Mr. Manalo's Favorite Lamsa Bible translation

Mr. Felix Manalo’s Favorite Lamsa Bible translation

The george Lamsa translation of the Aramaic. Lamsa believed the original texts were written in Aramaic and were latter changed to Greek. That the Aramaic were more authoritative, but he is wrong. This is upheld despite all the manuscript evidence that contradicts his theories. Although the language principally spoken by Jesus was Aramaic almost all Jews were bi or tri lingual. This is even upheld by the fact that the Hebrew scriptures were translated into the Greek language ( Septuagint) 200 years before Christ.The Aramaic text (the Pershitta) is a later 4th century Syriac translation, a Semitic language used in Syria. All the earliest manuscripts are of the Greek and the majority of manuscript scholars agree. Lamsa intentionally ignores this stating that Greek was never the language of Palestine saying" Josephus states that even though a number of Jews had tried to learn the language of the Greeks, hardly any of them were succeeded."(Lamsa p.9) This is not what Josephus said in his antiquities of the Jews. "What Josephus wrote was that he had failed to attain precision in the pronunciation of Greek. "Lamsa also claims" Indeed the teaching of Greek was forbidden by Jewish rabbis. It was said that it was better for a man to give his child meat of swine than to teach him the language of the Greeks."(Lamsa p.10) (Cited in Greek , Hebrew Aramaic, or Syriac? A critique of the claims of G.M Lamsa by Edwin M.Yamauchi)
Then how does he explain the Septuagint? All this is contradicted by the facts of Greek manuscript evidence found in the quamrun caves and quotes from the Septuagint in the New testament which are more in number than quotes from the Masoretic text (the Hebrew)
Rabbi Hillel’s school is where Paul learned under rabbi Gamaliel who was the grandson of rabbi Hillel It is a fact the Paul who was versed in the Greek language and philosophy as well as Judaism learning this from his schooling. He certainly did not speak to those on mars hill in the Hebrew language which was reserved for and exclusive to the Jews. Neither did he converse to the roman rulers in Aramaic. Proof that the Jews were bilingual, In AD 132-135 we find those who were nationals rebelling in Bar Kochba’s side wrote in Greek as well as Hebrew and Aramaic.
The N T. is written in koine Greek (Common Greek), there were 4 languages used in the NT. times Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin, of which Greek was the dominant language. We find the inscription over Christ as being the King of the Jews was written in Greek, Hebrew, Latin. The Greek language was spread by Alexander the Great after he defeated the Persian empire 323 B.C. He saw it as his divine mission to spread the Greek culture throughout the world ( even though he was Macedonian and not Greek) His Hellenistic empire spread to Asia minor, Persia, India, Syria, Egypt, and Israel. He established 70 Greek cities of which half were in Israel. By 300 AD. all the worlds languages were Greek.
Jn. 12:20,23 Seems to strongly imply that Philip, Andrew and Jesus understood and spoke Greek as Greeks came up to worship. When the Gospel writers quoted from the O.T. it was mostly from the Greek Septuagint. EX: Isa.61:1 The Jews used Hebrew word patterns in the Greek. Acts and Hebrews used a blend of classical and koine Greek. There are Aramaic and Hebrew words in the Greek, words that were transposed.
There is no New Testament letter written in Hebrew originally, all are in (koine) the common Greek language.
In Mk.7:24 when Jesus spoke to the syrophoenician woman The Greek word for dogs had no correlation in Hebrew or Aramaic.
In Jn. 21 Jesus uses two Greek words for love and tending the flock that cannot be reproduced in the Hebrew nor Aramaic language. So it was likely a conversation carried on in the Greek. When Jesus spoke to Pilate I Don't think it was in Hebrew since he was a pagan unwilling to learn the language of the Jews.

Who is Goerge Lamsa?

Who is George Lamsa?

a man who was into psychic phenomenon, he denied the Trinity which is clearly expressed in his translation. This is why it is the most popular translation among the cults. He believed sin was error and he was a universalist. He also believed the Holy Spirit was a influence or power. Like the Saducees he denies a belief in personal angels or demons. He also had a view of Christ as 2 persons in one body (Nestorian heresy which some trace to his upbringing) not 2 natures in Christ the one person. Lamsa claimed to be the sole competent interpreter of the scriptures. "Moreover, the author was educated under the care of learned priests of the church of the east who knew no other language but Aramaic,..The author, through Gods grace, is the only one with the knowledge of Aramaic, the bible customs and idioms, and the knowledge of the English language who has ever translated the Holy bible from the original Aramaic texts into English and written commentaries on it, and his translation is now in pleasingly wide use."(G. Lamsa More light on the Gospel (Ny 1968)
Lamsa was anti supernatural and found natural explanations for his understanding Scripture. For example the floating axe head with Elisha Lamsa thought the axehead came to the top of the water because Elisha put the stick in its hole. He translates this verse, And he cut off a stick and thrust it in there; and it stuck in the hole of the axehead (George Lamsa, translator, The Holy Bible Translated from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts, 1961, p. 417).
The miracle was then one of divine guidance of Elisha putting the stick into the water and finding the axehead.
In his bible translations he had a allegorical interpretation ignoring the plain literal translation.Here are just a few examples
Bible= Gen.1:3 "Let there be light" Lamsa bible ="Let there be enlightenmen
Bible= Ex.3:5 Take off your shoes for you are on Holy ground. vs Lamsa bible=Disregard pagan teachings, cleanse your heart
NT Bible=Jn.10:36 I and my father are one Lamsa bible = the father and I agree.