Mark 6 : 39

Greek ἐπέταξεν and Latin præcepit are finite aorist/perfect verbs of commanding, whereas the Syriac fuses the conjunction and verb into a single prefixed form ܘܦܩܕ (waw + p-q-d); the underlying lexeme is the standard Semitic root for 'command' cognate with Hebrew פָּקַד.

Greek uses a single aorist infinitive ἀνακλῖναι ('to recline/cause to recline'); Syriac renders with a subjunctive verb ܕܢܣܡܟܘܢ (root s-m-k, 'to lean/recline'); the Vulgate employs a periphrastic causative ut accumbere facerent, expanding one infinitive into a final clause with a governing verb — semantically equivalent but syntactically distinct across all three.

Greek doubles the noun συμπόσια συμπόσια ('group by group'), a Semitic-style distributive reduplication; Syriac mirrors this with the doubled participle ܣܡܟܝܢ ܣܡܟܝܢ ('reclining, reclining'); the Vulgate renders the distributive idiom with secundum contubernia ('by messes/companies'), preserving the sense of arrangement in dining-groups without reduplication.

Greek and Latin both qualify the grass as green (χλωρῷ χόρτῳ / viride fœnum), a detail noting the spring season; the Syriac transmits only ܥܣܒܐ ('grass/herbage', root cognate with Hebrew עֵשֶׂב) without the colour adjective, omitting the chromatic qualifier present in the other two traditions.