03-30-2014, 10:20 PM
The idea that the wide readership of a translation verifies that God has essentially stamped it with his seal is ridiculous. So, because McDonald's is one of the biggest fast food chains, does that mean that God has put His seal of approval on it? Sorry, I just don't buy a word of what you are saying. Many people have thought that the Spirit of God has spoken to them about various things when all they have heard is their own voice within their minds. I love Bible translations, so when you finish I would still be glad to read it.
As for your statement that the Peshitta doesn't make sense, you obviously have never read the Peshitta itself or a translation of it. The Peshitta is called what it is because of its fluidity and clarity, which is the definition of the Aramaic word peshitta. Don't bash things you know nothing about. The Peshitta has been called "the Queen of the Versions" for it's beauty. Scholar Johann D. Michaelis says of the Peshitta:
While I disagree with his assertion that the Peshitta was not written by disciples of the Messiah and has faults, I still find that this quote shows the importance of the Aramaic Peshitta and the fact that it fits its name very well. It is simple, straight, true. Is the Greek of the New Testament impeccable? No, in fact, it is said to read more like a Semitic language document (like the Septuagint, a translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew into Greek by Alexandrian Jews). The Peshitta clears up many difficult passages of Scripture, like the differences between the genealogies of Jesus recorded in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 and Romans 5:7. Textual variations seen among the Greek manuscripts can also be explained by the Aramaic text.
As for your statement that the Peshitta doesn't make sense, you obviously have never read the Peshitta itself or a translation of it. The Peshitta is called what it is because of its fluidity and clarity, which is the definition of the Aramaic word peshitta. Don't bash things you know nothing about. The Peshitta has been called "the Queen of the Versions" for it's beauty. Scholar Johann D. Michaelis says of the Peshitta:
Quote: "The Peschito is the very best translation of the Greek Testament that I have ever read; that of Luther .... holding the second rank. Of all the Syriac authors with which I am acquainted, not excepting Ephraim and Bar-Hebraeus, its language is the most elegant and pure; not loaded with foreign words, like the Philoxenian version and other later writings, and discovers the hand of a master in rendering those passages where the two idioms deviate from each other. It has no marks of the stiffness of a translation, but is written with the ease and fluency of an original: and this excellence of its style must be ascribed to its antiquity, and to its being written in a city that was the residence of Syrian kings.... It is true that the Syriac version, like all human productions, is not destitute of faults, and (what is not to be regarded as a blemish) differs frequently from the modern mode of explanation. But I know of none that is so free from error, and none that I consult with so much confidence, in case of difficulty and doubt. I have never met with a single instance where the Greek is so interpreted, as to betray any weakness or ignorance in the translator and though in many other translations, the original is rendered in so extraordinary a manner as almost to excite a smile, the Syriac version must ever be read with profound veneration...The affinity of the Syriac to the dialect of Palestine, is so great as to justify, in some respects, the assertion that the Syriac translator has recorded the actions and speeches of Christ in the very language in which he spoke.... The difference between the dialect which was spoken by Christ, and that of the Syriac translator, consisted almost wholly in the mode of pronouncing; and if a proper use had been made of this advantage, the Syriac version would be the most valuable commentary on the New Testament. Many obscure passages would be made clear, if the words were still on record which Jesus spoke with his disciples in the Aramaean language. But the translator appears not to have been fortunate in rendering passages of this nature.... This circumstance alone affords sufficient evidence that the Syriac version was not written by one of Christ's immediate disciples."
While I disagree with his assertion that the Peshitta was not written by disciples of the Messiah and has faults, I still find that this quote shows the importance of the Aramaic Peshitta and the fact that it fits its name very well. It is simple, straight, true. Is the Greek of the New Testament impeccable? No, in fact, it is said to read more like a Semitic language document (like the Septuagint, a translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew into Greek by Alexandrian Jews). The Peshitta clears up many difficult passages of Scripture, like the differences between the genealogies of Jesus recorded in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 and Romans 5:7. Textual variations seen among the Greek manuscripts can also be explained by the Aramaic text.