In the English language, the best translation of an Aramaic Bible for you to read would be George Lamsa‘s Translation of the Peshitta. In Lamsa’s translation, you will find the story of the woman caught in adultery. However, the story of the woman taken in adultery was not part of the original Peshitta.
The Old Testament teaching was that the a woman caught in adultery was to be put to death.
- If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10)
- He who commits adultery has no sense; he who does it destroys himself. (Proverbs 6:32)
There is nothing about actually stoning a person, who commits adultery in the Old Testament, that I know exists in the same way as those, who are to be stoned, who consult the occult, or offer up a child sacrifice, or blaspheme the name of the Lord, or do not keep the Sabbath.
Even in the case of an ox killing someone, not only is the ox is to be stoned but the owner is to be put to death also.
- But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:29)
A man or woman who commits adultery is not specifically mentioned as being required to be stoned; only to be put to death. This could be the reason the original Peshitta does not have verses 1–9 of John, chapter 8.
- they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.” (John 8:4–11)
What we do see is that Jesus merely began writing with his finger in the ground and seemed to take no notice of the woman’s accusers. Then they persisted in their accusation. Nevertheless, they got the message when Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” For by Jesus writing in the ground, the accusers seemed to get the idea of God writing the Ten Commandments, which they themselves knew they had violated at least once in their miserable lives, if not more than once.
For Many Reasons Things Occur. Why We Know Not. Yet Some We Ought To Know
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