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 his book, M. W. Weitzman argues that the translation was put together in around 200 CE by a small Jewish community estranged from the Rabbinic majority. This community eventually embraced Christianity and brought the Peshitta with them.

This remarkable theory is the prelude to a comprehensive analysis of the Peshitta itself, which covers all the books in the Bible, surveys the existing scholarship and explores the relationship between the translation and the original Hebrew text. Apart from the philological detail, the book also examines the translation’s historical links with Judaism and early Christianity. As a wide-ranging introduction to the subject, the book will appeal to philologists and historical linguists, as well as to biblical studies scholars and theologians.