The Peshitta employs a periphrastic construction ܘܒܥܝܢ ܗܘܘ (wəḇāʿēn hwaw, 'and they were beseeching') using the auxiliary verb ܗܘܘ with the active participle, whereas Greek uses the simple aorist παρεκάλεσαν and Latin the imperfect deprecabantur. This reflects a characteristic Syriac preference for analytic verbal forms over synthetic tenses.