The CAMELS are Marching !

~ or ~
The Evidence is Mounting !

Photo by Wysinfo.com

A Look at the CAMEL Variants

as found in the ancient

New Covenant texts...

Nestle-Aland's Greek New Testament, while certainly not my favorite for accuracy, has made a valuable contribution in the researching and listing of manuscripts of the New Covenant.

Considering that there are THOUSANDS of manuscripts and fragments of the Greek New Covenant, Nestle-Aland's work stands as a classic, in this regard especially, in spite of their eclectic text. [ 1979 edition, 12th printing, 1991]

This Nestle-Aland volume is helpful in tracking down the CAMEL vs ROPE discrepancy found in the "Golden, Best, and Historic" ( GBH ) version of an Aramaic English translation published by the Netzarim publishing house.

This discrepancy is only found in the Aramaic TRANSLATIONS, not in the actual Aramaic texts themselves.

The texts online at Dukhrana's collection have oftentimes NO vowel pointings for the Aramaic word for "camel," GaMLa, as in Mr. Steven Silver's Khabouris T manuscript and Mr. Paul Younan's manuscript.  

The Aramaic texts which DO retain vowel pointings, as in the "G, B, and H" Netzarim volume, have the normal vowel pointings which marks GaMLa as "camel."

The vowel pointings ARE marked as GaMLa, (which is correctly translated as "CAMEL")  in the Dukhrana Aramaic texts of :

• Khabouris C
• Peshitta New Testament, New York, 1886 Mingana Manuscript
• Syriac Manuscript 148-38a

... And this is TRUE for all 3 mis-translated verses in question: Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25.

Yes, all three verses of YESHUA+ HA MASHIYACH+ 'S  very words are mis-translated as "rope," according to the existing VOWEL POINTS of GaMLA found in the Eastern texts listed above. 

They were changed into ROPE in the English translations of Mr. Younan and Mr. Lamsa... and the "Golden, Best, and Historic" Bible translation published by the Netzarim Publishing House... with apparently no vowel pointings able to be found to substantiate the change !  

Recall that the Netzarim "Golden, Best, and Historic" version says that GaMLa is actually a "GaMaLah"... a rope... due to the vowel pointings, ( page 56   of the Mis-Pag. Edition, footnote 182, for Matthew 19:24).

Unfortunately, these particular vowel pointings, claimed to make a ROPE out of a CAMEL,  are nowhere to be found!

They are not even in the Aramaic text itself that is SUPPOSED to be translated in that volume ! 

Significantly and in opposition to the erroneous translation of the Netzarim Bible, in the two other parallel verses in Mark 10:25 and Luke 18:25, the vowel pointings are the same as in the text of Matthew 19:24... the vowel pointings which make the word CAMEL not ROPE.

The vowel pointings making CAMEL into ROPE are also not found in the Aramaic Lexicons, Klein's Semitic Etymology, or the other Aramaic texts themselves which are available online for all to see, through Dukhrana.

?   ?   ?

Where, then , is the linguistic authority to verify even this claim that GaMaLah means ROPE ? 

Where also is the written grammar or lexicon reference which verifies that an extra vowel point is added ... and indeed, that word is USED in Aramaic literature... to make another, bona fide Aramaic word out of GaMLa ?   

Why Go to the Greek Manuscripts

to check an Aramaic discrepancy ?

RIGHT!

By far the  most logical place to check the Aramaic CAMEL vs. ROPE word would be to look   in the Aramaic resources: Aramaic lexicons, Semitic etymology volumes, and such Aramaic online resources as Dukhrana and the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon ( CAL )   for that word GaMLa, camel, and the rope word, GaMaLah.

In ALL the Aramaic resources listed above (and in earlier posts), however, "GaMLa" and its compounds and prefixed forms retain the definition of CAMEL... never ROPE.  

And GaMaLah is just not found !

Because Aramaic is actually a conglomeration of several Semitic dialects, the goodly Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon found online at Dukhrana allows readers to check EACH WORD in a verse. It displays the Aramaic dialect of each word used and its slightly different shades of meaning.

A most excellent, scholarly tool ! 

It has been developed by HEBREW, not GREEK, scholars at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio.  

For instance, let us look momentarily at the Aramaic word for ROPE found in the New Covenant.  ROPE  is actually "CHaBL"... much like the English word "cable." 

The interesting thing is that "CHaBL" ( for rope) is found in ALL THESE ARAMAIC DIALECTS: 

• Jewish Literary Aramaic, Targumic
• Galilean
• Palestinian Targumic Aramaic
• Christian Palestinian Aramaic
• Samaritan
• Syriac
• Late Jewish Literary Aramaic

Now note this: CAL also listed other definitions in these various dialects for "CHaBL" which were somewhat related to ROPE or CORD:

• Syriac ... a measuring line or line
• Syriac and Late Jewish Literary Aramaic ... snare
• Galilean and Syriac ... region
• Syriac ... seashore or space
• Syriac and Late Jewish Literary Aramaic ... a flame, a twisted thing.  

However, no "CAMEL" was to be found hiding within the Aramaic word for  "ROPE" ... and vice versa !

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The Greek Documentation 

Because: the Aramaic resources of lexicons, Dukhrana, CAL, and their quoted references:

• NEVER list GaMLa and its forms as ROPE
• ALWAYS list GaMLa  as CAMEL 
• ALWAYS list CHaBL as ROPE
• NEVER list ROPE    for GaMLa
• and NEVER include the "GaMaLah" form to mean ROPE

... as found in the New Covenant Peshitta and other old writings...

then: the only other resource available to locate this anomoly, this odd Aramaic  discrepancy .... is the Greek ! 

  

 ( More to come on this exciting find. )