Exhibit XXIII, Aleph Inserted of Omitted
Chapter IX, "Aleph Inserted or Omitted" in Our Translated Gospels: Some of the Evidence, by Charles Cutler Torrey:
Exhibit XXIII, B (John 3:33 ). This verse, as it stands in our present text, is not merely weak, it is worse than superfluous. It neither brings a conclusion derived from the preceding verses, as its opening words leads us to expect, nor does it give the ground for the following doctrine, which professes to rest on it. Yet the truth which it declares is introduced in impressive words: the lone believer (John the Baptist) who accepts the witness of him who came down from heaven has set his seal to it―that God is true. As though any man who believed in God at all could need to have this solemn assurance.
The Baptist's testimony to Jesus culminated at this point, and it is perfectly evident, both from the preceding verses and even more from the following, what he must have said at the end of verse 33. He declares again, as in 1:34 (cf. also 1:1), that he who came from above, who is to take away the sin of the world, "is truly a divine being"; God gave* him in full measure (verse 34) the divine spirit. This, and this only, satisfies the whole context.
Littmann, l.c., p. 33, would prefer bӗqushtā instead of the simple qushtā. The former is indeed usual, but the latter is unimpeachable Aramaic; and this very word, used thus as adverbial accusative, is to be seen in the Jerusalem Targum of Genesis 3:1. The use of Hebrew ӗmeth in Jeremiah 10:10 and Psalm 132:11 is exactly similar.
Chapter IX, "Aleph Inserted or Omitted" in Our Translated Gospels: Some of the Evidence, by Charles Cutler Torrey:
B. John 3:33 according to Greek: He who receives his witness attests that God is ( אֱלָהָ[א] אִתוֹהִי ) true.
True rendering: He who receives his witness attests that truly he is divine (same, omitting the final aleph.)
True rendering: He who receives his witness attests that truly he is divine (same, omitting the final aleph.)
Exhibit XXIII, B (John 3:33 ). This verse, as it stands in our present text, is not merely weak, it is worse than superfluous. It neither brings a conclusion derived from the preceding verses, as its opening words leads us to expect, nor does it give the ground for the following doctrine, which professes to rest on it. Yet the truth which it declares is introduced in impressive words: the lone believer (John the Baptist) who accepts the witness of him who came down from heaven has set his seal to it―that God is true. As though any man who believed in God at all could need to have this solemn assurance.
The Baptist's testimony to Jesus culminated at this point, and it is perfectly evident, both from the preceding verses and even more from the following, what he must have said at the end of verse 33. He declares again, as in 1:34 (cf. also 1:1), that he who came from above, who is to take away the sin of the world, "is truly a divine being"; God gave* him in full measure (verse 34) the divine spirit. This, and this only, satisfies the whole context.
Littmann, l.c., p. 33, would prefer bӗqushtā instead of the simple qushtā. The former is indeed usual, but the latter is unimpeachable Aramaic; and this very word, used thus as adverbial accusative, is to be seen in the Jerusalem Targum of Genesis 3:1. The use of Hebrew ӗmeth in Jeremiah 10:10 and Psalm 132:11 is exactly similar.
*It may be conjectured that the Greek present tense furnishes yet another instance of wrong vocalization of the Aramaic words : yӗhab, "gave," not yāhēb, "gives," being the form intended.
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