COMPARING GOSPELS As we have shown, there are discrepancies in the works of human hands, especially when translating through a number of languages, and having hundreds of different Bible versions to compare does not help. We need to also consider other points when looking at the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Here we compare the death of Christ between the four gospels using the Aramaic Bible in Plain English: Matt 27.46 And toward the ninth hour Yeshua cried with a loud voice and he said, "Oh God, oh God! Why have you forsaken me?" 47 Those people who were standing there, when they had heard, they were saying, "This one has called Elijah." 48 At that moment one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and placed it on a reed and gave a drink to him. 49 But the rest were saying, "Let him alone; we shall see if Elijah comes to save him." 50 But Yeshua cried again with a loud voice, and his Spirit departed. Mark 15.34 And in the ninth hour Yeshua cried out in a loud voice, and he said: "Eil, Eil, lemana Shabaqthani", which is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 35 And the people who heard among those standing there were saying, "He called to Elijah." 36 But one ran and filled a sponge with vinegar and tied it on a reed to give him a drink and they said, "Let him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to take him down." 37 But Yeshua cried with a loud voice, and he expired. Luke 23.44 But it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness upon all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 And the sun grew dark, and the curtain of The Temple was ripped apart from its middle. 46 And Yeshua called out in a loud voice and he said, "My Father, into your hands I lay down my spirit." He said this and he expired. John 19.28 After these things Yeshua knew that everything had been finished, and that the scripture may be fulfilled, he said, "I thirst." 29 And a vessel had been set full of vinegar, but they filled a sponge from the vinegar and placed it on hyssop and they put it near to his mouth. 30 When he took the vinegar, Yeshua said, "Behold, it is finished." And he bowed his head and gave up his Spirit. When reading the different accounts of Our Lords death, we must take into consideration that the only eye witness who wrote of this was John. As you can see, Matthew takes his reference from Mark and not John, while Luke gives a variation in the translation of "Eil, Eil, lemana Shabaqthani". Some of these gospels were also written many years after the death of Christ. As there is a slight difference between the Hebrew and Aramaic, this could account for the different interpretations, but even the crowd were confused over whether Yeshua was calling out to God or Elijah. George Lamsa, who translated the Syriac Aramaic as Eli, Eli, lemana shabaqthani, which is "My God, my God, for this I was spared!" A footnote in Lamsa's English version of the Bible explains Yeshua's meaning as "This was my destiny." Rev. David Bauscher gives the translation of the Aramaic Peshitta as "Eil, Eil, lemana Shabaqthani", which is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark is recording what the crowd thought they heard Yeshua say, while John, who was at the Lords side, recorded what he heard. In order of primacy, I would go with the Gospel of John in this instance, then Mark, followed by Matthew and Luke. The Aramaic Bible in Plain English would be the most accurate source we have of the New Testament, which is used in the above examples and the version we recommend.