Mark 6 : 26

Greek uses an adjectival participle construction (περίλυπος γενόμενος, 'having become very sorrowful'); Peshitta employs a finite verb with intensifier (ܟܪܝܬ ܠܗ ܣܓܝ, 'it grieved him greatly'); Vulgate uses a passive perfect participle (contristatus est, 'was saddened'). All three convey the king's distress but through distinct syntactic strategies.

Vulgate inserts a colon after 'rex' to mark a major syntactic break before the causal clause, creating a two-part sentence structure. Greek and Peshitta maintain continuous syntax without such punctuation, though the semantic division remains implicit.

Greek uses the plural ὅρκους ('oaths'); Peshitta uses the singular ܡܘܡܬܐ ('oath') with the particle ܕܝܢ ('indeed/now') for emphasis; Vulgate employs the compound jusjurandum ('sworn oath'), a more formal legal register. The Peshitta's singular reflects a Semitic idiom treating collective concepts as singular mass nouns.

Greek uses the substantival participle τοὺς ἀνακειμένους ('those reclining [at table]'); Peshitta uses ܣܡܝܟܐ ('those reclining'), a cognate construction; Vulgate expands to simul discumbentes ('those reclining together'), adding the adverb 'simul' to emphasize the communal dining context, which is implicit in the Greek and Syriac.

Greek uses ἀθετῆσαι ('to refuse/reject/annul'); Peshitta uses ܕܢܓܠܙܝܗ ('to expose/shame her'); Vulgate uses contristare ('to sadden/grieve her'). The Vulgate's reading represents a significant semantic shift, focusing on emotional impact rather than the act of refusal, possibly influenced by the earlier contristatus est or reflecting a variant textual tradition.

Greek places the object pronoun αὐτήν at the end of the clause; Peshitta incorporates the pronominal suffix directly into the verb ܕܢܓܠܙܝܗ ('-her'), typical of Semitic verb morphology; Vulgate places eam ('her') before the infinitive contristare and adds a closing colon for punctuation.