ARABIC VERSIONS

ar'-a-bik vur'-shuns: Arabic translations of the Bible must have been made at a very early date, for Christianity and Judaism had penetrated far into Arabia by the 6th century of our era, but the oldest of which a copy has come down to our time is that of Sasdish the Gaon (942 A.D.). This version was made directly from the Massoretic Text and is said to have covered the whole of the Old Testament, but much of it is no longer extant. It is characterized by an avoidance of anthropomorphisms (e.g. Genesis 6:2, "sons of nobles" and "daughters of common people") and by giving modern equivalents, e.g. Turks, Franks, Chinese, for the Hebrew names. Saadiah's Pentateuch was first printed at Constantinople in 1546 and was incorporated into the Paris (1629-45) and London (1657) Polyglots.

When, after the rise of Islam, Arabic became the common language of Syria, Egypt and North Africa, translations were made from the Septuagint, from the Peshitta and from Coptic. In the Polyglots the translation of Joshua is, like the Pentateuch, made from the Massoretic Text, as also portions of Kings and Nehemiah, with interpolations from the Peshitta. Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings (in parts), 1 and 2 Chronicles (?), Nehemiah (in parts) and Job have been translated into Arabic from Syriac. The remaining books (Prophets, Psalms, Proverbs, etc.) are from the Septuagint, and that according to Codex Alexandrinus. In the New Testament the Gospels have been translated from the Vulgate, and the remaining books, although from the Greek, are late. A revised edition of the versions in Walton's Polyglot was published by J. D. Carlyle, professor of Arabic in Cambridge, and printed at Newcastle by Sarah Hodgson in 1811. A very fine translation of the entire Bible in classical Arabic has been issued by the Jesuit Fathers in Beirut, and a simpler version in Arabic which can be understood by the common people, educated and uneducated alike, was made by the late Dr. Cornelius Van Dyck of the Syrian Protestant College and published by the American Press in Beirut. Dr. Van Dyck had the benefit of the help and advice of the Sheikh Nacif al-Yaziji.

A large number of manuscripts of the Bible in Arabic, in whole or in part, are to be found in the British Museum, the Bibliotheque Nationale and the great libraries of the Continent, but none of them are of sufficient age to make them of value for the criticism of the text.

Thomas Hunter Weir

Ancient Versions Based Upon the Septuagint.
... EDITIONS of Arabic versions of the Septuagint. ... of the Arabic versions of the Old
Testament will be found in the Preface to Holmes and Parsons, vol. ...
/.../chapter iv ancient versions based.htm

In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God...
... [92] Luke 1:15. [93] Everywhere, except in the introductory notes, the Arabic is
the Spirit of Holiness, as in the Arabic versions. [94] Luke 1:16. ...
/.../hogg/the diatessaron of tatian/section i in the beginning.htm

Title and Position.
... Canticle). In the Syriac and Arabic versions of Daniel a separate title
is given after v.23 of chap. iii., and in the latter after ...
/.../daubney/the three additions to daniel a study/title and position.htm

The Magi came from the East to Jerusalem,...
... [247] Matthew 2:12. [248] So in later Arabic and some Arabic versions. According
to classical usage the word means sleep. [249] Matthew 2:13. ...
/.../hogg/the diatessaron of tatian/section iii the magi came.htm

Introduction.
... From first to last it has to be borne in mind that a great deal of work was done
at Arabic versions of the gospels, [32] and the text of the copy from which ...
//christianbookshelf.org/hogg/the diatessaron of tatian/introduction.htm

Verily I Say unto You, it is Difficult for a Rich Man to Enter The ...
... [2019] Luke 16:24. [2020] Luke 16:25. [2021] Luke 16:26. [2022] Luke 16:27. [2023]
Luke 16:28. [2024] The Syriac and Arabic versions here agree with the Greek. ...
/.../hogg/the diatessaron of tatian/section xxix verily i say.htm

Ancient Versions of the New Testament.
... Other ancient versions, as the Arabic and Slavonic, we pass by; as their comparatively
late date makes them of little importance for critical studies. ...
/.../barrows/companion to the bible/chapter xxviii ancient versions of.htm

Integrity and State of the Text.
... In the Syriac and Arabic versions the Dragon has a separate title (noticed
in AV margin, "Some add this title of the Dragon"). The ...
/.../daubney/the three additions to daniel a study/integrity and state of the 3.htm

And in the Morning of that Day He Went Out Very Early...
... [567] Luke 5:32. [568] Luke 5:33. [569] Luke 5:34. [570] The Arabic word, which
occurs here in many of the Arabic versions, could also be read bridegroom. ...
/.../hogg/the diatessaron of tatian/section vii and in the.htm

Bibliography
... Little has been done as yet towards the provision of a critical text. The Syriac,
Armenian and Arabic versions have not been investigated. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/rolt/dionysius the areopagite/x bibliography.htm