Peace or cultivated land? – James 3:18

[lawrenceraymond]

Shalom everyone! Thanks to the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (courtesy of Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Institute of Religion), we have an excellent alternate reading (or perhaps an extremely clever wordplay) in James 3:18.....

The KJV says: “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
Both instances of “peace” in this verse are translations of “eyrene” which appears in the Greek texts.
The Aramaic Peshitta Text agrees with the Greek in the second usage of “peace”, with “shlama”. But for the first reading, the Aramaic Peshitta Text has “shayna”.
The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon shows us the meanings of shayna:
$yn#2 N $yn)
1 Syr [glow=red,2,300]cultivated land[/glow]
2 Syr favorable conditions
3 Syr peace
4 Syr %d$aynA)% tame
5 Syr love of peace
LS2 773
LS2 v: $aynA)
abs. voc: $iyn
So now we have: “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in the [glow=red,2,300]cultivated land[/glow] of them that make
peace.” The “cultivated land” reading flows perfectly with the “sown”
theme.
It was so easy for Zorba (nickname for Greek translator) to make this mistake, as not only can the Aramaic words share the common
meaning of “peace”, they look and sound very similar.
Note: Even if this could be refuted as a split word example by “proving” the “cultivated land” reading to be errant, it would then become a “multiple inheritance” example, where the Aramaic diversity (two
different words for “peace”) are distilled to one word in the Greek. Also, we have here a word-play with the two similar sounding words “shayna” and “shlama”, which is lost in the Greek translation.

Peace and Blessings, Brother Larry

[R' Y'hoshua Moshe]

B"H

Shalom Larry,

This is a possibility, although I am always cautious when trying to lean completely on the Aramaic Peshitta for my answers, as the Peshitta translations have been found to often be translations from the Greek into Aramaic...I just don't think they are reliable as other texts...And although the Greek Orthodox may disagree with me...many well studied scholars do not. At any rate, this is not the place of the forum to debate Aramaic Peshitta supremacy. Although, helpful in some cases, I wouldn't completely depend on it.

Chen v'shalom aleychem

[lawrenceraymond]

Shalom Rabbi Reuel,

I understand your deep concerns about letting "non-mainstream" scholarship onto the forum with a possible "knock-down-drag-out" conflict erupting between Aramaic primacy versus Greek primacy. One of the most serious issues that the Greek has is picking the wrong prophet!
Now wait a minute....before you tie me to the stake and turn me into a Colonel Sander's Rotisserie Gold "crispy critter"....consider this....

Matthew 27:9-10
The KJV says: “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took
the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.”
The NIV says: “Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter's field, as
the Lord commanded me."”
Here is the problem with the Greek text: The prophecy was actually by Zechariah.
Zechariah 11:13
KJV: “And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them.
And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.”
NIV: “And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"-the handsome price at which they priced me!
So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.”

Does the Peshitta also have this “contradiction”?
The Lamsa Bible says (Matthew 27:9-10): “Then what was spoken by the prophet was fulfilled, namely, I took the thirty pieces of silver, the costly price which was bargained with the children of Israel, And I gave
them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
The Peshitta does not name the prophet, and thus does not share this contradiction with the Greek texts.
It may be that the Greek translators chose to name Jeremiah (being very liberal and adding to God’s Word I might add) as “the prophet”, because of similar prophecies in the Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s prophecies however are different than the NT quotation, as they do not mention “the potter” and seventeen pieces of silver are involved, instead of thirty. God told us not to add to His Word for a reason!

Sincerely striving for accuracy and not contention, Brother Larry

[R' Y'hoshua Moshe]

B"H

Shalom Larry,

As I mentioned, this is not the place of the forum to debate Aramaic Peshitta supremacy, which I have no doubt that you are a proponent of...that is why I gave the earlier caution. If you are not new to this argument I am sure you are aware of the explanation to the seeming contradiction that you bring forth in your attempt to cast doubt on the Greek version of the scriptures that we have...something that, if this is your mission to do on this forum, is not kosher (just to give you warning). I will be happy to supply apologetics from respected scholars on this issue if you like in another thread dedicated to this subject. But, something tells me you have already heard these apologetics.

At any rate, please don't pepper the forum with posts trying to prove the supremacy of the Peshitta, and please keep all such posts in the appropriate thread.

Todah rabbah,

R' Reuel