Who Will Call Him Emmanuel? Syriac Translations of Isa. 7, 14b and Matt. 1, 23 in the Light of Ancient Textual Evidence

Abstract

In examining the Messianic quotation from Isa. 7, 14b and its transmission in Matt. 1, 23, the main attention was usually paid to the analysis of the semantics of the word «Virgo» and textual discrepancies regarding it. In this publication we have studied the variability of the rendering of the verb «to call» in both the Old and New Testaments. At the same time, the Syriac translations of Isa. 7, 14b (Peshiṭta and Syro-Hexaples) and Matt. 1, 23 (Cureton Version and Sinaitic Palimpsest, Peshiṭta) have been studied in the light of the Masoretic text, the Great Scroll of Isai ah, the Septuagint, the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, the Vulgate and the Greek text of the New Testament. Note that when analyzing these versions of Isa. 7, 14b and Matt. 1, 23, all textual evidence/discrepancies known through critical apparatuses were also taken into account. To understand the discrepancies in the Syriac translations of the messianic quotation, we turned to the compilation exegetical heritage of Isho‘dad of Merv. As a result, we came to the conclusion that the root of the current problem stems from the variability in the definition of the verb וְקָרָאת (Masoretic text) and the presence of another variant from the Hebrew prototype — וקרא.