Language Studies

The Peshitta is a translation of the Bible (Old and New Testaments) into Syriac, which is a late dialect of Aramaic. It is to be distinguished from the Syro-Hexaplar version. The latter version was a Syriac translation based on the Septuagint text of Origen’s work known as the Hexapla. Origen was one of the early church…

Continuing the survey of the content of Daniel brings us to Daniel 4, which is the account of Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream, and which ends with Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation and restoration. Chapter 5 recounts the handwriting on the wall, the end of Belshazzar’s reign, and the triumph of the Medo-Persian Empire.…

Apart from two short passages, (Gen 31:47 and Jer 10:11) Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; and Daniel 2:4-7:28 are the portions of the Old Testament that are written in Aramaic. The rationale for the two sections of Ezra that are in Aramaic is easy to determine. These are the passages that deal with official correspondence regarding…

The last Aramaic utterance of Jesus recorded by Mark is in 15:34, "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’" There are a number of interesting elements to this cry of Jesus. For one thing, the quotation in Mark does…

Mark 7:31-37 gives the account of Jesus’ healing of a deaf man. This miracle is not recounted in Matthew and Luke, the other two of the synoptic gospels. The man is identified as one "who was deaf and had a speech impediment (literally, "thick-voiced")." This would seem to imply that the man was born deaf, though that…

In Mark 15:22, Mark identifies the place where Jesus was crucified as "Golgotha, which means place of a skull (Gk: kranion)." The identical identification is made in Matt 27:33. Luke identifies is simply as "the place that is called The Skull" (23:33), using only the Greek. John also identifies the place as "the…

We noted before in passing that Mark uses more Aramaic vocabulary than the other gospels. We will look later at the possible reason behind that, but for now, I will look at some of those passages just to see how Mark makes use of the Aramaic. For this week we look at Mark 5:41. "Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Talitha…

There are three texts in the New Testament where the phrase "Abba, Father" occurs: Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; and Galatians 4:6. Over the last couple of decades a particular understanding of the significance of the phrase has crept into Christian preaching. That understanding is the idea that the use of the Aramaic "Abba"…

First, my apologies to all for missing this column last week. We lost power due to a freak ice storm before I had the chance to complete and send the column. The power was just restored for us yesterday, and I still do not have internet service at home. It gives some sympathy for those on the Gulf Coast who are still suffering…

The third argument against an Aramaic, or Hebrew, original for Matthew is that it does not read like translation Greek. Admittedly this is a somewhat subjective argument, but it is not without its merits. Let me give an illustration. C. S. Lewis wrote a book titled The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version. In…

The view that Matthew first wrote his gospel in Hebrew or Aramaic seems, as far as we can determine, to have been the view of the early church. Whether, in this view, it was written in Aramaic or Hebrew is hard to determine, since the same Greek word Hebraidi was used for both. There are some modern scholars who…

The issue of the original composition of Matthew has been debated for many decades. Some scholars hold that Matthew did compose his gospel originally in Aramaic. The vast majority of them hold that he did not. The purpose of this essay is not to answer the question once and for all, but rather to lay before the reader the…

Genesis 31:43-54 tells the story of the covenant established between Jacob and Laban, when Jacob and his wives and children left for Canaan. Laban proposed the covenant, calling it a witness (ed) between them (v. 44). Jacob then set up a stone as a pillar (matsebah). This action forms an inclusio (parenthesis)…

Genesis 31 tells the story of Jacob, his escape from Laban, and their covenant of détente that allowed Jacob to return to Palestine with his wives and children. As witness to that covenant, they erect a pile of stones. This appears to reflect an early form of covenantal agreement between hostile parties (the separation…