Mattai 1:21

[Paul Younan]

Shlama Akhay,

In the Aramaic of Mattai 1:21 - we read:

"And she will bear a son, and she will call his name Yeshua; for he will save his people from their sins."

The Aramaic word used there, [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]0rqt[/font] can be translated:

• (1) In the 2nd-Pers. Masculine (see word# 18904), or
  (2) In the 3rd-Pers. Feminine (see word# 18903)
  

According to Thackston's Grammar (scanned below), the Imperfect inflection of a III-weak verb (in this case, [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]0rq[/font] ) is identical for both the 2nd-Person Maculine and the 3rd-Person Feminine:



Therefore, to give the imperfect for [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]0rq[/font] in both those cases would be [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]0rqt[/font] - exactly the word in question which Zorba mistranslated.

This creates a considerable contradiction in the Greek texts - for it is not Yosef who named the child, but Maryam (Luqa 1:31)

A special thanks to Dave for pointing out this wonderful mistranslation and contradiction, which is solved by the Peshitta! <!-- s:biggrin: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/biggrin.gif" alt=":biggrin:" title="Big Grin" /><!-- s:biggrin: -->