Nov.6] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCILEOLOGY. [1S94.of the Dragon mentionedabove. Thelexiconis somewhat richer,
as new wordsare to be found whichdo not occurin the Biblical
texts,and these havethe same archaicringaboutthemas the rest.
Judging,therefore,onlyfromthe language, we would be justified in
assigning a high antiquityto this Aramaic version of the Songof
the ThreeChildren, and of the legend of the Dragon, for both
thesehavebeenpreservedto us in the compilation of Jerahmeel.
If we proceed nowto the comparison betweenthe Aramaic text
and the version of Theodotion, suchas we can reconstructit after
the numberless interpolations,omissionsandalterationsit has been
subjectedto, we shall findan absolute identityextendingto the most
minutedetails. All those points broughtout by Fritzsche in his
exhaustive studyof the Song of the Three Children—to commence
with this —find theiramplejustification in our Aramaic text. All
the changes introducedby Theodotion correspondwiththe Aramaic
text ; all those passagesprovedto be later interpolationsare missing
fromthe Aramaic ; the inversion of order to be observed, especially
in the actual songin the Greek of Theodotion, has its counterpar
in our Aramaic, and manya hazarded suggestion advanced by one
or the other commentator—who sought to find in an Aramaic
originalthe source and reason of misunderstandings—will be cor
roborated by our text. The confusion in the order of things
enumeratedin verses 28-50,varyingin various MSS.andtranslations,
disappearscompletelywhencomparedwiththe order in the Aramaic
text. Here we have, first God, then the heavenlybodies, then
follow all the phenomena of the air, such as rain, dew, snow,
frost, clouds, and so on ; then land, sea and birds; lastly man.
The minutecommentary, which follows later on, is intended to
bring out all these points. From such a minute studyit will
become evident beyond doubt or cavil, that we have in this
Aramaic text the long-sought for, often denied, and nowproved
Semiticoriginalof Theodotion's translation. I publish it (in Part
II) exactly afterthe original MS.,addingmy corrections in brackets,
andI subjoin to it an English translation, the differences between
thisand the current one*are as much markedas they are when
comparingthe Aramaic text with the Greek textsof Theodotion
and the LXX. In the commentaryI will point out the more
importantpassageswhichseemto be conclusive.
* Published by the Society for PromotingChristianKnowledge; London, 18S1.
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