Peshitta, Aramaic New Testament

by Connie 20 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Connie
    Connie
    Has anyone come across this line of research on the New Testament? I stumbled upon it today researching the Divine Name, and textual criticism of the NT. It seems that the Peshitta is an Aramaic translation that has been handed down through the centuries without the controversies of the Greek translation. I did not see the Divine Name used and interestingly it used Aloha for God, I am really curious about this and could not find anything today on it. I still have not been able to find support for the insertion of God's name in the NWT in many of the instances that do not have a direct quote from the Old Testament. Any help would be appreciated. I have a copy of the George Howard Study and I find it is a theory, I just cannot find any factual support. I also researched Raymundus Martini on how the Name was originated from YHWH by inserting the vowels of Adonai. I also have researched the special treatment for Sacred Names and that refers to the name of Jesus, Lord and God and the list goes on, but apparently this special treatment was given to Sacred names from the first century onwards. The scribe shortened the sacred name and used an overline or an underline in the text. If anyone has info. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy

    You will not find any evidence of gods name in the new testament because there has never been found any text with the name in it. As far as the yhwh its only an assumption or conspiracy that this is how the jews spelled gods name after they returned from Babylon. There is some evidence from places like elphantine egypt that gods name was spelled similiar to yhwh, when quotes were found stating to Yw and his Ashurah. A few other places the spelling of Yh or Yhw has thought to be the spelling of the Hebrew gods name but thats about all your going to find except in early old testament scriptures where the names of El and his different discriptions are used. El-shaddai, Eloyn, etc.

    When ones goes out side of the bible one can find more documents that support the name of the Hebrew god, like the writtings found at Ugarit.

  • TheWonderofYou
    TheWonderofYou

    It is interesting how Gods name is writtten in the syrian-aramaic Bible "Peshitta".
    There is a minority of scholars who advocate the Peshitta-orginal hypothesis of the New Testament. I am not advocate of that theory because most scholars contradict it. But the material these scholars provide are interesting to read. Although all scholars contradict this view, we should know about it. The believers in this theory are adherents of the Orthodox Netzari Judaism, who belief in Jesus call him Yeshua - the word of YHWH, here is a link to Netzari Judaism. http://www.therefinersfire.org/mj.htm

    Reading the NT and checking diffcult passages with aramaic reveals intersting new insights also for you if you not belief in an aramaic primacy.

    ____

    History

    George Lamsa and his followers wrote very interesting books. He died 1975.

    His books http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Bible-Ancient-Translation-Peshitta/dp/0060649232

    Rocco A. Errico, Andrew Gabriel Roth are aramaic "fans"

    _____

    The AENT

    If you believed in the aramaic primacy this latest direct translation would be must-read.

    http://www.aent.org/ = Aramaic / English Bible 5th edition translated by

    http://www.aent.org/blog/ Information about What is the in the bible like

    Most are familiar with Alpha and Omega in Revelation 1:8, however a literal translation is:
    “I am Alap, also Taw,” says the Master YHWH, Elohim;
    who is, and was, and is to come, the omnipotent.”
    Sample pages
    http://www.aent.org/aramaic-english-new-testament-sample-pages/

    Video of the author ROTH speaking and defending his belief in Primacy of Aramaic in the New Testament

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EndY9yQCjL4

    ____

    Further Information in links http://www.peshitta.org/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_New_Testament

    The most noteworthy advocate of the "Peshitta-original" hypothesis in the West was George Lamsa of the Aramaic Bible Center. A tiny minority of more recent scholars are backers of the Peshitta-original theory today,[4] whereas the overwhelming majority of scholars consider the Peshitta New Testament to be a translation from a Greek original. For instance the noted Assyriologist Sebastian Brock wrote:

    The only complete English translation of the Peshitta is by G. Lamsa. [Hew was a historian, linguist, theologian who swear to the theory that aramaic bible was the origianl]

    who was This is unfortunately not always very accurate, and his claims that the Peshitta Gospels represent the Aramaic original underlying the Greek Gospels are entirely without foundation; such views, which are not infrequently found in more popular literature, are rejected by all serious scholars.[5]

  • TheWonderofYou
    TheWonderofYou

    Give me some time and I will find for you the pdf with all so called "better" understandable passages in the NT, by reading with the aramaic co called "original". I read it once.

    A citation of the peshitta.ORG.
    "The Peshitta Aramaic New Testament names Jesus (from the Greek “Iaysous”) as “MarYah” -“THE LORD JEHOVAH” 32 times, at least! This the Jehovah’s Witnesses & most western churches have yet to understand and accept. "

    In The name of God in the new Testament the Netzari (Jews who believe in jesus show how Gods name is part of the NT as they see it.

    http://aramaicnt.com/files/MarYah%20in%20Peshitta.pdf

    Browse through the article

    http://aramaicnt.com/articles.htm

    They really belief strong in their theory that aramaic was the original NT-bible and that Jesus is the Lord Jehovah.

    (Im further looking after the pdf with all NT passages better readable under the aramaic loupe, like the passage of the camel that fits in an eye of a needle, i once read it)

  • TheWonderofYou
    TheWonderofYou

    This article presents information and errors in the syriac-aramian language Peshitta that speak against primacy

    Problems with Peshitta Primacy written Steve Caruso

    http://aramaicnt.org/articles/problems-with-peshitta-primacy/

    My opinion:

    The translation of the YHWH(hebrew) into MarYah (syrian-aramaic) vs. kyrios (greek). Of course the syriac translation adds to Lord (Mar) the Yah (for the YHWY). The Maryah was used for God and for Jesus in some cases, what seems to give both the same honour.

    But writing Maryah has nothing to do with the pronounciation of the Tetragram. The peshitta.ORG constantly use the term for Maryah=Lord Jehovah, thus pronouncing the name, what is incorrect. They use perhaps, i am not sure yet, the word Maryah as argugment that the divine name has its place int the NT 239 times.

    The word MarYah instead of YHWH was a replacement for YHWH like in greek the kyrios. The Yah is also present today in Halleluja, but this doesnt mean that we knew the correct pronounciation of gods name.

  • Connie
    Connie

    Thanks so much for all the information Wonder of You, I really appreciate it. I will begin to check on the locations of the use of God's Name in the Peshitta vs. the NWT. But also am really curious about the idea that the Aramaic text may have come first. Scholars can usually determine which is a translation from another language based on sentence structures, and sometimes awkwardness of the wording of the copy, I look forward to researching this further with the links you provided. In the Peshitta has special treatment been given Divine Names, as in the Greek, with the contracting and underlining of the shortened form?( Nomina Sacra) I wonder if JW's realize the NWT uses Hebrew translations of the Greek text that were translated for Jewish people by Trinitarians? The insertion of YHWH into the text was to show Jesus is YHWH. Ironic isn't it?

    Thanks again, lots of research to do tonight.

  • FayeDunaway
    FayeDunaway
    It's interesting to me how much different the NWT new testament is, compared to other new testaments, compared to how similar the NWT Old Testament is to other translations' Old Testament. It's like they were jumping through hoops when they translated for the New Testament NWT, inserting the name Jehovah wherever they wanted, twisting certain scriptures whenever the position of Jesus relative to his Father was involved. In the Old Testament they kept it pretty much untouched, they didn't care, because Jesus wasn't born yet and they didn't have to worry about proving what they wanted to believe.
  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy
    It's my understanding that the writters of the NT were in fact making Jesus one in the same as the father.. In many of the religions of the time the father God was later userpted by another God or two gods became one in the same. In some religious myths the son God kills the father. Marduk defeats the serpent and becomes God of gods, God of 50 names becomes the creator God as well even though he the son of EA.. Baal Hadad become the supreme God of the Cannanite pantheon taking over for El.. The same can be seen in the Egyptian pantheon.. You also see this in the book of revelations.. In chapter 1 Yahweh is the alpha and omega but by the end of the book at chapter 21 or 22 Jesus is the alpha and omega.
  • Connie
    Connie

    Hi FayeDunaway,

    Unfortunately the Old Testament was tweaked in the NWT. One scripture that is very controversial is Ex.3:14, translating "I shall prove to be" instead of "I AM", Researching John 8:58 deeply affected my perception of Christ and was a critical time in my conversion, as I did not accept Jesus Divinity. I am still disappointed that the translation I grew up thinking was superior to all others, is so corrupted by doctrinal bias. Comparing the Peshitta with the NWT use of Jehovah in the NT has revealed some obvious bias. Who gave the Watchtower the power to change scripture, not just interpret it badly but actually mess with the very words written. All because they came up with a theory that a great apostasy occurred before the Bible was even compiled. There is no documentation, no proof for any of it. They structure their whole belief system around a theory. I just didn't read the fine print. Sigh.

  • FayeDunaway
    FayeDunaway
    Connie yes there are a few changes in the OT but not near as many...and that one you mentioned was connected with Jesus calling himself God later! It's pretty much the only parts of the bible they outright changed...obviously they had an agenda. The more I researched this subject, the more I started to see a sinister pattern. It is truly disgusting. Before realizing this, I thought the religion I was born into was mostly harmless, even if my doubts about it were correct. Research changed my perspective considerably.

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