09-11-2004, 11:36 AM
I want to make a correction of my last post. The Greek variant is "upomenei",
not "dechomai". The meaning is the same-"to wait".
Also, Sinaiticus, the second oldest Greek uncial (4th century), has the same reading as Codex A :"upomenei", in the original writing. It was later changed by a corrector. With the Coptic mss, these make up a considerable number of 3rd to 5th century mss. testifying to the alternate reading , which supports a Peshitta source for the two Greek readings in this place and not the converse scenario. We have no reasonable explanation for this variant in Greek mss. nor for the lack of variants in hundreds of Peshitta mss. in this and other places for mss. which are supposed to be mere translations of Greek, and therefore subject to different styles and techniques of different translators and
attempts at translation.
How could such a subjective process as translation with all its possibilities and approaches produce such a monolith as The Peshitta, seeming unified
and consistent in its testimony among it hundreds of mss. ?
How could the original NT text, which would be guarded and almost worshipped by believers of the early church , produce so much error and disagreement, omissions, additions and corruptions in so short a time as 3 centuries as we find in the Greek mss., when we would expect the original scrolls to still exist and many first hand copies. What idiots those Christians would have been not to have made and their copies accurate and to let the originals perish at the same time.
We have seen the zeal of the Jews in preserving their precious Hebrew mss. at Masada . The Jews were slaughtered; the mss. were hidden under the floors of the fortress and preserved. And of course we have found The Dead Sea scrolls which predate Masada. Would first century Jewish converts to Christianity be any less zealous of their NT scrolls ? I think not .
Indeed, the evidence we find in The Peshitta suggests they were even more devoted to the words delivered to them by God than the guardians of Hebrew scripture. The variation among Peshitta mss. looks to be less than even that of Massoretic mss. of the Torah ; if my memory serves me well, I recall approx. 160 letters more in the BHS edition of the Torah than
in The Koren edition's 304, 805 letters.
The two Peshitta versions of the NT differ in their common books (discounting the pericope de adultera).by 99 letters out of 424,239 letters !
Dave B
not "dechomai". The meaning is the same-"to wait".
Also, Sinaiticus, the second oldest Greek uncial (4th century), has the same reading as Codex A :"upomenei", in the original writing. It was later changed by a corrector. With the Coptic mss, these make up a considerable number of 3rd to 5th century mss. testifying to the alternate reading , which supports a Peshitta source for the two Greek readings in this place and not the converse scenario. We have no reasonable explanation for this variant in Greek mss. nor for the lack of variants in hundreds of Peshitta mss. in this and other places for mss. which are supposed to be mere translations of Greek, and therefore subject to different styles and techniques of different translators and
attempts at translation.
How could such a subjective process as translation with all its possibilities and approaches produce such a monolith as The Peshitta, seeming unified
and consistent in its testimony among it hundreds of mss. ?
How could the original NT text, which would be guarded and almost worshipped by believers of the early church , produce so much error and disagreement, omissions, additions and corruptions in so short a time as 3 centuries as we find in the Greek mss., when we would expect the original scrolls to still exist and many first hand copies. What idiots those Christians would have been not to have made and their copies accurate and to let the originals perish at the same time.
We have seen the zeal of the Jews in preserving their precious Hebrew mss. at Masada . The Jews were slaughtered; the mss. were hidden under the floors of the fortress and preserved. And of course we have found The Dead Sea scrolls which predate Masada. Would first century Jewish converts to Christianity be any less zealous of their NT scrolls ? I think not .
Indeed, the evidence we find in The Peshitta suggests they were even more devoted to the words delivered to them by God than the guardians of Hebrew scripture. The variation among Peshitta mss. looks to be less than even that of Massoretic mss. of the Torah ; if my memory serves me well, I recall approx. 160 letters more in the BHS edition of the Torah than
in The Koren edition's 304, 805 letters.
The two Peshitta versions of the NT differ in their common books (discounting the pericope de adultera).by 99 letters out of 424,239 letters !
Dave B