Mark 15:34

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Thu Apr 20 18:43:58 EDT 2000


Dear Roseann,
     It has been some time since I studied Jesus' Aramaic quotation of Ps
22:1, but I remember finding Mr. Lamsa's translation a tendentious one. The
Aramaic $-B-Q (yielding SABACQANI in Mk 15:34) means in BDB "leave, let
alone." Now, "leave, let alone" might allow a translation "spare," but it
need not. I cannot remember the details right now, but I thought that Mr.
Lamsa was wrong.
     Delitzsch says that SABACQANI is equivalent to $:BAQ:T.ANIY in Aramaic
(the second person singular perfect verb with a first singular suffix).
This looks just like Lamsa's shabakthani. And Delitzsch states that the
Aramaic is equivalent to the Hebrew at Ps 22:1 (which is equivalent to "you
have forsaken me").
     Delitzsch adds that Jesus spoke in Aramaic "not in order that all may
understand it,-- for such a consideration was far from his mind at such a
time,-- but because the Aramaic was His mother tongue, for the same reason
that He called God )AB.F) ('Abba') in prayer."

					Yours,
					Harold Holmyard

>Hello Bill,
Curious question.  I have the Bible translated from the Peshitta by George
M. Lamsa (Aramaic) and that verse, Mark 15:34,  reads: "And at the ninth
hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying Eli, Eli, lemana,
shabakthani!   which means, My God, my God, for this I was spared!"
Footnote at "which means" - used by Mark to explain translation from one
Aramaic dialect to another.  I've wondered why the difference between "for
this I was spared" and "why have you forsaken me?"
God bless,
Roseann Ekman
Thomas St. Church of Christ
Altus, OK








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