Christ's OT quotes and Pshitta primacy

[The Lector]

Hello

I would like to ask a question please, sorry if this has been answered elsewhere and I missed it.

One of the major arguments I have heard used by Greek primacists is that Christ quotes the OT in the Greek NT word-for-word, which is apparently to show the accuracy of the Septuagint.

I would like to ask, does Christ quote the Pshitta OT verbatim too? If not, what is the reason for the differences?

Thanks
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[Paul Younan]

Hello Lector,

The Greek NT records Christ quoting the Septuagint. This is because the Greek NT scribes standardized any OT quotes they found in the NT to the Septuagint.

The Aramaic NT does not record Christ quoting the Septuagint. Christ spoke in Aramaic, and in order for him to quote the Septuagint, he would have had to have been speaking Greek to the people He was preaching to.

In certain cases the Aramaic NT records Christ quoting, and in other cases He is paraphrasing and not quoting at all. For example:



Notice the paraphrasing happening in this example. Meshikha is not quoting from anything at all, especially not the Septuagint.

Direct quotes from the OT are rare. People simply did not do that at that time. Paraphrasing was more of the style back then, as we can tell from the Aramaic Targums produced during the period.

[Paul Younan]

Another example where the NT is not quoting the LXX:



Notice that even the verb for "conceive" is different.

[Paul Younan]

More...



It reads nothing like the LXX.

I have at least 50 more examples I'll post later from books throughout the Greek NT which clearly show that the Septuagint was not used and that the Greek NT is simply a translation of a Semitic source, just like the Septuagint was.

[Paul Younan]

Matthew 2:15



The NT agrees with the MT. The LXX differs, replacing ???my son??? with ???his children.???

[Paul Younan]

Matthew 2:18



The NT and LXX disagree.

[Paul Younan]

Matthew 4:10



NT and LXX disagree.

[Paul Younan]

Matthew 4:15-16



NT and LXX totally disagree.

[Paul Younan]

Matthew 5:31 and 19:7



The NT and LXX don't agree.

[Paul Younan]

Remember how I said that Meshikha paraphrased ("targumed") alot?



This is a classic example.

[Paul Younan]

Another classic example of how Meshikha paraphrased rather than quoted directly.



Notice:

(a) He left out the "bruise for bruise"
(b) He included the word "and" in between the two clauses.

He was paraphrasing.

[Paul Younan]

This is a loose paraphrase of Isaiah 53:4



Boy, look how much that resembles the LXX reading! <!-- s:biggrin: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/biggrin.gif" alt=":biggrin:" title="Big Grin" /><!-- s:biggrin: -->

[Paul Younan]

Matthew 9:13 referencing Hosea 6:6



Greek NT and LXX disagree.

[Paul Younan]

Another loose paraphrase, Matthew 10:35-36 from Micah 7:6

[Paul Younan]

Matthew 11:10, referencing Malachi 3:1....



Notice among the many differences, in particular, is the verb for "survey" in the LXX rather than "prepare" in the Greek NT.

Also, the LXX says "send forth" instead of the NT "send."

Finally, the NT includes the phrase "before thy face", which is a common Semitic idiomatic expression found frequently in both Hebrew and Aramaic literature and scripture.