Syriac Apocryphal Psalms

The Syriac Apocryphal Psalms — Witness Note

[Witness note. The full texts are restored at Psalm 151 and Psalms 152–155; this note sets out the distinct Syriac witness.]

The Syriac tradition transmits five psalms beyond the one hundred and fifty, numbered in the Syriac manuscripts as the First through the Fifth. Their correspondence to the numbering used in this collection is as follows:

Syriac Psalm I = Psalm 151

Syriac Psalm II = Psalm 154

Syriac Psalm III = Psalm 155

Syriac Psalm IV = Psalm 152

Syriac Psalm V = Psalm 153

The order of the Syriac collection therefore differs from the order in which these psalms are numbered elsewhere, and this should be kept in view when comparing witnesses.

The Syriac witness is essential and must not be passed over, because two of these psalms survive in no other language. Psalm 152 (the prayer of David as he struggled with the lion and the wolf) and Psalm 153 (his thanksgiving after that deliverance) are preserved only in Syriac. For these two, the Syriac is the sole surviving witness; without it they would be lost.

For the remaining three — Psalms 151, 154, and 155 — the Syriac stands alongside the Hebrew of the Great Psalms Scroll and, for Psalm 151, the Greek. Where the Syriac and the Hebrew differ, both readings deserve weight. The restored texts of all five are given in full at their numbered homes.