Qala d'Yeshua — The Voice of Jesus

What is this?

A Gospel translation project focused on the speech-world of Jesus.

Qala d'Yeshua is a free, open translation of the four Gospels. It starts from the Greek Gospel text — the same foundation every serious English translation must face.

The difference is what happens next. For every word of speech in the Gospels, we ask: can we responsibly identify the likely Aramaic behind the Greek? Where we can, the Aramaic governs the English. Where we probably can, the Greek governs but the Aramaic shapes it. Where we can't, the Greek stands on its own.

Judaism studies Torah in Hebrew. Islam preserves the Quran in Arabic. Buddhist and Hindu traditions have long taken Sanskrit, Pali, and other sacred languages seriously. Christianity should be no exception.

Each rendering is built from a systematic synthesis of the strongest available evidence — not one scholar's hunch. The goal is full transparency: cited sources and open reasoning as the apparatus is released.

Same Greek foundation

Starts from the Greek Gospel text, the same foundation every serious translation must face. No secret sources.

Galilean Aramaic focus

Jesus spoke Galilean Aramaic — not the Eastern Syriac of the Peshitta. This project triangulates toward the actual dialect wherever possible.

Three rendering layers

High-confidence Aramaic governs the English. Probable Aramaic flavors it. Unknown Aramaic stays Greek. Every choice is marked.

Full transparency

Every rendering shows its evidence, its confidence tier, and its sources. The reader sees the reasoning, not just the result.

First Draft

The four Gospels — first draft, free.

The complete first draft of all four Gospels is available now as a free Word document. These are early drafts — they will be revised, reviewed, and refined, and the narrated audio editions are coming soon. But the voice is here.

Matthew 5 — Sample

"Flourishing are those poor in Ruha — the reign of heaven is theirs."

Where the evidence supports it, Aramaic force shapes the English:

Turn, not repent

Release, not forgive

Reign, not kingdom

Trust, not just believe

Audio

The voice matters.

Jesus's teaching was not first encountered as silent text. It was heard — aloud, in Aramaic, by people standing in front of him. If this project is right, the audiobook is not a bonus feature. It is the proof of concept.

Sermon on the Mount

Audio sample coming soon

Mark 1

Audio sample coming soon

John 3

Audio sample coming soon

Passion Sayings

Audio sample coming soon

Method

Three layers. One text. Full transparency.

The starting point is the Greek Gospel text, with modern critical editions as the baseline. Same bedrock every serious translation faces.

From there, we ask a simple question for every word of speech in the Gospels: can we responsibly identify the likely Aramaic word, phrase, or force behind the Greek?

1

High confidence — render from the Aramaic

Where we can identify the original Galilean Aramaic with strong evidence, that Aramaic — not the Greek translation of it — governs the English. This is where the translation sounds most different from what you're used to. Turn, not repent. Release, not forgive. Reign, not kingdom.

2

Probable — render from the Greek, flavored by the Aramaic

Where we think we know the Aramaic word underneath the Greek but can't be certain, the Greek controls the rendering — but the Aramaic shapes the English toward the probable force. The reader can see in the notes what Aramaic word is likely and why.

3

Unknown or non-speech — render from the Greek

Where the Aramaic is genuinely unknown, or where the text is narrative rather than speech, the translation renders directly from the Greek. No guessing. No decoration.

A note on Galilean Aramaic

Most Aramaic-informed Bible work relies on the Peshitta, which is Syriac — an Eastern Aramaic dialect. Jesus spoke Western Aramaic, specifically the Galilean dialect. This project uses the Peshitta and Old Syriac as essential witnesses, but triangulates toward Galilean Aramaic wherever the evidence allows — and marks which dialect the evidence comes from.

A note on non-speech material

Some passages — like the Prologue of John — were composed as Greek literary and theological text, not preserved speech. Even there, the theological vocabulary sits on an Aramaic substrate, and the author may have been composing with Aramaic concepts in mind. The Greek governs the rendering, but Aramaic and Jewish context inform the notes.

Sources

Each rendering draws on the full range of available evidence: the Greek critical text, the Peshitta, Old Syriac witnesses, Targum parallels, Palestinian Talmud, Palestinian Aramaic inscriptions and documentary texts, standard Aramaic and Syriac lexicons, scholarly retroversions, and peer-reviewed research. Sources and reasoning will be published openly as the full apparatus is released.

Framing

What this is — and what this is not.

This is

✦ A way to hear Jesus with fresh ears

✦ A Gospel-focused translation project

✦ Built on the Greek Gospel text — same foundation as every major English Bible

✦ Galilean Aramaic-focused, not generic Syriac

✦ Three rendering layers — Aramaic-governed, Aramaic-flavored, or Greek-only

✦ Evidence-tiered and source-cited

✦ Free, open, and publicly accessible

This is not

— A replacement for your Bible

— A claim that the Greek Gospels are invalid

— A secret original Gospel

— A free-form spiritual paraphrase

— A code-breaking version of Christianity

— An Aramaic rewrite of every verse

— A substitute for serious study

Confidence Tiers

Every rendering is graded.

Not every recovery carries the same certainty. The reader can always see what is secure and what is interpretive.

T1

Direct

Aramaic directly preserved or overwhelmingly certain.

T2

Strong

High lexical constraint, strong witness consistency, scholarly retroversion grounded in Palestinian Aramaic, or multiple independent signals converge.

T3

Probable

Good evidence supports the rendering, but alternatives remain possible.

T4

Possible

Worth noting, but not strong enough to drive the main translation alone.

T5

Greek-only

No Aramaic reconstruction attempted. Standard Greek rendering.

Release Path

What's coming.

First draft — all four Gospels (PDF)

In progress

Audio samples

Narrated audiobook

Revised edition with notes

Free web reader

Print edition

Reading plans & app distribution