Mark 8 : 31

The Peshitta employs a periphrastic construction ܫܪܝ ܗܘܐ (šrī hwā, 'he began' + auxiliary verb) where Greek uses the simple aorist ἤρξατο and Latin the simple perfect cœpit. This is a characteristic Syriac idiom for inceptive aspect, semantically equivalent but syntactically distinct.

Greek δεῖ (impersonal 'it is necessary') and Latin oportet are direct equivalents; Peshitta ܕܥܬܝܕ ܗܘ (d-ʿtīd hū, 'that he is destined/about to') uses a participial construction with the copula, expressing futurity and necessity through a different lexical strategy but with equivalent force.

Greek employs the articular accusative τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου with genitive modifier; Latin mirrors this with Filium hominis (accusative + genitive); Peshitta uses the construct state ܒܪܗ ܕܐܢܫܐ (brēh d-nāšā, 'Son-of man-the'), a typical Semitic genitive construction without separate article, semantically identical.

Greek places the adverbial accusative πολλὰ before the infinitive παθεῖν ('many things to suffer'); Peshitta reverses this to ܕܢܚܫ ܣܓܝ (d-nḥaš sagī, 'that-he-suffer much'), placing the adverb after the verb. Latin pati multa follows the Greek order. This is a routine word-order variation without semantic consequence.

Greek uses the preposition ὑπὸ with the genitive article τῶν πρεσβυτέρων to express agency ('by the elders'); Latin employs a with the ablative senioribus; Peshitta uses the preposition ܡܢ (men, 'from') with ܩܫܝܫܐ (qašīšē, 'elders'), a construction that can express source or agency in Syriac. The Vulgate punctuates senioribus with a comma, creating a slight pause absent in the Greek.

Greek continues the genitive series with καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων ('and the chief priests'); Peshitta repeats the preposition ܘܡܢ ܪܒܝ ܟܗܢܐ (w-men rabbay kāhnē, 'and-from chief-of priests'), maintaining parallelism with the previous phrase. Latin uses a with summis sacerdotibus, mirroring the Peshitta's repetition of the preposition rather than the Greek's article-only construction.

The Vulgate inserts a colon after occidi, creating a major pause before the resurrection clause. Neither the Greek nor the Peshitta tradition attests punctuation at this juncture, treating the killing and rising as a continuous sequence within the same syntactic period.

Greek uses the preposition μετὰ with the accusative τρεῖς ἡμέρας ('after three days'); Latin employs post with the accusative tres dies, a direct calque. Peshitta uses the prefixed preposition ܠ (l-) attached to ܬܠܬܐ ܝܘܡܝܢ (tlātā yawmīn, 'to-three days'), which can express temporal goal or limit, semantically equivalent to 'after' in this eschatological context but syntactically more compact.