The Numbering of the Ten Commandments in Some Peshitta Manuscripts

Abstract

and energy since 1959, not all the details in the text of the various mss. concerning qeryane, rubrics, etc. could be reproduced. Only the heading and subscription of each separate book are printed and their variant readings from the mss. up to the twelfth century are mentioned in the apparatus 1). As some of the inter-textual indications left out from the edition could be of some interest, I should like to draw attention in this note to a special kind of rubric in the book of Exodus, viz. the of the Syriac letters 'alaph toyodh as numbers to indicate the separate of the Decalogue which appear in a number of mss. One would expect that numbering the ten should not present too many difficulties to the Syrian scribes who do their utmost in their colophons to express their humble submission to the Most High. This suggests that they had some basic knowledge of such catechetical matters as the right division of the Decalogue. But-easy as it is to use one's ten commandments for memorizing purposesthe Syrian scribes had difficulties with the actual assignment of the numbers one to ten to each single commandment; and in this they were not alone. Even the order of the seems to have been liable to change, especially that of the sixth, seventh and eighth (concerning manslaughter, adultery and stealing). This can be seen by comparing their order in Hos. iv 2 (6-8-7) and Jer. vii 9 (8-6-7),2) and in Codex Vaticanus of the Septuagint in Ex. xx (7-8-6) and Deut. v (7-6-8; cf. Luke xviii 20 and Rom. xiii 9). Moreover, given their normal order, there are several possibilities