Publisher's Synopsis
This is a translation of the complete Peshitta Aramaic Bible into English- the 39 Old Testament books and the 27 New Testament books. The Peshitta Bible was very likely written in the 1st century AD. The Peshitta Old Testament is a translation of proto-Massoretic Hebrew manuscripts, similar to those from which the Greek Septuagint was translated in the 3rd century BC. The New Testament is the original New Testament text from which the Greek manuscripts were translated and disseminated for the Greek speaking Roman citizens of the 1st century. This edition has no notes included to enable the author to fit all the books into one volume. Other editions of each Testament are available with numerous notes. Hardback 8x11 B&W. 779 pages. This is a deluxe edition printed on 80# glossy paper as a color edition, even though it is black & white. There was no other way to print it on glossy paper, thus the high cost. The font used in this edition for the scripture text is fairly close to the type used in William Tyndale's translations from 1525 to 1535, and is used as a tribute to him and his magnificent work. He was the first to translate the Old and New Testaments from their respective Hebrew and Greek manuscripts into English. Prior to that only the Latin Bible had been translated by John Wycliffe. William Tyndale was sentenced to the stake, strangled and burned in 1536. Before he died, he prayed: "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!" In 1537, Tyndale's translation was published as "Matthew's Bible." It was recommended to Henry the 8th by Archbishop Cranmer as the best he had read and it was installed in every pulpit in England by the King's decree. Sixty eight years later in 1604, King James the 1st commissioned a revision of Tyndale's Bible among 54 translators. They retained 76% of Tyndale's wording in the 15 Hebrew Old Testament books he had completed before his martyrdom, and 83% of his New Testament wording! The result was the 1611 Authorized Version, commonly known as the King James Version. This translation is based on my Peshitta Interlinear Bible, a literal word for word Aramaic-English translation of the complete 66 book Protestant canon of the Bible, published in 2018. I know of no other such translation of the Peshitta Bible available in the English language. George Lamsa's translation was mixed, especially of the Old Testament, where he often used translations of the Hebrew Bible, not translating the Peshitta text only, as I have done.
