Anybody Ever Read A Lamsa Bible ?

[Scott Hutchinson]

Has anybody here ever used a Lamsa Bible ?
http://www.lamsabible.com/index.html

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Scott Hutchinson

Has anybody here ever used a Lamsa Bible ?
http://www.lamsabible.com/index.html

I used to have a hard copy of it. Must have loaned it out and never got it back. It is interesting.

[Dante]

Everybody seems to have a translation of the Bible these days.

[Sam]

I have a copy of the George Lamsa Bible. I have only read parts of it here and there. I've never read it all the way through.

His premise is that the New Testament books were all written in Aramaic and then translated into Greek later. I don't know who else besides him believes that way.

What I've read/heard over the years is that our New Testament was written in Greek. Possible exceptions are Matthew may have been written in Aramaic originally and some think the Gospel of John may have been written originally in Aramaic.

One of the pastors on staff at the Vineyard for a while was also a professor of Semitic languages at Hebrew Union College here in Cincinnati. He has since become a citizen of Israel and is now ministering and teaching there.

Two things I remember him saying were:
1. The King James Bible is the closest thing we have to the Hebrew Scriptures


2. The Aramaic Bible is a translation from the Greek manuscripts. So our Syriac Peshitta (another term for the Lamsa Bible) is a translation of a translation.

[Amanah]

Originally Posted by Sam

I have a copy of the George Lamsa Bible. I have only read parts of it here and there. I've never read it all the way through.

His premise is that the New Testament books were all written in Aramaic and then translated into Greek later. I don't know who else besides him believes that way.

What I've read/heard over the years is that our New Testament was written in Greek. Possible exceptions are Matthew may have been written in Aramaic originally and some think the Gospel of John may have been written originally in Aramaic.

One of the pastors on staff at the Vineyard for a while was also a professor of Semitic languages at Hebrew Union College here in Cincinnati. He has since become a citizen of Israel and is now ministering and teaching there.

Two things I remember him saying were:
1. The King James Bible is the closest thing we have to the Hebrew Scriptures


2. The Aramaic Bible is a translation from the Greek manuscripts. So our Syriac Peshitta (another term for the Lamsa Bible) is a translation of a translation.

Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic. But all legal documents were written in Greek. So what he taught in Aramaic had to be documented in Greek.

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Amanah

Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic. But all legal documents were written in Greek. So what he taught in Aramaic had to be documented in Greek.

Do you have a reference for this claim? Also would the writings of the disciples of Yeshua have been considered "official documents" by the Roman Empire?

[Amanah]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

Do you have a reference for this claim? Also would the writings of the disciples of Yeshua have been considered "official documents" by the Roman Empire?

When I get home I will get you the reference for the claim, if I forget, remind me

[Amanah]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

Do you have a reference for this claim? Also would the writings of the disciples of Yeshua have been considered "official documents" by the Roman Empire?

"The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon"
by Bart D. Ehrman, Ph.D.

Published by:
The Teaching Company, 2005

Bart D. Ehrman is the Professor of Religious Studies
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

According to Professor Ehrman:

"The New Testament contains 27 separate books, written by 14 or 15 early Christian authors for other Christian communities and individuals

The books are our earliest surviving Christian writings of any kind, written in the 1st century AD

All the books were originally written in Greek

Greek was the lingua franca of the early Roman Empire.
It was not the language of Jesus or his earliest followers (who all spoke Aramaic) but was the language of most of the Christians of the second generation, when these books started to appear."

[Michael The Disciple]

It is only speculation what the original texts were written in. Only copies of copies survive. Could have well been Aramaic. They only judge by the age of the texts that are discovered. I wonder just how accurate their dating methods are?

[AreYouReady?]

Interesting.

My husband and I have several translations, but usually stick with the KJV for reading and discussion.

We bought a 1560 Geneva Bible and I like the translation. It is a bit harder to read because in that day, there were no s letters and what looked like an f was used in place of the s. v and u were backwards. There was no "J" letter either. The "I" was used in it's place. The side notes and footnotes are also interesting to see what the preachers of old interpreted different passages of scripture.