Mark 12 : 17

The Greek opens with introductory καί ('and'), reflecting Semitic paratactic narrative style. Neither the Vulgate (which begins Respondens autem) nor the Peshitta carries an equivalent coordinating conjunction at the head of the verse, both preferring an adversative or asyndetic opening.

Greek ἀποκριθεὶς and Latin Respondens are aorist/present participles ('answering'), a typical Septuagintalism rendering the Hebrew narrative idiom. The Peshitta omits the redundant 'answering' verb entirely, collapsing the doubled verb of speaking into the single ܐܡܪ, a regular Syriac economising tendency.

Greek δέ (with the substantivising article ὁ) and Latin autem are mild adversative/transitional particles. The Peshitta supplies no corresponding particle, again reflecting its terser narrative connective style here.

The Clementine Vulgate inserts an explicit colon to introduce direct speech, a printed-edition convention absent from the unpointed Greek and Syriac textual base.

Greek uses the neuter plural article τὰ + genitive Καίσαρος ('the things of Caesar'); Latin expands this into a full relative clause quæ sunt Cæsaris ('the things which are Caesar's'), while Syriac compresses it to the single proclitic-marked ܕܩܣܪ ('that-of-Caesar'), each idiom rendering the same possessive substantive.

Greek and Syriac place the imperative 'give back' (ἀπόδοτε / ܗܒܘ) after the fronted object 'the things of Caesar', whereas the Vulgate front-loads the imperative Reddite before the objects, a reordering for Latin rhetorical clarity.

The Vulgate adds the inferential particle igitur ('therefore'), drawing out a logical consequence not lexicalised in the Greek or Syriac, which present the saying without an explicit connective.

A second editorial colon in the Clementine text marks the parallel clause structure ('Cæsari : et quæ...'), a printing convention with no counterpart in the source-language traditions.

Greek τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ('the things of God') and Latin quæ sunt Dei mirror the earlier 'Caesar' clause with article+genitive and relative clause respectively; the Syriac ܘܕܐܠܗܐ again compacts the entire phrase into a single conjunction-plus-proclitic form, parallel to its rendering of the Caesar clause.

Greek καί and Latin Et coordinate the closing narrative clause; the Syriac fuses the conjunction proclitically onto the following verb (ܘܬܡܗܘ, 'and-they-marvelled'), so the conjunction is present but not a separate token.

Greek uses the compound imperfect ἐξεθαύμαζον ('they were marvelling greatly'), the intensive ἐκ- prefix heightening the wonder. Latin mirabantur and Syriac periphrastic ܬܡܗܘ ܗܘܘ (participle + auxiliary 'were') both express durative past wonder but lack the intensifying prefix of the Greek compound.