12-27-2010, 10:14 PM
Bradley Wrote:Shlama,
I have a question for one of the Aramaic scholars on this site, but first let me say "thank you" for this forum as this is my very first post! My question has to do with English translations of Gilyahna 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, and 5:6 wherein "seven spirits" appear instead of "seven-fold spirit." Everything I know is pointing to a 'sevenfold' translation, but I am not sure if the error occurred in redactions from Greek to English or from Aramaic to Greek to English. I know that the Septuagint used "hepta" for both seven and sevenfold, but I'm wondering if it would be the same in Aramaic. My question to Aramaic linguists would be: What is the difference between "seven" versus "sevenfold" in Peshitta? Are they two separate words, or the same word?
Much appreciation,
Bradley
Shlama Akhi Bradley:
There is no definitive proof that the Aramaic of Gilyana (Book of Revelation) has an Aramaic original. There are onlt remnants of Aramaic ideas and idioms which were translated from Aramaic into Greek. The two main manuscripts are the Harklean and some would say the Philoxinian is the second most widely used translation. The Harklean (616 A.D.)) is believed by some scholars to be a revision of the Philoxinian (508 A.D.)
It is because the Aramaic Peshitta does not contain II Peter, II John, III John, Jude and Revelation, that any original in Aramaic is believed to be irretrievably lost. So authoritatively there is no way to be difinitive about any special words or phrased. However many do have a Semitic bent.
The Crawford Codex (called Philoxinian) reads "shaba" which means 7. In translation this would be rendered seven spirits. Seven fold is an English phrase which means the same as seven, in my honest opinion. So both "seven" and "seven-fold are correct readings. Now, contextually, and in this case I don't see any internal contradiction, however another passage in the Aramaic Peshitta or the Old Testament Aurayta would have to follow its own contextual use. This means that if there is contextually a difference shown between seven and seven-fold the correct reading follows the local context. Again, this brings to mind semitic hermeneutics and the various rules by which the Word of God is read correctly.
Shlama,
Stephen Silver
Dukhrana Biblical Research
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