1Corinthians 13:3

[Paul Younan]

Shlama Akhay,

In some manuscripts of the Greek versions of the NT we read with astonishment:

"And if I give all my possessions to feed {the poor,} and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:3, GNT)

WOW. What an dumb reading! Here's how the error was made:

The Aramaic root [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]dqy [/font]can, and does indeed, mean "to burn"......HOWEVER, it can also mean "to boast."

It is obvious that Zorba mistranslated this word and the entire meaning of the verse was confused...here is the original reading of the Aramaic:

"And if I give all my possessions to feed {the poor,} and if I surrender my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:3, Peshitta)

So the disagreement in the Greek texts points to an Aramaic original!

The reading kauchvswmai (kauchswmai, "I might boast") is in manuscripts like ??46 ?? A B 048 33 1739* .

The competing reading, kauqhvsomai (kauqhsomai, "I will burn"), is found in C D F G L 81 1175 1881* and a host of patristic writers. A few other Byzantine Greek readings include: kauqhvswmai (kauqhswmai) ("I might burn") and kauqh' ("it might be burned") read by 1505.

BTW - Dr. Bruce Metzger (the ultimate Greek primacist) notes that the latter reading is a "grammatical monstrosity that cannot be attributed to Paul" (B. M. Metzger, Textual Commentary, page 498).

Maybe, just maybe none of the Greek can be attributable to Paul? <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/happy.gif" alt="" title="Happy" /><!-- s -->