While I have not yet read it I have heard a few things about it. There are what seem to be some disturbing differences in it to most translations. Jack Chick really seems to get bent out of shape about it:
Perverted Prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ For example, in Matthew 27:46 God's words say: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But Lamsa's book says "Eli, Eli, lemana shabakthani," which according to his notes means, "My God, my God, for this I was spared," or "this was my destiny." This destroys the Lord Jesus Christ's quotation of Psalm 22:1. Even worse, he changed Psalm 22:1 into heresy:
"My God, my God, why hast thou let me to live? and yet thou hast delayed my salvation from me, because of the words of my folly."
A person reading Jesus' words on the cross and Psalm 22 would have no idea that God made that psalm into a precise prophecy of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the Lord Jesus is the "only-begotten" of God the Father. But in Lamsa's perversion it reads, "the first-born" (John 1:14, 18). Jesus wasn't the first born from God; He is the ONLY one, God the Son and Son of God. 1 Timothy 3:16 says clearly "God was manifest in the flesh;" but Lamsa wrongly wrote, "it [the "divine mystery"] is revealed in the flesh." Jesus wasn't a mystery with a body. He was, and is, God Himself. Micah 5:2 tells us that the Lord Jesus has always lived; but instead of "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," Lamsa lies, "whose goings forth have been predicted from of old, from everlasting." This makes no sense. Jesus wasn't predicted from eternity; He has existed from eternity! Other prophecies He changed other passages, too, such as one in Daniel 11:38, which many believe prophesies the antichrist. The KJV clearly says: "But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things." But in the Lamsa Bible, it says this evil man will honor "the mighty God..." Isaiah 14:12 tells us about the spirit behind the kings of the world, namely Lucifer: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" But in Lamsa's perversion it reads: "How are you fallen from heaven! howl in the morning!" It's Not a Christian Bible The Lamsa Bible is not Christian at all. It is Lamsa's own blend of occultic ideas made to look a lot like the King James Bible. Amazingly he published books with both Holman Publishers and the occultic Unity "School of Christianity." For a while, some Christians endorsed this Bible, and it was the choice for Oral Roberts' study Bible years back. I have not heard anything more about it for years. It is better to stay with God's preserved words in English. All these supposed "more ancient" and "better" Bible texts have done is bring confusion to the Christian world. And we all know who is the author of confusion.
thank u for asking this Diamnondlight....I will have to look into this version as I can honestly say that I have not heard of it. Also, thank you Bo (please excuse me saying "Bo" and not your whole name, I do not remember how to spell it properly)...for the light that you have shed on the subject....I am very interested to look into this!
George Lamsa is a cultic figure in his own right. He produced his own translation of the Bible in the form of "The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts" in 1933. His approach willfully perpetuates a basic confusion of language. He promotes metaphysical, not evangelical, teachings which have led him to inaccurate interpretations and translations of portions of the Bible.