Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <Peter_Kirk AT sil.org>]

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Peter Kirk

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Trevor Peterson [mailto:06PETERSON AT cua.edu]
> Sent: 15 November 2001 13:39
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Subject: RE: The Gospels being in Hebrew originally
>
>
> There is, if I recall correctly, a tradition that Matthew wrote
> his gospel in
> Hebrew originally (or something like that--I don't think it's all
> that clear),
> and there is a medieval Hebrew manuscript of Matthew (which some have
> contended preserves an older tradition), and some Aramaic manuscripts, I
> believe. Otherwise, a recent translation that has tried to present the
> "Semitic NT" has had to resort to the Syriac version for
> basically every other
> book in the NT (which they consider to be an independent
> tradition, not based
> in any direct way on the GNT).
>
> I haven't looked into the issue all that seriously, but one
> question that's
> been in my mind for quite some time is how well we can distinguish
> translational material from original writing. ISTM that we ought
> to be able to
> compare the GNT material with the GOT and observe common trends
> that show both
> to be translational or disparate trends that show the GNT to be
> an original
> composition. On the other hand, we should expect there to be
> Semitic influence
> on the style of the GNT, even if it is only that many of the writers were
> native Semitic speakers trying to write in Greek. Maybe the
> influences are
> such that they cannot be distinguished from the marks of outright
> translation.
>
> Trevor Peterson
> CUA/Semitics
>