The following are taken from
George Howard, The Gospel
of Matthew According to a Primitive Hebrew Text (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University
Press, 1987)
Matt
5:31:
English: Again Jesus said to
his disciples: You have heard what was said to those of long ago that everyone
who leaves his wife and divorces [her] is to give her a bill of divorce, that
is. libela repudio. (p. 21)
Hebrew: עוד אמר יש"ו לתלמידין
שמעתם מה שנאמר לקדמונים שכל העוזב אשתו ושלח לתת לה גט כריתוי ובלעז ליבי"ל ריפודייו.
Matt
5:32:
English: And I say to you
that everyone who leaves his wife is to give her a bill of divorce. But concerning
adultery he is the one who commits adultery and he who takes her commits
adultery. (p. 21)
Hebrew: ואני אומר לכם שכל העוזב
אשיו יש לו לתת לע כט כריתוי כי אם כל דבר נאוף הוא הנואף והלוקח אותה ינאף.
On Jesus’s teaching concerning
divorce, Howard wrote:
The differences between the Greek and Hebrew are striking.
In the Greek Jesus seems to revoke the law. In the Hebrew, he internalizes and
radicalizes it, but does not revoke it. (p. 205)
Matt
11:11:
English: Again Jesus said to
his disciples: Truly I say to you, among all those born of women none has
arisen greater than John the Baptist. (p. 49)
Hebrew: עוד אמר יש"ו לתלמרדיו
באמת אני דובר לכם בכל ילדי הנשים לא קם כדול מיחנן המטביל. (p. 48)
Matt
11:13:
English: For all the
prophets and the law spoke concerning John. (p. 51)
Hebrew: שכל הנבאים והתורה דברו
על יוחנן (p. 50) (note: the Hebrew uses על instead of עד “until”)
Commenting on the depiction of John the Baptist in this Hebrew text of
Matthew as seen in Matt 11:11, 13, Howard wrote:
Another difference
between the Greek and Hebrew Matthew is in the character of John the Baptist.
We know from other sources that there was a John the Baptist sect that existed
from early times and continued perhaps for centuries. In Shem-Tob’s Hebrew
Matthew John the Baptist emerges as a much more important figure than in the Greek
Matthew. The Greek Matthew may well represent a later corrective to the more
primitive statements made about John the Baptist in Hebrew Matthew before the
followers of John the Baptist were seen as a threat to trunkline Christianity. (p.
205)
Matt
16:18:
English: I say to you: you
are a stone and I will build upon you my house of prayer. The gates of Gehenna
will not prevail against you. (p. 81)
Hebrew: יאני אומר לך שאתה אבן
ואני אבנה עליך בית טפלתי. ושרי גהינם לא יוכלו נגדך (p. 80)
Matt
16:19:
English: because I will give
to you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (p. 81)
Hebrew: לפי שאני אין לך מפיחות
מלכות השמים. וכל אשר תקשור בארץ יהיה קשור בשמים וכל אשר תתיר בארץ יהיה מותר בשמים
(p. 80)
Matt
18:18:
English: Truly I say to you
that every oath which you shall bind on earth is bound in heaven and every
[oath] which you shall loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (p. 91)
Hebrew: אמן אני אומר לכם שכל
אלה אשר תאסרו בארץ אסור הוא בשמים וכל אשר תתירן בארץ מותר יהיה בשמים. (p. 90)
Matt
22:29:
English: Jesus answered and
said to them: You err and do not understand the writings or the power of God.
(p. 111)
Hebrew: ויען יש"ו ויאמר
אליהם תשכו ולא תבינו הספרים ועוז האלקים. (p. 110)
Matt
22:30:
English: In the day of resurrection
men will not take women nor women men, but they will be like the angels of God
in heaven. (p. 111)
Hebrew: ביום התקומה לא יקחו האנשים
נשים ולא הנשים רק יהיו כמלאכי אלקים בשמים. (p. 110)
Matt
26:28:
English: This is my blood of
the new covenant which will be poured out for many for the atonement of sins.
(p. 135)
Hebrew: זהו דמY מברית חדשה אשר
ישפך בעבור הרבים לכפרת עונות. (p. 134)
Matt
28:20:
English: and (teach) them to
carry out all the things which I have commanded you forever. (p. 151)
Hebrew: ושמרו אוים לקיים כל הדברים
אשר ציויתי אתכם עד עולם. (p. 150)
