"I do peek at the Aramaic" You're not the 1st to do so, and hopefully not the last. From below:
"the Peshito New Testament. The latter holds a high place among scholars, as it helps to clear up some passages of the Greek Testament."
_Early Bibles of America: Being a Descriptive Account of Bibles Published in the United States, Mexico and Canada_ (1894), https://books.google.com/books?pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq="stands+preeminent+among+the+numerous+versions"&sig=ACfU3U0P5vPxjpZlaNPJAfQJ2DV21BJTCw&id=6fgy9lP97YkC&ots=6zuCqHTOKc&output=text
THE FIRST TRANSLATION FROM THE PESHITO SYRIAC VERSION.
Among the oldest versions of the Old and New Testaments is the Peshito Syriac. The word "Peshito" has been variously defined. Some writers give it the meaning of "simple," as having reference to the simplicity and clearness of style that characterize this ancient version. Others think the word means "literal," as indicating exactness and correctness. Still others are of the opinion that it conveys the idea of the word "common" in the sense of comprehensive, just as we speak of the Book of Common Prayer. Any of these meanings is a tribute to the value of the Peshito.
"Its language," writes Michaelis, "is elegant and pure. It is not loaded with foreign idioms, and it discovers the hand of a master in rendering those passages where the idioms of the two languages deviate from each other. It has no marks of the stiffness of a translation, but is written with the ease and fluency of an original."
Wolfgang Francius says:^1 [1: "Treatise on Hermeneutics," p. 38.] "Among all the versions of the New Testament, that which holds the first rank, and is the most exact, felicitous and divine, is certainly the Syriac, which undoubtedly was most faithfully handed down by apostolical men, who remembered well the recently uttered words of Christ and his apostles, and understood their meaning, for Christ himself used this language."
To this testimony may be added the words of Dr. Murdock, who says:^2 [2: Murdock's "Translation of the Syriac New Testament,'' Appendix II., p. 497.] "The great value of this translation depends on its high antiquity, on the competence and fidelity of the translators, and on the affinity of its language to that spoken by our Lord and his Apostles. In all these respects it stands preeminent among the numerous versions of the New Testament."
While there is no doubt concerning the antiquity of this version, there is a wide range of opinion as to its exact date. Home, in his "Introduction," says: "Bishop Walton, Carpzov, Leusden, Bishop Lowth, and Dr. Kennicott fix its date to the first century; Bauer and some other German writers, to the second or third century; Jahn fixes it, at the least, to the second century; De Rossi pronounces it to be very ancient, but does not specify any precise date. The most probable opinion is that of Michaelis, who ascribes the Syriac version of both Testaments to the close of the first, or to the earlier part of the second century, at which time the Syrian churches flourished most, and the Christians at Edessa had a temple for divine worship erected after the model of that at Jerusalem, and it is not to be supposed that they would be without a version of the Old Testament, the reading of which had been introduced by the Apostles."^1 [1: Horne's " Introduction," vol. i., p. 270.]
While the date has not been fixed, it can be said that the Peshito was an old version even in the time of Ephraim the Syrian, who died in 373. Of the authorship of the version nothing is known, though it is evident that it came from many hands. From certain resemblances to the Septuagint, it is thought that Jewish converts had much to do with this version. Of the place where it was written nothing can be said definitely, though it has been conjectured that it may have been written at Antioch or Edessa. The versions known as the Philoxenian and Hierosolymitian are of later date and of little value compared with the Peshito New Testament. The latter holds a high place among scholars, as it helps to clear up some passages of the Greek Testament.
The first edition of the Peshito New Testament was printed in Vienna in 1555, under the patronage of the Emperor of Austria, and was designed for the use of the Jacobite Christians of the East. In later years other editions were printed in Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, and England. In some cases the Testaments were printed in Syriac and Latin, or in Syriac and Hebrew. In 1816 the British and Foreign Bible Society published an edition in the Syriac alone, which was intended for missionary use in India.
The first translation in Great Britain of the Peshito New Testament into English was made in 1846, by J. W. Etheridge, LL.D., who published the first Four Gospels, and later the remainder of the New Testament. The first translation of the Peshito New Testament in the United States came from the pen of the Rev. James Murdock, D.D., in 1851.
"the Peshito New Testament. The latter holds a high place among scholars, as it helps to clear up some passages of the Greek Testament."
_Early Bibles of America: Being a Descriptive Account of Bibles Published in the United States, Mexico and Canada_ (1894), https://books.google.com/books?pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq="stands+preeminent+among+the+numerous+versions"&sig=ACfU3U0P5vPxjpZlaNPJAfQJ2DV21BJTCw&id=6fgy9lP97YkC&ots=6zuCqHTOKc&output=text
THE FIRST TRANSLATION FROM THE PESHITO SYRIAC VERSION.
Among the oldest versions of the Old and New Testaments is the Peshito Syriac. The word "Peshito" has been variously defined. Some writers give it the meaning of "simple," as having reference to the simplicity and clearness of style that characterize this ancient version. Others think the word means "literal," as indicating exactness and correctness. Still others are of the opinion that it conveys the idea of the word "common" in the sense of comprehensive, just as we speak of the Book of Common Prayer. Any of these meanings is a tribute to the value of the Peshito.
"Its language," writes Michaelis, "is elegant and pure. It is not loaded with foreign idioms, and it discovers the hand of a master in rendering those passages where the idioms of the two languages deviate from each other. It has no marks of the stiffness of a translation, but is written with the ease and fluency of an original."
Wolfgang Francius says:^1 [1: "Treatise on Hermeneutics," p. 38.] "Among all the versions of the New Testament, that which holds the first rank, and is the most exact, felicitous and divine, is certainly the Syriac, which undoubtedly was most faithfully handed down by apostolical men, who remembered well the recently uttered words of Christ and his apostles, and understood their meaning, for Christ himself used this language."
To this testimony may be added the words of Dr. Murdock, who says:^2 [2: Murdock's "Translation of the Syriac New Testament,'' Appendix II., p. 497.] "The great value of this translation depends on its high antiquity, on the competence and fidelity of the translators, and on the affinity of its language to that spoken by our Lord and his Apostles. In all these respects it stands preeminent among the numerous versions of the New Testament."
While there is no doubt concerning the antiquity of this version, there is a wide range of opinion as to its exact date. Home, in his "Introduction," says: "Bishop Walton, Carpzov, Leusden, Bishop Lowth, and Dr. Kennicott fix its date to the first century; Bauer and some other German writers, to the second or third century; Jahn fixes it, at the least, to the second century; De Rossi pronounces it to be very ancient, but does not specify any precise date. The most probable opinion is that of Michaelis, who ascribes the Syriac version of both Testaments to the close of the first, or to the earlier part of the second century, at which time the Syrian churches flourished most, and the Christians at Edessa had a temple for divine worship erected after the model of that at Jerusalem, and it is not to be supposed that they would be without a version of the Old Testament, the reading of which had been introduced by the Apostles."^1 [1: Horne's " Introduction," vol. i., p. 270.]
While the date has not been fixed, it can be said that the Peshito was an old version even in the time of Ephraim the Syrian, who died in 373. Of the authorship of the version nothing is known, though it is evident that it came from many hands. From certain resemblances to the Septuagint, it is thought that Jewish converts had much to do with this version. Of the place where it was written nothing can be said definitely, though it has been conjectured that it may have been written at Antioch or Edessa. The versions known as the Philoxenian and Hierosolymitian are of later date and of little value compared with the Peshito New Testament. The latter holds a high place among scholars, as it helps to clear up some passages of the Greek Testament.
The first edition of the Peshito New Testament was printed in Vienna in 1555, under the patronage of the Emperor of Austria, and was designed for the use of the Jacobite Christians of the East. In later years other editions were printed in Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, and England. In some cases the Testaments were printed in Syriac and Latin, or in Syriac and Hebrew. In 1816 the British and Foreign Bible Society published an edition in the Syriac alone, which was intended for missionary use in India.
The first translation in Great Britain of the Peshito New Testament into English was made in 1846, by J. W. Etheridge, LL.D., who published the first Four Gospels, and later the remainder of the New Testament. The first translation of the Peshito New Testament in the United States came from the pen of the Rev. James Murdock, D.D., in 1851.