Psalm 151 in three Syriac psalm commentaries

Abstract

In his critical text of the five Syriac Apocryphal Psalms Baars pub- lished two versions of Ps 151, each with its own set of text-critical notes.2 The one version is the one contained in the important Syriac manuscript 12t4, while the other is the version contained in a Syriac translation of the Psalms Commentary of Athanasius as found in the manuscript 6h22. This latter version is very important as it is the oldest known copy of Ps 151 in Syriac. Baars’ apparatus contains, with regard te the version of Ps 151 in 12t4, the variants from the other manuscripts containing the five Syriac Apocryphal Psalms. His apparatus te the version in 6h22 contains vari- ants from ten manuscripts of the Peshitta Psalter and from five manu- scripts of the Psalter according te the Syro-Hexapla. According te the List of Syriac manuscripts published by the Peshitta Institute in Leiden, quite a large number of manuscripts — some of which are available at the Institute — not used by Baars also contain Ps 151.3 The List does not, however, mention two other Syriac Psalm Commentaries which also contain Ps 151, the first being the Scholia on the Psalms by Bar-He- braeus, published in Hebrew characters by De Lagarde in 1879,4 while the second one is in a manuscript presently in London: British Museum, Oriental 9354, fl6v.5 This paper will present the text of Ps 151 in these three commentaries, with a discussion of the important features of these three copies of Ps 151.