Wow!



Thanks John317,


Thanks for your interest and your questions! Sometimes I feel as lonely with the rays of light I am being given as Elijah said he did before God made him understand differently…
Yes, I’ll do what I can to respond to your questions, but in the end what makes sense to you such that you are willing and able to accept what I share is what makes all the difference. In fact isn’t that what tomorrow’s memory verse is saying:

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thess. 5:21.

1. Re your question “Is there good manuscript evidence that Acts was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic, then translated (badly) into Greek?”

a.

Here is one example of linguistic evidence re Acts, but unfortunately I am not aware of the availability of an Aramaic or Hebrew transcription of an original manuscript of Acts as yet…:

Acts 26:13-14: About noon… as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun… and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” [NIV]

However, based on internal linguistic evidence the book of Acts was originally written in Hebrew. Unfortunately, as I said, we have not yet uncovered the Hebrew version of Acts… Nevertheless, the Greek word translated “Aramaic” in NIV is “εβραιδι.” [Pronounced: “Hebraidi”] The word meaning is obviously Hebrew as any 3 yr old should be able to tell us…

b.

Another better example re Matthew, which does have a transcription of the original Hebrew language:

Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Hebrew: “אלי אלי למה עזבתני”

Matthew 27:46 KJV: “Yeshua cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The words in red font are Aramaic, which appear in the Greek as “ηλι ηλι λαμα σαβαχθανι.”

English transl. of Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew 27:46: “Yeshua cried with a loud voice, saying in the holy language, Eli, Eli, lama ‘azavtani’?” The original Hebrew rendition: “בלשׁונ הקדש אלי אלי למה עזבתני” ׁ The words in blue font (“holy language,” “azavtani,” and “עזבתני”) all means “Hebrew.”

It becomes obvious that the English KJV is a translation from the Greek, that the Greek is a translation from the Aramaic, and that the Aramaic is a translation from the Hebrew, thusly:

4. KJV: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” - ”My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

3. Greek: “ηλι ηλι λαμα σαβαχθανι”

2. Aramaic: - - missing Aramaic MS - - Notice how the Greek text above is transliterating an Aramaic word from an Aramaic MS, whereas the original below is obviously Hebrew and not Aramaic! Notice also that the Greek MS requires an intermediary Aramaic translation since obviously it is not transliterating the Hebrew words shown in 1. below! As shown above the Hebrew words below are obviously the original language of an original text and the only way to make sense of the Greek words used for transliterating Aramaic words is that the Greek MS is based upon an intermediary Aramaic translation from the Hebrew original.

1. Hebrew: “אלי אלי למה עזבתני”

Ref.: 1. Hebrew Gospel of Matthew by George Howard, 2. The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus by Nehemia Gordon

2. Re your question “That would mean that the inspired Scriptures which the church has depended on for 2,000 years are unreliable and give false information. Are you OK with that?”

Before I could read I had to rely on the words from God as spoken to me through my father and mother. Yes, I was OK with that!

When I learned to read a modern translation of the Scriptures I did so. Yes, I am OK with that!

When I learned to use the computer and found access to the meaning of Greek and Hebrew words through e-Sword.com etc I got even closer to the original even though I don’t speak either of those languages. Yes, I am OK with that!

God is leading me step by little step closer to an understanding of his words to me. Yes, I am OK with that!

As Jesus said: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Yes, I am OK with that!

3. Re your question “As far as I have been able to determine, there are no Hebrew or Aramaic manuscripts of Acts predating the ancient Greek manuscripts.”

Yes, unfortunately that’s what I have found too thus far… Yet, the linguistic evidence for a Hebrew original in the extant Greek translations remains…

4. a. Re your question “I had not heard of the TLT. I assume it refers to the "Tree of Life Translation." Who is the publisher of the TLT?”

Your assumption is close, but the correct words are “Tree of Life Time version.” The focus is on time related passages mostly from the New Testament thus far. Unfortunately, most time references in the New Testament are not brought forwards in a meaningful way in any available translation that I’m aware of thus far. The Greek translations are in most instances the best we have and the Greek does have a host of time references. Unfortunately the Greek time references do lend themselves to grammatically correct mistranslations, and I do not believe that until now the calendrical source material has been made available in order to correctly bring the correct time related translations to the surface. You may find what little that is available of TLT published at http://adamoh.org/TreeOfLife.lan.io/home.htm.

b. Re your question “Is it based on good, well-recognized scholarship?”

The translators are doing their best, and Yes, I am OK with that!

5. Re your question “Could you please explain how you arrive at the words, "he paused" (Strongs #2523) and "upon the announcement"? ”

I’ll do my best while also trying to be brief:

1. First there is at the foundation an extensive multi-year study of the entire Scriptural chronology context in order to correctly correlate all the recognized time references available in the best available manuscripts of the bible, but other original and contemporary source material is used while being always as careful as possible in order to get as close as one can to the ultimate sources. The purpose is to be able to perceive the reality of the events as they happened as closely as possible. This is an ongoing pursuit and from time to time further revisions become necessary, but the hope is that with time and under God’s guidance we all do come closer to the truth. With God as our guide, no pursuit of the truth can be hopeless. That is our firm conviction.

2. As a part of #1 above the translators strive to get as close to the primary meaning of each word of the Scriptures, for instance by comparing the usual translations with the roots of the words. Traditional translations of words or passages are not given any priority. Prior translators of the Scriptures are highly respected and recognized for having done their very best, but none of them had a flawless or first hand understanding of the original events as they happened, and neither do we, any of us, whether as bible students or translators. The best we can do is the best we can do in order to get as close as possible to the source.

3. You may find examples of our methods of study at the following links: Link with a focus on the crucifixion week. Link with a focus on New Testament time related words.

4. Here is a link with what I believe are some relevant answers to your specific questions re the quoted TLT passage:

“And he [Paul] paused [his work] upon the announcement of the First Year [of Nero’s reign;] and six months [had he at that time been] teaching the word of God among them [the gentiles.]“ Acts 18:11 (TLT)

There is much more, but I trust this will suffice for starters?

5. Re Strong’s G2523: No doubt you can look up the full definition in Strong’s yourself and see that “pause” is much the same as e.g. “settle, hover, dwell” or even as translated in the KJV: “continue, set, sit (down), tarry.” The root, Strong’s G2516, means “sit down.” I believe “pause” is consistent with the central meaning of those words, but perhaps there is another better way of putting it? Here’s a link to a very little study I once did on G2523.

6. a. Re your question “What evidence is there for the words "upon the announcement of the" and "the first"? These words appear in no Greek manuscript, nor do they appear in any ancient translation of Acts as far as I can determine.”

Yes, I agree. And as you will find under my link at #5 above the words “upon the announcement of” are italicized. As in KJV that means that those words are inserted for clarity though they may not necessarily be directly expressed as such in the Greek manuscript. Sorry for not having been adept enough to get those italics into my post!

b. Re “the first:”

There is much more to this one than may at first appear! Please cf. this link while reviewing also the paragraphs above the point that the link brings you to for important context!

7. Re your question “Why would the announcement of the first year of Nero's reign cause Paul to "pause his work"? ”

Perhaps there are better words to choose than “pause,” and I agree with you that he didn’t likely pause working, only that while moving on to another place he “ceased working for a while,” or “paused,” at the place where he had been. No doubt you recognize the intricacies involved in choosing the best possible words for expressing a thing.

Thanks again for your interest! I hope my answers are such that there can be “a meeting of the minds,” and that you find at least something little in it that adds value to your life. I am aware that this is quite a paradigm shift for most and that most people stumble on something or other before they get enough interest to even begin to see much light in all of this. I have no doubt but that much work remains before everything is crystal clear, but if no one keeps working hard on it none of us will ever have a chance of getting out of our many confusions re where we are in time relative to most important anchor point in our past!

Happy Sabbath!