While the Syriac version of the Old Testament, known as the Peshitta, was translated from a Hebrew text, it was, surprisingly, preserved by the eastern churches alone. In a comprehensive analysis, M.W. Weitzman explores the origins of the translation and surveys the text with reference to all the books of the bible, its links with Judaism and early Christianity and its methodological contribution to textual criticism. As a wide-ranging introduction, the book will appeal to philologists and historical linguists, as well as to students of Judaism and Christianity.

"This volume has a well-articulated major thesis and a number of minor ones... The volume is a valuable resource to non-specialists as well. Students of the ancient versions, the history of exegesis, textual criticism, Judaism, and Christianity will find it of use."

"This is a most timely and welcome volume....essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in the ancient versions and their relationship to the Hebrew text."

"...a masterly distillation of the best scholarship by one who, until his untimely death in 1998, has been a major contributor to the field for twenty-five years...students of the Peshitta can be grateful for this rich compendium of textual learning. The volume stands by itself as a magisterial Handbuch."

"...a lucid analysis and an innovative thesis... To see such a bracing intelligence at work is as invigorating as it is instructive; this is a work of classic importance within the field."

"Students of the Bible in its various versions, whether historic or contemporary, are deeply indebted to this author for this thorough introduction to an all-too-little-known version of the OT."

"The book is a tour de force in Peshitta (P) scholarship and in textual-critical studies more generally. The volume is more than a review of the history and major issues of P research, in that Weitzman, while appraising the stuatus of important current debates, offers his own critiques and proposals through an impressive analysis of the relevant texts, which he quotes throughout.”