THE SECOND PREFACE

...in citing the Prophecy of Micah: I do not deny it, provided we admit that this very objection is no more certain than what we were just saying regarding the era of the Syriac version. As for what Gregory of Malatya, known as Bar-Hebraeus Bar-Hebraeus (1226–1286) was a prominent Maphrian (bishop) of the Syriac Orthodox Church and a prolific scholar., and other Syriac interpreters claim—that their version was handed from Solomon to Hiram, King of the Tyrians—they neither prove it, nor is it truly probable. They failed to notice that the Tyrians and other Phoenician peoples had their own dialect distinct from Syriac, and more closely related to Hebrew; consequently, a version of that kind would have been no more useful to them than the Hebrew source itself. Certainly, the ancient Hebrews never acknowledged a Syriac version older than the Greek; indeed, they were accustomed to observe a day of annual mourning for the day on which the Sacred books were first shared with the Gentiles under Ptolemy Philadelphus Ptolemy II Philadelphus (r. 285–246 BC), the Pharaoh who commissioned the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek..

In the Hexaemeron St. Basil’s famous series of homilies on the six days of Creation.

But indeed, nothing confirms the authority of that version more than what St. Basil most sagaciously observed. For since the Syriac language is the very same one used by the authors of all the books of the New Testament, as well as some of the Old—such as Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezra, Tobit, and Judith—and since it is, in turn, most closely related to the language used by the Prophets in writing the remaining volumes of Divine Scripture, it becomes highly credible that the Syriac translator achieved the meaning of his original manuscript quite well. Likewise, he found in his own idiom, being so related, words that exactly correspond to the words of his Author.

Furthermore, he understood the Hebrew and Chaldean In this 18th-century text, "Chaldean" refers to the Aramaic dialects found in the Bible. idioms with which the Scriptures of both Testaments are filled everywhere, and he represented them perfectly in his version, as was also observed in the section of the Psalm just cited.

The style of Blessed EPHREM is varied; it is not the same in his Exhortations or Commentaries as it is in his metrical Sermons, nor ought it to be. Therefore, it is no wonder if it is less adorned and more popular—appearing almost cast down to the humility of everyday speech—yet it rises more sublimely in the Commentaries, and delights with more grace and sweetness in the metrical works, serving pleasure through the subject matter rather than mere words. Such are all the things that follow the explanations of Scripture in this volume, in which anyone who attentively considers the choice of words, the ornament of figures, and a certain becoming majesty—which the whole body of his speech, being grand and rhythmic, and the various flashing sentiments provide—will immediately understand how beautifully and truly the speech of Saint EPHREM was compared by an Angel (as was said before) to a vine of extraordinary height and breadth. It is clearly such a vine, yet like that golden one of the Persian Kings A reference to the legendary "Golden Vine," a diplomatic gift of immense value decorated with jewels, mentioned by Herodotus., which clusters made of a varied composition and structure of pearls clothed in changing ornament as it crept along with soft clusters. Its power, however, shines out most of all in stirring the emotions of the soul, as [Gregory of] Nyssa, Sozomen, and Photius also...