of the Greeks, which is that of the Seventy-two referring to the Septuagint, I have adduced many readings for the supplementing of this; and, though not for support yet for enlightenment, I have used those of Aquila and of Symmachus and of Theodotion [and of the Fifth] and Sixth.

Now concerning this Syriac referring to the Peshitta version of the Bible there are three opinions: one, that it was brought out in the time of the kings Solomon and Hiram; second, that Asa the priest translated it when the Assyrian sent him to Samaria; third, that in the days of Addai the apostle and Abgar, king of Edessa, the version was made, when also the New Testament in like manner, crudely (peshīṭtâ simple/common version), was translated. Afterward a second time it was translated more elegantly from the Greek to the Syriac in the city of Mabbūgh in the days of the pious Philoxenus; and it was revised a third time in Alexandria by Saint Thomas of Heraclea in the holy monastery of the Antonians. [The septuagintal Old Testament, however, Paul, bishop of Tella of Mawzalat, translated from Greek to Syriac.]

THE BOOK OF THE LAW. FIVE BOOKS

FIRST BOOK. OF THE CREATION. THIRTY-FOUR SECTIONS

FIRST SECTION. SIX PARAGRAPHS

FIRST PARAGRAPH. (1:1) “In the beginning God created,” i.e., in the primordial beginning; and therefore not with å of r, but with i of it, it should be read. And (as to) that which is in the Gospel again, even though it signify “the beginning,” yet “it was” indicates the eternal pre-existence of the Word with God the Father; but not so this, that “God created.” “Jåth the heaven and jåth the earth,” i.e., the substance of [the heaven and the earth]. But it (jåth) takes the place of l (the preposition) in Palestinian usage, i.e., lashmāyâ wal-ar-â for the heaven and for the earth. (2) “The earth was with enunciation of h tūh wavūh formless and void,” i.e., desolate and void. Greek: it was invisible and unwrought; Aquila: emptiness and even nothing; Symmachus: unoccupied and unarranged; Theodotion: something and nothing. “And darkness was upon the face of the deep (tehūmâ abyss),” i.e., upon