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"Master YHWH" and "I AM"s in the Peshitta
#1
The presence of the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew "YHWH" was lost during the translation of the New Testament (NT) from its original Aramaic into Greek. Below is a list of the instances of Mar-Ya i.e. Master YHWH appearing in the Aramaic NT preserved by the Church of the East, the Peshitta. Note that this doesn?t cover any instances of "Master YHWH" that might be in the "Western Five" books (II Peter, II John, III John, Jude and Revelation). The Church of the East reveres those 5 books and encourages their study, but they don't read from them during their church services-- unlike the other 22 NT books.

Mt 1:20, 1:22, 1:24, 2:13, 2:15, 2:19, 3:3, 4:7, 4:10, 5:33, 12:4, 21:9, 21:42, 22:37, 22:43, 22:44, 22:45, 23:39, 27:10, 28:2

Mk 1:3, 2:26, 5:19, 11:9, 12:11, 12:29, 12:29, 12:30, 12:36, 13:20

Lk 1:6, 1:9, 1:11, 1:15, 1:16, 1:17, 1:25, 1:32, 1:38, 1:45, 1:46, 1:66, 1:68, 1:76, 2:9, 2:11, 2:15, 2:22, 2:23, 2:23, 2:24, 2:26, 2:38, 2:39, 3:4, 4:8, 4:12, 4:18, 4:19, 5:17, 6:4, 10:27, 13:35, 17:29, 19:38, 20:37, 20:42

Jn 1:23, 12:13, 12:38

Acts 1:24, 2:20, 2:21, 2:34, 2:36, 2:38, 3:19, 3:22, 4:24, 4:26, 4:29, 5:9, 5:14, 5:19, 6:3, 7:30, 7:31, 7:33, 7:37, 7:49, 8:26, 8:39, 9:10, 9:15, 9:27, 10:36, 11:21, 11:21, 12:7, 12:11, 12:17, 12:23, 13:10, 13:11, 13:12, 13:49, 14:3, 14:25, 14:26, 15:17, 15:17, 16:32, 18:9, 18:25, 18:26, 19:10

Romans 9:28, 9:29, 10:12, 10:13, 11:34, 14:9, 14:11, 14:14, 15:11, 16:6

1Cor 1:31, 2:16, 3:5, 3:20, 4:4, 4:5, 4:17, 4:19, 7:17, 8:6, 10:26, 11:27, 11:27, 11:29, 12:3, 12:5, 14:21, 15:47, 15:58, 15:58, 16:10

2Cor 2:12, 3:16, 3:17, 3:17, 3:18, 3:18, 6:17, 6:18, 10:17, 10:18

Eph 2:21, 4:5, 4:17, 5:19, 6:9

Philippians 2:11, 2:29

Colossians 3:22, 3:24, 4:1, 4:7

2Thess 3:3

1Timothy 6:2

2Timothy 2:19, 2:19

Hebrews 6:3, 7:21, 8:8, 8:9, 8:10, 8:11, 10:16, 10:30, 12:5, 12:6, 13:5

James 1:7, 3:9, 4:10, 4:15, 5:4, 5:7, 5:10, 5:11, 5:11

1 Peter 2:3, 3:12, 3:12, 3:15, 5:3

============================================.
When the New Testament was translated from its original Aramaic into Greek, some information was lost, including the presence of many instances of "I AM" statements. In the Aramaic it is two instances of "ana"-- "I"-- back to back. The letters are "ana ana," pronounced "ena na," and can be translated as "It is I" or "I AM." One translator, Glenn David Bauscher, says that 97% of the time in the Old Testament, "ENA-NA" is said by YHWH. It is a similar situation in the New Testament, where the overwhelming percent of the time, "ena-na" appears to be Yeshua hinting at his being YHWH. Rarely, it is someone else making an appeal to being God, or someone apparently suggesting that the Meshikha/ Messiah is YHWH, or someone merely saying "It is I"/ "It's me." To illustrate the very last category, see Lk 1:19 (when the angelic messenger Gabriel speaks), and Jn 9:9 (when a blind man who Yeshua healed speaks). I invite you to pull out your New Testament and look at each of these instances, and if you have questions, examine the interlinear translation at peshitta.org:

ENA-NA's and ena-na's in Mt - Acts 16, in the Aramaic Peshitta

Mt 14:27, 22:32, 24:5
Mk 6:50, 12:26, 13:6, 14:62
Lk 1:19, 8:9, 21:8, 22:70, 24:36
Jn 1:20, 4:26;
6:20, 35, 41, 48, 51;
8:12, 24, 28, 58;
9:9;
10:7, 9, 11, 14;
11:25; 13:19; 14:6;
15:1, 5;
18:5, 6, 8, 37
Acts 7:32, 8:9, 9:5

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4 biographies about al-Nabia Isa ibn Maryam
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Aramaic Lexicon and Concordance
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#2
1) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for Mk 9:49, which when translated well reads:
"For with fire everything will be *vaporized*,
and with salt every sacrifice will be *seasoned*."
Re: vaporized and seasoned, the root MLKh can mean 'to salt, season' or 'to destroy, vaporize, scatter.' The intended meaning shifted between the first and second lines?Meshikha/ the Messiah plays on the dual meaning of MLKh. See Mk 9 PDF of Paul Younan at peshitta.org

2) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for Acts 8:27, which when translated well reads:
"And he [Pileepos/ Philip] arose (and) went and met a certain *mahaymina* [believer] who had come from Cush, an official of Qandeq, the malkta [queen] of the Cushites, and he was an authority over all her treasures. And he had come to worship in Urishlim."
Re: MHYMNA, it can mean either 'believer' or 'eunuch'-- or many similar things. The Greek versions mistranslate this as 'eunuch' instead of the more contextually correct 'believer.'--PY. The Ethiopian _believer_ was intending to worship in Jerusalem, presumably in the temple there-- which eunuchs were prohibited from doing by Deut 23:2. Cf. Mt 19:12.

3) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for Acts 12:20, which when translated well reads:
"And because he [King Herodus Agripus] was angry at the Tyrians and at the Sidonians, they gathered and came to him as one and persuaded Blastus, the chamberlain of the malka [king], and asked of him that (they) might have *shayna* [cultivated land], because the provision of their country was from the kingdom of Herodus."
Re: shayna, the Greek manuscripts mistranslate this Aramaic word as "peace"; a possible secondary meaning of the word is "cultivated land" (cf. Yaqub/James 3:18 also mistranslated by the Greeks)-- this reading makes far more sense contextually in a time of famine (cf. Acts 11:28.)-- PY.

4) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for James 3:18, which when translated well reads:
"And the fruit of righteousness is sown in the *shayna* [cultivated land] of them that make shlama [peace]."
"Shayna" can mean tranquility/peace-- see Lk 11:21, Lk 12:51, and esp. Acts 10:36. However, for James 3:18 and Acts 12:20, the contextually-proper rendition is "cultivated land." See Lataster.

5) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for Acts 14:17, which when translated well reads:
"And He [God] caused rain to descend from heaven for them [Gentiles],
and He caused fruit to grow in their seasons.
And He filled their hearts with *cheer* and gladness."
Re: cheer, Greek versions have it mistranslated as "food."--PY

6) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for Acts 2:24, which when translated well reads:
"But Allaha [God] loosed the *cords* of Sheol [the Grave/Death] and raised him [Yeshua/Jesus] because it was not possible that he be held in it, in Sheol."
Re: cords, the Greek versions mistranslated this word as 'pain.' Cf. Jn 2:15 & 2 Samuel 22:6.?PY

7) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for Acts 5:13:
And there was a great fear in all the eidta [congregation], and in all those who heard.
And many mighty deeds and signs occurred by the hands of the Shelikha [Apostles] among the people. And they were all assembled together in the Porch of Shlemon [Soloman].
13. And of other men, not one dared to *touch* them,
rather the people magnified them.
Re: touch, this word can mean "join/commune" but also "touch," the latter undoubtedly being the correct reading. The Greek versions mistranslated this word as "join."--PY

<!-- s8) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" /><!-- s8) --> The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for Acts 8:23:
"But repent of this your evil and beseech Allaha [God]. Perhaps you [Simon the sorcerer] will be forgiven the guile of your heart.
23. For I [Shimon Keepa/ Simon Peter] see that you are in bitter *anger*
and in the bonds of iniquity."
Re: anger, the Aramaic word kabda can mean gall/liver/anger. The Greek versions mistranslate "bitter kabda" as "gall of bitterness" instead of the more contextually proper "bitter anger."--PY

9) The Greek manuscripts have two mistranslations for Mt 7:6, which when translated well reads:
"You should not *hang* *earrings* on dogs,
and you should not place your pearls before pigs,
that they should not trample them by their feet,
and they overtake and wound you."
As a side note, this has a chiastic structure, with the pigs line going with the trampling line, and the dogs line going with the wounding line.

10) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for Lk 14:26, which when translated well reads:
"He who comes to me [Jesus]
and does not *sena* [put aside; contextually improper here: hate, have an aversion to] his father and his mother
and his brothers and his sisters
and his wife and his children and even himself,
is not able to be a talmida [student] to me."

4 biographies about al-Nabia Isa ibn Maryam
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#3
There is corruption in the Greek manuscripts in that each of their:
mistranslations of the original Aramaic,
additions to the original Aramaic,
and subtractions from the original Aramaic
are less than ideal.

1. Corruption in adding in the story of the woman caught in adultery.
That story, seen at John 8 in almost all New Testaments printed today, is not in the original Aramaic of the Peshitta, as noted by the John 8 interlinear translation PDF at peshitta.org
The story got added in by someone well after the book of John was composed.

2. Corruption in calling a particular woman Greek when the original Aramaic didn't say she was Greek.
In Mark 7:25-28, the Aramaic Peshitta reads,
"For immediately a certain woman whose daughter had an unclean rukha [spirit] heard about him [al-Nabia Isa], and she came (and) fell before his feet. Now that woman was kanapta [a heathen/ foreigner] from Phoenicia in Syria, and was entreating him to cast out the shada [shade/devil] from her daughter. ?. 'even the dogs eat from under the tables the crumbs of the children.'"
Greek manuscripts erroneously say the woman was Greek. This sets up an unnecessary contradiction with Mt 15:21+, where she is called a Canaanite: "And Yeshua went out from there and came to the border of Tsur and of Tsidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from those borders came out while crying and saying, "Have mercy on me Mari [my Lord], the Son of Dawid. My daughter is seriously vexed by a shada.... even the dogs eat from the crumbs which fall from the tables of their masters and live."

3. Corruption in adding in the name "Jeremiah" as the author of a particular quote, even as there's no evidence he ever said that remark.
In Mt 27:9-10, Greek manuscripts have the erroneous addition that Jeremiah said a particular remark, when there's no Old Testament evidence that Jeremiah said that. The Aramaic original leaves unspecified the name of the prophet, avoiding the unnecessary contradiction: "Then the thing was fulfilled which was spoken of by the prophet who said,
"I took the thirty (pieces) of silver,
the price of the precious one
which (those) from the sons of Israel agreed upon."

4. Corruption in many Greek manuscripts by lacking this mention of fasting, which is in the Aramaic original:
Mark 9:28-29: "Now when Yeshua entered the house, his talmida [students] asked him privately, 'Why were we not able to cast him [a certain devil] out?' He said to them,
'This kind is not able to be cast out by
anything except by fasting and by prayer.'"

5. Corruption in Greek manuscripts by having the Joseph in the lineage of Mt 1 be Mary's husband. In reality, the Aramaic original says the Joseph in the lineage is Mary's "gowra"-- which means 'guardian male'-- not necessarily a husband. Mary had *two* key individuals named Joseph in her life. This corruption in Greek manuscripts led to the speculation that Matthew couldn't count generations, or that an individual's name got somehow lost. The reality is that Matthew 1:17 is correct in saying that there's 14 + 14 + 14 generations listed.
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#4
DavidFord Wrote:3) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for Acts 12:20, which when translated well reads:
"And because he [King Herodus Agripus] was angry at the Tyrians and at the Sidonians, they gathered and came to him as one and persuaded Blastus, the chamberlain of the malka [king], and asked of him that (they) might have *shayna* [cultivated land], because the provision of their country was from the kingdom of Herodus."
Re: shayna, the Greek manuscripts mistranslate this Aramaic word as "peace"; a possible secondary meaning of the word is "cultivated land" (cf. Yaqub/James 3:18 also mistranslated by the Greeks)-- this reading makes far more sense contextually in a time of famine (cf. Acts 11:28.)-- PY.

4) The Greek manuscripts have a mistranslation for James 3:18, which when translated well reads:
"And the fruit of righteousness is sown in the *shayna* [cultivated land] of them that make shlama [peace]."
"Shayna" can mean tranquility/peace-- see Lk 11:21, Lk 12:51, and esp. Acts 10:36. However, for James 3:18 and Acts 12:20, the contextually-proper rendition is "cultivated land." See Lataster.

I'm partial to the Greek translation of James 3:18. "Cultivated land" seems redundant, in this instance.
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#5
Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer has less extensive rhyming than Matthew's version: in 2 instances, Luke's version lacks rhyming that Matthew's version possesses.
It appears to me that the Greek translation of the original Aramaic lacks any rhyming at all.
In being translated from Aramaic into Greek, there was the loss of rhyming:

Ah-woon ** our Father
d'wash-may-ya ** in heaven
===================================================
nith-qad-dash shmakh ** holy be Your-name
teh'-theh' ** come
mal-koo-thakh ** Your kingdom
neh-weh ** be done
tsow-ya-nakh ** Your will
===================================================
ay-kan-na ** as
d'wash-may-ya ** in heaven
ap b'ar-aa ** so on-earth.
===================================================
haw lan ** give us
lakh-ma ** the bread
d'son-qa-nan ** of our need
yow-ma-na ** this day
===================================================
ow-wash-woq lan ** and-forgive us
khow-beyn ** our offences
ay-kan-na d'ap kha-nan ** as also we
shwa-qan ** have forgiven
l'khay-ya-wen ** those who have offended us
===================================================
ow'la ** and not
ta'-lan ** bring us
l'nis-you-na ** into trial
al-la pas-san ** but deliver us
min bee-sha ** from evil
===================================================
modt-dtil d'dee-lak ** for of-Yours
hee mal-koo-tha ** is the kingdom
ow-khay-la ** and the power
aw'tish-bokh-tha ** and the glory
l-al-um ail-meen. ** to the age of the ages.
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#6
Quote:mcarmichael I'm partial to the Greek translation of James 3:18. "Cultivated land" seems redundant, in this instance.
This doesn't seem redundant to me:
"And the fruit of righteousness is sown in the *shayna* [cultivated land] of them that make shlama [peace]."

Some are partial to the Greek translation of Mt 19:24:
"And again I [Yeshua] say to you that
it is easier for a gamla [rope] to enter into the eye of a needle
than (for) a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Allaha [God]."

Most translations into Greek have "camel" instead of "rope." Observes Barnstone (2012), 19, "In converting an Aramaic proverb into Greek, through a misreading... a 'course thread' became a 'camel,' fortuitously creating a wondrous metaphor."

At least two Greek manuscripts have the Aramaic correctly translated:
Bailey, Kenneth E. 1976, 1980. __Poet & Peasant_ and _Through Peasant Eyes: A Literary-Cultural Approach to the Parables of Luke__ (MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), 238pp. & 187pp. On 165 of the 2nd half:
"Rather than _kamelon_, if we read _kamilon_ (as some ancient manuscripts give us) we are not talking about a large, four-footed animal but rather a rope."

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Barnstone, Willis. 2012. _The Poems of Jesus Christ_ (NY: W. W. Norton & Company), 252pp.
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#7
The original Aramaic of the NT lacks an embarrassing contradiction present in the Greek manuscripts. Greek manuscripts have Jesus calling certain people fools, even as he uses *the same Greek word* in warning that those that call somebody a fool are in danger of the fire of Gehenna. See Strong's Concordance entries for "fool" and "fools" for the verses Mt 5:22 vs. Mt 23:17 (and Mt 23:19-- some but not all Greek manuscripts have the contradiction again here).
This is how the original Aramaic handles matters:

Mt 5:22: "and anyone who should say to his brother, 'Raca!' [(I) spit (on you); or: (you are) spit. Aramaic to Arabic to English produced: 'foul one']
is condemned to the assembly,
and anyone who should say, "Lela!" [(you are) a nursemaid/ coward]
is condemned to the fire of Gehenna."

Mt 23:17, 19: "Sakla [fools] and blind!
For what is greater: the gold, or the temple-- that which sanctifies the gold? ?. Sakla [fools] and blind!
What is greater: the qorbana [offering/sacrifice] or the altar that sanctifies the qorbana?"
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#8
DavidFord Wrote:This doesn't seem redundant to me:
"And the fruit of righteousness is sown in the *shayna* [cultivated land] of them that make shlama [peace]."

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Barnstone, Willis. 2012. _The Poems of Jesus Christ_ (NY: W. W. Norton & Company), 252pp.

I don't know if "redundant" is the right word, but there seems to me a certain poetic meaning in the Greek translation here.
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#9
Greek translators of the Aramaic New Testament gave a few transliterations of words and phrases present in the Aramaic original, followed by their explanations. Their explanations are not part of the original, and it's not made explicit, e.g. through the use of brackets, that the explanations aren't part of the original.
For the verses below, a quote from the NIV at biblegateway.com is followed by a quote from Paul Younan's peshitta.org translation of the Aramaic.

* Matthew 27:46
About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ?Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?? (which means ?My God, my God, why have you forsaken me??).
46. And about the ninth hour, Yeshua cried out with a loud voice and said,
"'Ail! Ail! Lamna shwaqthani?'"
[(My) Allaha! (My) Allaha! Why have you spared me?/ Why have you let me live?]

* Mark 5:41
He took her by the hand and said to her, ?Talitha koum!? (which means ?Little girl, I say to you, get up!?).
41. And he took the hand of the girl and said to her,
"Talita, qomy!" [young girl, arise]

* Mark 7:34
He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, ?Ephphatha!? (which means ?Be opened!?).
34. And he looked into heaven and sighed and said to him,
"Aetpatak!" [be opened]

* Mark 10:46
?.a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means ?son of Timaeus?), was sitting by the roadside begging.
46. ?.a blind man, Timi Bar-Timi [Timi son of Timi i.e. Timi, Jr.], was sitting on the side of the road and begging.

* John 1:38
Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ?What do you want?? They said, ?Rabbi? (which means ?Teacher?), ?where are you staying??
38. And Yeshua turned and saw those who were coming after him and he said to them,
"What do you want?"
They said to him, "Rabban, where are you?" [idiomatic for 'where do you live?' 'Rabban' means 'our Rabbi.']

* John 1:41
The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ?We have found the Messiah? (that is, the Christ).
41. And this (one) saw his brother Shimon first, and said to him, "I have found him-- the Meshikha!" [Messiah]

* John 9:7
?Go,? he told him, ?wash in the Pool of Siloam? (this word means ?Sent?). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
7. And he said to him,
"Go wash in the baptismal of Shilokha."
And he went (and) washed and he came while seeing.

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With the first verse, Mt 27:46, compare:
Mark 15:34
And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ?Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?? (which means ?My God, my God, why have you forsaken me??).
34. And in the ninth hour, Yeshua cried out in a loud voice and said,
"'Ail! Ail! Lamna shwaqthani?'",
that is,
"'Allahi! Allahi! Lamna shwaqthani?'" [My Allaha! My Allaha! Why have you spared me?/ Why have you let me live?]

For John 1:38, compare:
John 20:16
?.She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ?Rabboni!? (which means ?Teacher?).
20. ?.And she turned around and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbuli!" which means "Malpana" [Teacher].
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#10
Should I report this guy, off-topic?
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#11
mcarmichael Wrote:Should I report this guy, off-topic?

Shlama Akhi M:
No, that's not necessary. I gather that David is clarifying many translations taken from the Aramaic Peshitta New Testament which are incorrect and/or out of context in the Greek New Testament. I hope this helps.

Shlama,
Stephen
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#12
mcarmichael Wrote:I don't know if "redundant" is the right word, but there seems to me a certain poetic meaning in the Greek translation here.
Agreed. As Charles Stanley likes to say, you reap what you sow, later than you sow, more than you sow.
If someone sows hatred into a relationship, he'll reap hatred.
If someone sows peace into a relationship, she'll reap peace.
If someone sows eire-ne- into a relationship, he'll reap eire-ne-. [The "-" indicates a line is present over the preceding letter. Unicode can't be posted.]

James 3:18, from
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MOUNCE: And de a harvest karpos of righteousness dikaiosyne- is sown speiro- in en peace eire-ne- by those ho who make poieo- peace eire-ne-.

The Aramaic Peshitta allows for such a translation, and beautifully also allows for a different translation:

The Greek manuscripts have a missed translation for James 3:18.
"And the fruit of righteousness is sown in the *shayna* [1. peace/tranquility 2. cultivated land] of them that make shlama [peace]."
"Shayna" can mean tranquility/peace-- see Lk 11:21, Lk 12:51, and esp. Acts 10:36. It can also mean "cultivated land."
Understood one way, the verse says:
'the fruit of righteousness is sown in the peace of them that make peace'-- which emphasizes the righteousness, tranquility/peace, and peace aspects of the verse.
Understood another way, the verse says:
'the fruit of righteousness is sown in the cultivated land of them that make peace'-- lining up the agricultural motifs of fruit, sowing, and cultivated land.
It's an instance of Janus Parallelism.

h/t: the image file
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#13
2 Wordplays; Possible Contradiction

Jn 8:34 has a wordplay in the original Aramaic, with commits (aibed) on the one side, and slave (aibada) on the other side:
"Amain, amain I say to you that,
anyone who-commits [d'aibed] sin is of sin its-slave [aibdeh]."

Lk 7:41-42 has a wordplay in the original Aramaic, with debtors, creditor, and owed-him on the one side (debt: khoba), and love-him (love: khuba) on the other side:
"There were two debtors [khyba] to a certain creditor [mara-khoba i.e. master of debt].
One had owed-him [khyb] five hundred denarii,
and the other fifty denarii.
And because they had no way to repay,
he forgave both of them.
Therefore, which of them will love-him [nkhbyohi] more?"

=========================.
Did Gabriel tell Mary to name Jesus "Jesus"?
Did Gabriel tell Joseph to name Jesus "Jesus"?
Did Gabriel tell Mary and Joseph separately to name Jesus "Jesus"?
In Biblical times, who typically named a child? The mother? The father? Both mother and father deciding together?

In the Greek translations of Matthew 1:21 and Luke 1:31, one verse has Gabriel telling _Joseph_ to name Mary's son "Jesus,"
while the other verse has Gabriel telling _Mary_ to name her son "Jesus":

Matthew 1:21 (NIV)
She [Mary] will give birth to a son,
and you [Joseph] are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.?
Luke 1:31 (NIV)
You [Mary] will conceive and give birth to a son,
and you are to call him Jesus.

In the Aramaic for Mt 1:21, the word for "call" can be either second person masculine (as in, 'you, Joseph') or third person feminine (as in, 'she, Mary'). Hence, a possible rendering of Mt 1:21 from the original Aramaic that makes it more harmonious with Lk 1:31's "you [Mary] are to call him Jesus" would be:
'she [Mary] will give birth to a son,
and she is to give him the name Jesus.'

h/t: the image file
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#14
Janus Parallelism, Fun with Words

Besides James 3:18, another instance of Janus Parallelism appears in Mt 13:31-32:
He [Yeshua] spoke another mathla [parable] in figure to them and said,
"The kingdom of heaven is likened to a grain of mustard seed
that a man took (and) sowed in his field.
And it is smaller than all the small seeds,
but when it grows it is greater than all the small herbs,
and becomes a tree
so that the birds [or: blossoms/flowers]
of heaven come (and) nest in its branches."

This has Janus Parallelism poetry, since the Aramaic word rendered 'birds' can also mean blossoms/flowers.
Hence, one way to read the poem would be to focus on the plant aspects:
seed - sowed in field - seeds - grows - herbs - tree - blossoms/flowers - in branches.
Another way to read the poem would be to focus on the bird aspects:
tree - birds of heaven - nest in branches.

Cyrus Gordon located a Janus parallelism in the Song of Songs 2:12, where the word for "pruning" can also mean "singing"-- see Lataster on poetry.
Song of Songs 2:12 (NIV), my bracket
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Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing [or: pruning] has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

Here are two possible ways of focusing on certain aspects of the poem:
flowers - earth - season - pruning - land.
____________ - season - singing - cooing - heard.

===================================.
Another instance of Yeshua having fun with varying definitions of a particular word is in Matthew 19:12:
"For there are mahaymina who were born thus from the womb of their mother.
And there are mahaymina who became mahaymina by men.
And there are mahaymina who made themselves mahaymina for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.
He who is able to comprehend, let him comprehend."

'Mahaymina' can mean eunuch or believer or many similar words; see Lataster. The verse could be translated this way:
'For there are eunuchs who were born thus from the womb of their mother.
And there are eunuchs who became believers by men.
And there are believers who made themselves eunuchs [i.e. chose celibacy] for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.
He who is able to comprehend, let him comprehend.'
See also Acts 8:27.

===========================,
Yet another case of Yeshua having fun with varying definitions of particular words is from his conversation with Niqodemus at John 3:8:

"The Rukha [Spirit or wind]
will nashaba [breathe or blow] where it desires,
and you hear its qala [voice or sound],
but you do not know (from) where it comes or (to) where it goes;
likewise is everyone who is born from Rukha [Spirit]."

Yeshua does wordplay with three Aramaic words. One rendering is,
'The _wind_ will _blow_ where it desires/wills,
and you hear its _sound_,
but you do not know from where it comes or where it goes;
likewise is everyone who is born from _spirit_.'
Another rendering is,
"The _Spirit_ _breathes_ where he desires/wills,
and you hear his _voice_,
but you do not know from where he comes and where he goes;
thus is everyone who is born from the _Spirit_."

Niqodemus was perplexed, probably in part because of the wordplay. See PY & GB. Cf. John 20:22, where Yeshua "breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Rukha d'Qudsha'" [Spirit of Holiness].
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#15
Syntax

Hebrew and Aramaic can have a much wordier syntax than Greek and English. To illustrate, notice the 6 'from's and 4 'and's in Joshua 11:21 (KJV):
"And at that time came Joshua,
and cut off the Anakims
from the mountains,
from Hebron,
from Debir,
from Anab,
and from all the mountains of Judah,
and from all the mountains of Israel?."

The NIV translators apparently thought that that was a bit too much for modern English, and chopped the 'from's from 6 down to 4 instances, and chopped the 'and's from 4 to 3 instances:
NIV:
"At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites
from the hill country:
from Hebron, Debir and Anab,
from all the hill country of Judah,
and from all the hill country of Israel."

This is from Mark 3:7-8, translated closely following the original Aramaic, with 7 'from's and 8 'and's here:
"And Yeshua with his talmida went to the sea,
and many people joined him
from Galeela
and from Yehuda
and from Urishlim
and from Edom
and from across the Yordanan
and from Tsur
and from Tsidon."

The translator of that passage into Greek left in at least 5 of the 7 'from's, and at least 7 of the 8 'and's:
KJV; see also MOUNCE:
"But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea:
and a great multitude
from Galilee followed him,
and from Judaea,
And from Jerusalem,
and from Idumaea,
and from beyond Jordan;
and they about Tyre
and Sidon?."

Seven and even 5 'from's is unwieldy in both Greek and English. The NIV translators of the Greek translation chose to chop things down to only 1 'from' and 3 'and's:
NIV:
"When they heard about all he [Jesus] was doing, many people came to him
from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea,
and the regions across the Jordan
and around Tyre
and Sidon."

In short, the Greek translator of Mark 3:7-8 left evidence in his translation that he was translating from a Semitic text. The NIV translators of the Greek translation omitted the evidence-- still largely present in the Greek translation-- that the original form of the passage was a Semitic text. I concede that such an excessive use of 'and's [Maloney, 66]"is quite possible in the Greek of a writer whose literary education was minimal." However, the book of Mark's extremely excessive use of 'and' makes it highly likely that there is Semitic influence responsible, whether from Hebrew and/or Aramaic.[Maloney, 66-67]

Moreover, Maloney's investigation of numerous aspects of the Greek translation of Mark "confirmed that there are several types of Semitism in the Gospel of Mark? and that syntactical Semitic interference permeates every page of the gospel."[Maloney, 245]

Maloney, Elliott C. 1981. _Semitic Interference in Marcan Syntax_ (USA: Scholars Press), 311pp. This is part of the Society of Biblical Literature's Dissertation Series, edited by Howard C. Kee, Number 51.
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