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Lamsa Bible
#1
Past year I have been questioning the Primacy of the Septuagint and took an interest, through reading Brock, the Lamsa Bible since I only speak and read English. Is the Lamsa authentic? Say this with all respect and if anything shows my ignorance in these matters.

I want to read the Peshitta English but I believe Lamsa is the only one out there. Gorgias Press for the past couple of years have come out with the Antioch Bible which is the Syrian Peshitta in aramaic on the right side and idiomatic English on the left. The cost is very expensive being $100 per book and a book meaning one Gospel or one book from the Old Testament. I cannot afford that.

So I am back to George Lamsa and like to hear from everyone's experience on this matter.

Thank You all so much.
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#2
I'm a big fan of the Lamsa Bible but it is quite flawed. It's the only complete translation of the Peshitta Bible out there, but there are other translations of the Peshitta New Testament. Lamsa sometimes departs from the Aramaic text and goes with the KJV instead, and also has several instances of theological bias. I highly recommend getting these:

1. Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation by Janet Magiera- Also comes in a "Messianic version" (which uses Aramaic names and terminology sometimes, like "Yeshue-Meshikha" for "Jesus Christ"). She also has a three-volume interlinear. Magiera has both a word-study concordance and a lexicon for the Aramaic Peshitta to be used with her interlinear and translation.

2. The Original Aramaic New Testament in Plain English by Glenn David Bauscher- Buy The Aramaic-English Interlinear New Testament along with it. He has also translated the Torah, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes from the Peshitta Tanach (Old Testament) in idiomatic English and interlinear form. Bauscher also has an Aramaic-English dictionary.

3. Aramaic-English Interlinear New Testament by the American Christian Press/The Way International- This comes in three volumes. Call 419-753-1018 anywhere from 8 AM-5 PM (Eastern time) to purchase it. They also have a Aramaic-English concordance/lexicon and an English dictionary supplement.

4. Aramaic English New Testament by Andrew Gabriel Roth- This is based on the interlinear seen on this website (from Matthew 1-Acts 15) and James Murdock's translation (from Acts 16-Revelation 22), apart from a completely new translation of Galatians by Roth.

You can also read John Wesley Etheridge and James Murdock's translations of the Peshitta New Testament on http://www.aramaicpeshitta.com. They are arguably superior and more reliable in many ways than most modern Peshitta translations.
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#3
Thanks SS2. Most helpful!
Put the link for Murdock's on my iPad. Like to purchase the same in a hardcopy and looking at aramaicpeshitta for a possible link.

TF
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#4
SS2,
Have another question. In the sample read of The Original Aramaic New Testament in Plain English by Glenn David Bauscher he states in the Aramaic that Jesus before Pilate says "I am the Living God" instead of I am as the Greek translations have it. Did Bauscher take liberties with this quotation or does the Aramaic specifically state this?

Thanks again.
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#5
He is taking liberties with the Aramaic in that verse. The Aramaic phrase for "I am" is ena 'na, which is a divine utterance 97% of the time it appears in the Peshitta Tanach. He translates it as "I AM THE LIVING GOD" in order to show that Jesus is using that phrase in order to claim deity. Paul Younan states in his interlinear, "In Semitic thought, the phrase ?Ena-na? (I am) conveys a thought of eternal existence reserved only for God." It should literally be translated simply as "I am". The clearest way in which the Peshitta declares Jesus to be the God of the Old Covenant is in it's use of the word MarYa, which means "Lord Yahweh" or "Lord Yah". Mar means "Lord" and Ya is short for "Yahweh". Here is how this fascinating word is translated in the different versions I recommended:

Bauscher- THE LORD JEHOVAH

Magiera- LORD (Messianic version: Marya)

Roth- Master YHWH

Lamsa: LORD (Old Testament), Lord (New Testament)

The Way: Lord

Murdock: Lord

Etheridge: Lord, LORD in Philippians 2:11

Here is a link to purchase James Murdock's translation in hardcopy:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Syriac-Testame...nt+murdock

Here is volume 1 of John Wesley Etheridge's translation (Matthew-John):

http://www.amazon.com/The-Syrian-Churche...+etheridge

Here is volume 2 of the Etheridge translation (Acts-Revelation):

http://www.amazon.com/Apostolical-Epistl...+etheridge

In order to compare the various translations of the Peshitta against the original Aramaic, I highly recommend you go to http://www.dukhrana.com and utilize their "Peshitta tool" and their lexicon. It's a great resource. I also highly recommend utilizing the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon by going to http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/. You can actually study the Peshitta Tanach on this site.

The Way International and Janet Magiera produced the most impartial translations of the Peshitta that are available in modern English, in my opinion. Paul Younan's interlinear is also impartial, but incomplete. Glenn David Bauscher and Andrew Gabriel Roth still did great jobs, but some theological bias slips in occasionally (but not as much as in the Lamsa translation). Andrew Gabriel Roth's AENT sticks closer to the Eastern text of the Peshitta than any other translation though.

Here are some other Peshitta translations:

Ancient Roots Translinear Bible- A. Frances Werner

Aramaic New Covenant- Herb Jahn

Aramaic Scripture- Vic Alexander

Hebraic-Roots Version- James Scott Trimm

The Message of Matthew- Rocco Errico

The Testimony of Yeshua- Lonnie Martin

Aramaic Gospels and Acts- Joseph Pashka

A Translation, in English daily used, of the Peshito-Syriac text, and of the Received Greek Text, of Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, and 1 John: With An Introduction on the Peschito-Syriac Text, and the Revised Greek Text of 1881 and A Translation, In English Daily Used: Of The Seventeen Letters Forming Part Of The Peshito-Syriac Books- William Norton

I can't really recommend the translations by Vic Alexander and Lonnie Martin. Rocco Errico was a student of George Lamsa, therefore he follows in some of his errors, but his translation is still decent (be leery of some of his commentary). James Trimm translated from the Shem Tov Hebrew Matthew, the Old Syriac Curetonian and Sinaiticus for the remaining three Gospels, the Peshitta, and the Crawford manuscript for the remainder (leading to much criticism from Peshitta primacists). Trimm also plagiarized from the Way International's interlinear.
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#6
Thank You for the goldmine of information. Keep me busy for awhile.
All the Best to You.
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#7
Anytime, Brother! Be blessed.
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#8
SS2,
you stated on a couple of reviews about the Lamsa Bible being flawed theologically.
Please elaborate.
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#9
It's mainly the fact that he translates the Aramaic words daywa (demon) and daywana (demoniac) as "insanity" and "insane" or "lunatic" in many places. He still refers to demons in his translation, but Dr. Lamsa seemed to believe that the evil spirits who were exorcised by Jesus were merely mental illnesses.
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#10
I saw the same thing SS2 and realized then that he has never had any experience of the inner life of prayer. Christians who pray for sometime experience these realities and that is a given. He is looking at scriptures from a human point of view. I was into Lamsa for a bit but when I read that I immediately started my search for another translation which is why I am here!

thanks again.
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#11
Anytime, Brother! I love reading the Lamsa Bible, but it isn't reliable if you wanna to a study of the Aramaic Scriptures in English, for that I would recommend the other translations and interlinears. The best complete Aramaic-English interlinear New Testament is the one by the Way International, which is a surprisingly impartial translation from a cultic group which denies the deity of Jesus. Janet Magiera was involved in making the Way's translation, I think, so her interlinear/translation is very similar to the Way's. The main difference between the two is that the Way's interlinear runs horizontally while Magiera's runs vertically (which is much more convenient to an extent).
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#12
Pertaining to the Old Testament,,if the Lamsa Bible is nothing more than the KJV the only thing left as I see it is the Septuagint. It is either that or one on the many translations based on the Masoretic texts. Was looking at the NIV today in a new Christian Store which opened recently in my locale and read some of the verses from the Psalms and Old Testament which were easy to read and flowed. What say?
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#13
The Lamsa Bible does lean more toward the KJV than it needs to, but Andrew Gabriel Roth (translator/editor of the AENT) states that it's a decent translation of the Peshitta Tanach. Glenn David Bauscher is working on translating the Old Testament from the Peshitta. He's translated the Torah, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes.
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#14
ScorpioSniper2 Wrote:The Lamsa Bible does lean more toward the KJV than it needs to, but Andrew Gabriel Roth (translator/editor of the AENT) states that it's a decent translation of the Peshitta Tanach. Glenn David Bauscher is working on translating the Old Testament from the Peshitta. He's translated the Torah, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes.

Do you know much about the Bible used by CoE? Can you briefly mention the difference between the Protestant and the CoE Old Testament (such as number of books and their order)? As far as I know, the order of Psalm is different between LXX and MT. There is also an extra psalm in Orthodox LXX.

Honestly, I want the translators to retain the order of books as they appear in an ancient manuscript.
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#15
The Peshitta Tanach also includes the Apocryphal books used by the Roman Catholic Church.
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