In Matthew 18:28, we read:

הב לי מדם דחיב אנת לי

Give הב to me לי that מדם which owe דחיב you אנת to me לי

'Give to me that which you owe to me'.

The word 'meddem' in Aramaic can mean 'something, anything, some'. It appears to be related to the Hebrew word for 'measure' מידה and its related words. The idea speaks of the measure of something, as in an amount.

The text clearly shows that there is a 'something', a 'measure' owed, in this case, 100 denarii.

Most Greek manuscripts read:

Give back αποδος to me μοι if ει any τι you owe οφειλεις

'Give back to me if any[thing] you owe'.

This is a case of misunderstanding the Aramaic word 'meddem' in this context, by seeing it in the sense of 'anything'...hence the usage of ει meaning 'if'.

Most manuscripts read this way. However, the Textus Receptus alone gives the correct understanding of the word, where it says:

Give back αποδος to me μοι which ο any τι you owe οφειλεις

'Give back to me which anything you owe'.

The Peshitta shows its originality here with the Greek differences showing themselves to be branches of different understandings of the trunk Aramaic word 'meddem'.

Shalom,

Ronen

Matt 15:36 And the disciples ותלמידא gave יהבו to the crowd לכנשא

Here is another short example of a phenomenon that at least hints at an Aramaic original.

Most Aramaic nouns have the same spelling for both singular and plural forms. Hebrew, of course, would have an 'ים' or 'ות' ending to indicate plurality. Therefore, it is no surprise to see that there are manuscripts in Greek which read:

And the disciples gave to the crowd οχλω.

And the disciples gave to the crowds οχλοι.

A simple case of translators appearing to struggle to determine which is the true rendering.

Continuing to read...

Ronen

In Matt 27:4...

Here one family of manuscripts read:

saying λεγων i sinned ημαρτον giving up παραδους blood αιμα righteous δικαιον

While another family reads:

saying λεγων i sinned ημαρτον giving up παραδους blood αιμα innocent αθωον


The word זכיא in Aramaic can mean victorious, innocent, or righteous. One translator saw the word as righteous, and the other as innocent.

Ronen

Matt 23:8...But do not be called Rabbi; for one is רבכון your Rabbi, and you are all brethren.
(Mat 23:8 Re. Murdock)


Some texts write διδάσκαλος = teacher.

Others write καθηγητης = leader.

The word רבא means 'great one', and those who were called such typically were great teachers and, of course, leaders. Hence, again we see how 2 different translators read the word רבכון 'your great one', and one translated it as 'teacher' and the other as 'leader'.

Ronen

Mark 7:5:

Westcott Hort Text reads: κοιναις χερσιν 'defiled hands'.

The Majority Text reads: 'ανιπτοις χερσιν 'unwashed hands'.

The Aramaic word משגן means 'wash'. The Pharisees added the connotation of 'defiled' to the concept of unwashed hands.

It appears as though one translator translated the word literally, and the other according to the connotative meaning.

Once again, an Aramaic reading can account for variant Greek readings.

Ronen