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Peshitto Translation Project:
An Interlinear Aramaic-English P'shitto

    This is the P'shitto (also called Peshitta and Peshitto), an Aramaic Chadasha (New Testament), in Hebrew script along with vowel pointings for proper pronunciation. Historically, it has been minimized as a Biblical text by western scholars, but I think that is largely due to a prevalent bias against Semitic cultures. The P’shitto, however, is a very old collection of Chadasha manuscripts. And for that reason alone, I think it needs serious consideration. Moreover, its value as a Semitic testimony of Yeshua and the Talmidim is even more valuable for the Messianic perspective. Being mostly compiled in the 1st Century, it was composed in the heat of the earliest formations of the Church. And being so near the actual arguments, I believe it is more of a parallel expression of things, rather than being a cold translation that simply reworks grammatical terms.

    This publication contains the Ancient P’shitto, archived by the British and Foreign Bible Society Edition of 1905. Its pointings of consonants are derived from the Estrangelo script of the Syriac Electronic Data Retrieval Archive (SEDRA), by George A. Kiraz, distributed by the Syriac Computing Institute. Special permission for use of this text for publications is required. For information, contact: George Kiraz, Director of Beth Mardutho. This publication, as it is herein published with its various drafts, may be used for personal printing and academics.

    This Hebrew transcription from its Estrangelo script, along with its English translation, are constructed and provided by the ministry of Rick Wills, Wellsprings of Torah, PO Box 446, Waxhaw, NC 28173 USA  (www.TorahWellsprings.org)

    You are invited to download the materials below. The translation is a progressing project that I expect will take several years. For your reference, it has been initiated this 07/18/05. I have provided a phonetic chart that demonstrates proper pronunciation, but pronunciation is subject to location and culture. I have modeled my pronunciation after the manner demonstrated by Rev. Dr. Mar Aprem (formerly George Mooken), Bishop of Bagdad, Iraq in 1968, and Head of the Church of the East in Trichur. The dictionary is being constructed as I translate, and it is intended to be exhaustive and specific to the P'shitto itself. Its definitions are being derived from multiple sources, and as published herein, they are best fit associations for their current stage of translation. Both the Dictionary and the Translation, however, will be edited as new perspectives are forced by the progressive translations. Therefore it will be a good thing to keep them up to date as you are studying.

    Current definitions are derived and deduced from "A Dictionary of Targumim, The Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Lierature", by Marcus Jastrow, PHD, Lit Dr., and "Lexicon to the Syriac New Testament", by Willaim Jennings, MA.,  and "Aramaic Hebrew English Dictionary," by Rabbi Ezra Zion Melamed, and "Oraham's Dictionary", by Alexander Joseph Oraham, Mic. Dr., and "The Practical Talmud Dictionary", by Yitzhak Frank. I recomend any of these for developing your knowledge, but if you are looking for only one that offers the most for its expense, you might choose "A Compendious Syriac Dictionary" by J. Payne Smith. But the only dictionary in this list that employs Hebrew script is the first listed, by Marcus Jastrow.

    As you read the text and work the dictionary I am producing (which is with Hebrew script), I believe you will be able to assimilate the Aramaic language. It is my hope that it will be very much like the "Jack and Jill" primers of American grade schools. It is a story that you are familiar with, and if you attempt to read it in the Aramaic, you will begin to think of the story in its Aramaic terms. I am personally convinced that if you begin to think of the Gospels and the Epistles in their Semitic structure, you will also more readily perceive the Semitic mindset, and the relevance of Torah and the Jewish culture to the Chadasha (New Testament) writings.

    Please report to me any speculations you might gain from this learning process. If you encounter any apparent errors, I will be happy to review and edit the Translation and Dictionary whenever warranted. Send your Email to: Mishareth@TorahWellsprings.org

    Please note:  This is a document in the Adobe PDF format, and you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. If you go to Downloads, you will find a link for downloading the viewer program.

    Peshitto Autiqa Interlinear
    Currently, complete through Matthew...
    Last Update 12-28-05

    Download the Phonetics:  Peshitto (Phonetics).pdf
    Download the Grammar:   Peshitto (Grammar).pdf

    Download the Dictionary:  Peshitto (Dictionary).pdf
    Download the Interlinear:  Peshitto (Interlinear) Matthew.pdf

    Peshitto Autiqa Aramaic

    This is in Hebrew only script (2.6 meg):  Peshitto Autiqa (Hebrew).pdf
    This is in Estrangelo only script (4.5 meg):  Peshitto Autiqa (Estrangelo).pdf

    To learn, start at the beginning, and take one word at a time. Look the word up in the Dictionary, practice saying the word, and rehearse in your mind what the word means. When you have finished the verse, go back through and try to read aloud and understand the words in their sentence structure. Every word is in the Dictionary, but some are shown as their root component, and in the text they are in construct with prefixes, infixes (not very often) and suffixes. But those construct forms are also demonstrated in the Dictionary as separate items. So with some patience and diligence, you should be able to intuit what the Aramaic verse means. But this is the important part, don't advance to the next verse until you can look at the Aramaic and reasonably think out its meaning. As you progress through the text, your comprehension will have a "snow ball" effect, and learning will become easier. Moreover, you will be learning Aramaic in its native structure, rather than abstractly as an isolated vocabulary, and its grammar forms will become part of your natural thinking. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I will assist you however I can.

    As a grammar guide, I recommend "Introduction to Syriac", by W.M. Thackston. But you will have to learn Syriac script in order to read the Aramaic words. It is also very technical, so you will not enjoy reading it, but it is nevertheless an essential reference.

    A gentler grammar that is more of a tutorial is "Teach Yourself Aramaic", by Dr. Mar Aprem. It is in Estrangelo (Ancient Syriac) script, but it is a friendlier introduction that does not deal with the technical aspects of the Aramaic language.