Acts 2:24

[Paul Younan]

Shlama Akhay,

In the Greek version of Acts 2:24, we read with astonishment:

"Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it."

In Aramaic, this verse reads:

"Whom God raised up, having loosed the [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]hylbx [/font]of Sheol, because it was not possible that He should be held by it."

Now, everyone knows that Sheol is normally translated into Greek as "death" or "grave" - so we should expect that that occurred in this verse.

What is so unexpected is how the Greek translators of Acts totally missed the proper translation of [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]hylbx [/font]

[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]hylbx [/font]comes from a root that can mean "pain/travail/corruption" (#6167) - and in fact it's used with that meaning in verses like Acts 2:27 (just 3 verses from the one in question) or Acts 13:34-37. This is the majority reading - "pain/travail/corruption."

However, there is a minority meaning to hylbx, or more accurately, the lexeme of this word which is [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]fbx [/font](#6165)

That meaning is "rope" or "cable" - as used in Yukhanan 2:15 and Acts 27:32 (with the exact same lexeme & word spelling) - THAT'S THE MEANING THAT BELONGS IN ACTS 2:24 !

Here are the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon entries:

xblyn N xbly)
1 JLA,Syr pl. labor pains
LS2 210
LS2 V: xeb:le)

xbl N xbl)
1 JLATg destroyer

xbl#2 N xbl)
1 Palestinian,CPA,Syr rope
2 Syr snare
3 Syr measuring line
4 Syr space
5 Syr line
6 JLAGal,Syr region
7 Syr %xbel@yamA)% seashore
8 Syr flame
LS2 210
LS2 V: xablA)

The verse should obviously read:

"Whom God raised up, having loosed the chords of Sheol, because it was not possible that He should be held by it."

How much more sense does THAT make? Here, Shimon Keepa is saying that Sheol could not hold him - because God raised him up - having loosed the figurative ropes that held Him there.

Not surprisingly, this very same word ALSO exists in Hebrew (lbx Strongs #2256) and also has the same broad meaning as the Aramaic cognate! ("pain/travail" and "rope/cord") !!!

See the following in the Hebrew OT:

• Joshua 2:15
  
  2 Samuel 17:13
  
  2 Samuel 22:6 - Where the verse reads - "The CORDS of SHEOL surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
  
  Psalms 18:% - "The cords (Khebel) of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me."
  
  Psalms 1163 - "The cords (Khebel) of death encompassed me, And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow."
  

It's impossible to imagine Shimon Keepa not knowing that the original said "cords" and not "pains." Especially when we read the context of Acts 2:24 - it becomes clear that Shimon's statement was conveying the image of "loosing" a "prisoner" being held in a dungeon-type place - which was always how Sheol was portrayed in all Semitic literature!

Only the Peshitta has the correct reading. And the mistake could only have been made by going from Aramaic to Greek.