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Acts 20:28 "episkope"
#1
Can anyone explain why there is what appears to be a Greek word (episkope) in the Peshitta in Acts 20:28? Thanks
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#2
Hi Jeremy,

The same reason why there are Aramaic words in the Greek NT (i.e., Sikera, Luke 1:15 among many others), Persian words in the Hebrew OT (i.e., Tirshatha, Ezra 2:63, Neh. 8:9 among many others), Egyptian words in the Hebrew OT (i.e., hartummim, Genesis 41:8 among many others).....and, for that matter, Spanish words in English (and vice-versa.)

They are called loan-words, and all languages have them. Every language borrows from every other language it comes into contact with.

If you study the Aramaic text of the Elephantine Papyri (5th-c. B.C. -Egypt), you will notice many Greek loan-words.

See http://www.peshitta.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=97 for more Aramaic loan-words in the Greek versions of the NT.
+Shamasha Paul bar-Shimun de'Beth-Younan
[Image: sig.jpg]
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#3
This is great. Only start reading chapter 20 from the beginning (in Aramaic), and you will find that it starts with the Aramaic equivalent for this Greek term for "bishop" (or should we say "overseer" following the etymology of the word?), and as it refers to the elders from Ephesus, an old Greek colony, then in Roman empire, surely they knew some Greek, and Luqa as well. I think what can be seen is an example of one nice Aramaic-Greek dictionary entry from the first century. If my search is right this is also the only place where this Greek term is used in the Peshitta, and here we have it clearly used interchangeably with the term Qashisha.

Question - can one conclude that at that time there was no "presbyter" and "episkopos" distinction, I mean if we look at the Aramaic side of NT? In other places in NT both Greek terms appear, where in Aramaic there is just one, I believe, Qashisha (see 1P5:1, 1Tm3:1, ..). Greek hierarchical functional distinctions are later inventions.

See also <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.peshitta.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2516&p=15090">viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2516&p=15090</a><!-- l -->
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