This article contributes to the knowledge of Jacob of Edessa’s (d. 708) Old Testament revision by editing twenty texts from the Book of Isaiah and comparing them with the Greek recensions of the Septuagint, with the Peshitta, and the Syrohexapla. Two special features are introduced to set out Jacob’s revision technique in some detail: 1. comparison with an earlier undeveloped stage of Jacob’s revision extant in Ms Add 17,134 of the British Library; and 2. the distinction (by different colours and fonts) of the ‘traditions’ involved in the definite stage of his revision. Both features point to the emphasis given to the Peshitta in translating the substantial Greek text of the Old Testament. Depending on the (in)congruence of the Peshitta with the Greek, Jacob’s translation technique is governed by adoption, correction or substitution of the Peshitta. Due to their permanent incongruence in the Book of Isaiah, texts from this prophet offer the key for understanding Jacob’s revision technique. In this perspective approximation of the Syriac and the Greek traditions seems to be the general idea behind Jacob’s revision, i.e. to offer a Peshitta-based textual incarnation of the substantial Greek Old Testament text.

Andreas Juckel is a Research Associate at the Oriental Department of the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, University of Muenster/Germany. He received his Ph. D from Bonn University. His special area of research is the revisional development of the Syriac New Testament and its relation to the Greek.