EN He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”
ES Entonces él les dice: Y vosotros, ¿quién decís que soy yo? Y respondiendo Pedro, le dice: Tú eres el Cristo.
ZH-HANS 又问他们说：「你们说我是谁？」彼得回答说：「你是基督。」
ZH-HANT 又問他們說：「你們說我是誰？」彼得回答說：「你是基督。」
Greek καὶ ('and') is omitted in both Peshitta and Vulgate, which begin the pericope without a coordinating conjunction. The Vulgate substitutes the temporal adverb 'Tunc' ('then'), creating a narrative transition absent in the Greek.
Greek αὐτὸς ('he himself', emphatic pronoun) is omitted in both Peshitta and Vulgate. The Peshitta supplies the explicit subject ܝܫܘܥ ('Jesus') instead, while the Vulgate relies on verbal inflection alone.
Greek ἐπηρώτα αὐτούς ('was questioning them', imperfect tense) is rendered as ܐܡܪ ܠܗܘܢ ('said to them', perfect) in Peshitta and 'dicit illis' ('says to them', present historic) in Vulgate. The aspectual difference reflects stylistic preference rather than semantic divergence.
Peshitta explicitly names ܝܫܘܥ ('Jesus') as the subject, an expansion absent in both Greek and Vulgate. This clarification is typical of Syriac narrative style, which often supplies implicit subjects for reader clarity.
Vulgate inserts 'Tunc' ('then') as a temporal marker to introduce the question, creating narrative continuity. Neither Greek nor Peshitta attest this adverb, which functions as a stylistic transition in Latin.
Vulgate inserts a colon after 'illis' to mark direct discourse, a punctuation convention absent in Greek and Peshitta manuscripts. This reflects Latin scribal practice rather than textual divergence.
Greek τίνα με ('whom me', accusative interrogative + pronoun) and Vulgate 'quem me' preserve identical word order. Peshitta ܡܢܘ ('who') stands alone without the pronominal object at this position, which appears later as ܥܠܝ ('concerning me') in token 8.
Greek λέγετε εἶναι ('do you say [me] to be', infinitive construction) and Vulgate 'esse dicitis' mirror this syntax. Peshitta employs ܐܡܪܝܢ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܥܠܝ ܕܐܝܬܝ ('you say concerning me that I am'), a relative clause construction with explicit subject repetition (ܐܢܬܘܢ) and prepositional phrase (ܥܠܝ), semantically equivalent but syntactically distinct.
Vulgate inserts a question mark after 'dicitis' to close the interrogative clause, a punctuation convention absent in Greek and Peshitta manuscripts.
Greek ὁ Πέτρος ('the Peter', articular proper name) is rendered as ܫܡܥܘܢ ('Simon', birth name) in Peshitta and 'Petrus' (anarthrous) in Vulgate. The Peshitta's use of the Semitic birth name reflects a preference for the original Aramaic form, while Greek and Latin employ the Greek nickname.
Greek λέγει αὐτῷ ('says to him', dative pronoun) is mirrored in Vulgate 'ait ei'. Peshitta uses ܘܐܡܪ ܠܗ ('and said to him'), prefixing the coordinating conjunction ܘ ('and'), which creates a tighter narrative link between the participle ܥܢܐ ('answered') and the main verb.
Vulgate inserts a colon after 'ei' to introduce Peter's confession, a punctuation convention absent in Greek and Peshitta manuscripts.
Peshitta expands Peter's confession with ܒܪܗ ܕܐܠܗܐ ܚܝܐ ('the Son of the living God'), harmonising toward the Matthean parallel (Matt 16:16). Neither Greek Mark 8:29 nor Vulgate attest this christological expansion, which represents a deliberate conflation of Synoptic traditions in the Syriac textual stream.