Not so; but he shall be called John.
[62] 147
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. [65] 150
And immediately his mouth was opened, and his
tongue, and he spake and [66] praised God. 151
And fear fell on all their neighbours:
and this was spoken of152
| 152 Lit.
described (cf. § ii. 46). | in all [67] 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.
[68] 154
And Zacharias his
father was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied and said,
[69] 155
Blessed is the Lord,
the God of Israel,
Who hath cared for his people, and wrought for it
salvation;
[70] 156
And hath raised for us
the horn of salvation
[Arabic, p. 6] In the house of David his servant
[71] 157
(As he spake by the
mouth of his holy prophets from eternity),
[72] 158
That he might save us
from our enemies,
And from the hand of all them that hate us.
[73] 159
And he hath performed
his mercy towards our fathers,
And remembered his holy covenants,
[74] 160
And the oath which he
sware unto Abraham our father,
[75] 161
That he would give us
deliverance from the hand of our enemies,
And without fear we shall162
serve
before him
[76] 163
All our days with
equity and righteousness.
[77] 164
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,
[78] 165
To give the
knowledge of salvation166
| 166 Here and elsewhere
the Arabic translator uses life and live and give
life, as in Syriac, for salvation, etc. | unto his
people,
For the forgiveness of their sins,
[79] 167
Through the
mercy of168
| 168 Borg. ms. has and for of. | the compassion of our
God,
With which he careth for169
| 169 The word used in
the Peshitta means visit, either in the sense of caring
for or in that of frequenting. See § 24,
29. | us,
to appear170
| 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. | from on
high
[80] 171
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.
[81] 172
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.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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