Who is this?

We've just arrived back on Jersey for our Summer holiday. Thank you, Lord. Clifftops, beaches. The glory of God.

My youngest took this nicely balanced picture from the top of the granite cliffs this morning:

I've been reading through Mark's gospel in the Peshitta translation: that's the Syriac translation of the Bible, made in the early centuries AD.

As I was looking out from the cliffs, I was thinking about that wonderful line at the end of the calming of the storm: “Who is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?!”

In the Syriac, that line has a peculiarly beautiful rhythm and flow:

ܘܕܚܠܘ ܕܚܠܬܐ ܪܒܬܐ، ܘܐܡܪܝܢ ܗܘܘ ܚܕ ܠܚܕ؛ ܡܢܘ ܟܝ ܗܢܐ، ܕܪܘܚܐ ܘܝܡܐ ܡܫܬܡܥܝܢ ܠܗ؟

manū kay hānā,

drūḥā wa-yammā

meštamʿīn leh?

The line is in three parts; the first has 5 Syriac syllables, the other two parts have 4 each. So it's rather like the 12 syllable, three part line made famous by Jacob of Serugh a few centuries later.

And there's the lovely sound play with hānā and yammā at the end of the first two parts.

It's wonderful; balanced, poetic, memorable.

How would it work in English? Something like:

Who could this be?

The wind and sea

Listen to Him!

Anyway, I'm grateful to whoever crafted that Syriac line as they were reflecting on the Lord Jesus' power. Their care and attention to detail meant that that line was waiting in my head and heart this morning as we looked out from the clifftop.