Lamsa Bible
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Formally titled The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts (ISBN 0-06-064923-2), the "Lamsa Bible" (which it is commonly called, after its editor, George M. Lamsa) first appeared in 1933. It was derived, both Old and New Testaments, from the Aramaic Peshitta, the Bible used by the Assyrian Church of the East and other Syriac Christian traditions. The Peshitta, like the various English language Bibles, was translated from earlier Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. The New Testament translators of the King James Version (KJV), for example, used an edition of Erasmus' Greek Textus Receptus. The Peshitta New Testament is thought to derive from early Christian Aramaic manuscripts that also came from Greek, but are now lost. However, a few scholars argue for Aramaic primacy of the New Testament text.
Some places in the Lamsa Bible differ greatly from other English-language Bibles. The most controversial of the Bible's rendering is in Matthew.
Matthew 27:46 is rendered in the KJV:
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
In contrast, Matthew 27:46 is rendered in the Lamsa Bible:
And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said, Eli, Eli lemana shabakthan! My God, my God, for this I was spared!
See the discussions in George Lamsa and Words of Jesus on the cross, section "Eli Eli lema sabachthani".
