Mark 13 : 20

Greek uses two-word conditional εἰ μὴ ('if not'); Vulgate employs single particle nisi ('unless'); Peshitta ܠܐ ('not') appears separately, with the conditional already embedded in ܘܐܠܘ—functionally equivalent but syntactically distinct.

Greek and Vulgate place the verb before the subject (ἐκολόβωσεν κύριος / breviasset Dominus); Peshitta inverts to subject-verb order (ܡܪܝܐ ܕܟܪܝ), reflecting standard Syriac syntax for conditional protases.

Greek and Vulgate use article + noun (τὰς ἡμέρας / dies); Peshitta adds demonstrative pronoun ܗܢܘܢ ('those'), yielding 'those days'—a clarifying expansion common in Syriac apocalyptic discourse, emphasizing the specific eschatological period.

Greek employs οὐκ ἂν + aorist passive ἐσώθη (counterfactual 'would not have been saved'); Vulgate uses non fuisset salva (pluperfect subjunctive); Peshitta ܠܐ ܚܝܐ ܗܘܐ uses perfect + copula ('would not have lived')—all express the same counterfactual modality through tradition-specific verbal constructions.

Greek and Peshitta use adjective-noun order (πᾶσα σάρξ / ܟܠ ܒܣܪ, 'all flesh'); Vulgate inverts to noun-adjective (omnis caro), following Latin stylistic preference while preserving identical semantics.

Vulgate inserts colon after caro to mark the major syntactic break between protasis and explanatory clause; Greek uses middle dot (·) and Peshitta lacks explicit punctuation—a scribal convention difference without semantic impact.

Greek διὰ τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς uses preposition + article + adjective (accusative plural masculine); Vulgate propter electos omits article (Latin lacks definite article); Peshitta ܡܛܠ ܓܒܝܐ uses preposition + emphatic state noun—all convey 'for the elect' with tradition-appropriate definiteness marking.

Greek employs relative pronoun + finite verb (οὓς ἐξελέξατο, 'whom He chose'); Vulgate mirrors this with quos elegit; Peshitta uses participial construction ܕܓܒܐ ('whom choosing' / 'of choosing'), a typical Syriac preference for nominal forms over finite relative clauses—semantically equivalent but syntactically restructured.

Greek repeats verb + article + noun (ἐκολόβωσεν τὰς ἡμέρας); Vulgate uses breviavit dies without article; Peshitta again includes demonstrative ܗܢܘܢ ('those days'), maintaining the emphatic reference established earlier—this repetition creates rhetorical cohesion in the Syriac tradition absent from Greek and Latin.