Matthew 27:46

Matthew 27:46 hli hli lema sabacqani

Instead of hli (or hlei), representing the Hebrew yliae (“my God”), the text of several witnesses, including a B 33 cop^{sa, bo} eth, was assimilated to the reading elwi of Mark 15:34, representing the Aramaic yhil'a/ (“my God”), the w for the a sound being due to the influence of the Hebrew yh;l{a/.

The spelling lema (a B 33 700 998 al) represents the Aramaic am'l. (“why?”), which is also probably to be understood as lying behind lima (A K U G D P 090 al) and leima (E F G H M S V al), whereas lama (D Q 1 22 565 1582 al) represents the Hebrew hM'l(' (“why?”).

As in Mark 15:34, most witnesses read sabacqani or something similar (sabacqanei, a A D 1 69; sabaktanei, B 22 713 1402), which represents the Aramaic ynIT;q.b;v. (“thou hast forsaken me”). Codex Bezae, however (as also in the Markan parallel), reads zafqanei, representing the Hebrew ynIT;b.z:[] (“thou hast forsaken me”; for the spelling, see the comment on Mk 15.34), and thus this manuscript in both Matthew and Mark is consistent in giving a transliteration representing a Hebrew original throughout, instead of part Hebrew (the first words) and part Aramaic (the last word). (See also the comment on Mk 15.34.)