Complete Old Testament Interlinear published!

[Andrej]

I think its very profound that that the Aramaic of Genesis 1:1 has  ܐܠܗܐ , but the Masoretic has אלהימ .  

It is also very satisfying to see so much gospel harmony with ܡܪܝܐ , as for example in Deuteronomy 32:9.  I feel like this Aramaic Old Testament is going to answer a lot of questions for me, such as why the Messiah did not say יהוה .   In the original Old Testament that was lost to time, I wonder how many instances of ܡܪܝܐ  were originally  יהוה ?  And what is the greater meaning of all this textual development?

"Alaha" is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew "Elohim". Aramaic dialects do not use the plural form as we find it in Hebrew. This is also true of biblical Aramaic.

All instances of "Maryah" in the Peshitta refer to the Tetragrammaton, both OT ant NT. "Maryah" is first person singular masculine emphatic exactly like "Adonai". Just like "Adonai", it serves as a term equivalent to YHWH (Yahueh), and both mean "supreme Lord" or "Lord most high".

The Jews never used the Name in any other language than Hebrew. Even in the Hebrew Bible, the Aramaic portions never contain the Tetragrammaton (e.g. Daniel). I assume this is due to concerns about different pronunciation of dialects, or just because of the Name's special holiness. Even in some of the most ancient Hebrew manuscripts, they wrote the entire text in Ashuri, but the Tetragrammaton in Paleo Hebrew, which again might be to remind of the most ancient pronunciation [as language changes, so does pronunciation and the associated script].

There are about 130 instances in the Peshitta where it reads "Maryah", but the Hebrew reads "Adonai" (e.g. Ps. 110:4, Is. 6:1, 7:14). These are part of the 134 passages where "Adonai" appears without the Tetragrammaton in the Tanakh (just "Adonai", not "Adonai YHWH" etc). All or almost all of these passages were changes from YHWH to Adonai over time in the Hebrew, and for almost all of them we have proof.

Ginsburg spoke about this in his Mesorah where he argues all of the 134 passages which say "Adonai" in the MT, but have some textual evidence for YHWH, originally said YHWH rather than Adonai (Massorah, §§ 107-115, Ginsburg's edition*).

The reasons for the changes are many. Mostly the passages are those where someone invokes the name in a negative fashion, e.g. "Adonai/YHWH has forsaken us". But some are central to theology, like the coronation Psalm #110, which shows the LORD rules through the King's right hand.

*see https://archive.org/stream/MassorahMasso...9/mode/2up