11-02-2013, 02:59 PM
Shalam lakon
Everybody knows Jesus' last words on the cross are "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me" or as Younan said "why have you spared me" (there?s a third possible translation as we will see later). But how did Jesus say that in Aramaic?
We can read in our Bible:"eli eli lema sabachtani" as well as "eloi eloi lama sabaktani". But it exists the reading of the Peshitta too " eil eil lmana shvaqtan" and even a Hebrew reading (D 05 Codex): "elei elei lama zaphtanei" (both in Matthew and Mark).
So what? What did he say on the cross ? Let's find it !
First the linguistic point. We must keep in mind that the language which Jesus spoke is not the Targumins' one nor the biblical one. Why is it important? Even if the consonantic structure is old, the traditions about the pronunciation date from 7 century AD. It's not because l-m-h (why) is written lema in massoretic Aramaic, that it was pronounced lema in first century AD. (We have some Aramaic transcription from 2nd century BC in Ugaritic script which give us the pronunciation of Aramaic). "Lama" isn't also necessarily Hebrew.
Then we can analyze our texts. The D05 (Codex Bezae) reads the sentence in Hebrew. It's not a possible "Ipsima Verbatim" . Everywhere in the NT, the Aramaic letter "b" is transcribed b, even if it was pronounced "v". Here, our spirant b is transcribed ph (with a phi), what I think, is not consistent with the gospel's manner of transcribing. So It was a latter scribe who created this sentence. But why ? Because he read "eli eli lama" which he thought to be Hebrew and "corrected" the "wrong" Aramaic sabachtani in correct Hebrew "zaphtani"
The D 05 has old features known by church father Irenaus, which means that its text is quite old. To support that its reading "eli eli lama" is old too (oldest than the D 05 Codex), I found a interesting lectio in an apocrypha Gospel : the Gospel of Peter. We read: " My power, my power, thou hast forsaken me".
How "my God" became "my power" ? Simply because 'el means God/god but also power as we can see it in Genesis. The scribe reading "eli" understood my power instead of my God.
So,
- "Eli" is Hebrew, but also Aramaic, as this word appears in the Qumran Aramaic text called the Genesis Apocriphon.
- "Lama" is Hebrew, but as the vowel reduction had not yet been completed in First Century the latter distinction with the Aramaic "lema" had not yet existed (= it was pronounced lama in Aramaic, as we see a parallel in a Greek transcription where "for whoever" is written "laman" instead of the well known leman)
- "Sabaktani" is Aramaic, (the s transcribes the "sh" sound and the b the bilabial "v" sound), there's no problem with that.
Jesus said on the cross: ELI ELI LAMA SHAVAQTANI !!!
But why do we have "eloi" in some gospel? The Peshitta gives us the answer: this sentence was "translated" in an other dialect: eil eil lmana shvaqtan (which means) alah alah lmana shvaqtan. There was confusion between the Jesus' words and its gloss in the greek text. Eloi is the retranscription of elohi which is a Hebraized form of elahi. For its part, the Peshitta kept in record of this gloss (unlike the old syriac following the greek texts) despite of having written in eastern dialect (which explains the difference of pronunciation).
This gloss was necessary, because of the polysemy of 'eli (As we saw in the Gospel of Peter).
Last thing, we've said that Jesus' last words on the cross "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me /have you spared me". There's a third possible translation:
Eli eli la-ma shavaqtani : "My God, my God, for that (with this purpose i.e. the crucifixion) you have left me". Instead of lama -( why ?), we can read la ma (l+ma) for that, and no longer have a question where God was asked why he did something, but the last testimony of Jesus about his mission.
I hope you will agree ^^
Salut
+Edit
Everybody knows Jesus' last words on the cross are "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me" or as Younan said "why have you spared me" (there?s a third possible translation as we will see later). But how did Jesus say that in Aramaic?
We can read in our Bible:"eli eli lema sabachtani" as well as "eloi eloi lama sabaktani". But it exists the reading of the Peshitta too " eil eil lmana shvaqtan" and even a Hebrew reading (D 05 Codex): "elei elei lama zaphtanei" (both in Matthew and Mark).
So what? What did he say on the cross ? Let's find it !
First the linguistic point. We must keep in mind that the language which Jesus spoke is not the Targumins' one nor the biblical one. Why is it important? Even if the consonantic structure is old, the traditions about the pronunciation date from 7 century AD. It's not because l-m-h (why) is written lema in massoretic Aramaic, that it was pronounced lema in first century AD. (We have some Aramaic transcription from 2nd century BC in Ugaritic script which give us the pronunciation of Aramaic). "Lama" isn't also necessarily Hebrew.
Then we can analyze our texts. The D05 (Codex Bezae) reads the sentence in Hebrew. It's not a possible "Ipsima Verbatim" . Everywhere in the NT, the Aramaic letter "b" is transcribed b, even if it was pronounced "v". Here, our spirant b is transcribed ph (with a phi), what I think, is not consistent with the gospel's manner of transcribing. So It was a latter scribe who created this sentence. But why ? Because he read "eli eli lama" which he thought to be Hebrew and "corrected" the "wrong" Aramaic sabachtani in correct Hebrew "zaphtani"
The D 05 has old features known by church father Irenaus, which means that its text is quite old. To support that its reading "eli eli lama" is old too (oldest than the D 05 Codex), I found a interesting lectio in an apocrypha Gospel : the Gospel of Peter. We read: " My power, my power, thou hast forsaken me".
How "my God" became "my power" ? Simply because 'el means God/god but also power as we can see it in Genesis. The scribe reading "eli" understood my power instead of my God.
So,
- "Eli" is Hebrew, but also Aramaic, as this word appears in the Qumran Aramaic text called the Genesis Apocriphon.
- "Lama" is Hebrew, but as the vowel reduction had not yet been completed in First Century the latter distinction with the Aramaic "lema" had not yet existed (= it was pronounced lama in Aramaic, as we see a parallel in a Greek transcription where "for whoever" is written "laman" instead of the well known leman)
- "Sabaktani" is Aramaic, (the s transcribes the "sh" sound and the b the bilabial "v" sound), there's no problem with that.
Jesus said on the cross: ELI ELI LAMA SHAVAQTANI !!!
But why do we have "eloi" in some gospel? The Peshitta gives us the answer: this sentence was "translated" in an other dialect: eil eil lmana shvaqtan (which means) alah alah lmana shvaqtan. There was confusion between the Jesus' words and its gloss in the greek text. Eloi is the retranscription of elohi which is a Hebraized form of elahi. For its part, the Peshitta kept in record of this gloss (unlike the old syriac following the greek texts) despite of having written in eastern dialect (which explains the difference of pronunciation).
This gloss was necessary, because of the polysemy of 'eli (As we saw in the Gospel of Peter).
Last thing, we've said that Jesus' last words on the cross "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me /have you spared me". There's a third possible translation:
Eli eli la-ma shavaqtani : "My God, my God, for that (with this purpose i.e. the crucifixion) you have left me". Instead of lama -( why ?), we can read la ma (l+ma) for that, and no longer have a question where God was asked why he did something, but the last testimony of Jesus about his mission.
I hope you will agree ^^
Salut
+Edit