Mark 10 : 19

The Greek perfect οἶδας ('you know') encodes the subject morphologically in a single word; the Syriac renders this analytically with participle plus enclitic pronoun ܝܕܥ ܐܢܬ, while the Latin nosti is a syncopated perfect. The expansion in Syriac is purely grammatical.

Greek and Latin both place the prohibition against murder (μὴ φονεύσῃς / ne occidas) early in the Decalogue list, whereas the Peshitta sequences it third (ܠܐ ܬܩܛܘܠ). This reordering reflects a divergent textual tradition of the commandment sequence.

The prohibition against adultery stands second in the Greek (μὴ μοιχεύσῃς) and Latin (ne adulteres) but is placed first in the Peshitta (ܠܐ ܬܓܘܪ). The Peshitta and Vulgate thus diverge in ordering relative to one another.

The prohibition against theft (μὴ κλέψῃς / ne fureris / ܠܐ ܬܓܢܘܒ) stands third in Greek and Latin but second in the Peshitta, confirming that the Syriac transmits the order adultery–theft–murder against the Greek/Latin sequence.

Greek expresses 'bear false witness' with the single denominative verb ψευδομαρτυρήσῃς, whereas the Peshitta unfolds it as cognate-accusative construction ܬܣܗܕ ܣܗܕܘܬܐ ܕܓܠܬܐ ('testify false testimony') and the Vulgate as the periphrasis falsum testimonium dixeris. The expansions in both versions are idiomatic, not substantive.

Greek μὴ ἀποστερήσῃς ('do not defraud') is a single verb; the Syriac ܠܐ ܬܛܠܘܡ uses the root ṭ-l-m (oppress/wrong), and the Vulgate fraudem feceris is a periphrastic verbal idiom. The clause ('do not defraud') is notably absent from the Matthean and Lukan parallels, marking it as a Markan distinctive retained across all three traditions here.

Greek τὸν πατέρα σου uses article plus genitive pronoun; the Syriac fuses everything into a single inflected word ܠܐܒܘܟ ('your father') with object marker, suffixed possessive, all in one form, while the Latin patrem tuum retains separate possessive. The Syriac synthesis reflects normal Aramaic morphology.

Greek καὶ τὴν μητέρα includes the conjunction, article, and noun separately, and the Vulgate et matrem likewise; the Peshitta ܘܠܐܡܟ collapses conjunction, object marker, noun, and a possessive suffix into one word, adding 'your' (mother) where Greek and Latin leave the second object unmodified. This minor expansion supplies a symmetrical possessive.