Jesus’ second-to-last sound bite from the cross was tetelestai, “It is finished” (John 19:30). But what did Jesus actually say here in Aramaic? Mark 15:34 gives us his famous Aramaic quote, Elōī, Elōī, lama shabaqthanī? (Here, Jesus is echoing Psalm 22:1, but in Aramaic, not the Hebrew original, where the verb would be ‘azabthanī.) John gives us and translates for us plenty of bits of Aramaic, but not here.
One very attractive possibility as to what Jesus said in Aramaic at this point is meshallem, which would fit the “paid in full” meaning so often cited when pastors preach this passage. Another option is actually Hebrew, kullah (root k-l-l), indicating that an action has been completed. And there are other possibilities. If God thought it was important for us to know, God would have prevailed on John to tell us. But perhaps God and John intended us to understand that both possible meanings could be true. Our un-payable debt has been paid in full, and all that needed to happen for our salvation has been completed.
