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Acts 7:38
#1
Shlama Akhay,

In the "Majority Text" Greek family of manuscripts, the reading is "Living Word" (singular), but in the "Textus Receptus" and the "Critical Text" the reading is "Living Words".

The difference can easily be explained with reference to the underlying Aramaic as recorded in the Peshitta text.

The Aramaic words [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Fyx fm[/font] ("living words"), at a time before the diacretic markings known as Syame were invented, can be either singular or plural.

[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]fm[/font] - "mela" = "word" (singular absolute noun, SEDRA #12109)

[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]fm[/font] - "mele" = "words" (plural emphatic noun, SEDRA #12110)

[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Fyx[/font] - "kheytha" = "living" (singular adjective, SEDRA #6960)

[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Fyx[/font] - "kheyatha" = "living(s)" (plural adjective, SEDRA #6961)

In Aramaic, the adjective agrees in number with its noun counterpart. Notice that the singular/plural forms are written exactly the same way if Syame markings aren't present (which would have been the case during the 1st-century when the Greeks translated the Aramaic NT), and the difference in pronunciation is a mere short vowel. <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile -->
+Shamasha Paul bar-Shimun de'Beth-Younan
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