The Hebrew and Syriac versions of Psalm 154

Abstract

The Hebrew version from Qumran and the Syriac apocryphal Psalm 155 are compared to discern the relationship between the different textual traditions. For the comparison, Sanders’s edition of the text from Qumran and Baars's critical edition of the Syriac are used. There are more than thirty variants that are important for defining the relationship between the different texts. In the case of more than half of these variants, all the Syriac manuscripts agree against the Hebrew. All the Syriac texts are from the same broad tradition. The important Syriac manuscript 12t4 agrees with the Hebrew in some instances against the Syriac, but agrees in other instances with the other Syriac manuscripts against the Hebrew. The Hebrew Vorlage of the Syriac tradition differs from the Hebrew text from Qumran in some important aspects.