The nine sayings Yeshua opened the teaching with, Matthew 5:3–12, in Galilean Aramaic, the dialect he spoke. Hebrew script above, the sound beneath it, the English it carries. Turn the layers off as you learn: with both hidden, only the Aramaic remains.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in the heavens is great. They drove out the prophets before you the very same way.
See the Syriac pronunciation
The Peshitta’s own words for these lines, in Syriac script, with a simple reading that follows the printed West Syriac vowel signs (the long a is read o). Sung in church it differs a little: a soft b is usually said b and p is said f (abun d-bashmayo), and East Syriac keeps the long a (shmayya). No syllable is marked for stress, and the wording differs from the Galilean above in a good many words.
a as in father · o as in go · e as in bed · i as in see · u as in food · kh as in Bach · gh is kh voiced · th as in thin · dh as in this · ts the deep, emphatic s (ṣ) · q a k far back in the throat · ḥ a strong h from low in the throat · ʿ a tightening low in the throat · in this reading a hyphen after d-, l-, b-, w- marks a quick, light vowel.
About this text
This is a reconstruction of Galilean Aramaic, the dialect Yeshua spoke. The Peshitta (the Syriac Gospels) sets the word order and the shape of each line; the words are Galilean or other Western Aramaic wherever those sources attest one, and otherwise the Peshitta’s word in Galilean form. So it differs from the Peshitta in a good many words. The sounds are reconstructed from texts written centuries after Yeshua. The English is the Qala rendering.
Saying it. No syllable is marked for stress, since where it fell is not known for certain. ’ is a quick, light vowel; a hyphen before a vowel is a slight catch; doubled letters are held longer. a as in father · ai as in aisle · ey as in they and o as in go, both held steady · i as in bit · ee as in see · oo as in food · oy as in boy · kh as in Bach · gh is kh voiced · th as in thin · dh as in this · ts a deep, emphatic s · q a k far back in the throat · ḥ a strong h from low in the throat, not kh · ʿ a tightening low in the throat, like the start of a gulp.