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fcript lii-oiiglit from E?;ypt, in which the gofjxls were writ- 

 ten in tlie 13th, and the Afts, EpilUcs, and Revelation in 

 the I4lh cciiluiy. But we are left wholly in the dark with 

 refpodt to tlie ccntuiy in wliich the verlions themftlvcs were 

 made. Tiie Arabic verfions may be divided into fourclaffes; 

 viz. thofe taken immediately from, the Syrinc, from the Cop- 

 tic, from the Greek, and from tlie Latin. That various 

 Arabic verfions have been made from the Latin in modern 

 times by oriental monks refiding at Rome, who, being in- 

 ftrucled by the Romiili clergy to regard the Vnlgate as the 

 ftandard by which all other verlions (hould be regulated, pro- 

 pofed eflentiaily to fcrve their brethren in the Eaft, by tranf- 

 lating it into their native language, is evident from what is 

 related by profcflbr Adler in his Biblical and Critical Journey 

 to Rome, p. 178 ; and an Arabic verfion of this kind was ac- 

 tually pubiiflitd at Rome, in 1752, by Raphael Tnki, bifliop 

 of Arfan. As for thofe verfunis which are written in parallel 

 columns with the Syriac and Coptic, of which copies exill in 

 the royal library at Paris, it is reafonable to fuppofe that 

 they were not made from the Greek, but immediately from 

 the ancient verlions with which they are connefted, as the 

 means of underltanding them, after the languages in which 

 they were written had ccafed to be fpoken. For the fame 

 reafon, thofe annexed to the Greek text were probably taken 

 immediately from the Greek ; but of thefe Greek Arabic 

 MSS. only one has been difcovered, namely, that in the 

 univeriity library at Leyden. Walton (Prolegomena, p. 96.) 

 fays, th:it there are two kinds of Arabic verfions in ufe 

 among the eaftern Chriftians ; one called the Syriac, and 

 the other the Egyptian, from the countries in which they 

 are ufed. Both thefe verfions, according to Aug. Juftinian, 

 bifliop of Nebo, were traiiflated from the Greek. In the 

 year 15 16, Aug. Juflinian printed at Genoa an Arabic ver- 

 lion of the Pfaltcr, with the Hebrew text and Chaldee para- 

 phrafe, adding Latin interpretations, which, lie fays, were 

 taken from the Syrian or Antiochian verfion. There are alfo 

 Arabic verfions of the whole Scriptures in the Polyglotts of 

 London and Paris, faid by Juflinian to be taken from the E- 

 gyptian or Alexandrian verfions; and we havean edition of the 

 Old Teftament entire, printed at Rome in 1671, by order 

 of the congregation ile propaganda Jide ; but it is of little 

 efteem, as having been altered agreeably to the Vulgate edi- 

 tion. The Arabic Bibles among us are not the fame with thofe 

 ufcd by the Chriftians in the Eait. Some learned men take 

 the Arabic verfion of the Old Teftament, printed in the Po- 

 lyglotts, to be, at leaft in the main, that of Saadias, who 

 died in the year 942, and who tranflated the whole Old Tef- 

 tament from the Hebrew into the Arabic, exprcffirg the 

 Arabic in Hebrew charafters. Their reafon is, that Aben 

 E-zra, a great antagonift of Saadias, quotes fome paftages 

 of his verfion, wliich are the fame with thofe in the Arabic 

 verfion of the Polyglotts; yet others are of opinion that Saa- 

 dias's verfion is not extant. For though the whole Hebrew 

 Bible was thus tranflated by him, the Pentateuch only has 

 been, as yet, publiflied from his verfion. The other books, 

 now in Arabic, in the Paris and London Polyglotts, were 

 tranflated at different times by different authors ; partly from 

 the Greek, and partly from the Syriac verfions ; and few 

 ]iarts, if any, excepting the Pentateuch, were tranflated 

 from the Hebrew text. The Arabic verfion is the lateft of 

 all the ancient verfions of the Old Teftament ; however, that 

 part of it which has been tranflated from the Hebrew, will 

 aflid in dttcfting fome corruptions that have crept into 

 (he Hebrew text finoe, and thofe parts that are made 

 (rom the ancient verfions will affilV in eftabliftiing the true 

 readings of thofe verfions. In 1622, Erpenius printed 

 an Arabic Pentateu-jh, called alfo the Pentateuch of 

 ilatritania, as being made by the Jews of Barbary, and 



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fur their ufe. This verfion is very literal, and elleemed 

 very exadl. The four evangclifts have alfo been pub- 

 liflied in Arabic, without and with a Latin verfion, at 

 Rome, in 159 1, foli.'. The Latin tranflation is printed 

 under each line of the Arabic trxt, and is taken from the 

 Vulgate, though the Latin text is in fome meafure altered, 

 fi) as to make it correfpond to the Arabic. In a reprtienta- 

 tion of the baptifm of Chrift, annexed to it, the rite appears 

 to be performed, not according to the oriental cuftom of 

 immerfion, but according to the northern pn'dice of afper- 

 fion ; for our Saviour is placed, not in Jordan, but at the 

 brink of the river, with his feet oniy immerfed, while John 

 the Baptift, kneeling on a rock, pours water on his head. 

 The MS. from which this editio princcps of the Arabic gof- 

 pels is taken, is wholly unknovvn. Michaclis obferves, that 

 upon comparing it with the catechifin of the Drufes, 

 the paffages there quoted from the gofpels coincide with this 

 edition ; whence he infers that this verfion muft have been 

 long and generally known in Afia. But from this coinci- 

 dence no other inferer.ce can be juftly drawn, except that 

 the Arabic verfion of the gofpels, printed at Rome in 1 59 1, 

 was made before the I Ith century ; for to that age the origin 

 of the Drufes is refen-ed. Erpenius obferves, in the preface 

 to his Arabic New Teftament, that this edition bears a great 

 refemblance to the MS. from which he printed the four gof- 

 pels, except the firft thirteen chapters of St. Matthew. 

 The verfion, fays Michaelis, was certainly taken from the 

 Greek : but father Simon (Hift. Crit. des Verfions du N. T. 

 ch. 1 8.) fays, that upon comparing the Arabic verfion of 

 the four gofpels printed at Rome, and afterwards reprinted 

 in the Polyglotts, with an Arabic tranflation of the Coptic 

 verfion, he found them diflimilar ; but that on comparing it 

 with an Arabic tranflation of the Syriac verfion, he perceived 

 a great refemblance. Hence he concluded, that it was taken, 

 not from the Greek, but from the Syiiac text. This verfion 

 has been fince reprinted in the Polyglotts of London and Pa- 

 ris, with fome little alteration of Gabriel Sionita. This 

 Gabriel Sionita, a Maronite by birth, from the neighbour- 

 hood of I^ibanus, and one of the principal editors of the 

 Paris Polyglott, relates, that he made ufe of a mannfcript 

 written in Egypt in the 14th century ; but he feems to have 

 been unacquainted both with the name of the author, and 

 with the age in which he lived. Le Long relates, that it was 

 brought immediately from Aleppo to Paris. From this 

 MS. the Arabic verfion of the Afts and of the Epiftles 

 was taken, which was firft in the Paris, and reprinted 

 with additions in the London Polyglott. But this verfion 

 of the Afts and Epiftles can lay no claim to high antiquity ; 

 and though it was probably not taken from the Sjriac, yet 

 it is not certain whether it was taken from the Greek or the 

 Coptic. Erpenius publiflied an Arabic New Teftament 

 entire, as he found it in his nianufcript copy, at Leyden, in 

 1616, from a manufcript written in the Upper Egypt, in 

 1342. From two dates, which Erpenius feems to have con- 

 founded, it is probable, that the manufcript ufed by him was 

 a compound of two different manufcripts, one written in the 

 13th, and the other in the 14th century ; and this is very 

 confiftent with the opinion, that the gofpels in this manu- 

 fcript were tranflated either from the Coptic or from the 

 Greek, and the Afts and Epiftles from the Syriac. 



There are fome other Arabic verfions of late date mentioned 

 by Walton in his Prolegomena ; particularly a verfion of the 

 Pfalms preferved in Sion College, London, and another of 

 the prophets at Oxford ; neither of which has been publiflied. 

 The Englilh fociety for promoting Chriftian knowledge 

 publiflied, in 1727, an Arabic New Teftament, for the ufe 

 of the Chriftians in Afia. Ten thoufand copies were printed, 

 but none fold in Europe, fo that this edition is very fcarce. 



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