An Early Arabic Translation of Exodus 15 from a Palestinian Melkite Psalter in the Cairo Genizah

This article presents an Arabic translation of Exodus 15 from the Cairo Genizah, preserved in two fragments of a Christian Psalter (MSS CUL T -S NS 305.198 and T -S NS 305.210). The style of the Psalter's Arabic script suggests that it was copied by a well -trained scribe in the late 9th or early 10th century. Such a date makes it the oldest Christian Arabic Bible translation yet found in the Genizah. Linguistic analysis further indicates that its translator had access to both the Peshitta and the Septuagint of Exodus 15 during their work. Most likely, this translator was a ninth -century Palestinian Melkite who spoke Syriac and Arabic.