Mark 14 : 56

Greek employs the compound verb ψευδομαρτυρέω ('bear false witness') as a single lexeme, while Latin distributes the semantic load across testimonium falsum dicebant ('were speaking false testimony'), and Peshitta uses the periphrastic construction ܡܣܗܕܝܢ ܗܘܘ (participle + auxiliary 'were testifying'). The Vulgate explicitly separates 'false' as an adjective modifying 'testimony,' whereas Greek fuses falsity into the verbal root itself.

Peshitta opens with the temporal/circumstantial particle ܟܕ ('while/when'), converting the main clause into a subordinate temporal construction. Neither Greek nor Latin attest this syntactic framing; both traditions present the clause as an independent statement introduced by γάρ/enim.

Vulgate inserts a colon after eum, creating a rhetorical pause before the adversative clause. This punctuation choice has no equivalent in Greek or Peshitta manuscript traditions and reflects Latin editorial convention rather than textual variance.

Greek and Vulgate position the negation before the copula (οὐκ ἦσαν / non erant), whereas Peshitta places ܠܐ ('not') before the adjective ܫܘܝܢ, yielding 'not equal were' versus 'were not equal.' This reflects standard Syriac syntax where negation typically precedes the predicate rather than the verb.