Commentaries on the Old Testament: Genesis to Second Samuel

Photographic reproduction of a historical Syriac manuscript page. The script is Serto (West Syriac), written in dark ink on aged paper. There is significant ink bleed-through from the reverse side and marginal annotations written vertically in the left margin. The main body of text contains the end of a proem followed by the beginning of the Book of Genesis.

Rejoice for yourself, O book full of all wisdom, and tell your readers to pray for Mar Athanasius, the Patriarch.

1. May they be granted life, peace, health, and mercy to all who believe in this foundation. And to all who dwell in it.
2. So that they may be in peace, and also in joy. Pray to the Lord that He may strengthen the Archdeacon Mar Georgis.
3. By whose hands Mar Athanasius, the Patriarch of Antioch, commanded that this entry be interpreted. And may the names of those who labored in it be called in the Book of Life. Amen.
4. And also you, O brothers who read in this foundation of those who established it, do not neglect to pray that they may be delivered from all adversaries and opponents.
5. And you shall find mercy on the day of judgment. Amen. It was written on the first day of the week, three days in June, of the year one thousand nine hundred and eighty, Seleucid era. Amen. The entry of the Book of Genesis was completed, by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
6. The first of the books of the Law, which is Genesis.
7. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let them be gathered...

NOTES ON THE TRANSLATION

a. I.e., the fifth and sixth Greek translations sometimes used in the Hexapla.
i. This is the Syriac title of the book, as Genesis is the title in the English Bible.