Mark 2 : 23

All three render the Semiticising narrative formula 'and it came to pass' (καὶ ἐγένετο / ܘܗܘܐ / et factum est). Syriac compresses to a single verb ܘܗܘܐ while Greek and Latin use the periphrastic auxiliary construction; the divergence is purely stylistic.

Greek uses the anaphoric pronoun αὐτόν ('he'), whereas the Peshitta supplies the proper name ܝܫܘܥ ('Jesus') and the Vulgate substitutes the honorific title Dominus ('the Lord'). Both versions make the implicit subject explicit, a common clarifying tendency, but each chooses a different referential strategy.

The Peshitta introduces a subordinating temporal conjunction ܕܟܕ ('that when'), recasting the Greek accusative-plus-infinitive construction (αὐτὸν ... παραπορεύεσθαι) as a finite temporal clause. This is a syntactic reconstrual typical of Syriac, which avoids the Greek infinitival idiom.

Greek παραπορεύεσθαι ('to pass alongside') is a compound conveying movement past/through; the Peshitta renders simply ܐܙܠ ('went') and the Vulgate ambularet ('was walking'). Each version flattens the directional nuance of the Greek compound to a generic verb of motion.

Greek uses the dative plural with article ἐν τοῖς σάββασιν ('on the Sabbaths'); both the Peshitta ܒܫܒܬܐ and the Vulgate sabbatis omit any article and treat the noun as a fixed temporal expression, the Greek plural being idiomatic rather than strictly enumerative.

Greek τῶν σπορίμων ('the sown/grain fields') and Latin sata both render the field as the sown crop; the Peshitta ܙܪܥܐ uses the cognate root z-r-e ('to sow, seed') as a substantive 'standing grain', preceded by ܒܝܬ ('place of'), yielding a periphrasis 'place of seed' — a lexically cognate but constructionally distinct rendering.

Greek οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ and Latin discipuli ejus use a separate possessive pronoun for 'his disciples'; the Peshitta ܬܠܡܝܕܘܗܝ incorporates the third-person possessive suffix into a single word, a normal Syriac morphological economy.

The Greek idiom ἤρξαντο ὁδὸν ποιεῖν ('began to make a way/path') is textually disputed and notoriously difficult; the Vulgate cœperunt progredi ('began to advance') interprets it as movement, while the Peshitta abandons the 'began' construction entirely, using the durative periphrasis ܡܗܠܟܝܢ ܗܘܘ ('they were walking'). The traditions diverge substantively on whether the disciples 'made a path' or simply 'walked along', reflecting an ancient exegetical crux.

Greek τίλλοντες is a present participle ('plucking'), coordinated by the Vulgate as an infinitive vellere governed by cœperunt; the Peshitta uses a coordinated finite participle ܘܡܠܓܝܢ ('and were plucking'), each tradition fitting the action into its own clausal frame.

The Vulgate supplies an additional coordinating et before vellere to link the two infinitival actions (progredi ... et vellere), a structural connective absent from the Greek and Peshitta, which subordinate the plucking participle directly.