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
And
106
| 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 a
122
| 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
For
134
| 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 when
145
| 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 of
152
| 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 of
168
| 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 appear
170
| 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.
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