Manuscript variant · disputed
What the source reads — Greek: 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani' — 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me' (quoting Psalm 22:1)
What this version reads — Peshitta: 'Eil, Eil, lmana shbaqtani' (ܫܒܩܬܢܝ) — plainly 'why have you forsaken me'; a minority presses shbaq toward 'for this you spared me'
The cry is already Aramaic even inside the Greek text. Its plain sense quotes Psalm 22:1 — 'forsaken'. Because the verb shbaq spans 'leave, forgive, spare', Aramaic-primacy readers push it toward 'for this I was kept/spared' — a contested minority reading. The mainstream stays with the Psalm it quotes.
Read this chapter side by side — Matthew 27:46 →