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The "O" argument
#8
Shalom Christina,
With all due respect, I've been riding this train longer than you have. I can read Revelation, and the grammar is undeniably Semitic. The "Hebrew is Aramaic" argument fails to hold water to me, since both the Septuagint and Eusebius use an entirely different word to refer to Aramaic. We also have first century documents (such as the Bar Kochba letters) that were actually written in Hebrew.
None of this necessarily precludes a Greek original, though. I'm not saying I believe in a Greek original. I'm saying that the evidence for every side of this argument is inconclusive. It's like scholars arguing about the original language of Enoch 100 years ago. We simply didn't have enough data to know. Now we do have enough data to know. Maybe one day (B"H) we'll have enough information to make a definitive statement about the original language of the NT. For now, I don't think we have that.
Judean Aramaic? Syriac Aramaic? Hebrew? Greek? I don't know. I find Greek to be highly incredible in many cases, but I'm not scholar enough to entirely preclude the possibility.

I have no doubt that John's vision was originally given in a Semitic language. But that is as far as I can go. It is probably as far as anyone can actually go with any degree of certainty. There are constructions in it which are not in keeping with Syriac Aramaic, but only with Hebrew or, at most, Judean Aramaic.
The door is still wide open to Hebrew, since we do have clear evidence that it was spoken at least sometimes, and in some contexts in the first century, and since we know that Greek has another word for Aramaic, as do Hebrew and Aramaic.
We also have the evidence of Peter's accent. This was only applicable in the context of Hebrew, where Galilean accents became an issue because of Synagogue usage. Galileans were forbidden from reading the Torah in Judean synagogues because of their accent when speaking Hebrew. The Judeans were afraid they would mispronounce the Torah and render a different meaning to it.

There are so many more possibilities.
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Messages In This Thread
The "O" argument - by Dawid - 08-25-2009, 01:58 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by enarxe - 08-26-2009, 06:59 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 08-27-2009, 12:44 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by Nimrod Warda - 08-27-2009, 03:42 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by enarxe - 08-27-2009, 07:27 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 08-28-2009, 12:49 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by Christina - 08-29-2009, 02:26 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 08-29-2009, 03:19 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by gbausc - 09-11-2009, 12:24 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-11-2009, 09:41 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by gbausc - 09-12-2009, 04:09 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-13-2009, 02:26 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-13-2009, 02:28 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by gbausc - 09-13-2009, 08:55 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-14-2009, 05:53 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by gbausc - 09-14-2009, 07:44 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-14-2009, 11:10 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Thirdwoe - 09-15-2009, 12:48 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-17-2009, 02:42 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-17-2009, 02:51 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Thirdwoe - 09-17-2009, 06:32 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by judge - 09-19-2009, 07:09 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by judge - 09-19-2009, 07:12 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by judge - 09-19-2009, 07:26 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-20-2009, 01:41 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-20-2009, 01:42 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-20-2009, 01:48 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by judge - 09-21-2009, 04:49 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by judge - 09-21-2009, 05:02 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by Christina - 09-21-2009, 08:54 AM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-21-2009, 10:24 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-21-2009, 10:31 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by Dawid - 09-21-2009, 10:36 PM
Re: The "O" argument - by judge - 09-22-2009, 09:32 AM

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