Very Rare Linear Translation (hebrew/english) by George Howard. This is the complete Hebrew text of Matthew that "appeared in the body of a fourteenth century Jewish polemical treatise" by a Jewish apologist named Shem-Tob (or Shem-Tov). Howard presents us with the Hebrew text and an English translation on facing pages followed by an analysis of the text.

Several of the early church fathers, including Papias, Eusebius, Irenaeus, Origin, and Jerome state that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew and others later translated it. Greek and Latin speaking Christians, however, did not retain this Hebrew text and, as a result, little is know about it.

Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew is particularly of interest because: 1. It is the earliest complete Hebrew text of the Gospel known. 2. Though preserved in a fourteenth century treatise, the text appears to predate the fourteenth century. 3. It does not appear to be a translation of any known Greek or Latin text.

In his analysis of the text, Howard begins by comparing various verses from Shem-Tob's Matthew to (1) Hebrew excerpts from Matthew that were quoted in earlier writings and to (2) the later Hebrew texts of Matthew published by Sebastian Münster (1537) and Jean du Tillet (1555). He shows both places where the various Hebrew texts agree with each other, but differ from the Greek Matthew, and places where the various Hebrew texts differ from each other. He concludes that Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew is not the same as Münster's and du Tillet's (which are very similar to each other) nor is it a translation of the Latin Vulgate or "any known copy of the Greek text." He also states reasons for believing that Münster and du Tillet's represent later revisions to the textual tradition preserved in Shem-Tob.

Product Details
Hardcover: 239 pages
Publisher: Mercer University Press; Rev Sub edition (March 1995)
By: George Howard
Language: English and Hebrew (Square script -no vowels)
Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 1 inches