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To: CynicalBear; editor-surveyor; RansomOttawa; boatbums; metmom; Iscool; redleghunter; roamer_1
Western New Testaments are derived from Greek translations that were translated from Hebrew and Aramaic texts.

If you read Hebrew you already understand a large portion of Aramaic, many verses in the Tanakh were originally written in Aramaic as well.

The AENT has the oldest Aramaic text available today. You will discover how the meaning of an entire verse can easily be altered by a translation, for example; the Greek "Kurios" is often rendered as "Lord", however there is both "LORD" (the Father) and "Lord" (the Son), which the translator must choose. However the Father (YHWH) and Son are clearly distinguished in Aramaic, there is no confusion about the speaker or Who is being addressed.

Mashiyach (Messiah) was and is revealed in ancient Hebrew and Aramaic terms that are nonexistent in Greek, therefore, Greek translators were forced to coin Greek terms or try to make existing ones fit. In many cases original meaning was lost. Aramaic has direct Hebrew cognates that flow between the Hebrew Tanakh (Old Testament) into the New Testament that provide a much more precise understanding. Within the AENT these rare and important Aramaic terms are explained in detailed footnotes and appendixes for the reader.

In many cases the Aramaic English New Testament corrects and harmonizes verses that otherwise seem contradictory in other Bibles. There are plenty of examples in the various New Testament translations that reveal Greek cultural and modern religious bias which eventually became part of the "Gospel". The AENT, however, employed a diverse group of scholars and Bible students from Christian and Jewish backgrounds who scrutinized the text, with the objective to keep this translation as devoid as possible of any theological bias.

http://hebrewnewtestament.com/

544 posted on 03/06/2014 11:12:21 AM PST by Errant (Surround yourself with intelligent and industrious people who help and support each other.)
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To: CynicalBear; editor-surveyor; RansomOttawa; boatbums; metmom; Iscool; redleghunter; roamer_1
HEBREW NEW TESTAMENT

While it can easily shown that Hebrew was a spoken language in Israel during the time of Y'shua, there are no Hebrew New Testament manuscripts available today that indicate an original Hebrew autograph. All Hebrew New Testament Bibles have either been translated from Greek or Aramaic texts. The oldest Hebrew manuscripts, translated into Hebrew from Greek, are dated to the 15th Century.1

Alister McGrath, former Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford, asserts that the 1st century Jewish followers of Y'shua were faithful religious Jews therefore also fluent in Hebrew. They only differed from contemporaries in Judaism because of their acceptance of Y'shua as Messiah. As Christianity grew throughout the Gentile world, Christians were completely severed from their Jewish roots.

The original Netzari (Nazarene) Jewish based faith fell into rapid decline due to the Jewish-Roman wars (66-135) and the growing anti-Judaism that is best personified by Marcion in the 2nd century. And with help from the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century the Netzarim (original followers of Y'shua) faded quietly into an underground movement in the fifth century. Gentile based Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, however, while the Gospel was travelling West in Greek it was also advancing East in Aramaic.

Although Hebrew is known as the kadosh lashon (holy tongue), the language of most of the Tanakh (Old Testament), Aramaic is also used in the Tanakh and was employed for Jewish commentaries and, the Talmud (Oral law) and, numerous Jewish writings, simply because Aramaic was used widely within the Jewish world.

Modern Hebrew script is based on the "square" letter form, known as Ashurit (Assyrian), developed from Aramaic script. There is little doubt that at a certain point in history, Hebrew was displaced as the everyday spoken language of most Jews, and that its chief successor in the Middle East was the closely related Aramaic.

Scholars are divided on the exact dating of that transition, a majority of scholars follow Geiger and Dalman, that Aramaic became a spoken language in the land of Israel as early as by the start of Israel's Hellenistic Period in the 4th century BCE. And, from that period Hebrew began to function less as a spoken language and more as the holy tongue. Segal, Klausner, and Ben Yehuda are notable exceptions to this viewpoint. During the latter half of the 20th century, accumulating archaeological evidence and linguistic analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls that view has been challenged. The Dead Sea Scrolls, uncovered in 1946-1948 near Qumran, revealed a proliferation of ancient Jewish texts in Hebrew, and far less texts in Aramaic. The Qumran scrolls may indicate that Hebrew texts were readily understandable to the average Israeli and that the language had evolved since Biblical times as spoken languages do.

Recent scholarship suggests that archeology which indicates Jews were speaking Aramaic is simply evidence of their multi-lingual society, not necessarily that Aramaic was the primary language spoken in Israel. Clearly Hebrew and Aramaic co-existed within Israel as spoken languages, however most scholars now date the demise of Hebrew as a spoken language to the end of the Roman Period, or about 200 CE. They suggest that it continued as a literary language down through Byzantine Period from the 4th century CE. Some Hebrew linguists postulate the survival of Hebrew as a spoken language until the Byzantine Period.

Although the exact roles of Aramaic and Hebrew remain hotly debated, there is also plenty evidence of a trilingual scenario within the land of Israel. Hebrew functioned as the local mother tongue with powerful ties to Israel's history, origins, and golden age and as the language of Israel's religion. Aramaic functioned as the international language with the rest of the Mideast predominately spoken in Northern Israel; and eventually Greek functioned as another international language with the eastern areas of the Roman Empire. Communities of Jews (and non-Jews) immigrated to Judea from other lands and continued to speak both Aramaic and Greek.

Judeo-Aramaic is believed to be used in the Galilee (northern Israel), Greek is believed to have been concentrated within the former colonies and governmental centers, and Hebrew monolingualism continued in the southern villages of Judea.

Clearly the Greek New Testament contains Aramaic place names and quotations, and although the language of such Semitic glosses (and in general the language spoken by Jews in scenes from the New Testament) is usually referred to as "Hebrew"/"Jewish" in the text, this term often applies to Aramaic instead.

Thankfully, since Aramaic and Hebrew are such closely related languages, Hebrew readers are able to read the Aramaic in the Aramaic English New Testament and recognize it according to the strength of their Hebrew vocabulary.

http://hebrewnewtestament.com/hebrew.htm

545 posted on 03/06/2014 11:17:03 AM PST by Errant (Surround yourself with intelligent and industrious people who help and support each other.)
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To: Errant

Something tells me that version will not go over very well here. The large print version is 20 bucks off. Too bad the credit card companies deemed me an unworthy heretic.


553 posted on 03/06/2014 11:43:06 AM PST by winodog
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To: Errant; CynicalBear; boatbums; metmom; Iscool
In many cases the Aramaic English New Testament corrects and harmonizes verses that otherwise seem contradictory in other Bibles.

No doubt another attempt at "gloss work." What I mean in that term is there are quite a few NT versions out there that replace the "English" names derived from the Greek to Hebrew/Jewish names and places. Dr. Stern did such with the Complete Jewish Bible.

The shocking truth of the matter are the manuscripts used for these "Hebrew/Jewish" approaches...They use Greek manuscripts, or the Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB-http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/Orthodox-Jewish-Bible-OJB/) or just change the names from the English! So the claim of use of "the oldest Aramaic text available today" really tells us whatever that is, it is later, not earlier than the Greek manuscripts.

For some reason the link you provided to the Hebrew NT won't come up at my current location. Perhaps paste here the manuscript references used to translate this version.

555 posted on 03/06/2014 11:43:49 AM PST by redleghunter
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To: Errant; CynicalBear; editor-surveyor; RansomOttawa; boatbums; metmom; Iscool; redleghunter; ...
Has it ever occurred to you that the writers of the New Testament wrote in Greek to ensure a wide dissemination of the teachings of Christ and His Apostles and that they did the translating from the spoken Aramaic of Christ Jesus into Greek? Though Jesus taught the people in the language they spoke, when it came time to enscripturate those teachings, they wrote them in Greek as led by the Holy Spirit. This explains why there may be Hebrew/Aramaic idioms or puns that may or may not have been translated exactly into Greek. For example, when Jesus was in the Temple reading from Isaiah, he read it in Hebrew, obviously since that is what the scrolls were written in. But, when it came time to write this down, they wrote in Greek.

There is NO reason to presume a Hebrew/Aramaic autograph since no such fragments have turned up to prove it. Those who insist we have somehow lost the truth of God's word are really trying to cast doubt ON God's word and they should be dismissed based solely on that. Though heaven and earth will pass away, the word of God will NEVER pass away.

606 posted on 03/06/2014 2:18:40 PM PST by boatbums (Simul justis et peccator.)
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