Mark 14 : 3

Greek joins the temporal clause with a single coordinating καί + genitive absolute (ὄντος); the Peshitta fuses conjunction and temporal particle into ܘܟܕ ('and when'), while the Vulgate splits the notion across Et cum, introducing a subjunctive clause. The constructions are semantically equivalent but distributed differently across token boundaries.

Greek employs a genitive-absolute participle (ὄντος, 'being'); Syriac uses the existential predicate ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ('he is/was present'); Latin renders with the imperfect subjunctive esset. All three express the same circumstantial 'while he was', but via three distinct verbal strategies.

Greek marks the location with preposition + dative (ἐν Βηθανίᾳ); Syriac prefixes the locative beth directly to the compound place-name ܒܒܝܬ-ܥܢܝܐ; Latin uses a bare locative Bethaniæ without preposition. The differences are purely grammatical strategies for expressing place.

Greek uses preposition + article + noun (ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ); Syriac collapses preposition, noun, and the following genitive into a single suffixed form ܒܒܝܬܗ ('in his house'); Latin renders in domo. The Syriac construct with pronominal suffix anticipates the genitive 'of Simon' more compactly.

Greek continues the genitive-absolute (κατακειμένου αὐτοῦ, 'as he reclined'); Syriac re-introduces the temporal particle ܟܕ + the passive participle ܣܡܝܟ; Latin coordinates with et recumberet, retaining the subjunctive. Latin's added et has no Greek counterpart, being a stylistic linkage rather than a textual plus.

Greek and Latin use a single participle (ἔχουσα / habens, 'having'); Syriac expresses possession idiomatically with the existential ܕܐܝܬ ܥܠܝܗ ('which was upon/with her'), a normal Syriac periphrasis for 'having'.

The notorious Greek hapax πιστικῆς (variously 'pure', 'genuine', 'liquid') is rendered by Syriac ܪܫܝܐ ('chief/finest', from r-sh-a 'head') and by Latin spicati ('spiked', i.e. derived from the spike of the nard plant). Each tradition resolves the obscure adjective by a different interpretive strategy.

Greek and Latin use a single adjective for costliness (πολυτελοῦς / pretiosi); Syriac employs a two-word phrase ܣܓܝ ܕܡܝܐ ('of much price/value'), an analytic construction equivalent to the synthetic single adjective.

Greek (αὐτοῦ κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς) and Latin (super caput ejus) read simply 'on his head'; the Peshitta adds the explicit name ܕܝܫܘܥ ('of Jesus') — ܥܠ ܪܫܗ ܕܝܫܘܥ, 'upon the head of Jesus' — an exegetical clarification of the antecedent not present in the Greek or Latin witnesses.